The cost and time implications of either replacing finance legacy systems or more integrated traditional automation solutions at the current time was not a viable option for time and cost reasons, which is why RPA has been identified as a relatively quick automation solution. The implementation has enabled the organisation to refocus the roles of some individuals in the team into higher value activity.

As part of the implementation process, staff engagement has been a key priority, with recognition that automation would raise some concerns around job security. To address these concerns the finance team have systematically:

• involved all affected staff right from the start of the process
• shared RPA demos and workshops with all staff
• aimed to build consensus and buy in to the implementation at ground level
• consistently communicated likely impacts at every stage of the process
• identified new opportunities for individuals to build new skills in RPA over the medium term
• identified new opportunities to transfer skills to added value finance work
• facilitated the relationships between finance and IT to aid smooth implementation
• socialised RPA implementation across other teams to garner further buy in