Disney’s Business Process Automation Team Recognized for Behind-the-Scenes Work

Technology is at the center of everything that makes a Walt Disney World vacation run smoothly, and while Guests may not realize it, there is a whole team of Cast Members that are constantly at work creating and enhancing automated processes behind the scenes.

The Disney Parks Blog recently shared the details behind the Business Process Automation (BPA) team, which was only brought together about one year ago to help find ways to increase efficiency in providing excellent Guest service at Walt Disney World. In short, the BPA was tasked with finding ways to allow Cast Members in Disney parks and resorts to spend less time working through technological tasks and more time helping Guests.

Walt Disney World Vice President of Technology Pradeep Krishnamurthy said, “Our guests don’t always see the innovative technology solutions our teams are putting in place, and that is by design. We have numerous teams in Technology and Digital who are working behind the scenes to create stress-free magic not only for our guests, but for our cast and crew as well.”

Part of these behind-the-scenes processes includes the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform, which is similar to robot technology and allows a machine to read and process documents, and copy and perform human interactions to perform basic, repetitive tasks.

For Cast Members, this means things like data entry and repetitive tasks on computer systems are no longer a major part of their job, and thanks to this technology Cast Members in the parks have more time in their shifts to spend assisting Guests.

In the short time, the BPA team has existed, it has already grown from five to nine Cast Members, and they have already identified about 200 different cases where the technology they developed could free up time from Cast Members in the parks and give that time back to their work with Guests.

Walt Disney World Business Manager Kim Gunther told the Disney Parks Blog, “The Automation team enhanced our business efficiency by providing an innovative process improvement to a previously time-consuming workflow, freeing valuable resources so our cast can more readily assist our guests.”

The technological advancements created by the BPA team are not only limited to the times where it may be obvious to Guests that some new robotic process could be helping with their trip. The team has already been working behind the scenes to help Guest Relations Cast Members assist Guests with Lightning Lane reservations, plan gatherings and corporate outings with Disney Meetings & Events, and book Guests for travel aboard the Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser.

Since the team works entirely out of Guest view, you may not have even known they were there, but we certainly have an appreciation for the hard work the team has done in making better experiences for Guests and their fellow Cast Members.