New software development and managed service centre for Cwmbran

A new development and managed service centre specialising in robotic process automation is being established in Cwmbran creating thirty six new skilled jobs with support from the Welsh Government.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a relatively new but fast growing software application that enables businesses to speed up repetitive computer basked tasks – processes that are costly and time consuming for organisations to provide and  prone to error.

Genfour Ltd operates in a rapidly growing niche market, and joins a growing cluster of ICT businesses in Springboard Technology Centre Cwmbran. It has already assembled a team of six skilled software developers and is currently recruiting for more.

The use of RPA software is particularly beneficial for large organisations that manage extensive data that needs to be duplicated across a number of different systems. It means the information only has to be entered once with the robot replicating across the other systems.

Genfour, which was founded in 2012 by business process outsource specialist James Hall, has a number of established blue chip clients and the new centre will support existing and new contracts.

Genfour had considered locating the new centre in Cape Town where some associates are based but funding support of £350,000 from the Welsh Government secured the project for Wales.

Economy Minister Edwina Hart said: “Information technology is a rapidly growing area of the economy and one of our key sectors so this investment by Genfour is very welcome.

“It supports our sector strategy of attracting high growth innovative technology businesses to Wales with the capacity and capability to service a global market while creating high quality skilled jobs.”

MD James Hall said: “More and more companies are appreciating the benefits of RPA that can be used for structured, repeatable, computer based tasks including searching, collating or updating information or where one or more systems need to be accessed to complete a process.

“For example organisations like utility companies use separate systems for meter reading, billing, customer relationships and change of occupier information and staff have to manually input information into each different system.

“RPA offers a fast, accurate, cost effective alternative that can improve margins, lead to improved customer service while enabling staff to concentrate on core activities.”

Mr Hall said Genfour utilises specialist software to provide a tailored service to meet the varying needs of different companies.

“The automation takes just weeks to implement and just a few months to pay-back. It can be scaled up or down as required and works with any system on just about any platform. We offer RPA as a pay as you go service while some clients prefer to develop their own RPA capability with Genfour’s help.”

The technology is being adopted across a number of sectors including banking, utilities and gaming and Genfour’s clients include Cooperative Bank, the RAC, bookmakers Gala Coral, Cooperative Energy, and a number of insurance companies.