With more than 20 years of experience in robotic process automation, Carlos Martin and Venky Cheluvaraj are starting their own consulting firm specializing in AI and robotic process automation.
With their new business, called macami.ai, they hope to help clients in a wide range of industries — healthcare, manufacturing and energy, to name a few — realize how software automation can make them more efficient and allow them to scale.
The startup, which is based out of Hamlet Coworking in Cedar Park, plans to double its headcount from five employees to 10 in the next six months. Martin, the company’s CEO, is the only Austin-area resident on the team so far but said he hopes to hire more local employees in the near future.
Martin said he intends to demystify robotic process automation to show clients its value. If artificial intelligence is the brain that deciphers information, then robotic process automation can be thought of as the arms and hands that perform the work across a variety of software platforms, he said.
“When you start mixing robotic process automation with AI, you have the power to not only manipulate traditional applications, mainframes and web portals, but also to connect to web services, databases, etc.,” Martin told Built In. “You can have a really powerful mix of technologies working with the objective of making your company more efficient in any type of operation.”
In some cases, though, the cost and time of automating a process may outweigh the cost and time it takes to complete the task manually. Martin said he is always cognizant of the potential return on investment of automation projects, and he will advise customers against automating processes that are not cost-effective.
“It’s not uncommon to have close to 2x return on investment, and if you really know where to look, it’s not unheard of to get a five or 10x return on investment,” Martin said. “The secret sauce is the methodology of how you do things.”
Macami.ai has joined both the Austin Tech Council and the Austin Chamber of Commerce. Members from both organizations joined the company for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Hamlet Coworking last week.
“As we look to the future of technology, AI-related technologies are a core of the ‘Tomorrow Companies’ that make up the future of Central Texas,” Austin Tech Council CEO Thom Singer said in a statement. “As companies like macami.ai launch and grow, we are excited to help them develop community and collaboration in the region.”
Macami.ai is also developing free training programs to educate people about steps they can take to safeguard themselves from financial scams. Martin said the cause hits close to home for him because he and his mother were both victimized by financial scams.
