June 3, 2024
Jesse Tutt, program director of Intelligent Automation with Alberta Health Services’ IT team, proudly shows off the latest hardware AHS has added to the awards case after the organization received a Legend Award at the SS&C Blue Prism Customer Excellence Awards in May. Photo supplied.
Story by Heather Kipling
By embracing intelligent automation that takes on repetitive and often mundane work, Alberta Health Services (AHS) has not only been able to free up healthcare staff to focus on other tasks and skills, but has notched another global award.
AHS was recently presented with the prestigious Legend Award during SS&C Blue Prism Customer Excellence Awards in New York City. In the world of artificial intelligence and machine learning, the Legend Award is likened to receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
“It’s an exciting accomplishment for the organization, especially for those involved in championing this work,” says Penny Rae, chief information officer.
The automations are powered by software from SS&C Blue Prism, a British multinational corporation and pioneer in the field of intelligent automation. In recognizing AHS with the Legend Award, the judging panel noted AHS “is a true agent of change and uses intelligent automation in smart and innovative ways.”
Judges also highlighted AHS’ past global recognition, including the SS&C Blue Prism Customer Excellence award for Best Value Driver and an America’s All-Star Award for Best Newcomer.
Jesse Tutt, who leads the Intelligent Automation team at AHS, has also earned the SS&C Blue Prism Change Agent award in recognition of both his work and his commitment to teaching the automation leaders of tomorrow.
Three times a year, Tutt hires computer science students from Alberta universities, providing them with an opportunity to learn about robotic process automation and hands-on experience to develop automations.
The journey into robotic process automation for AHS began as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, first being used automate HR processes to streamline parts of the hiring and onboarding processes to support a rapidly expanding workforce.
“We’ve come a long way since we first started exploring robotic process automation and how it could be used within AHS,” says Glen Shortt, executive director, Centres of Expertise and IT Corporate Services.
Across the organization, there are now more than 34 automations in use, completing work that would have taken staff across nine departments 170 years to do manually.
"Robotic process automation technology can mimic the work that people do, like mouse clicks or keystrokes for simple, repetitive tasks,” adds Tutt. “By automating these manual tasks, which can be boring, we’re able to create capacity for staff to focus on other work that may be more engaging or interesting for them.”
Tutt and team continue to encourage leaders and staff alike to submit ideas for automation as they look to further advance the use of robotic automation and other intelligent automation technologies.
This includes automating manual processes in clinical areas such as staff scheduling, loading data from and other sources into Connect Care, granting access, clinician onboarding, and more.
"It’s a lot of work,” says Tutt, “but it’s exciting work. I’m looking forward to seeing where we can go with it as an organization.”
