Bricks, mortar, and bots: Travis Perkins nails it with Intelligent Automation

Whether they’re sole traders spending £200 a month or businesses buying £2 million worth of supplies, Travis Perkins prides itself on supporting customers. “It’s a real people business,” says Lara Eddy, Head of Credit at the company. “We work together, and we succeed together. There’s a family feel to the place—between our own staff and those they serve.”

This approach rests on Travis Perkins’ ability to be there when necessary. It supplies everything a builder might require. “We’re a one stop shop for the trade,” says Eddy. “You can get all you need from us to build a house.” For those embarking on that aim, often the first thing to do is set up a credit account with the company.

Manual processes in need of review

Applying for an account starts a process managed by the new accounts team. Until recently, this was entirely manual. “We had one team member responsible for data entry from paper forms,” says Shona Young, New Accounts Team Lead at Travis Perkins. Although some forms were digital, that person dealt with 15,000 applications a year.

The next step in the process for the new accounts team was to credit-check new customers. This involved reviewing their business at Companies House, where all UK firms are registered. It also meant looking at credit scores, and cross-referencing the information in the application against a database of previous customers.

“The aim is to create a full picture of the applicant. This means we can make a decision about providing a credit account. We need to spot any potential fraud and set credit limits,” Young explains. “About three or four different systems are involved in the checking.”

Once the application had been processed, the information was printed, scanned, and added to another system. This would trigger the delivery of a welcome pack for the customer, which was sent by post.

The stresses of a manual task

While the process worked, it was laborious. It took about an hour in total, often spread out over a working day among other tasks. In the worst-case scenario, it once took five hours to open a credit account.

The process was also open to error. Repetitive data entry from paper can lead to mistakes. “There’s also the data security factor to think about,” adds Young. “We’re dealing with lots of sensitive information about businesses.” It was becoming obvious the process increased the risk of data loss.

It was time to make a change. This was made clear when Travis Perkins ran a sales promotion in 2024. This caused a lot of people to apply for credit accounts. “The turnaround time for new accounts increased by days,” says Eddy.

Importantly, the team already had a vision for automation. But technology at the time hadn’t been advanced enough for it to work. “About 15 years ago we tried something similar. But we couldn’t get the results we needed so it was deprioritized,” Eddy recalls.

When revisiting the idea, Eddy spoke to her colleagues who had automated the order process at Travis Perkins.

They introduced us to Robiquity, a specialist in AI and automation. They use UiPath software to improve productivity, efficiency and customer service for businesses like us.

Lara Eddy • Head of Credit, Travis Perkins

“They were brilliant,” says Eddy. “I knew what we needed to do, but not how to achieve it. Robiquity made it easy. They really understood what we wanted and anticipated our needs. Then they put the tech in place to meet our goals.”

Building the bots

The process has been revolutionized. While there are still some paper applications, most now come via a digital form. An API captures the data from the form and gives it to the robot.

The automation then assigns the application to a branch and picks a sales representative. It searches the Travis Perkins systems to see if there are any previous records linked to the application. It does the credit checks, and cross-references the details in the form with Companies House. It even looks for things that might suggest a fraudulent application.

When complete, the robot presents everything neatly to an employee, complete with links, and attachments. They can review everything and make a quick decision.

In total, the whole process takes 20 minutes. It’s all in one system and allows a fast decision so trading can start. It’s brilliant for customers because they can get going with their work.

Shona Young • New Accounts Team Lead, Travis Perkins

It also has the added benefit of keeping customers in the loop. In the past, a new applicant wouldn’t know the status until a paper welcome pack dropped on their doormat. Now, the automation sends updates via text and email. “This means they feel engaged. Overall, it’s about making a good first impression as much as being efficient,” Young adds.

Data security is now even stronger. “We keep everything online. If someone is rejected, we automatically delete the data after 30 days. We can rest assured we’re compliant and customers know they’re safe,” Young says.

Eddy says with a smile that, “It’s amazing. The Robiquity team and UiPath have opened the gate to automation for us.” Young adds, “Other brands in the group are looking to us for ideas and changing their own ways of doing things.”

The business is clearly delighted with the results. “While we struggled with promotions in the past, we don’t even notice the increase in applications now,” Eddy says. We have had 27 percent more new customers in the last year, but we can process everything much faster. We used to have a service level agreement of 48 hours. Now it’s 24 hours. We often have people trading within the day.”

Constructing consensus

It’s been an enormous success—and a big change for the team, too. “People were very worried at the start,” Eddy confides. “Lots of colleagues have been with us for years. They were concerned about automation. But at the same time, they knew the pain points and stresses of manual work. So, we brought them on the journey with us. We also did our best to introduce it sensitively.”

When asked if they'd named the robot, Eddy and Young shared a knowing look. “The official name is ACES (Account Credit Entering Service), says Eddy. “But we call it Dave,” Young laughs. “One of the team suggested it. Another person said, ‘We can’t call it Dave. My ex is called Dave.’ So, if Dave ever makes a mistake, that person rolls her eyes and says, ‘typical Dave.’ Luckily, this rarely happens.”

While it may sound trivial, this anecdote is vitally important. Digital transformation projects often fail showing a lack of buy-in from users. By educating people about the technology and making it personally relatable, teams can sidestep this huge challenge. “We even had a welcome party for Dave,” Young says. “Now staff often say they can never go back. They love Dave.”

But it’s not just the team that’s happy. Before the project, Eddy was considering an early retirement. “I was thinking about selling up and moving to Spain,” she says. “But this got me excited. I want to see what else we can achieve.”

The next build

At the moment, the robot presents the application information to the team for employees to decide on the outcome. In the future, it’s anticipated automation will make a decision based on pre-defined risk criteria.

“We’re also working on Communications Mining,” adds Eddy. This is when an automation can read and understand emails, chats, and other messages. “We get a lot of emails into various inboxes. Communications Mining will allow us to manage them and escalate faster.”

Advice for apprentices

Now that Eddy and Young are experts in the trade of automation, they have advice for budding apprentices. Eddy begins, saying, “Be open minded. Young people often don’t think twice about trying innovative technology. For those later in their career, it’s important to dip in more than your toe. Have a vision and experiment.”

Young concludes, “Have goals and a plan. Know what you’re trying to achieve. But be agile and adjust as you go along. Also, allow the experts to guide you. Being in a senior position doesn’t mean you need to have all the answers. It’s more about listening and allowing people to do what they do best. We’ve certainly let Robiquity do that. And their ongoing support post-launch has been invaluable.”