SMARTCAMP Co., Ltd.

Our company uses a cloud-based expense reimbursement system that integrates with credit card payment services. The Business Promotion Department now centrally submits expense claims instead of the cardholders. Previously, they manually opened each statement to update cost items, charge departments, and add approval numbers. Specifically, for advertising expenses, credit card transactions occurred at each promotion timing, with nearly 150 statements per card arriing monthly. Manually updating each statement to change or add items was time-consuming and labor intensive. However, with RK, we automated the tasks of changing charge departments and adding expense items and approval URLs.

I am part of the Business Promotion Department at BOXIL company, focused on improving the efficiency of administrative tasks within the department. We enhanced efficiency, for example, by shifting from issuing application forms in Google Docs to creating them using Google Sheets functions and GAS (Google Apps Script). To eliminate inefficiencies in the expense reimbursement process within the BOXIL company, we took over the application tasks from credit card holders. One particularly challenging task was the "change and addition of credit card items" mentioned earlier. This repetitive task required a significant amount of time and effort. While searching for a solution, we discovered KEYENCE's RK and began our evaluation. We were initially skeptical about the capabilities of RPA tools, after discussing with KEYENCE and seeing a demo our perception changed. We realized RK could improve many of our business improvement challenges, prompting us to adopt it.

In hindsight, it was a misconception, but I believed that implementing RPA would require an enormous amount of time and money. I had the impression that RPA equated to program development, thinking it would take at least six months to become practical and be too expensive. However, upon hearing more, I learned that we could automate tasks without extensive human resources or a prolonged period. I was surprised to find out that the monthly fee was reasonable and there were no additional charges.

Yes. With the free "premium support" a dedicated support person guided me through RK basics, which helped me learn scenario creation with confidence. Initially, I didn’t anticipate being able to develop a scenario after only three support sessions. Despite juggling other responsibilities, I successfully completed one scenario in about a month.

The key to scenario creation, I believe, is not trying to automate current tasks with RPA in the same way they are currently done. Use RK to automate tasks with streamlined workflows that involve repetitive processes, while leaving irregular tasks that cannot be easily streamlined to human intervention. Just doing this can lead to significant process improvements.

Another tip is to start with something simple and complete one scenario first. The completion of even a single scenario can provide significant satisfaction and inspiration. I highly recommend refining and gradually enhancing it further.

In practice, I've personally reviewed and refined scenarios I created, making improvements twice since the initial deployment. Continuously adding functionalities has significantly reduced the time spent on tasks.

As previously discussed, the process of updating and adding credit card items used to require approximately 8 hours per month. After implementing our first scenario, this was reduced to about 1-2 hours. The following month we used a refined scenario and were able to reduce the process to just 30 minutes. Next month we plan to implement a new scenario for reconciliation, anticipating even greater time savings. These efficiencies have enabled us to focus on other tasks while reducing mental and physical strain from repetitive work, previously performed hundreds of times.

It's enjoyable indeed. Developing scenarios that directly impact outcomes and achieving that sense of accomplishment when a scenario is completed fuels my motivation to refine them further and think about automating new tasks. It's also become an opportunity to regain the "joy of learning" that may have diminished after entering the workforce. I'm enjoying learning RK and applying it to improve our operations.

The appeal of RK that I've experienced firsthand includes:

1. Strong Support Capabilities for Peace of Mind

RK provides a high level of support, ensuring that whenever I encounter difficulties or new activities while creating scenarios, I can quickly get solutions. Since there is an investment involved with RK, there's naturally an expectation from the company to deliver results. With KEYENCE's support, I feel confident that I can always complete scenarios and achieve consistent outcomes.

2. Simple and Intuitive Operation

The simplicity and clarity of operation are also noteworthy highlights. For instance, using features like "Flow Navigation," I can follow on-screen prompts to automate processes efficiently up to a certain point. By combining multiple features such as "App Operations" and "Activities," I can create scenarios exactly as envisioned.

Thanks to these robust support capabilities and user-friendly interface, I've been able to create scenarios much faster than initially imagined during the implementation phase.

I'd recommend it for people who have a lot of repetitive tasks, routine tasks, and manual data entry jobs.

I used to work in hospital consulting. It's often said this industry lags behind when it comes to digital technology in the healthcare sector, and I felt this was true when I saw many analog routine tasks such as visual inspection, reading insurance cards, and data entry still being done in hospitals. I believe RK could significantly improve these processes.

It plays a pivotal role as a tool for business improvement. Additionally, the support team at KEYENCE is approachable, much like consulting with colleagues within the company, making them akin to "another member helping with business improvement." Moving forward, I'd like to continue utilizing RK effectively for various business improvements.

While tackling various business improvements, my goal is to automate tasks wherever efficiency gains are feasible. I'd like to expand the use of RK to other departments within our company and ideally receive requests from them in the future for automating specific tasks.

Since there are still many features of RK that I'm not familiar with, I anticipate continuing to seek advice from KEYENCE. I rely on your support and look forward to your continued cooperation as a partner in driving business improvement initiatives forward.