In this automation case study BRQ supported one of the largest telecom companies in Brazil by developing a customised solution with Intelligent Business Automation (IBA).
A major player in the Brazilian telecom market has been experiencing Digital Transformation for a long time. With the consolidation of e-commerce and the digitization of the consumption routine, logistics has gained a central role in business.
Although not new, with the COVID-19 pandemic, digital tools proved to be the best way to maintain logistics operations in a scenario of adversities.
This company knows its e-commerce customers are looking for quality and speed. One of the main challenges is to mitigate any problems resulting in delays in deliveries. Amid industry innovations, we highlight the use of Intelligent Business Automation to optimize logistics and reduce costs. How about learning how BRQ supported its client to improve the efficiency of deliveries with a customized new product to manage the ICMS (a Brazilian tax similar to State Taxes)? Continue reading this article and learn more about this successful partnership. Check it out!
The company’s challenge
To better understand the challenge, it is necessary to remember that when a product is transported by land from one state to another, it must collect a state tax called ICMS – Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services, the main tax collected on the logistics operations of Brazilian companies.
However, the problem is the bureaucracy of the process, which requires much time to issue the GNRE (National Guide for the Collection of Taxes), a guide used to collect debts related to the ICMS. The longer you spend on this process, the longer the truck is stuck loaded with the goods.
Therefore, the company’s logistics needed to implement improvements in its financial process to automate the payment of taxes and further reduce the delivery time. The biggest challenge for Vinicius Mendes, expert advisor at BRQ, was to eliminate all the manual and bureaucratic work. ‘We issued 200 guides in only one day’, he adds. In addition to no longer having products stuck in the tax barrier, automation would also contribute to reducing risks, especially the ones associated with human errors and accounting analysis failures, such as miscalculations, the incidence of additional costs, and possible penalties applied by inspection, and even the return of goods.
The solution
BRQ applied two fundamental concepts to solve the problem: Digital Transformation and Intelligent Business Automation. The client needed a solution that allowed the robotization of the collection of the ICMS, ensuring the updating of the tax legislation, generation of legal evidence, and restitution of ICMS-ST (ICMS Tax Substitution). According to Vinicius, the ICMS Assist was created to solve these issues.
‘We recommended the deployment of automation with robots, the RPA (Robotic Process Automation). We created a system that can collect all invoices issued over a day. The robot extracts the necessary data to make taxation calculations, calculates, identifies the characteristics of the process, and issues the guide for the collection of the ICMS’.
In short, the entire manual process is executed by a robot, automating the entire journey, using a customer-centric approach to deliver precisely what the client needs.
‘The robot fills out all the information, generates a tax collection guide in PDF format, and stores it in a directory to organize all these documents. After paying the guides, the robot reconciles the withholding tax of the payments with the payment slips. It takes all the information, reconciles the documents, puts everything in a single file, and saves it in a directory to manage these taxes.’
The solution also helps to solve another pain point for the company: the tax refund. As the cargo often goes through the same state, the company is entitled to recover a portion of the amount paid. The problem is that the calculation is quite complex and laborious. Vinicius adds that the solution can also help in this process stage.
‘We created a solution with RPA to do searches directly on the Client’s ERP, check all the information, and calculate and request the correct refund amount. At the end of the process, the robot generates a complete spreadsheet with all the data, facilitating the audit process to prove to the tax inspector that the company is entitled to the value requested’.
Developing the solution
But the creation of the solution required a lot of work and dedication from the team at BRQ. For Renato Kleiman, Operations Manager at BRQ, the significant differential of the project was the use of the Lean Inception methodology, a concept used to align different areas of a business to make the process more efficient when creating the MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
‘To get to this complete solution, we used the Lean Inception methodology, dividing the product development into small steps, breaking the deliveries to increase the value of each one of them. We mapped our client’s value chain and then moved on to the automation process. By doing that, we could anticipate the project’s ROI (Return on Investment).
The project’s results
The entire process generated significant results for the telephone company. It was possible to automate 90% of the processes in the area, which meant a 60% reduction in the number of trucks stopped at stated barriers due to failures in the collection of the ICMS. Renato also points out that the financial gains were quite significant.
‘In the logistics part, BRQ’s client gained time, making the entire chain faster, especially in cargo release. But there was also financial gain, with the ability to refund and prove the right to receive taxes. If the tax inspectors question the refund, the company can prove everything. The issue of fines for delay or human error has also been considerably reduced.
The company managed to save approximately R$ 20 million (approx. US$ 4 million) only in taxes refunded in the first year of use of ICMS Assist. This represents an economy of more than 40 thousand hours of bureaucratic and repetitive work per year and an 80% reduction in the time spent to pay these taxes.
Using Digital Transformation and Intelligent Business Automation, BRQ helped its client solve an accounting and logistics problem, generating significant results after the implementation of the final product. With greater digital maturity inside the company, the team can focus on more strategic activities in their work routines.
How can your company access improvements like this?
This automation case study proves BRQ’s competence in transforming businesses and aggregating more value to the client through Digital Transformation. This story can also be yours!
BRQ Digital Solutions has been in the market for almost 30 years and has consolidated itself as one of the largest technology companies in the country, promoting a Digital Transformation journey for major brands from different segments seeking innovation.
This diversity of performance brings a more consistent vision of the business challenges. It translates into an end-to-end services platform capable of performing in the different stages of Digital Transformation.
Counting on strategic partners, both international solutions manufacturers and B2B startups invested by BRQ, the company boosts innovation, maximizes productivity, and speeds up the value delivery for the best customer experience. Now that you know more about BRQ, how about taking the next step to accelerate your business transformation? Contact us, get to know our solutions, and contribute to the development of your business. We are waiting for you!
