Automation Anywhere Reviews

We are working with our clients using this solution. Often, they are automating some of their retail and marketing processes, including the generation of bills and statements in finance.

Our clients are using a hybrid cloud, with their own VM environment.

One of the recent projects that I worked on was for a complex financial process in a bank. It involved automating several manual processes. The data had to be retrieved from SAP by means of a file and then imported into an Excel worksheet. My suggestion included implementing an SQL server and then automating the process using this solution. Instead of the series of manual tasks, they now only have to verify the final result, and it makes life much easier.

We are assisting our clients by improving the way they do things. This is a great platform, and we are implementing the logic into the bots that they are using to automate.

The user interface and tools are good.

In the next release of this solution, I would like to see more OCR agents included.

My customers would like to use the IQ Bot without having to invest more money in purchasing another license. If it is not possible to include IQ Bot in the basic package then, at least, the OCR features and the TaskBot can be enhanced. This would allow us to include small-scale industry, as well as large organizations.

There is an issue with security where users can see the values in the credential vault. Because of this, we don't see the point in creating values inside the vault.

This system should be able to handle situations with very there are very large volumes of data in Excel.

Stability depends on your skillset, and how you have written the code in terms of logic and handling errors. If you have built the code properly, in a systematic way as it requires, then it will definitely be stable. If instead you randomly do things that you needed to be done today, I don't think the stability of the bot will be very good.

Stability is good now, although we have had problems in the past. For example, when we were processing very large amounts of data in Excel, Automation Anywhere failed. The volume was in the millions of rows of data.

The scalability of this solution is good compared to others.

We have not used technical support for this solution.

In addition to this solution, I have good knowledge of Blue Prism and UiPath.

Initially, I found the setup of this solution to be complex.

Before getting started we had to install the SQL server and perform the migration. Then, it involved user accounts. You have to create a new user and add the details, which is quite complex. Then, whenever you are installing the Enterprise Edition, you have to perform setup that includes the IIS settings. Overall, it was quite hectic, and some of the people were not able to do it.

The implementation of this solution is something that we assist our clients with, but it depends on the situation. Different organizations have different ways of implementing. For the most part, I create the packages and give my work to the COA teams, and they finish it themselves. When they are not able to do that, we help them further.

We are using MetaBots as well as TaskBots.

There are lots of features that are still not there in version 11. I know that version 12 is coming, but I do not know much about it.

This is a solution that I recommend. We began with the free license, but if you are going to use Automation Anywhere then you have to purchase the license. It's an investment. With UiPath, the development license is free, so it depends on the situation. In general, if the client is ready for automation then I suggest this solution.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Automation Anywhere is removing the boring, repetitive tasks from the workforce.

I've worked on different models over different frameworks. 

I do the coding as well as the deployment side. I prepare documents and the user ID. Sometimes, if the user ID is not prepared, then I jump into the process to get it done. With the technical feasibility of the document, I take the technical feasibility and do an estimation to code the bot. I configure the bot, then code it according to the entity and get it reviewed from the client. Then, I run the bot through the Hapi port, as well as different scenarios which might come up.

Once the client is happy, we have a couple of rounds of testing. We have a "You Ready" phase where we code for a few days and the client provides data. We run through the data and this give them the technical results. When they're happy, then we finally move the code over.

One of the clients that I worked with to automate their process received invoices from 12 different companies and different regions. These are the process steps that we automated:

1. We could get the data from PDFs (the invoices were in a PDF format).
2. We accepted the data, uploaded it, and filtered out some of the data. 
3. Once we extracted the data, we use it to search data on particular websites for a particular invoice number to be processed. 
   
4. We used the invoice number to process the invoice.
5. We got approval for the invoice. 

I worked on another process where it generated offer letters for different people with templates. We would get the data in a dump. We would take that data put it into a template, and then into a Word file.

With another client, we used to receive around a million files. Per day, we would have to process around 70,000 to 80,000 records, uploading data where the volume was huge. We deployed the process in multiple bots, using about 20 bots to get the process done. For this client, every second used mattered. We had to code the bot in such a way that we could save every second for them. We had to figure out how much time the bot took and the cost savings for any particular data. We used the workload feature of Automation Anywhere get it done. The manual process took around 30 to 40 people around five to six hours a day, where the bot finishes between one to one a half hours. This was a huge time savings for the client.

For the client with 70,000 to 80,000, we created an SQL database to maintain all their records using bots. E.g., if a bot failed, then another bot would retry using the same information. In the "You Ready" phase, this process was 95 to 98 percent successful. When we finally moved it to production, we had between 99 to 100 percent accuracy. This took us around one and a half months to set up. Two development levels were involved along with an architect who was guiding us.

The most valuable feature is the object cloning. If you compare it to the other RPA tools, object cloning in Automation Anywhere is the most valuable. Mainly for web application, object cloning comes in very handy. Most processes are built as either a website or as a desktop application. Out of 800 commands, around 150 to 200 will be cloned through object cloning. In Automation Anywhere object cloning, there is a special feature called DOMXPATH, where we can customize it to any level. If IDs getting changed, which happens in some cases, then we find out the pattern. Based on the pattern, we come to the particular text box and button. Then, we can use bots along with parent-sibling relationships to get things done. 

I like that it has PGP Command and it is able to connect to a Citrix environment. 

We have the MetaBot feature, which is valuable because we can read reusable components in the MetaBot, then use them as a framework.

The training and resources for this tool are very good. They are so simple that anyone can easily learn it. One of the tool values is its ease of use.

The Excel part needs improvement because we use it as a database. Right now, we are using UiPath for this feature, as that RPA tool allows us to sort, search, and filter in Excel databases. 

The IQ Bot is pretty immature, in regards to AI and machine learning. I would like them to add additional logic.

I have been using it for almost two years now.

Automation Anywhere is quite reliable and stable, especially compared to the other RPA tools. E.g., with UiPath, code that was working yesterday might not work today.

We have experience minor issues with Automation Anywhere, such as with the object cloning, where it required us to restart the machine. Once the machine was rebooted, the solution worked fine.

It takes one or two people to handle the daily maintenance of this solution.

We code our bots with tasks and subtasks in such a way that we can easily combine them when new features come up.

The initial setup is pretty simple and fast. It can be done from the web Control Room, which can be done easily.

For coding, we are keeping the information in XLS or XML files. We use MetaBot to retrieve the data. We keep our URLs in an Excel file, so when we go to our production environment that it will automatically take the URLs and implement them.

One or two people can deploy the solution easily if they understand the requirements.

In most of the cases, the product value is very good. If the infrastructure, implementation, and framework are good, then generally, the client can get a good return on investment. However, getting good resources is tough since most people have limited experience in RPA products who struggle a lot to use these tools.

The coding for Automation Anywhere is a lot easier than for UiPath and Blue Prism. I have about a year and half of experience with UiPath. Compared to UiPath, Automation Anywhere is easy to use and bot development is faster. If you try to develop the same bots in UiPath, development of the same bots in Automation Anywhere will be faster. If the client wants the bots to be developed very quickly, we will do it Automation Anywhere. However, if they give us time, then we will us UiPath. If the process is huge and complex, then we go with Blue Prism.

Another key advantage of Automation Anywhere is the object drawing feature. This comes in very handy. Whereas, if we use UiPath, we have to use the .NET code and commands versus Automation Anywhere where can use scripts or create MetaBots. 

Companies need to do feasibility testing to avoid trying to automate processes which are not right for automation. Then, they should examine which vendor is the right one for the automation process, e.g., Automation Anywhere or UiPath. They need to establish the proper infrastructure for the RPA product, like licenses and an RPA team. The RPA can be a mixture of trained professionals and people who are learning as they go from the training provided by the tool.

Version 11.3 updated a lot of features that were previously not there, like workload automation and analytics dashboards.

I am always learning new things with this tool.

We have a lot of use cases, mostly for repetitive processes. We have automated processes for loans, moving money across accounts, and transferring money between our institution to another.

It has helped us look at how our processes are organized.

The ease of use is the most valuable feature.

The object cloning that exists cannot capture 80 percent of the objects that we need it to capture.

We are running the old 10.5 version. Sometimes, we get stuck with it.

With our current version, we are experiencing issues with the access of the Control Room. Therefore, at the moment, we cannot really scale.

The person who is working on our architecture is not always available.

We have only ever used Automation Anywhere.

We are having issues with setting up the newest version. It doesn't install, and there are not a lot of things to do with it.

We used a consulting agency, who did not have good knowledge about the product and bots, such as basic principles of coding and error handling. This was surprising, as these were IT personnel. We felt that sometimes we were training the consultants from the agency on how to implement the product.

We looked at Automation Anywhere and UiPath. Blue Prism also approach us. This was to do the PoC. 

Automation Anywhere was the simplest solution, and it offered us immediate support.

With the current version that we have, I cannot rate the solution more than a six out of a ten.

We are automating repetitive, manual processes that don't add value to people's work. Also, we want to improve our risk management through quality and efficiency.

We have an automation that we just put in production where we are doing a double-blind quality review. The bot is comparing the two entries and kicking out a large number of exceptions for human review. We have saved a large number of hours every day by not having humans look at things that match.

The ability to build automation without coding is its most valuable feature.

We have had some quirkiness happen when integrating the Automation Anywhere with other solutions, such as weird Excel issues or temperamental legacy system issues.

Our division took a couple of months to scale up our bots, when we were expecting it to take weeks. However, what we did was fairly complicated.

I have not had a lot of experience with their technical support.

We measure ROI by comparing hours saved to the cost of FTEs.

We have found the product useful. We are using it and have implement it. However, it is not perfect, and we have found that there are some frustrations.

The developers who work for me find the solution fairly easy to use. Though, I do have developers who prefer typing stuff in rather than dragging and dropping. Generally, they picked up the solution quickly.

For the bot creation process, we ask the end user, "Don't tell me how you do something, show me what you do." Then, as IT personnel, we build it.

We have not taken any courses through Automation Anywhere University yet.

We have been creating a lot of bots for the finance department. At this time, we are trying to use the TaskBots and MetaBots, not IQ Bots. 

As of now, we have automated processes from the finance, accounting, treasury, and tax departments.

An example of how it has saved time: I know 10 to 12 accountants who were doing a lot of day-to-day manual tasks. Once we implemented the Automation Anywhere into my company, we freed up a lot of their time, so they could work on other processes. 

I like the OCR feature, where we can capture information from PDFs.

The commands provides by Automation Anywhere make the tool easy to use.

I know Automation Anywhere is available for front-end applications, but I don't know how it deals with the back-end. If they are sending technology which comes through to the back-end, that would be a big evolution in the industry.

Citrix is only in the development stage. Automation Anywhere could put some time into improving this more.

The stability is good.

We started with zero bots. In our first cycle, we developed around eight bots. In our second cycle, we created around five or six bots. Now, we are on our third bot cycle.

The technical support is good. They try to get back to us within one to two days. Once they do respond, everything is good.

The initial setup was complex.

Initially, we used an implementer for the deployment. Now, we do everything on our own.

We measure ROI by how much we are saving for our internal people.

Compared to the other competitors' tools that I have been experienced with for bot creation, Automation Anywhere is user-friendly.

I have taken Automation Anywhere University courses. They are simple and detailed. The courses include videos and quiz questions.

We want to learn more about IQ Bots going forward.

We use it for multiple internal processes across multiple functions.

We work with good people who have very defined goals and very defined approaches of how to execute and achieve their goals.

Automation Anywhere takes a lot of mundane, competitive work out of the hands of people, increasing the quality, because it is consistent. It also enables us to have patience with these manual processes.

It has the ability to tag different components within the automation. We built it to track the ROI and stability of the product.

I find attended automation useful.

The product is not the best that it could be. There is always room to improve it a bit more. They are heading in the right direction with their innovations. 

It is very stable. The stability of the solution also has to do with how good the developers are from Automation Anywhere and on the user side. So, we've seen an increase in stability, not from the tool, but from the level of the people which are working on it. As our people work with Automation Anywhere, they learn from past mistakes. They have been able to configure the bots better, which then fail less, making them more stable.

It is definitely scalable. What we found worked for us to make it scalable was it has to be programmed by an architect, as opposed to letting it just be in the hands of the masses trying to solve it. This has been our approach. 

It took us eight months to a year to scale from zero bots to 100.

We mostly use our own technical support. 

When we do escalate issues to Automation Anywhere, we have a good relationship with them.

We did not switch from what we previously had.

The initial setup is straightforward.

We did the deployment.

We measure our ROI through money and time saved. That's how we measure the product's value. We look at the hours performed by humans, and those hours have a cost associated with them. We multiply our transactions by the number of hours it used to take by humans.

Time-wise: We have saved hundreds of thousands of hours.

We chose Automation Anywhere because they are best in class.

Do your research thoroughly.

We are still using people who can figure our bots as their profession. We have not release the product from the ground up.

We don't use the Bot Store.

It is for my partner development. We primarily work in the insurance business. So, we do a lot of insurance back office operations. These are the types of processes that we have automated.

We previously had a lot of manual processes. With the bot, we were able to automate them. Therefore, we are able to see the real-time value in our business area.

We have multiple developers on our team. With its user-friendly user interface, our developers are able to quickly pick it up. The ease of use is really good.

Bot creation is a cool feature. It allows the developer to do complex things. 

There are some places where Automation Anywhere needs improve a lot, especially from an integration perspective. We have had to build our own scripts to make this happen, building a bot in Automation Anywhere, along with some scripts. However, we have not yet implemented the Automation Anywhere MetaBots. So, once the MetaBots are implemented in our area, we should be able to achieve more.

If the bots become more stable, we can completely avoid using our additional scripts.

I would like to see the record management, data tracking, and database feature. Some of these have been implemented in the version 11. I have not used the latest release, version 11. Also, if some various cable features which come out with it, that will be really helpful.

I would not give stability good marks. There are a lot of negative things stability-wise. These things need to be improved, especially regarding reliability. When we have a huge end user process or need to automate a a huge volume, the failures are high.

The product is more stable versus older versions.

We face issues when we need to increase volumes. Currently, it is failing for some reason, and we don't know the reason. It fails or stops, then we need to see what is going on. We have to fix that, then our developers need to rerun it. These are mostly practical challenges for our team who uses it on daily basis.

Timing is a problem with the technical support. A person will be assigned, but that tech support person may only be available during our morning hours. In the morning, we might be in a meeting, not able to respond when the tech support reaches us, then when we try to reach them back, the tech support person may be on a call or not in the office. This is a challenge.

The initial setup was complex.

To scale from pilot to production takes a long time because the initial setup process is complex.

I am the consultant who does the deployments.

The ROI is really good. We have saved time and money.

We evaluated Automation, Kryon, and Blue Prism. Of those, we felt Automation Anywhere was more user-friendly. On the developer side, we received feedback that development was quick in Automation Anywhere, which is why we shortlisted them.

Since using Automation Anywhere, I might be inclined towards using another product.

Automation Anywhere is currently a good product. The RPA market is growing.

The integration with other applications is good. There are some complications. With some specific applications, it may not work. We are facing some specific issues, but we have found workarounds.

I am certified in Automation Anywhere University.

I have not personally used the IQ Bot nor have I used any trial version, but the features look really good.

I do not use Citrix automation.

Since we are an insurance company, there are many administrative tasks, such as, the enrollment agreement process, address change after enrollment, issuing of various certificates, making payments, etc. We wanted to automate these administrative or back office operations, so this is where we first started. After we verified that the products by Automation Anywhere can work with our organization, we decided to expand their use to the making of sales materials and business performance documents for our sales division, as well as administrative processes for our operations division. Other uses include compliance related matters and checking of anti-social forces. We are taking the initiative to automate all sorts of administrative tasks of the company with the help of robots and RPA. 

The solution has been implemented into 27 divisions.

The immediate impact is administrative tasks which were traditionally done manually are now being done by robots. This reduces the workload for people. This not only improves efficiency, but also expands the type of work which can be done by people. 

When I spoke to people who have used the solution, they mentioned that they have much less stress. As we are an insurance company, a finance company, where avoiding administrative errors is critical. We need to check things over constantly, but with the use of these robots, there is no need for it any longer. In addition, robots take care of pre-process tasks and notify us in advance, so we don’t forget what we need to do. In these ways, it reduces stress.

This solution is valuable because it can automate tasks which would otherwise be left for us to process manually without us incurring an enormous investment for the cost of the system.

Since we are a life insurance company, our contract terms are very long. They could last for 50 years, or even a lifetime, which means we have many old contracts. If we make an investment into a system, this is an enormous cost for us. If we automate with a system, there would be a wasted cost. So, we had almost given up on automation, thinking the future of our company would have to rely on manual processes. That is when we found out about this solution. By implementing it, we were able to solve the issue of automation, which we had almost gave up on.

The fact that its robots can touch on various systems, like humans, this is what is ground- breaking. It means it can handle various systems.

It’s not about the solution itself, but our administrative work is mostly done in the morning. This is something I have been speaking to Automation Anywhere about. If they could offer licenses only for use in the morning, we’d have a bigger savings cost-wise. Currently, the license is good for 24 hours, but there is not much to do at night and plenty to do in the morning. So, if we could use more in the morning, that would be a great, as we also have a bot farm. This is also when we increase the number of tasks to be stabilized. If they are managed within the client or server, there will be a risk of losing the service in case of emergencies, such as power outage. Therefore, we are working to manage them virtually on servers. With Deloitte’s help, we have been setting up a structure where we can get the robots to work without having the client. That would hopefully ensure stability and viability in case of emergencies.

If we could hire part-time workers on shift-based employment, that would be ideal.

As far as stability is concerned, there have been some challenges. Sometimes, we experience our computers freezing up for no apparent reason or the network being inaccessible. So, when the robots stop working, the cause may be the RPA or it could be some other culprit. 

While there is room for improvement, I do think that we need to take into consideration that the robots may stop working at any given moment. That’s why we need a tool that supervises the robots. The Automation Anywhere products already include such tools within them. We need to be able to monitor them. We need to be able to find out as soon as the robots stop and where the processing has ended. These functions are included, so we just need to quickly jump on the recovery process. That is what I think is important.

It is highly scalable. At the time of implementing this solution, we thought that the scaling might be challenging if the setup process took a lot of time. However, it turned out to be very scalable because, by segmenting, it can also be applied to other new business processes. In addition, it can be done without engineers or system engineers. It does not need to be developed, but we do need to set it up based on rules. 

The cost for scalability is much cheaper than developing a new system.

We are using Automation Anywhere products, but we are getting technical support from Deloitte, from whom we purchased a license. They get back to us swiftly. When they can’t handle an issue, they elevate it to Automation Anywhere, who tackle issues daily. My impression is that we don’t really have technical issues. In general, we follow the manuals that we created, and this solves the issues. There has not been a situation where we have had to contact the technical support everyday for some technical issue. We don’t need to use them that much. That differentiates this from our more comprehensive IT systems.

The reason why we thought that we needed a solution is the management of our contracts last for long periods of time, which includes the maintenance of old products as well. It’s almost impossible to systemize everything from the cost standpoint, as well as the time standpoint, but it can be done if we use a robot. However, it can’t be solved unless we use this RPA. The fact that we can tackle this is huge. We thought that we could improve the productivity if we use it. This is what triggered us to implement it. It was shocking for us when we first saw a software that can handle tasks like a human. 

When we decided to implement an RPA solution, it was our goal to be able to set it up ourselves from the beginning. As we had no knowledge on this product, we asked Deloitte to help us create a manual which suited our needs. The systems being used are different from company to company, so we needed to make it so it work for our company. Generally, product manuals are written in a way that says this command does something. While ours does say this, e.g., to activate this system, use this command. We worked closely with Deloitte to standardize our manual. Deloitte also taught us how to build it as we attempted the skill transfer. 

We had some challenges in the beginning. However, if you have experience with Excel macros with End User Computing (EUC) or have used Access, it’s an easy transition. If you have not done any EUC, you will have to learn from scratch. So, it may take some time. In general, it is much easier than programming.

Automation Anywhere has different types of solutions. When you have a large-scale operation, you need something that is scalable, which can monitor server sinking and operations, and is suitable for the large-scale business development. In addition, it is highly adaptable with the existing systems. So far, except for the few systems, it can recognize all the systems currently used by us.

I would to give the solution a ten, but considering the stability issue and its readiness, I would say that it is between an eight to a nine. 

Foreign Language: (Japanese)

この製品を主にどのように使用していますか?また、パフォーマンスはどうですか?

まず我々が取り組んだところは、第一生命は保険会社ですので、保険にはもの凄く加入の時の 契約の手続きであったりだとか、加入されてからの色々な住所変更だったりだとか、色んな証 明書の発行だったりとかですね、で最終的には保険金をお支払いする、そういった事務がかな りの量であります。で、まずはそういう事務のオペレーション、バックオフィスですね、そう いった所を自動化していこうという所で、そこからまず始めて行きました。で、ある程度そこ で、Automation Anywhere の製品が機能するんではないかと言うことが確認できましたので、 それをもっと広げていこうっていうことで、今は営業部門の色んな資料作りであったりだと か、業績の管理の資料作りだったりだとか、あとはそれ以外の運用部門、資産運用部門の 色々、バックオフィスの事務であったりとかですね。あとは例えばコンプライアンス関係です ね、いわゆる反社会的勢力のチェックであったりだとかですね、そういったまさに第一生命の 中にある色んな事務をロボット、RPA を導入してオートメーション化していこう、そういった 取り組みを進めています。 

当ソリューションはどんな点において最も役に立ちますか?

そうですね、やっぱり機能と言いますか、なかなかシステム投資をすると膨大なコストがかか ってしまうとかですね、そういったいわゆる手作業で残っているところをこのソリューション を使うとやはり自動化できるということですね。我々は保険会社ですので、契約の機関と言う のがもの凄く長いんです。50 年であったりだとか終身保険であったりだとか、そうすると、古 い契約っていうのがもの凄く一杯あってですね、これはシステム投資をすると莫大なコストが かかってしまうと。これをシステムで自動化すると無駄な費用が掛かる。そういった所で諦め

ていて、これはもう第一生命は未来を手で処理をしていくしかないなと思っていたところに、 こういったソリューションがあるということで導入して、少し諦めていたようなところも RPA を導入することによって解決することができたということかなと思います。

やっぱりあれですね、ロボットは色んなシステムを触ることが出来る、人のようにね。そうい った所が画期的なところです。

色んなシステムを動かすことができるということです。

当ソリューションを使用するとどのようなメリットがありますか?御社が機能する上でどのよ うな改善をもたらしましたか?

やっぱり直接的な効果というのはこれまで人がやっていた事務の作業をロボットがやってくれ ることになったので、その分、業務の量が削減できるということです。で、それは単に効率化 っていうだけではなくて人がやるべき仕事をもっと拡大することができる、ということかなと 思います。もう一つがやってみてやはりユーザーの実際にこれを導入している人と話をする と、もの凄くストレスが無くなる、と。我々は保険会社、金融機関ですので事務のミスとかっ ていうのはもの凄くナーバスで、何重にもチェックしないといけないとか、そういった所がこ のロボットでなくなる、とかですね。後は前処理みたいなことはロボットがやってくれてお知 らせしてくれるので、やらないといけないことを忘れない、とかですね。そういったストレス がなくなるということがそういった効果もあるのかなと思っています。

当ソリューションの安定性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか?

安定性っていう意味では、やはり色々課題があって、それは通常、普通に事務作業で我々パソ コンを触っていると、たまに原因が分からないけどフリーズしたりとか、ネットワークがたま たま繋がらないとか、そういった、この RPA が原因のものとかですね、RPA が原因じゃなく てロボットが止まるということはよくあります。だから、それは色々改善していくところもあ るんですけど、ある一定程度、そういうロボットが停止するっていうこととかは織り込んでお かないといけないことなのかなと思っています。そのためにも、やはりロボットを監視できる ツールであったり、そういったものは Automation Anywhere さんの製品にはすべて入っていま すが、そう監視できるようにしておく。止まったらすぐ分かるようにしていく。どこで作業が 終わったら、止まってしまったのがすぐ分かるようにする。そういった機能も完備されている ので、それを速やかにリカバリーする態勢を取っていく。そういうことが重要なのかなと思っ ています。

当ソリューションの拡張性に関して、どのような印象をお持ちですか?

まず、拡張性についてはですね、極めて高いんではないかなと思っています。我々もこれを導 入する当初から、あまりにもセットアップしていくのに時間がかかるっていうものだとなかな か拡大できないと思っていましたが、それを部品化することによって、要は、一度作ったもの をどんどん新しい別の業務にも適用することができるというところで、その拡張性って言うの は高い。しかもあまりエンジニア、システムエンジニアがなしでできるというところですね。 開発ではなく、そのあるルールに基づいてセットアップして行けばいい、という形になってい ますので、そういったところでは拡張性と拡張するためのコストがシステム開発するよりかな り安い、ローコストでできるんじゃないかと思っています。

このソリューションにテクニカルサポートを利用したことはありますか?ある場合は、サポー トをどのように評価しますか?

我々、Automation Anywhere さんの製品を導入しているんですけど、テクニカルサポート関係 は保守っていう面ではライセンスを Deloitte さんから経由で買ってますので、Deloitte さんに一 時的なサポートをしてもらっています。あそこにはもの凄く迅速に対応していただいています し、また Deloitte さんでは解決できないところは Automation Anywhere さんが日々、解決に当 たってくれているということです。ただ、あまりテクニカルな問題で問題になるようなことは そこまで多くないというのが印象ですね。大体、自分たちが作ったマニュアルだとかそういっ たことを読み込むと、大体解決できるということで、そこまでテクニカルな問題が発生して、 日々問い合わせをしないといけないとかですね、そういったことはあまりないです。なので、 あまり、そういった意味ではあまり活用しなくても大丈夫というようなですね。そこが IT と は、完全なシステムとは違うっていうところなのかなと思います。

初期セットアップには関与されましたか?セットアップは簡単、それとも複雑でしたか?どう いった意味で簡単、あるいは複雑でしたか?

RPA のソリューションを導入するにあたっては、目標としては自分たちでできるようになるっ て言うのが最初から目標にしていました。ただ、もちろん我々もこのソリューションには何の 知識もない状態でしたので、最初は Deloitte さんに来て頂いて、我々の第一生命に合うマニュ アル作りというのを一緒に取り組んできた。例えば、会社によっては色んな使っているシステ ムも違いますので、そういったものが第一生命で合うようにしていく、と。具体的には通常用 意されている製品のマニュアルっていうのは、このコマンドは何をするコマンドというような 書き方になっているのですけど、逆に第一生命のこのシステムを起動させるためにはこのコマ ンドを使う、とかですね。そういったマニュアルで標準化をしていくということを Deloitte さ んと一緒にやってきました。で、その作り方も Deloitte さんに教えてもらいながら、スキルト ランスファーを図っていくということです。もちろん最初は少し苦労した面もありましたが、

ただある意味 EUC でエクセルのマクロを作ったことがあるとかですね、アクセスを触ったこ とがあるとかですね、そういったことにある程度知識がある人だと、すんなりとというか、ス ムーズに入っていける。まったく EUC もやったことない人だと、やっぱり一から覚えて行か ないといけないので、少し時間がかかるかなと思います。ただ、一般的にはですね、プログラ ミングをするとかよりはずっと容易にできるのかなと思います。

当ソリューションの次のリリースに含まれていたらいいなと思うのはどのような機能ですか? また、それはなぜですか?

ソリューション自体ではないんですけど、どうしてもわれわれの事務の仕事っていうのは、朝 やりたい仕事が多くてですね。なので、これは Automation Anywhere さんともお話ししている んですけど、午前中だけ使えるライセンスとかですね。そういうのがあると、コスト的にもも っとメリットが出てくるのでは。今、24 時間動かすと、なかなか夜中にやらせる仕事があんま り少なくてですね、朝一でやりたい仕事が多くてですね。それをもっと沢山稼働できるように なれば。ボットファームなんかもあるんですけど、そういった所をもっと充実して頂ければい いかな、と思います。ここもやはり製品というよりも、安定化していく業務数が多くなってく ると何か、サーバーとかクライアントとかに、例えば停電が起こったりした時にクライアント で管理していると、全部止まってしまうとかですね、そういったリスクもありますのでロボッ トについてはバーチャルで、サーバーで管理できるようなですね、そういったことを今取り組 みを進めています。Deloitte さんに手伝っていただいたりしながらですね、クライアントを持 たずにロボットを動かすような仕掛けづくりを今、検討を進めていると言うところです。それ によって安定性もありますし、何かトラブルがあった時の堅牢性が確保できるという風に思っ ています。

パートの人を雇ってシフト勤務とかですね、そういったことが出来るといいなと思っていま す。

新しいソリューションに投資をする必要があると思ったのはどうしてですか?

まずソリューションが必要だと思ったところはやはり、我々は...さっきの話と繰り返し になりますが、契約の管理と言うのはもの凄く長期間に渡っていかないといけない、 と。そうすると、古い商品の管理って言うのも沢山あります。それを全部システム化し ていくっていうのはコスト面、その時間の面でも不可能な話なので、そういったところ をこのロボットが解決できる。逆にこの RPA でないと解決しようがないというところ ですね。そういったところが取り組めるというところがもの凄く大きい。これであれば そういったことも解決できるんではないかと思ったところです。それが、導入のきっか けです。人と同じように作業ができるというソフトウェアと言うのは、見た時はかなり 衝撃的なもので、これであればもっと生産性を高めることができるんではないかと言う 風に考えたものです。

最終的に当ソリューションを選択した理由は何ですか?

Automation Anywhere さんの製品は色々なソリューションがあると思いますが、やはり 大規模で展開している上で、さきほど質問があった拡張性ですね、サーバー撃沈を監視 できる、運用を監視できる、それか大規模に展開することに適したものかなと思ってい ます。あとは既存のシステムとの認識度合いも極めて高いということですね。今まで、

一部の例外を除いて第一生命が使っているシステムをすべて認識して触ることができる という風になっています。

このソリューションに 1 から 10 の評価(10=最高)を付けるとしたら、どのように評 価しますか?そしてその理由は何ですか?

10、と言いたいところですが、さっきの安定性の所とかでまだまだ工夫していかないといけな い所があるので、でもそれは製品だけじゃなくて我々の態勢を含めてですね、そういった意味 では 8 点。8 点から 9 点くらいです。