International audit and advisory firm, KPMG, is moving towards further specialisation in their process automation and digitisation services, which will see the global financial services leader bolster their assistance of client companies recognising the need to design and implement low-code digital solutions to facilitate those business processes which are manual and repetitive.
“At KPMG, we assist businesses in addressing external pressures through the implementation of low-code solutions which aim to digitally transform the way a business operates by streamlining, automating and ultimately optimising the existing business processes. Technology is constantly evolving and so is our team, to remain abreast with the latest solutions and capabilities the market has to offer” says Alexia Anastasi, KPMG’s Low-Code Project Lead within the Business Process Automation team, whose role is to identify such opportunities, based on the client’s strategic direction.
One of the areas in which the firm is expanding is within the Intelligent Automation space. “Intelligent Automation goes beyond traditional process automation and focuses on more complex and unstructured processes which currently require an element of human judgement to be executed. As KPMG we have already started implementing intelligent automation solutions and plan to continue growing in this area,” Ms Anastasi asserts.
This strategy will further strengthen the remit of the Business Process Automation team, established in 2017 and consisting of a blend of analysts and developers who are specialised in identifying weaknesses which hinder process efficiency and identifying the respective low-code digital solution most adept at resolving such vulnerabilities.
Looking back at the development of the team and its functions over the years, Ms Anastasi explains that the increased need for businesses to enhance their digital capabilities and, in turn, improve their business models - in order to remain competitive in the market – pushed KPMG towards providing process automation and digitisation services, describing it as “a natural move.”
“Initially we started off by providing solely Robotic Process Automation (RPA) services, which is still to-date one of our main areas of expertise. However, as we delved deeper into this space, we recognised the need to extend our RPA service offering together with other low-code solutions (such as app development and the implementation of virtual agents),” which could be applied to any industry, she attests.
Elaborating, the Team Lead explains that low-code offerings enable the implementation of custom solutions to be developed in less time, pushing companies to focus their energies on those areas which require more attention.
“As an example, many businesses currently execute highly repetitive and manual processes on a daily basis. Such processes may be manual (paper-based) and tedious to execute due to their repetitive nature. With the introduction of low-code solutions, the process may be digitised in the form of an app and the repetitive nature of the process flow may be automated to relieve the end-user from the mundane task. In this way, the business users may focus on more value-added tasks which provide greater satisfaction and motivation,” Ms Anastasi explains.
Since 2017, KPMG “have continued growing in the space of Process Automation, enhancing our expertise in the area through multiple local and international engagements within various industries,” the Team Lead continues.
Furthermore, the team has also overseen Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) exercises, which has led them to assisting clients in redesigning their company processes to improve design, cost, quality and speed. These BPR initiatives focus on analysing the client company’s current process state while also identifying the pain-points and gaps within such processes. The team will then design an improved process state to automate and digitise the necessary steps to contribute to process efficiency and optimisation.
“Based on our experience, it is evident that such BPR initiatives go hand-in-hand with the implementation of process automation and digitisation seeing as BPR aims to streamline and improve a process prior to automating and digitising it. In this way we ensure that all automated and digitised processes are in their most efficient state to eliminate as many process gaps and pain-points as possible,” Ms Anastasi explains.
Looking ahead, KPMG’s Project Lead within the Business Process Automation team states that businesses are increasingly recognising the need for digital capabilities and improved business models to remain abreast with the constantly evolving market. “Process automation and digitisation through low-code technologies are helping businesses accelerate enterprise modernisation, optimise efficiency, empower employees, enhance customer experience and solve complex business problems in a fraction of the time, when compared to traditional development.” Thus, “in today’s environment the option to digitally transform has become critical to ensure survival,” Ms Anastasi underscores, concluding.
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