Automate your way to time, efficiency and employee satisfaction

It all began on an early winter morning five years ago, when Tina Sølving was introduced to how companies can unlock their optimisation potential through automation at a morning meeting. Kromann Reumert was facing an optimisation exercise at the time, and Tina's immediate purpose in attending was to gather inspiration for that project. Tina left the meeting not only inspired but also enthusiastic, which marked the start of a rewarding collaboration and an automation journey that is still in full swing. And will be for many years to come.

"The reason we chose to reach out to Basico was a good first impression, their business understanding and ability to see how they could contribute. The first robot they implemented as a PoC (Proof of Concept) was a payment robot that would handle all payments across all the banks. It's a process that was previously handled daily by an employee and now runs automatically every single day. So you could say the PoC was spot on."

"We didn't have and still don't have the resources to run an automation initiative internally, because we primarily have the robots in finance. So our use of robots isn't extensive enough for us to have an employee responsible for developing and running it. On top of that, there's the whole question of finding the right specialists and then retaining them. Because it's no secret that skilled tech profiles are both difficult to find and retain," Tina begins and continues:

"That's why it's been a good solution for us to use an external consultant who, in collaboration with us, develops and maintains our automations."

"The collaboration has worked seamlessly from the start, and it's been really nice to have an external consultant who has been able to help us work out what automation opportunities exist and what can actually be done. We have a good and informal dialogue about where the automation potentials lie and how we prioritise getting them solved. In fact, we have a shared OneNote where we all write down ideas. Then we can discuss the individual ideas along the way when we're ready to take on some development sprints."

"As the collaboration has developed, we've established a strong shared rhythm. Basico reaches out to our IT department themselves when they need to be involved, and we know how to get things solved quickly and efficiently. And I like to have a bit of pushback. Which I get in a good way, as we constantly weigh up alternatives to the automations we've settled on. In addition, we always discuss very carefully which automation tools would be best for the given process. In that way, the collaboration and the associated dialogues create the foundation for making the best decisions before an initiative is launched," Tina describes.

"Over time, I've had some good conversations with industry colleagues about automation specifically and about letting an external consultant handle it. The concern that others often express is: What if the consultant leaves the external consultancy? But actually, I've found that it creates more stability and less vulnerability from my perspective, because I don't have to worry about whether my only robot developer leaves tomorrow. In addition, I'm assured flexibility because we can scale up and down our automation focus, as well as quick and professional response if we experience a need to report an error."

Tina explains how the robots have been included at Kromann Reumert as employees. This means that when you need to collaborate and interact with a robot, you're met with a small robot icon. And if the robots don't work, it doesn't take many minutes before it's noticed in the department. Because, as Tina emphasises, they are important contributors to a high level of service in the finance department, which would probably have been harder to maintain without them.

It's quite understandable and natural that some nervousness can arise initially when robots are rolled out amongst the staff. But Tina points out that there's no reason to be afraid of them, and that it's actually an expression of increased demand to free up time for employees so they can spend time and mental energy on the complex tasks.

"A good example is our robot that calculates negative interest. It's actually a simple and slightly boring robot," Tina smiles and continues:

"Previously, there would be an employee working full-time calculating and posting negative interest, and it wouldn't even be certain that they would have reached the finish line by month-end. And then there would be errors, which is inevitable. Today, where the robot handles the process, it takes five hours monthly, and everything is posted on time, so we get the negative interest invoiced promptly to our clients. The robot never makes mistakes, and the professionalism that follows in the wake of the process being standardised is noticed both inside and outside the firm. To be honest, very few people think it's an exciting task, so it makes so much sense that it's a robot taking care of that process," Tina explains.

"And the process runs at night, so we utilise our licences more optimally, and then the data is ready for human review when our employees arrive in the morning."

"Another example is our reminder robot, which runs an automated reminder process. This has meant that we send out around 250% more reminders per year, which means we send the reminders more quickly and start a dialogue earlier with our clients if we experience payment problems. The result has had quite significant business value, as we can see outstanding debts falling year on year. And it's neither a heavy nor maintenance-intensive automation; it just runs."

"The last robot I'll mention is our robot that creates invoice drafts, which runs reliably every single day. Here, the interaction works such that employees, via SharePoint, give the robot the signal to get started."

"The robot ensures uniformity and correct VAT before an employee receives the invoice for final processing and review before it's sent to the client. When we started that process, it was a huge eye-opener to discover how many different ways we created invoices in the firm. The fact that they look the same now gives a more professional impression. By automating this process, we've gone from a lot of data entry and limited checks to limited data entry and more checks. This has contributed to increased security, which was the purpose of the automation in the first place, as well as removing a heavy process from our employees. Here, the focus isn't on saving time but on getting a more uniform product."

Tina doesn't hide the fact that, although the robot automations are value-creating, she experienced concerns in the start-up phase and particular attention on the errors that could occur. But Tina emphasises that it's important to remember that if robots make errors in the process, they are errors that are discovered, because automations and standardised processes precisely free up time for checks rather than, for example, data entry. In addition, she points out how crucial it is to create awareness amongst stakeholders that should an error occur, the process can be run from the beginning, and errors are caught before they leave the firm.

... Not even someone who's been a bookkeeper for 30 years. And everyone has something that makes sense to automate. Therefore, Tina's best advice is not to overthink things and instead throw yourself into an automation adventure. Better today than tomorrow.

"The hardest thing, in my view, is choosing the right tool for the process you want to automate. Therefore, I'd encourage finding a consultant you feel comfortable with. Because choosing the tool is the biggest challenge, and I still think so today. Even though I now have quite a few automations and countless discussions on the matter under my belt. So many questions arise: What suits me? What suits the process? Should it be run internally or externally? Is it the whole process or parts of the process that should be automated? What suits our IT structure? Yes, I could go on."

"But if you don't get started, you don't learn and don't find out whether you can benefit from the automation opportunities available on the market. And I must say, just looking through your processes can be a healthy and rewarding exercise. So it will never be wasted work, even if you don't reach an actual automation," Tina smiles brightly.

"Another piece of advice is that employees need to be involved in the process. If we look internally at ourselves, we could have been better at that part. I'd almost admit that we sprung it on them a bit. But despite that, the employees think the robots and what they can support with are fantastic. And we've got better at involving employees' wishes before we start a new automation."

There's no doubt that digitalisation is part of Kromann Reumert's spirit and DNA. Tina explains how it's a very clear focus in their strategy that they must automate and digitalise across the business, where they work together as a team. The robots in the finance department are a good example of that. The firm also offers a range of legal tech solutions to clients that help streamline case handling. Therefore, the robots in the finance department are by no means out of place in the company, but an expression of a clear digitalisation strategy that characterises the entire business.

"Because the robots are based in finance, there are many who don't know they're there, but the value is unmistakable. With some robots, we've gained time, others have increased efficiency, and others have created happier employees because they've taken over tasks that no one wants to do. So the automations create enormous business value because they create space in the department – space to free up time and mental energy for what the robots can't solve for us," Tina concludes our conversation in a reflective tone.