The Year of Efficiency Part 2: How Your Technology Company Can Leverage Automation To Do More With Less

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Cherry Bekaert Technology Podcast. My name is Jerry Hereden, and I'm pleased to host the latest episode in a brief series about the Year of Efficiency.

As tech and business leaders seek efficiencies across their organizations, they need solutions to reduce costs and make informed decisions quickly. So far in this series, you've heard members of our accounting advisory team discuss process improvements for accounting departments.

Today I am joined by two colleagues, Tertius Eksteen and Pamela Butler. We are part of Cherry Bekaert's digital advisory practice, where we provide clients strategic and tactical support to drive digital transformation. Tertius, Pamela, thanks for joining me today.

TERTIUS EKSTEEN:
Thanks, Jerry. I'm looking forward to our discussion.

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
Let's jump right in. I'd like us to share real examples of how technology companies are optimizing their business and doing more with less. Many in our audience are familiar with the pressure to make processes more efficient, automate as much as possible, and sometimes do this with reduced staff. Tertius, can you give a high-level overview of what robotic process automation, or RPA, is?

TERTIUS EKSTEEN:
RPA is a solution businesses use to automate repetitive tasks and processes. It mimics human actions such as clicking buttons, entering data, and processing documents in the background.

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
How does RPA help organizations on a digital transformation journey?

TERTIUS EKSTEEN:
There are four main benefits. First, it increases efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, saving time and money. Second, it improves accuracy by reducing human error in activities like data entry, which supports long-term compliance.

Third, it provides flexibility and agility. Fourth, it improves scalability so RPA can adjust to increased or decreased business activity in ways a human user cannot.

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
Do you have any success stories about how RPA has been used to improve customer operations?

TERTIUS EKSTEEN:
Yes. We are working on a solution for a telemedicine company using MuleSoft RPA to automate and enhance the precision and efficiency of manual invoicing and accounts payable processes. These processes currently rely on spreadsheets and take up to 60 minutes a day, creating a bottleneck in billing and a single point of failure.

The company was also concerned that one individual managed all the data, so vacations caused delays. The new solution will significantly reduce processing time. We anticipate a 90 percent reduction in time while improving accuracy and compliance, and the company will be able to run these processes outside regular work hours if needed.

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
That's a substantial reduction. Let's talk about efficiencies with Salesforce tools, starting with a self-service portal. Pamela, can you explain what this is and how it helps customers?

PAMELA BUTLER:
A strong community and knowledge base help companies keep call volume low so agents can focus on more complex or urgent cases. Self-service options empower customers to find solutions independently, which reduces support costs and enhances customer satisfaction.

Salesforce provides a seamless experience for customers and agents through a self-service portal. It creates a personalized experience where customers can access a knowledge base for frequently asked questions, be guided to external links, submit cases, and track case progress. Cases can be routed internally and notify designated support representatives.

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
That sounds like it enables faster issue resolution and gives customers more control over interactions. What if a question isn't answered through the knowledge base?

PAMELA BUTLER:
Chatbots can be configured to respond instantly to common inquiries or route chats to available agents using Omnichannel. Omnichannel is Salesforce's intelligent routing tool that assigns work based on skills, agent workload, and availability, managing agent capacity so no one becomes overloaded.

Omnichannel supports multiple channels—phone, email, chat, social media, and SMS—allowing customers to interact via their preferred channel. If customers switch channels during an interaction, Omnichannel preserves context and history to ensure a seamless handoff.

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
What if an agent isn't available because a question arises during nonworking hours?

PAMELA BUTLER:
If a customer submits a case through the self-service portal or a chatbot, a case can be created and assigned to a queue or an individual to be handled when they become available. Priorities can be set and notifications sent to appropriate individuals, all defined by business-process criteria based on the customer's interaction.

When the case is created within the Service Console, all case details can be tracked on one page, including service-level agreements, milestones, prioritization, and escalation. Customer details such as contact information, related records, and recommended knowledge articles appear in one place. Einstein Recommendations, an Einstein-powered AI feature, enables custom suggestions of knowledge articles based on case data so agents can quickly share relevant information with customers.

There is much more functionality that can streamline processes and reduce manual work within Salesforce, and Cherry Bekaert is available to walk through these capabilities in more detail with tech companies that want to explore them.

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
What are the next steps for someone who realizes this kind of solution could benefit their company or who wants to learn more?

TERTIUS EKSTEEN:
We offer a free design workshop to help companies assess potential Salesforce or MuleSoft RPA solutions. During the workshop, we identify problem areas in current processes and explore how Salesforce or MuleSoft RPA can automate tasks and improve efficiency. Contact information is available in the show notes or by visiting cbh.com/digital.

HOST: JERRY HEREDEN:
Thank you for the discussion today. This is just scratching the surface of how companies can do more with less by leveraging technology. You and your team clearly have a wealth of knowledge. We appreciate you tuning in to the Cherry Bekaert Technology Podcast.

ANNOUNCER:
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