Raising your game by automating processes is easier than it sounds, with Forrester and Aon

Niamh (FlowForma)00:00

Hello and welcome to today's webinar, Raising Your Game by Automating Processes Is Easier Than It Sounds. FlowForma is the host of today's webinar, and with me I have Forrester's vice president and principal analyst John R. Rymer, and Robbie Molloy, product manager at Aon. The webinar is being recorded, your lines will be muted, and you can use the Q&A function to ask questions, which we'll answer at the end.

Niamh (FlowForma)00:59

John is vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, serving application development and delivery professionals. He's one of the most respected advisors in the IT industry and leads Forrester's coverage of cloud platforms and low-code platforms. Robbie is product manager at Aon, where he manages all in-house applications. He's been at Aon for over four years, and his main areas are SQL, SharePoint and FlowForma process automation. John and Robbie, would you like to get started?

John R. Rymer01:45

Delighted to be with you. Let me set the stage for Robbie's experiences by sharing what we've been seeing in our research. The focus is process automation and digital customer experience. Digital customer experience has had a lot of investment since about 2009 or 2010, as organizations apply technology to make customer experiences more productive, immediate, smart and pleasurable. That has led to a focus on the front end: the mobile app, the web app, the omni-channel approach.

John R. Rymer03:04

Here's the problem. Behind those front ends are loads of operational processes, sometimes hundreds or thousands. We haven't focused as much on those, so when we hit an unexpected condition that has to be resolved by people scurrying around in the background, the customer experience literally falls apart. You see it in retail with warranties and returns, and in services organizations with scheduling and parts. It happens routinely.

John R. Rymer04:16

So we're seeing a big focus among our clients on process automation. And it's not the big BPM processes of the past. It's the hundreds and thousands of small processes that affect the customer's experience or the ability to do business.

John R. Rymer04:36

Here's some good news. We surveyed process professionals last year and asked what their priorities are for process improvement, now and in two years. Digital business transformation rises to the top; people have shifted their focus from cost reduction to their digital presence. The problem: we ran the same survey two years earlier, in 2016, and got exactly the same results. We understand as a community that we need to automate these operational processes, but we're not progressing fast enough.

John R. Rymer05:50

The first thing we have to recognize is that central IT and central application development teams cannot provide the software we need to automate these operational processes. They're tied down keeping the core business applications alive. They just don't have the capacity to take on dozens or hundreds more projects every year.

John R. Rymer06:49

So we'll have to tackle this with other people and other approaches. Either the business people who know those processes and the data deliver the applications themselves, or they get help from someone embedded in their business unit, not reporting into a central function. It's a real change in how software is delivered, but we don't see any other way. And business people aren't professional developers, so they need a different set of tools.

John R. Rymer07:56

This is where what we call low-code comes into play, and if you don't like the term, you can blame me, because I coined it. Our large annual survey of professional developers shows many already use low-code products, and a big focus of that use is business process and workflow automation. Low-code has been very successful as a foundation for automating these operational processes, and lots of business people beyond that group are using it too.

John R. Rymer09:45

A hopeful note: in that developer survey, developers using low-code are much more focused on customer experience, growing revenue and driving innovation. Companies are beginning to recognize that low-code, and a more decentralized way of organizing, can achieve results. Let's switch over to Robbie, who has a very instructive experience at a very large company you've all heard of: Aon.

Niamh (FlowForma)11:13

Thanks, John. We know our audience loves hearing customer stories, so it was important to invite Aon today. Robbie has a really interesting story about how Aon is raising its game by automating processes.

John R. Rymer11:53

Robbie, it would help to understand a little about Aon and your role there.

Robbie Molloy12:07

Aon is one of the largest insurance companies in the world, in about 120 countries, with 500 offices and somewhere in the range of 50,000 employees. In Ireland there are about 700 employees across five sites, and I'm product manager for all those sites. I support all the in-house applications, SharePoint, SQL and FlowForma; basically anything application-related comes through me. I've been at Aon just over four years, the last two as product manager, and before that I was in desktop support. I have a computer systems degree and about ten years in IT support.

John R. Rymer13:13

Tell us about the pain points. It sounds like you were working very closely with the business.

Robbie Molloy13:42

Across all areas of the business there were a lot of processes, but no standard way to keep track of information, insurers and brokers. Different people recorded it in different ways, on Excel spreadsheets or on paper, which in this day and age is a worry. We needed a centralized location for that information. As an insurance company there's a lot of compliance and audit, and potential risk if information isn't available. Losing contractor information, for example, can be a big issue. Knowing it's readily available to anyone who needs it brings our brokers a great deal of relief.

Robbie Molloy15:16

Company-wide there would certainly be hundreds or thousands of these processes. From my point of view, there were a few key processes we really needed to lock down with a proper system.

John R. Rymer15:40

You work with SQL Server and SharePoint. How did you come to use FlowForma, and how does it fit your portfolio?

Robbie Molloy15:58

We use SharePoint fairly heavily, with lots of different sites. When we looked for a process automation tool, FlowForma was one of the main ones that came up. In the demo we saw how easy it was to build flows within our SharePoint environment. It didn't require us to buy huge amounts of infrastructure; we could slot it into the systems we had, and it gave us much greater control. SharePoint isn't the best for workflows, so FlowForma's customization options were great. It checked all the boxes.

John R. Rymer17:05

And you've achieved those goals without coding at all?

Robbie Molloy17:19

Because it's built into SharePoint, I haven't done any code. I've built 20 to 30-plus flows at this stage, with no coding whatsoever. It's very easy to design the flows, and the designer in FlowForma makes it extremely easy to make them work.

John R. Rymer17:45

You come from a technical background. Some people look at tools where you don't have to code and say they're just for toys, and that for serious applications you need programming languages. I assume you disagree?

Robbie Molloy18:15

In our Dublin office, one of my colleagues is a project manager with no IT background, and he built one of our more advanced forms from scratch. It does a very good job for what he needs. People can be turned away by the idea of a no-code system, but it's so easy to use, and you definitely don't need an IT background. These are serious applications, not toys. We're running real business processes on it.

John R. Rymer19:08

Let's look at some of the processes you've automated with FlowForma.

Robbie Molloy19:19

One of the first was onboarding and offboarding for all new hires and leavers. With confidential information involved, when someone leaves, the right people have to be notified so their application and folder access is removed. FlowForma gives us an easy way to notify the right people, with approvals where an application needs them. The main thing was audit: if auditors came on site and asked about someone who left on a given date, we need to show the request was logged and their access removed as scheduled.

Robbie Molloy20:16

GDPR has been a major issue in the EU in the last year, so we built a flow where every GDPR request coming into the company is logged through FlowForma and notifies the business team that needs to handle it. We also have insurer amendments: if we need to amend, approve or create insurers, the request goes through FlowForma to the right people in each business unit to approve or reject, and approved changes are implemented in our main applications.

Robbie Molloy21:21

The other main one is what we call the subcontractor process, our insurer vetting system. We offer clients a way of keeping track of all the contractors on site, the builders and people doing actual work, so the client knows they're insured and have the relevant cover for the work. If a contractor without insurance is on site and someone gets hurt, that opens up a big liability.

John R. Rymer22:12

Let's drill into that one. Different contractors show up to construction sites every day on different schedules, and if you can't verify they're insured, they can't work and the work stops. It's a critical process for Aon, isn't it?

Robbie Molloy23:07

Absolutely. Our clients couldn't risk having someone on site without the correct insurance. If someone turns up and they're not 100% sure, they log on to the portal. If the contractor has the insurance, they're good to go. If not, they're sent away, because it opens up too much risk.

John R. Rymer23:44

And without this flow, people would get on the phone and try to hunt down someone who knew the situation?

Robbie Molloy23:58

Exactly. You'd be ringing up hoping that person had the information, and some of these people deal with a lot of contractors, so even finding it can be difficult, especially on paper. It could take a day to find, and that's a day the work potentially has to stop. Now a few people at the client have access, the builders ask them, and they have immediate access. The views in FlowForma are designed specifically for the client, so it's one click to the information they need.

John R. Rymer25:24

How long did it take you to build that process?

Robbie Molloy25:30

The first one probably took a couple of days. Now I've built some of these in less than a day. What takes the most time isn't building it; it's figuring out exactly what they're looking for: who needs to be notified, which emails, all the different steps. Once they know what they want, it's a lot easier. I built one last week in less than a day and it was fully functional and ready for the client.

John R. Rymer26:20

That's the point about companies having hundreds or thousands of these processes. If you can automate one in under a day, you've got a fighting chance. If it's a typical six-month or year-long project, you don't have a prayer.

Robbie Molloy26:50

There have been times I've had a request for a site ASAP, locked myself away in a room for a day, and the next day it's pretty much ready to go. A few little pieces might change, but the core functionality is there.

John R. Rymer27:08

Does being able to work so quickly help with the requirements dialogue, by showing people a prototype?

Robbie Molloy27:43

Definitely. Even if it's not 100% functional, it shows them exactly how the flow would work, a day or two later while it's fresh in their minds. They test it themselves and come back with changes, and a lot of the time they say, 'I hadn't even thought about adding this question.' It lets them focus on exactly what they're looking for rather than a vague idea.

Robbie Molloy28:39

These are screenshots from one of the contractor sites, with the client's details hidden for security. This client deals with a lot of construction, and they wanted to see compliant contractors, non-compliant contractors, active policies, expired policies and sites. Those are the views we built. If the client sees green and compliant, that person is good to work and nobody needs to ask questions. A non-compliant contractor shows as a red row.

Robbie Molloy30:08

There's also a view by site, so the client can check site A and see everyone who is active or expired without searching all contractors. Non-compliant contractors always have a comment explaining why, so the client knows immediately why that contractor can't go on site. You can click into the flow for more, but that view is everything they need to say yes or no.

John R. Rymer30:58

This is the view at the gate, then. Do we let them onto the site to work or don't we, decided quickly. Excellent.

John R. Rymer31:10

Robbie, anything you'd add before we go to questions? When I hear experiences like yours, I get hopeful we can actually tackle this challenge.

Robbie Molloy31:35

I'm happy to talk about this, because FlowForma made my life a lot easier. Having these processes in place is incredibly important, and from an IT and audit point of view, knowing the information is readily available has helped me a lot, and it's certainly helped the business. I spend a lot of my time building sites these days. It's taken over as one of my main roles.

Niamh (FlowForma)32:19

We have quite a few questions. Robbie, what's your advice for organizations looking to automate processes?

Robbie Molloy33:03

We often get people who want a process automated without much detail on what they want. So sit down face to face and have a good talk about exactly what the process is. Document all the steps they currently do, see if any can be cut out through automation, and find the people who need to be in the loop. It will always evolve: you create a mock-up and they want to add things. We recently met a client who had been asking for changes over email, and the face-to-face meeting was far more productive.

John R. Rymer34:13

Do you find it helps to have people with a business background working on these projects?

Robbie Molloy34:38

Absolutely. I come from IT, so there are things I have no idea about, like various insurer processes. Someone who knows how FlowForma works and understands the business can explain how it should work, and then I can make it happen. Sometimes it's more important for the business to be involved itself. We've had systems pushed to us that clearly didn't consider the end user. The idea is to make life easier for everybody, and if we just dictate without consulting the business, it won't work.

Niamh (FlowForma)36:38

John, who is best placed in an organization to own the digital transformation agenda and focus on customer outcomes?

John R. Rymer36:56

The people who own the operational processes. They know the data, the processes and the outcomes they're looking for. If they lead, whether they build the applications themselves or get help, you get automation that really makes a difference. I've seen that consistently over four or five years. And groups with 'operations' in their name, sales ops or field ops, tend to be last on central IT's priority list. They've got the knowledge, so give them the right platform and the right support.

Niamh (FlowForma)38:26

Robbie, how did Aon prioritize which processes to automate?

Robbie Molloy38:42

Onboarding and offboarding was one of the first, because tracking new hires and leavers was extremely important from an audit point of view. The contractor sites were another early idea, because a lot of clients need that information regularly. Now I get a lot of requests, so it's case by case. Sometimes a request is urgent; sometimes it goes on the list. Business units are often relaxed and happy to review a mock-up in a couple of weeks.

Niamh (FlowForma)40:13

John, how important is it to engage customers and suppliers in our processes, and should we be doing it now?

John R. Rymer40:29

Yes. Look at companies that really do this well, with customer experiences customers love, like the Netflixes of the world. They engage customers routinely in testing new features. Enterprises have typically been much more inwardly focused. But if you have the people who will actually use the software in the room, including end customers and B2B partners, you're much more likely to produce software they'll use. I view it as pay me now or pay me later: get the feedback while it can still influence the software, or deal with breakdowns afterward.

Niamh (FlowForma)42:16

Robbie, did you and your team need training to automate these processes in FlowForma?

Robbie Molloy42:30

Not really. The first flow was onboarding and offboarding, and it's so easy to use that you don't need much training. I did a FlowForma course after that first build to learn some of the more advanced features, which helped with the more advanced sites, but the easier flows you can build without any formal training.

Niamh (FlowForma)43:16

John, someone from an enterprise-sized organization is asking whether low-code and no-code solutions are for them.

John R. Rymer43:33

Absolutely. Our research over four or five years shows low-code is a really big deal in large enterprises, and recent findings show these products are being used for very challenging applications: applications subject to compliance, with strict availability requirements, no downtime and no data loss. Aon is a huge company, and Robbie started with very critical processes. Robbie, you haven't described any limits.

Robbie Molloy45:41

There aren't any as far as I'm concerned. Any processes that aren't on FlowForma yet, I'm happy to get them there. It gives us a central platform, our clients are very happy with the sites we've built, and more clients are coming on every day.

Niamh (FlowForma)46:12

Robbie, how has FlowForma enhanced what you could do compared with SharePoint alone?

Robbie Molloy46:18

SharePoint works fine for basic document management and pages, and it has a workflow process, but I've never found it particularly good. The customization we get with FlowForma is far better than anything we had, and it let us build the flows we needed. It made the business's jobs easier, which made my job easier.

Niamh (FlowForma)47:25

Have you integrated FlowForma with any of the other apps you use at Aon?

Robbie Molloy47:41

We have different flows doing different tasks, but if you mean something like CRM, there isn't any integration as of right now. It may be something we look at in the future.

Niamh (FlowForma)48:07

What are the next processes you'll tackle with FlowForma?

Robbie Molloy48:17

A couple more contractor sites, including one I'm building on Monday for a client demo, and upgrades to an existing client site after a good meeting last week. I'm also building an internal transfer site for HR, for anyone moving between business units with different applications and access; an error reporting and complaints site for anyone who notices an issue on site, including health and safety; and an IT incident site to track troublesome applications and infrastructure, so we can show management where we need more resources.

John R. Rymer50:04

On integration with CRM and other applications: Robbie hasn't gone there yet, but many have. Building applications that interact with or draw data from a variety of enterprise apps, presenting it in new ways or overlaying core applications with new processes, is a very common use case for low-code.

Niamh (FlowForma)50:50

Thanks, John. We're reaching the end of our hour, so if your question wasn't answered, we'll contact you directly. As next steps, you can book a live demo of FlowForma, or ask for one of our experts to call you back, and you can download our ebook on six ways to automate your processes and accelerate digital transformation. Thank you, John and Robbie, and thanks, everyone, for attending.