How Ramirent sped up invoice processing by 56% with Robocorp

The European equipment rental leader was an early adopter of Gen1 RPA to manage invoice exception processing activities. But when the slow and pricey technology could not complete these complex processes reliably and within tight timeframes, Ramirent turned to Robocorp.

56%

Faster processing

90%

Automation success rate

Improved

Accuracy vs. manual processing

"Robocorp gave us the tools, speed, and dependability we need to automate our non-P.O. invoices quickly and accurately so our finance team can focus on more strategic work." - Camila Ohl, Head of RPA at Ramirent

Introduction

Ramirent helps customers gear up on safety and efficiency by delivering great equipment and smooth service with a smile.

Ramirent, a Loxam company, is a leading equipment rental firm that provides services to construction, consumer, and other industries. They manage one of the largest equipment fleets – with 3,000 employees at 300 customer centers across 9 countries in Northern and Eastern Europe. The company’s portfolio comprises access equipment, heavy machinery, site modules and equipment, safety equipment, electrical and heating systems, and related services.

The Problem

Slow processing and gaps in automation

 Ramirent chose a popular Gen1 RPA vendor to automate various activities, including complex “Non-Purchase Order Invoice” processing. The bot interfaced with Basware Alusta, Microsoft Excel, and a Text reader to open, review, process, and route invoices that lacked purchase orders (PO). Here is the process:

  • Receive invoices from vendors in Basware Alusta invoicing system
  • Open and review any invoices that are missing purchase orders (PO)
  • Check the invoice header and row data for missing information
  • Cross-reference data from Excel and write the location, project code, and account number to invoices if needed
  • Stamp the invoice with the robot’s initials and save the file
  • Route completed non-PO invoices to Ramirent’s regular invoice processing workflow or set exceptions aside to address manually.

The company ran into several issues. The Gen1 RPA solution was slow, which caused processing delays and additional costs. When Google Chrome updated, their bot would frequently break. It was also difficult to pinpoint the cause of exceptions due to a lack of detailed logs.

The Solution

Ramirent searched for an alternate RPA solution that could deliver higher performance for their complex non-PO invoice work. With a robust Python-based open-source framework for building bots, and the ability to accelerate tasks with parallel processing, Robocorp became Ramirent’s partner of choice.

Getting started

At the time, Ramirent struggled with staffing levels and a high turnover rate. Most of the company’s automation team was familiar with only UI-based, drag-and-drop automation tools. After just a few sessions with Robocorp’s supportive onboarding team and 24/7 support tools – the Ramirent team was able to build dynamic digital workers with easy-to-use Python code and quickly convert their mission-critical bot to Robocorp.

The features Ramirent needs

Flexible bots.

Our customer can create, reuse, and extend code across multiple bots and developers. Open-source Python / Robot Framework-based tools give users a composable way to build, copy, and extend automations through centralized libraries and keywords. This eliminates the need to rebuild the same functions repeatedly, accelerates development, and lowers maintenance overhead.

Durable bots.

Multi-channel automation improves processing accuracy and reduces maintenance by automating deeper into application layers (UI, locators, API, Data) to make automations more flexible and durable. This helps eliminate “broken bot syndrome.”

Accelerated speeds.

Parallel processing breaks large workloads into smaller work items, so jobs process much faster and without limits. The company uses consumption-based pricing, so the quicker the items process, the less they spend.

Scale on-demand.

Our client can adjust their digital workforce up and down - either in the cloud or on-premises - without runtime limits or licensing overhead.

Performance measurement.

Analytics dashboards present instant performance data so you can measure SLA adherence, ROI, and TCO at a glance.

The Results

With Robocorp’s digital workers, Ramirent accelerates processing time and cost savings, improves quality, gains visibility into exceptions, and gives employees the freedom to do more rewarding work.

  • 56% faster processing
  • 90% automation success rate
  • More uptime - less broken bots
  • Granular log details pinpoint exception causes
  • Happier employees that can focus on data and reporting

Looking Ahead

Ramirent operates multiple mission-critical bots with their existing Gen1 RPA provider - but since discovering the performance and cost benefits of Robocorp - they plan to build new digital workers using our platform.

Robocorp fits perfectly into a multi-vendor RPA strategy since our bots complement and extend the functionality and value of prior RPA and technology investments across the enterprise. We look forward to continuing to work with Ramirent and helping them transform their end-to-end processes.