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Case study

The challenge

Formed through the merger of Sweden’s Posten AB postal service with Denmark’s Post Danmark A/S postal service, PostNord AB is one of Europe’s largest public and private shipping providers. Though the merger brought together organizations with similar business models, each had disparate ERP systems. PostNord wanted to improve internal processes by eliminating operational redundancies.

The PostNord Shared Services Finance team collaborated with Cognizant, its trusted Digital Finance & Accounting transformation partner, to drive its digital transformation.

Our approach

PostNord worked with Cognizant to identify how non-core financial and accounting processes could be performed more efficiently, helping the state-owned entity meet cost reduction and revenue enhancement targets. To automate iterative processes, we implemented robotic process automation (RPA) in four core finance and accounting areas: AP, AR, GA and international accounting.

We reviewed back-office processes and identified opportunities to achieve PostNord’s vision, and then executed the RPA approach. Following client approvals, the automation went into production. Next, we extended the scope of automation to front-office practices. We then looked at other business processes to see where we could automate tasks. We also named and created work profiles for the robots.

RPA implementation improves personnel utilization

Partnering with Cognizant enabled PostNord to overcome inefficiencies in its systems, helped integrate operations so human resources can resolve more complex problems, and improved customer and vendor relations. We implemented 17 individual bots to realize operational improvements, achieving a 30% improvement in capacity utilization for existing personnel. We delivered an annual productivity boost of more than 50,000 person-hours, allowing the company to change staffing levels and reassign front-office staff to higher value activities. As a trusted strategic partner, Cognizant now advises PostNord on developing harmonized, efficient and high-quality process solutions.

30% improvement

in overall efficiency by scaling automation across 50+ subprocesses and 150,000 transactions

50,000+

person-hours saved across functions per annum, improving productivity

~40% reduction

in time needed to handle customer disputes/invoice investigations, beating industry benchmark* of 13 days

*Source:
APQC (American Productivity & Quality Center) Accounts Receivable and Collections Key Benchmarks, January 2021