Saving money and time? A piece of cake!

Chat bot, automatic dispatch and FAQ recommendation, process mining, automatic anonymization of sensitive data, prediction and prevention of incidents, RPA. You name it, we either build it inhouse or sell it. 

When Visma IT & Communications started its journey towards Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning service development, it was based on our ability to:

• Fully understand the customer’s business process;
• Fully understand and be able to secure the IP rights of both the customer and us;
• Use software tools to build AI/ML services;
• Publish any type of service to a multitude of platforms.

In order for us to ensure the successful implementation of our services we established the MLPA (machine learning process automation) Framework, which represents the foundation of any successful business process automation we run.

The MLPA is ran by the business analyst, who represents the liaison between the data scientists and the customers. A business analyst has to have both technical and communication skills, so that he or she is able to explain in simple words how the machine learning services can improve our customers’ activity, making it more efficient, both in terms of time and cost. The MLPA is used to understand the automation level of the business process, as not all processes can be automated. If they are too chaotic, human driven, including too many manual steps, the first thing to do is to reorganize it. That is one of the reasons why the business analyst runs a shadowing session with the customer. This means that he or she goes on site and observes the way of working. 

Once the shadowing is done, the business analyst prepares a report that includes the analysis of the process, observations and recommendation. Based on this, the ACF (automation calculation framework) is completed. 

The ACF is a document that calculates the ROI (return of investment) on a certain amount of time. This way, the customer has a clear view not only on the business process, but also on the financial evaluation of the activity, both before and after the automation. 

After the evaluation is done and all the documentation is shared with the customer, if the customer agrees with the proposed automation recommendation, the business analyst, together with the service manager, prepares the service proposal. Once this is signed, the business analyst works closely with the data scientist to build and integrate the automation service. The business analyst becomes the single point of contact for the customer, for any request or clarification. So, the work never ends until the implementation of the automation service is not stable and reaches the level of maturity expected. 

If you have the right skills, being a business analyst can be one of the most beautiful jobs as you can never get bored. It means a lot of communication, understanding your customer needs and anticipating them. Coming up with ideas for improvement and always being there for your customers, to help them succeed in their activity. Because, as our team leader says ”a happy customer is a loyal customer”.