Robotic process automation helps eliminate what Kamigaki and his colleagues call “swivel-chairing,” which occurs when employees input information into one system, then swivel their chairs to input the data again into another system because the two are not integrated and can’t communicate with each other.

“It takes about five minutes to manually input a lead and around 10 minutes to valuate a vehicle,” Kamigaki said. “So if you spread that time savings per lead across all nine stores, RPA saves us a lot of time.”

In turn, that allows employees to focus on more value-added tasks and decision-making, which can boost their overall productivity and efficiency. Robotic process automation also raises employee morale, engagement and job satisfaction, and even increases a store’s profitability, said Tausif Islam, director of data visualization, analytics and automation at Servco.

But doesn’t automation eventually lead to employees losing their jobs?

“No, it enhances their jobs,” Kamigaki said. “They’re not stuck behind a computer, typing in redundant data and swivel-chairing, so they have more time to contact customers and close deals.”

Moreover, the bots value cars by using a matrix of data developed in-house. This enables them to create fair and transparent valuations that reflect specific nuances in the local used-car market, as opposed to employees using values developed by third-party valuation services, then taking time to adjust them to reflect local factors.

“Vendors have their place, but their systems can’t always do everything that we want,” Kamigaki said.