Marijn van de Poel is Managing Director of Ciphix. This innovative company’s mission is ‘Take the robot out of the human’. “With some 60 specialists, we automate as many routine tasks and cognitive decisions for our clients as possible,” explains Marijn. “Using Hyperautomation technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Process Mining and Low-Code, we develop ‘digital assistants’, so that our clients’ employees can focus on more important and more interesting aspects of their work.”

“The latter is crucial. Everyone is struggling with staff shortages nowadays, so it’s a real waste if you let well-qualified employees spend time on repetitive work. People are much happier if they can work on new challenges and customer requests. It’s what stimulates and inspires them. If people spend less time on routine jobs, the work will be fun and interesting, and they will enjoy working for you. That’s what we aim for at Ciphix.”

Balance between tech and touch

Marijn explains how this works in practice, describing the first digital assistants Ciphix introduced at HeadFirst Group. “HeadFirst Group handles tens of thousands of hiring transactions every year. A complex process involves an application, publication, matching, and finally a contract. In 2022, with the help of digital assistant Benthe, we fully automated the uploading of assignments. The process is flawless and much faster, and recruiters now have more time left for the matching process itself. It really creates a better balance between tech and touch, as they call it at HeadFirst Group.”

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“The process is flawless and much faster, and recruiters now have more time left for the matching process itself.”

 

Bring human into the robot

“Together with HeadFirst Group, we’re already looking ahead. For example, we’re considering ways in which AI could make faster and smarter analyses of the data in applications and CVs, supporting recruiters in terms of content. It’s just one of the possibilities, and the great thing is that HeadFirst Group is completely in the lead. Our technical solutions can help you achieve your goals, but you do need to have the mindset to want to work differently.”

“So why do we use personal names? That’s a very deliberate choice, because it helps us to make our solutions more recognisable and bring a bit of the ‘human into the robot’. New software with a techy name doesn’t mean much to most people. No one likes SAP or Office, but everyone loves Benthe!”