Marston Holdings has made significant investments in the development of robotic and automated solutions that drive productivity efficiencies and improve the delivery of customer service in the workplace. The acquisition in 2019 of Logic Valley, a software developer specialising in artificial intelligence and mobile applications, gives us a unique in-house capability and demonstrates our leading position in the industry sectors in which we operate.

Robotic process automation is at the heart of our digital workforce solutions. It enables us to automate repetitive high volume, time consuming and rules-based processes to dramatically increase business performance and deliver a consistent and accurate level of service. Using software robots, commonly referred to as bots, tasks can be executed independently, without human intervention, freeing up employees to focus their attention on more valuable business priorities. This automation also reduces the incidence of human error as well as ensuring data security and compliance.

We have already deployed bots across our operations as part of a Digital Workforce platform that is now in daily use by over 96% of clients that use our business process outsourcing services. This platform is an essential component of our end-to-end BPO services and enables significant operational cost savings to be achieved.

We have also developed dashboards that make it easier for people to interact with the bots which are visualised using graphic representations. Our Digital Workforce solution also provides an efficient way of pre-processing data before handing over to a person to review and make the final decision. We have also integrated chat functionality enabling people to interact with the bots in a more natural way.

Our Digital Workforce solution is also used at our customer contact centres to provide automated help desk capabilities and log calls.

Bots are now an essential part of our BPO services and are being used to enhance the handling of a number of key processes including:

• HPI request processing to help with vehicle clamping
• Regulating and policing ANPR Case assignment requests
• Reviewing and managing case returns from EAs
• Generating time consuming reports for team leaders and management
• Monitoring and reporting on compliance of Body Worn Video usage

The power of robotic process automation is further enhanced by complementary AI technologies including image recognition, voice recognition and natural language processing. Used in combination, this can deliver hyperautomation, one of the fastest growing areas of the technology industry which, according to Gartner, is on course to be worth $2.4 billion in 2022.