2017-11-13
PwC Consulting LLC
PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC
PwC Consulting LLC (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO Susumu Adachi; hereinafter referred to as “PwC Consulting”) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; CEO Koichiro Kimura; hereinafter referred to as “PwC Aarata”) will announce on November 13 that they have provided Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO Makoto Takashima; hereinafter referred to as “SMBC”) with robotic process automation (“RPA”) solutions for streamlining business processes as part of SMBC’s back-office operation reforms, and will implement such solutions for more than 20 of its business processes.
Leveraging their accumulated experience of planning and implementing organizational and business process reforms for many companies as well as their knowledge on the latest technological developments, PwC Consulting and PwC Aarata are assisting SMBC’s effort to reform back-office operations. Also in cooperation with the PwC Global Network, they aim to streamline business processes and expand business opportunities through RPA solutions in reference to similar cases overseas and to ultimately centralize its business processes on a global level.
A demonstration test was conducted in 2016 and new business processes have been partially implemented from April 2017 after pilot implementation. Currently, efforts are being made to promote full-scale implementation in more than 40 business processes of 17 departments across three business units at the Head Office as well as the Administration Center.
In the future, in addition to rolling out these solutions to overseas entities and Group companies, it is expected that further streamlining and enhancement of business processes can be realized by capitalizing not only on RPA and Cognitive OCR, but also on other advanced technologies, such as AI and Data Analysis.
PwC Consulting and PwC Aarata expects not only that the use of RPA will enable support for streamlining/enhancing business processes, but also that RPA may develop into a new operational technology platform. Having established a new theme “RPA governance”, we are now working on resolution of issues arising from the development of an environment that is sustainable for operating/maintaining RPA and designing its operational framework. Both firms will continue to strengthen their organizational structure so that they can provide the financial sector and other sectors aiming to improve their operational efficiency/productivity with support throughout all phases from the planning of transformation to its implementation and dissemination.
ENDS
PwC Consulting LLC offers comprehensive consulting services from strategy through execution. In collaboration with the PwC global network we work to resolve complex and challenging management issues faced by our clients, helping them bolster their competitive advantage in the global market.
In fulfillment of its mission to provide audits and assurance as outstanding professional services, PricewaterhouseCoopers Aarata LLC applies the approaches and best practices of PwC, one of the world's largest accounting firms, in ways tailored to conditions in the Japanese market. In addition, we provide clients with a wide variety of assistance in adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and addressing matters related to internal controls for financial reporting as well as advice on IPOs.
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