My colleague, the bot: How bots make your job (even) more attractive Robot Process Automation (RPA) is an automation technology for business processes. Bots take over repetitive, rule-based and manual process steps – and thus take the burden of employees. They are left with more time for challenging tasks.

RPA is therefore part of the digital transformation that accompanies everyday work at qwe. One of the aims is to automate and standardize the processes under the hood. So that human colleagues have more time for other activities. "We provide very specific support to teams and departments in outsourcing rather repetitive activities to customized bots," s describing the task. "So RPA doesn't make people redundant, but gives them freedom. Departments that use this option quickly notice: bots increase job satisfaction."

In fact, bots usually take over only a small section in complex processes – and the rather monotonous part at that. For example, they can insert data from one program into another, analyze or review data, generate reports and send them via e-mail. The costs are usually manageable and pay for themselves quickly. In the pilot project for qwe, the bot took over administrative tasks, eliminating about ten minutes of manual work per day for each employee involved.

The bot creates a report on order items with negative contribution margins, sends it to the responsible parties and ensures ICS-compliant documentation. "Automating repetitive process steps helps us so we can focus on what's important – our customers" .

Bots for all kinds of applications These advantages – reducing effort and avoiding errors – also apply to other bots that the Digital Technology Office has implemented. The KULA bot, for example, has its sights set on the customer facility in e-commerce. It reads and analyzes an Excel file, checks the data in SAP and takes care of data maintenance. After it has created a customer in SAP Hybris, it generates a progress report.

It first checks which certificates are missing, sends e-mails to the suppliers and assigns the certificates received to the operations. The responsible employees then receive a message. "These examples clearly show how versatile RPA can be used."

Collaborative in-house development across several levels The bots are developed in close collaboration between the Digital Technology Office of Materials Services and colleagues from qwe . The Digital Technology Office acts as the interface to the business where the bots will be used and defines with them what the actual requirements are. The development and operation of the bots is handled by our colleagues from qwe . "Together with the DTO, we have started to automate processes at Materials Services. The DTO is the internal contact and forms the interface between business and developer. The experts from qwe develop and support the bots in line with customer requirements.

Anyone who has a use case for a bot can contact the teams. "Anyone who can spontaneously think of a process that would be suitable for automation is welcome to contact us." The Digital Technology Office supports departments throughout the RPA lifecycle, from defining a target process to implementing the bot and providing maintenance services. Good news for the impatient: bots are usually operational in about three months.