| | MAY 20198CIOReviewRapidly evolving digital technologies are enabling many new business models as well as operating efficiencies which afford leaders multiple options to solve their customers' pain points. At Mercer, we faced a similar situation. In 2016, we created a digital technology transformation vision and a set of strategies to better understand and leverage our data, explore new technologies like AI and Cognitive Automation, grow our business, and focus on client experience. We established our Technology Garage to unpack and apply these new technologies, experimenting in house and co-creating with vendor partners and startups along the way. We also launched Knowledge Fabric, our big data platform and a process automation-ready operating environment, to allow our data scientists to interrogate our data to extract valuable insights. Important key learnings emerged from our journey with Cognitive Automation as we experimented with real-world projects of various scale, engaging with a variety of technologies, partners and clients. We focused on three areas of CA, and it helps to think of them in terms of the business needs they can address:RPA (Robotic Process Automation), a cost-efficiency program to help automate various repetitive back-end administrative processes, freeing employees to attend to more complex tasksAI (through machine learning algorithms and data and analytics), to help gain insights and offer solutions to business problemsNLP (Natural Language Processing), conversational systems and virtual assistants, to help engage with employees and clientsApplying RPA and machine learning to our clients' and business processes' pain points has been critical to our journey. We started by establishing a data platform (data ingestion) to connect data across external (i.e. from social media) and internal systems (like CRM). We also created algorithmic services to connect to and enrich our automation processes, resulting in several predictive algorithms for client retention, through BI tools and data visualization. While this particular project has been implemented by our in-house team, we have extended our journey to financial and health-related algorithms through partnerships with external vendors. Starting internally helped us jump start our conversation with vendors and know what to look for. THE NEW EDGE: UNPACKING COGNITIVE AUTOMATIONBy Gail Evans, Global Chief Digital Officer, MercerIN MYOPINION
< Page 7 | Page 9 >