PECOS, Texas — In Pecos, the city was facing potential staff shortages delays in their financial processing.
Then, city manager, Charles Lino was approached with a potential solution: a new technology that could provide them solutions without costing anybody a job.
Fast forward to today, and how it couldn't have worked any better.
“It allows us to do more with the current staff that we have, we have the same number of staff now, doing more work and being much more timely on everything that we're doing from a financial reporting standpoint," said Lino. "It also makes sure that we're being better stewards of the taxpayer dollar by not incurring any penalties due to unforeseen errors or unforeseen circumstances.”
Now, Pecos city workers aren't just getting their work done quicker, but also more efficiently thanks to the new system: robotic process automation.
“We're giving them an additional tool to help facilitate and make their job more easy, more efficient and more effective so that they can do the tasks that they need and that they want to focus on but haven't had the time to do it because they're doing these redundant tasks,” said Lino.
Robotic process automation mostly does two things.
First, it helps the city file their monthly sales taxes on time so that they don't incur any penalties from filing late.
Second, it repurposes city workers to have them work on more complex tasks instead of rudimentary ones.
It has also had the effect of keeping staff members happy and keeping them in the city of Pecos instead of going to another job.
“We’re trying to keep the adequate and well trained staff in place," said Lino. "I felt I was overworking some of our finance staff with the tasks that we had on them. [They were] carrying more burden than they needed to and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to move forward.”
And no, this new system is not artificial intelligence. There are no physical robots walking around Pecos City Hall looking to take jobs away from the humans.
"AI is right there in the unknown. It's a popular thing that's out there with all of the different AI engines that are out there. This is not AI," said Lino. "This is strictly [an] automating process. So, it doesn't replace a human it only gives them an additional tool. It's never going to replace a human.”
Recently, Lino gave a presentation where they showcased just what they've been up to. It was at this presentation that they accepted an award for what they've achieved.
Not too shabby for a small town out in West Texas.
“They put out awards and they give out five each year, and we were one to five across North America that got this award this year, so it is something that we're proud of," said Lino. "It's something that we're able to show and talk about how Pecos is way ahead of everybody else even though we're a little guy out in West Texas.”