Ceox Wins Best RPA Project at Computing Magazine’s 2021 Awards
We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded ‘Best RPA Project’ in the 2021 Computing AI & Machine Learning Excellence Awards.
The 2021 Computing AI & Machine Learning Excellence Awards recognised the best projects and solutions in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning. The awards cover Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Data and Predictive Analytics projects, solutions, and infrastructure.
From repetitive data entry to variable and unique responses, RPA and AI can combine to deliver Intelligent Automation which can be applied to many sectors, functions, and roles. Even the most basic implementations can free a workforce from time-consuming manual tasks with more complex solutions delivering unattended administrative processing by extracting specific data and then routing it to the correct department for answering through to supporting experts performing varied and unique work.
Intelligence Automation has existed for many years, but in recent years and accelerated by the Covid-19 Pandemic, organisations have begun to embrace the concept and adopt RPA and AI. These technologies can change ways of working, reduce errors, and can free up people’s time to focus on value-add tasks.
The prestigious wards covered 26 categories and judges included Sudip Trivedi (London Borough of Camden), Charles Ewen (Met Office), and Gavin Carey (London Stock Exchange Group). They selected Ceox’s work for UK Government’s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) as the winner in the Best RPA Project category.
During 2020 and 2021, we have been working with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) delivering an Intelligent Automation solution. When the Covid-19 Pandemic hit UK, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) saw a dramatic rise in enquiries and ministerial correspondence. The DHSC’s Correspondence Management team’s manual processes were time consuming and prone to errors and inconsistencies. The sudden, threefold increase in volume meant responding to more than 100,000 annual enquiries within stringent timescales would be a challenge. DHSC engaged us to undertake a project to assess and deliver the potential of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in automating the classifying, recording, and allocating of incoming electronic enquiries and correspondence. The Intelligent Automation solution enabled the unattended processing of over 13,000 enquiries a month and was delivered in rapid time. The project utilised Power Automate RPA technology which supported rapid user-adoption due to its familiar Microsoft user interface. The automation quickly delivered benefits including:
Automated capture and classification of 90% of electronic enquiries in the first week of deployment.
Reducing the delay in logging enquiries from 3.5 days to minutes.
Demonstrated the potential to re-assign up to 8 staff to higher value tasks.
Gavin Harte, CTO at Ceox explained, “Government Departments are not always given the recognition for their innovative approaches. The Microsoft based Intelligent Automation was ground-breaking and the solution has been an outstanding success. To have the project recognised by the Computing AI and Machine Learning Excellence Awards as ‘Best RPA Project’ is testament to the combined efforts of Ceox and the Department of Health and Social Care Correspondence Management Team”.
Gavin added, “Our Intelligent Automation solution incorporates Microsoft’s Power Platform with Power Automate and Power Apps with AI Builder. AI Builder is used to classify and categorise data with Power Automate linking these steps together. With customers already invested in Microsoft Office 365, an Intelligent Automation solution can be developed quickly. Automation can be tactically deployed in response to a specific issue, for example classifying incoming enquiries or used more strategically as part of an overall programme of operational improvement”.
Ceox are a Microsoft Partner with a focus on delivering Business Applications and Intelligent Automation solutions based on Power Platform and Dynamics 365 for Public Sector and Social Housing organisations.
Read more about the award and see the 1 minute presentation video here.