26.05.2021 | Xamk, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, creates the working life of the future and encourages researching, learning new things and pioneering. Xamk has developed and streamlined their own processes and utilizes robotic process automation (RPA) in various administrative processes. RPA has freed up their employees’ time from routines for expert work and for tasks that support the fulfillment of Xamk’s mission. At the beginning of this year, Xamk’s RPA supplier was publicly tendered, and Efima was chosen to be Xamk’s new RPA partner. Together with Efima Xamk aims to automate even more effective and extensive processes in the future.
ANNOUNCEMENT 26.5.2021
Every year approximately 1,800 future experts and working life reformers graduate from Xamk, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences. To make all this possible, a software robot called Max Bot has been helping Xamk’s employees in various administrative tasks for over a year now. Max Bot ensures that routines are taken care of in a high-quality and error-free manner even during the busiest seasons.
Xamk's RPA supplier was publicly tendered at the beginning of 2021, and the public tender was won by Efima. Efima's CIO and Director of Robotic Process Automation, Markus Turunen, sees the cooperation with the Finnish university of applied sciences as an important and meaningful new partnership for Efima: "It has been shown in studies that Xamk has the most satisfied university students in Finland, and it is a great pleasure for us to be able to further strengthen the satisfaction of both Xamk's students and their employees – that's what we are ultimately aiming for with robotic process automation." Efima has previous experience in automating the processes of another Finnish university, the University of Helsinki.
Xamk has campuses in four towns, approximately 9,500 students and just under 900 employees. "Needless to say, there are countless possibilities for automation in such a large university like Xamk. Robotic process automation frees up our employee's time for more meaningful tasks and makes sure that our services work efficiently and as quickly as possible. With the help of RPA, we can develop our operations and focus more resources on tasks critical to the future of our business", Xamk’s Finance Manager, Satu Rask, explains and agrees with Markus’ view on the purposes of using software robots.
Currently Max Bot executes routine tasks using various IT systems, such as Wintime, Peppi and Lyyti among others, allowing his colleagues to do more productive and meaningful tasks. Thanks to Max course credits completed at international partner universities are automatically moved to Xamk's IT systems, enrolments for open university courses are directly transferred to Xamk's student-administration system, invoicing processes have been streamlined and project ledgers are automatically sent to project managers. Max Bot has also been harnessed to support student guidance and graduation processes.
According to Xamk's lecturer and RPA Lead Katriina Vesala Efima was seen as a partner with whom Xamk’s RPA could be further developed and expanded to new processes: "In addition to Efima taking over our current RPA processes, we believe that with Efima we are able to automate even more effective and extensive processes in the future that contribute to our strategy – meaning training professionals and creating wellbeing and new business in a solution-oriented way.”
The partners' common goal is not only to develop robotic process automation at Xamk, but to also start using artificial intelligence (AI) in Xamk’s processes once the potential of RPA has been fully utilized.
Max Bot has become a key member of Xamk’s work community, and the plan is to give Max Bot an even bigger role in the future. "We believe that in cooperation with Efima, we are able to create new tasks for Max that support Xamk’s growth and well-being of our personnel. Even though Max Bot loves routines, maybe Max also appreciates a bit of change from time to time", Rask and Vesala smile and look forward to Max Bot's future takeovers.
Additional information:
Efima, CIO & Business Lead (RPA & AI) Markus Turunen
markus.turunen@efima.com, tel. +358407701205
Xamk, Finance Manager Satu Rask
satu.rask@xamk.fi, tel: +358400292753
Xamk, Lecturer Katriina Vesala
katriina.vesala@xamk.fi, tel: +358447028290
Xamk, South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, is an institute of higher education which focuses on wellbeing, technology, and creative industries. Xamk’s campuses are located in Kotka, Kouvola, Mikkeli and Savonlinna. Xamk has more than 70 degree programs, and the studies can be completed flexibly according to one’s own plan, some entirely online. In addition to the degree programs, Xamk has the widest open university offering in Finland, new types of micro-courses and plenty of continuing education possibilities.
Xamk is a strong implementer of RDI activities, and it is currently Finland’s largest UAS in the field of RDI, based on external financing alone. There are over 250 ongoing projects annually, in which Xamk’s experts find, test and develop new products and services, or conduct research for future needs.
www.xamk.fi/en/
Efima Oy supports and improves large and mid-sized organizations' business with ERP, financial management and RPA & AI solutions, outsourcing services, and consulting. We strive to provide the best service within our industry and to be an exceptional workplace for our experts. In 2021, Efima has more than 250 employees. Efima's revenue in the last fiscal year was approximately MEUR 18, and the company has offices in Helsinki, Tampere and Austin, USA.
www.efima.com/en/
