4 Key Ways Our Intelligent Automation Platform Drove Economic Impact
Is intelligent automation worth it?
That’s one of the primary questions you’re probably asking when considering our intelligent automation solutions or building an intelligent automation business case. And while we can easily tell you our solution works, it’s always more effective to show you.
We commissioned a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study to provide thoroughly researched insights to aid in your decision-making process with a clear impact. Let’s walk through the top four insights we’ve uncovered.
Download the 5-page summary to learn more about our top-level insights.
What is the TEI Study?
Forrester Consulting conducted a Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study in 2024, commissioned by SS&C Blue Prism, and examined the potential economic impact enterprises may realize by deploying SS&C Blue Prism’s intelligent automation (IA).
The TEI is Forrester’s proven, consistent methodology that helps you evaluate the potential financial impact of SS&C Blue Prism’s IA platform. It looks at the strategic benefits of integrating robotic process automation (RPA) and business process management (BPM) into a single, coordinated IA approach.
Why intelligent automation?
Work is changing, and so are the expectations of customers, employees, stakeholders and business leaders. That’s why more organizations are evolving their approach to use a fully integrated, unified intelligent automation solution from a single vendor.
Intelligent automation (IA), a combination of cognitive technologies that together can streamline and optimize business processes and decision-making, including RPA, BPM, artificial intelligence (AI) including generative AI (gen AI), process intelligence, no-code development, natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML), to offer strategic business value.
Key Findings of Forrester TEI Study
#1 Beyond productivity
73% of the value received is attributed to revenue growth.
The most value received from intelligent automation is from revenue growth (73% of the value received), which in the composite company model representative of interviewed customers, is incremental revenue growth of 5.4% CAGR over a three-year period.
While cost reduction continues to be important to decision-makers, we believe this study shows the value of our intelligent automation platform has grown beyond this and shifted to more strategic business benefits. Organizations can see real, sustained, long-term success from intelligent automation programs — success that’s more strategic and able to make investors and other stakeholders more confident, and enhance the overall value of the organization.
This goes in line with the majority of interviewees' goals, where 76% of respondents consider business growth to be the most strategic objective they expect IA to impact in the next two years.
We started very much cost- and productivity-focused. The focus now is: ‘How can this drive a better customer experience [and lead to] a better strategic advantage?
Financial Services
Head of automation
#2 Powerful alone, but transformational together
65% of organizations cite extended value across more/larger (potentially cross-departmental) end-to-end processes as the biggest benefit from a unified RPA and BPM orchestration solution, as part of a single vendor software program.
The findings also reveal that half of respondents have or are planning to bring RPA and BPM together into one IA platform. And respondents from organizations implementing both said the average operational efficiency improvement is nearly 8%.
Integrating multiple components of SS&C Blue Prism’s intelligent automation solution creates more opportunities for change, and when more processes can be transformed, greater strategic value is generated, across the organization.
This is because when used together, they can improve the effectiveness of your intelligent automation initiatives exponentially. A few other benefits we’re bringing through this integration include centralized control, improved real-time analytics and reporting and increased flexibility.
“[Having] visibility into the process for each team member [is helpful]. … [Call-takers] having the ability to pull up all of the claim documents in one place and [being] able to see how they’re being worked as well as the letters being sent out at the appropriate time just made a big difference.”
VP of operations
#3 Value that translates into tangible, rapid ROI
330% return on investment (ROI) over three years.
Not only that, but Forrester’s TEI study also calculated payback in less than six months.
This illustrates the substantial payoff of investing in intelligent automation, dispelling misconceptions about its complexity and duration — often associated with digital transformation projects today.
With SS&C Blue Prism IA, you can receive the benefits within the first few months. And it doesn’t stop there — the value then continues to compound and grow. Before using our IA platform, interviewees mainly stated that their organizations relied on manual tasks such as spreadsheets, data entry and macros. This wasted time, increased operational costs and errors and left customers and employees feeling unsatisfied.
Now, many of these organizations have been able to implement IA to free up their employees from manual tasks, increase revenue, and yield a higher return on their technology investment.
“[Our] know-your-customer process is probably one of our biggest cases to date because we took a process from 16 to 17 days down to two days. … It has eliminated a lot of reputational damage. It brought more confidence in the customer with what we provide them as far as services. That indirectly impacts sustainability and retention with the customers.”
Financial Services
Managing director of automation
In many cases, we believe that with our intelligent automation solution you get more than what you sow, meaning that intelligent automation investment is one of the best strategic decisions for digital transformation that yields more returns than you might expect.
#4 Strategic automation for strategic growth
65% of responders stated IA has become a strategic initiative, 63% says it’s now overseen by business management.
Five years ago, organizations primarily saw automation as a tactical solution to operational challenges. Now they consider intelligent automation to be a strategic solution to key business challenges such as revenue growth and customer experience transformation.
This shift underscores the broader significance of intelligent automation. It goes beyond mere enhancements in efficiency and cost reduction; it signifies its evolution into a more strategic approach, a transformation that is evidently yielding results in the real world.
The mistake most companies made in the beginning was looking at FTE saves uniquely. There’s just so much more involved, and a lot is intangible. The biggest takeaway for me is to provide accurate, concise information in a timely manner to improve productivity, customer retention and a lot of other things.
Financial Services
Managing director of automation
Other Key Findings to Highlight from Forrester TEI
The study goes into so much more, and here are a few other notable financial analysis highlights for the composite model organization Forrester constructed based on customer interviews:
- Business growth - $50.3 million
- Improved productivity - $12.7 million
- Improved employee experience/retention - $4.2 million
- Compliance cost avoidance - $2.4 million
- Incremental revenue growth - 7.8% in year 3
- Net present value of investment - $53.4 million
The standout insight: This study truly showed the large transformational benefits of combining RPA with BPM orchestration. The model organization developed and used in this study is a case in point.
- The expected impact of intelligent automation on revenue growth over the next two years for those with only RPA is 6.5% — but with RPA and BPM together — it’s 7.8%
- Similar findings were made for the impact on customer satisfaction over the next two years. With only RPA it was 6.3% — with RPA and BPM together — it’s 8%.
What is the total economic impact methodology/model?
Forrester Consulting took a multistep approach to evaluate the business impact of SS&C Blue Prism’s IA platform. This included interviews with subject matter experts and five SS&C Blue Prism customers, and an online study with 166 decision-makers globally.
The TEI methodology also included the examination of the full range of intelligent automation benefits for organizations, the construction of a financial model, and the creation of a composite organization based on characteristics of interviewed customers’ organizations and survey respondents, plus a complete ROI value calculation.
Start Building a Detailed Business Case with Forrester TEI
So, how does your automation program measure up? If you’re only receiving productivity benefits from your current automation program, you’re leaving the majority of its value on the table!
And if you’re not automating … then what are you waiting for? Embracing intelligent automation isn’t just about cost-cutting anymore; it’s the strategic imperative that’s defining a new era of organizational competitiveness.
Download the full study for in-depth insights into the value of SS&C Blue Prism’s intelligent automation.
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