FEATURE : ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ORGANISATIONS SHOULD NOT OVERLOOK THE WAYS IN WHICH AUTOMATION CAN HELP DRIVE THE SOCIAL IMPACT COMPONENT OF ESG .
monitored . According to a recent survey from Deloitte , more than half of senior executives thought that data availability and quality were their biggest challenges with respect to ESG reporting .
RPA can be easily deployed to :
• Streamline auditing procedures
• Collect data from various applications and systems
• Support data management
• Track and report on progress against specific environmental targets , such as carbon emissions
For example , energy providers could use RPA to automate the process of reading and extracting usage data . Likewise , organisations can leverage automation to extract data from utility bills to help with reporting , monitor energy usage and measure their carbon footprint .
2 . Automation speeds up green initiatives
According to a recent survey from IDC ( AI and Automation Survey , December 2021 ), one in five European organisations using automation technologies are targeting them to address sustainability challenges .
One example is Helse Vest , a health authority based in Norway . It leveraged automation to lower the number of letters mailed to patients with a confirmed appointment . Instead , software robots intercepted each letter , preventing them from being printed and mailed . Helse Vest was able to minimise its environmental footprint by using less paper with an expected saving of more than £ 400,000 in postage alone .
Furthermore , every organisation has a duty to reduce waste and minimise environmental impacts . RPA can help meet such objectives by improving processes through innovation and enhanced efficiencies . To enable this potential , organisations should leverage automation to :
• Optimise computing power
• Digitise purchase orders and invoice processes
• Save paper by restricting excessive printing
• Streamline supply chain operations
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