Why WorkFusion’s launch of an AI-enabled digital workforce might work

The Situation: Ever since we inserted the word “robotic” in process automation, purveyors of automation technology have attempted to start the digital worker revolution. This revolution was supposed to involve robotic process automation (RPA) bots replacing loads of humans. These business cases never panned out, as RPA alone is not sophisticated enough to automate entire jobs or functions. The bots were never really coming for “Phil in accounting” as the New York Times article suggested, unless Phil’s job function was 100% perpetual mindless data transfer. Instead, RPA helps save Phil and countless others from brain bleeds by automating fractional slivers of jobs and functions that are rules based and often manual. WorkFusion, long a purveyor of somewhat over-complicated AI-enabled automation, has simplified its approach and may have the droids we’ve been looking for.

WorkFusion figures out how to position its value

Back in February 2022, WorkFusion launched a collection of digital workers. Its press release modestly referred to this as “WorkFusion Redefines the Intelligent Automation Market with Launch of AI-Enabled Digital Workforce.” While your friends here at HFS are ruthless hype busters, there is some truth to this. Although we would couch it more as “WorkFusion finally figured out how to position its value in a simple way that resonates with enterprises getting their butts kicked by the pandemic, the great resignation, the impact of Russia sanctions, etc.”

Some important background first. Back in March 2021, WorkFusion got a massive infusion of capital in the form of a $220 million Series F round. At that time, HFS stated it was a lot of money with not a lot of surprises, speaking to the fact the firm’s stated strategy post-funding was pretty much the same, going deeper in the financial services playbook that it had been using to date. Now, a year-plus on, the firm has shaken up its C-Suite with a new CEO, CFO, CMO, and, just recently, a new head of channels and alliances. The new team set about trying to understand, internally and externally, what it had that it could build on.

The result of its efforts is the repositioning of its intelligent automation platform as digital workers showing off WorkFusion’s cognitive capabilities and productizing the most beloved of financial services use cases—all in an easy to understand and consume fashion. This is not the same old generic use of digital workers as an alternative name for RPA.

Meet the digital workers

WorkFusion went deep, launching six digital workers with names, CVs, and a specific set of pre-trained skills:

• Evelyn, the Sanctions and Adverse Media Screening Analyst
• Tara, the Transaction Screening Analyst
• Casey, the Customer Service Coordinator
• Darryl, the Customer Due Diligence Program Analyst
• Kendrick, the Customer Identity Program Analyst
• Ilana, the Insurance Underwriter

Evelyn and Tara are reportedly getting notable traction as firms struggle to manage through Russia sanction requirements.

This strategy is not just marketing. WorkFusion has also pivoted its commercial approach, aligning its pricing with digital workers and moving away from the mystery bot pricing models that have plagued the RPA market. It expresses new engagements in terms of digital workers. It has also launched the WorkFusion Network, an opt-in approach for sharing training results and benchmarking. The intent is to proactively address machine learning training data challenges. Client data is never revealed, leveraging encryption and differential privacy algorithms.

Initial enterprise feedback is strong, as evidenced by WorkFusion’s massive ramp in new deals, with the discussions centering on the acquisition of skills, not new tech. The value of a simplified approach is also paying dividends internally, driving a previously unforeseen level of sales consistency.

The Bottom Line: Financial services firms don’t want more technology! They need creative and sustainable ways to get work done in the face of market realities such as two years of a global pandemic, the great resignation, and sanctions against Russia.

WorkFusion spent a bunch of years promoting its product as RPA led, compelled by the fear that its target business user base would deem machine learning as too complex. In reality, the company needed to speak less about the features and functions of its widget and focus on the business value. It has potentially managed to turn the generic RPA digital worker model on its head by creating cognitive workers aligning with actual roles on the open requisition rosters of myriad financial services firms. Roles like Evelyn the sanctions analyst, which require cognitive skills to suss out the context of potential adverse behavior for flagged individuals, would not be possible with a rules-based RPA bot; thus, WorkFusion has managed to meaningfully package the full breadth of its capability.

The digital workers are still not coming for Phil in accounting, but they can effectively augment existing teams in functions such as financial crimes, customer onboarding and KYC (know your customer), underwriting, and customer service, with more planned. The jury is still out on achieving scale with digital workers. Similarly, we’ll keep an eye on the efficacy of the WorkFusion Network for sharing training results, but conceptually, this ecosystem approach has potential.