What is robotic process automation?

Robotic process automation is software that lets you create, use and manage robots that mimic human actions when working with digital systems and software. These software robots can see what’s on a screen, perform the correct keystrokes, navigate through systems, recognize and extract data, and carry out various tasks. Software robots can do these tasks faster than humans and be more consistent without breaks.

What makes RPA transformative?

RPA technology is transforming the way people work worldwide. Software robots are taking over repetitive and simple tasks that people have traditionally done, such as logging into systems, moving files, copying and pasting data, filling out forms and generating routine reports. More advanced robots can handle complex tasks like interpreting text, chatting with users, understanding messy data and using machine learning to make decisions. When robots handle repetitive, high-volume tasks, human employees concentrate on what they excel at and enjoy more, like creating, innovating, collaborating, and interacting with clients and customers.

Business benefits of robotic process automation

Robotic process automation simplifies workflows, which can make businesses more profitable, adaptable and responsive. It can boost employee engagement, satisfaction and productivity by eliminating boring tasks from their daily routines. You can quickly implement RPA without major changes, speeding up digital transformation. It can automate tasks in older systems that don’t have virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), application programming interfaces (APIs) or database access. More benefits include:

• cost savings
• minimal upfront expenses
• fast return on investment (ROI)
• higher accuracy
• little to no disruption to underlying systems
• scalable and enterprise-ready
• greater resilience
• Low code build environment
• improved compliance
• more value from personnel
• happier employees

Where can you use RPA?

RPA creates new efficiencies throughout different industries. Many companies in finance, healthcare, manufacturing, public services and retail have adopted RPA in their legal, finance, customer service, compliance, operations and IT departments. This is just the beginning. You can use RPA in various situations, making it popular for use in any high-volume, rule-based, repeatable process. As the future unfolds, more complex tasks requiring advanced AI skills are becoming candidates for RPA.

Robotic process automation technology features

When looking at RPA for your business, here are some features to consider:

• Usability: Uses intuitive interfaces and drag-and-drop for building and deploying bots without coding.
• Scalability: Can scale up or down as needed to handle more tasks.
• Integration: Works with multiple applications, systems and databases, including legacy and cloud-based.
• Reliability: Performs consistently with minimal downtime and can handle errors.
• Security: Protects sensitive data, encryption, access controls and industry standards compliance.
• Analytics and reporting: Built-in tools monitor, analyze and report on bot performance and business outcomes.
• Cognitive: Incorporates advanced AI features like NLP and ML and can work with unstructured data.
• Flexibility:  Adapts to changing business processes and requirements with customizable workflows.
• Governance and compliance: Tools ensure bots operate within regulatory frameworks and company policies.
• Support and community: Ensures access to customer support, training resources and a community of users who share best practices and troubleshooting.

How to use RPA in your business

To implement and manage a robotic process automation program, you often need a clear strategy, planning and the right tools and technology to achieve your business outcomes. Here’s how a typical business can do RPA:

Determine what you can automate

To start with automation, identify the business problems or opportunities RPA can solve. Align these to your goals and get your team to help you identify the key areas. Look for quick wins— simple processes ready to be automated today that may not give the highest ROI but will get executive buy-in. Consider complexity, data requirements and regulations to determine which approach is best for automation. Ensure you optimize your processes before you automate; automating a flawed process can perpetuate the issue. Use process discovery tools to find the best automation opportunities.

Earn company-wide buy-in

To launch an automation program, you can earn executive and stakeholder buy-in by showing how intelligent automation (IA) can improve business functions and justify the cost with a solid business case. This strategy can include a cost-benefit analysis, ROI and potential challenges. Using data and examples can help support your case. Prepare your team by creating a change management strategy that includes education, role definition and even gamification of the planning process. Involve everyone by crowdsourcing automation ideas, which can reduce employee fear of job displacement and enable them to contribute to the process.

Choose the right RPA software

When considering your software, ensure it aligns with your business outcomes. Technology is changing fast, so choosing vendors with strong experience who innovate can be beneficial. Many offer a basic version of their platform, but do you need the software to scale as your business grows? Consider structure, cost, cloud options, security, flexibility and ease of use. Other things you might consider include:

• Attended and unattended bots: Attended bots assist employees by running automation scripts on their desktops, handling mundane tasks and improving efficiency. Unattended bots operate independently without human intervention, running tasks automatically on separate systems. Both have different access and permissions, so you can audit and process sensitive data without human intervention.
• On-premises vs. cloud infrastructure: A flexible automation program may require different implementation types to achieve your outcomes. For example, a bank may use on-premises infrastructure for secure high-volume transactions but deploy cloud-based automation for client interactions through chatbots or mobile apps to scale quickly. Consider a platform that can support both on-premises and cloud scenarios seamlessly.
• IT-led vs. business-driven RPA: Robotic process automation vendors typically offer solutions that business leaders can use with “no code” tools or developed by IT teams with “low code” tools. Empowering users to create automation can accelerate RPA adoption and deliver significant benefits. However, collaborating with your IT department can ensure that the system impact, change control and governance of the automation program run smoothly.
• Scale and security: Many RPA vendors promise fast and easy implementation, which can be risky. When choosing an RPA vendor, check if their platform offers flexible and secure deployment with activity logs to track digital worker actions. As automation programs can grow quickly, a vendor with a proven track record of helping clients scale and meet ongoing business needs may be in your best interest.

Plan your implementation

Creating a detailed plan for rolling out RPA in your business can lead to a seamless deployment of your automation program. This plan can cover what tasks you will automate and who will own the project, budget, headcount and timeline.

Test your program

Testing your automation in a real process or a test environment can help you gather feedback from your team on the digital worker’s performance and areas for improvement. Monitoring key metrics such as accuracy, processing time and human intervention can help you identify issues and ensure the automation aligns with your outcomes. Regular employee feedback can also be beneficial in understanding how RPA technology impacts their work.

Deployment

Deploying your RPA in the planned areas and monitoring it can empower you to make adjustments as needed. Deployment is one part of automation; the other is checking it regularly to ensure it meets your outcomes. The key to RPA is to get the most out of your digital workforce.

Digital transformation is a continuous process of monitoring, optimizing and expanding. The goal of RPA is to change the future of work and your business by offering better efficiencies, improving performance, reducing risk, supplying faster response times, providing better customer experiences and having happier employees.