Robotic Process Automation – what is all this buzz about?

Due to the progressing business digitization, employees have access to a growing number of computer systems, and the use of them takes more and more time. Despite inconveniences such as entering, copying, and pasting data or transferring it between systems, they are the basis for the operations of most organizations. Easy access to structured data and documents significantly increases the business effectiveness of a company and its employees. So far, the latter were responsible for all the activities mentioned above, which used to take a significant part of their working day. That time could be used for more challenging tasks like meetings with customers, resolving another customer service case, or preparing an e-mail campaign.

The purpose of RPA is to relieve employees of the most time-consuming and repetitive tasks that cannot be skipped in business processes. Robotic Process Automation is a technology that makes is it possible to configure software or robot so that it simulates human activities in business computer systems. In other words, the robots do exactly what people would do: clicks buttons, signs in to apps, fills in forms or transfers documents.

What RPA is used for

RPA is used in many organizations. It enables them to automate activities such as invoicing, executing the salary payment process, processing and accounting claims, managing service orders, making appointments, booking tickets, or internal reporting. Of course, it is only a small part of what this technology can streamline. Currently, RPA robots are capable of imitating many, if not most, of the user activities. In reality, the range of uses is almost as wide as the business needs of a customer — they come down to programming an appropriate solution.

Table – by Everest Group. Possible use of RPA in various industries.

Examples of industries that use RPA:

• Health Care
• Tourism
• Logistics
• Manufacturing
• Retail
• Telecommunication
• Insurance
• Banking and Financial Services

How to start an adventure with RPA?

Implementing RPA in an organization is much easier than it seems. RPA is a program that works on a computer, laptop, or a mobile device of an end-user. The characteristics of its operation are similar to the way automated testing is performed (this is the reason why companies with vast experience in this area, are doing great in RPA implementation). The right sequence, taking account all the required rules and variables, is programmed, and then repeated until the task is completed. Because of that, this type of automation is not invasive, and it does not require a long-term implementation process.

At work, a bot needs exactly what every other employee – its own computer and the right code. What is most important, programming basic robots is relatively easy. If an organization has new requirements after the implementation, it can cope with that on its own in many cases. However, the implementation of process robotization and the creation of more effective bots require more experience and skills, so in this case, it is best to cooperate with a specialized partner.

Currently, there are many providers of the RPA solutions on the market, including:

• UiPath
• Automation Anywhere
• Blue Prism
• NICE
• Pegasystems
• Kofax

What business benefits does RPA bring?

RPA enables organizations to enhance the effectiveness of their operations to a large extent. Computer programs never get tired and can work 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Moreover, they complete their task with nearly 100% efficiency.
Processes automation also enables the organizations to increase the quality of work and minimalize the risk related to mistakes because programs do not make mistakes which do happen to people. RPA implementation also results in savings related to organization operations – the increasing number of processed cases or handling new tasks without hiring additional employees.

Is RPA a threat to employees?

After reading this article, one essential question arises: is RPA a step toward replacing humans with robots? It’s quite the opposite! It is the tool that is supposed to help your employees to improve their efficiency and free them from frustrating and time-consuming actions; it also enables them to completed more satisfying and creative tasks. It is no secret that no one likes transferring data from one system to another for a few hours per day. Besides, some exceptional situations may occur, and a bot will not be able to handle them. In such a case, the employee’s help proves to be indispensable.

Summary

Currently, RPA is one of the leading trends on the market of IT solutions., According to Gartner, the global analysis and research company, processes robotization is the fastest developing segment of global software for enterprises. It is estimated that the RPA market grew in 2018 by 63%. The multiplicity of processes, the growing number of the IT systems, and the evolving business model require companies to perform more operations faster and more accurately because these are the customer expectations. Today, when we buy a ticket online, we expect it to be sent to our e-mail box with an invoice within few minutes; when we report a problem to customer service, we expect to get help the same day. Hence, processes automation seems to be the direction that more and more organizations, which want to develop constantly, will follow.

If you would like to know more about RPA and how Craftware can help you with implementation, please write to us.