Introduction

Since the dawn of the first Industrial Revolution, technology has propelled humankind towards development.  The acceptance of machines in our daily lives has resulted in dramatic changes and development in many fields.  Today, one cannot imagine a world without gadgets, as they help with mundane tasks that would otherwise take hours.

The implementation of robotic process automation (RPA) is enabling businesses to execute templated business processes 5-10 times faster with an average of 37 percent fewer resources. Time and resources saved are leading to the redeployment of employees to handle higher-value tasks and a greater volume of work.

According to Gartner, RPA is the fastest-growing segment of the global enterprise software market. They estimate that RPA grew 63% in 2018 to $846 million with all top 3 vendors growing >40%.

The main goal of an RPA system is to complete repetitive, boring clerical tasks, quickly. No code or direct access to any database is required. It simply fills in the gaps between systems and processes. So, why do companies face major pushback on this – especially from their employees?

Myths about RPA

Like with any new system being brought into place, the maximum resistance is felt from those who do not understand its nature, tasks, and goals of its usage. Here are a few myths that need to be debunked, in order to comprehend the true potential of RPA.

RPA systems will replace humans completely

This commonly held myth could not be further from the truth. RPA systems require human supervision for programming, information on daily tasks and maintenance.

“The right level of detail at which to analyze the potential impact of automation is that of individual activities rather than entire occupations […] Given currently demonstrated technologies, very few occupations—less than 5 percent—are candidates for full automation.

However, almost every occupation has partial automation potential.” –McKinsey Global Institute report (1).

Human intelligence includes creativity, emotion, reactions to adversity, ability to deal with change. All this intelligence that can remain unutilized due to mundane and repetitive work processes can be freed up – by implementing RPA tools and processes in organizations.

RPA is expensive

RPA can offer a mix of tangible and intangible returns and benefits.
Implementing an RPA process has performance benefits such as error-free processing, saving of time due to its usage, social benefits – such as the building the organization’s reputation.

The administrative cost of the resource can also reduce a company’s spends. After the initial investment, small to medium businesses can easily recover the cost of using RPA systems within 4-5 years.

RPA is only useful in software-related industries

RPA can be used for small tasks that have nothing to do with heavy software. RPA bots can use operating system applications to launch and use various applications, integrating with enterprise tools, augmenting data and data processing.

RPA requires complicated coding

Robotic Automation interacts with the existing IT architecture with no complex system integration required. The RPA is a software program that is a sequence of commands executed by Bots under a defined set of business rules. It does not require the development of code, nor does it require direct access to the code or database of the applications.

Facts about RPA

1. There are two types of RPA processes or functions: A simple RPA system can perform any automation routine that does not involve intelligence. For example; data entry jobs. The second kind of RPA process is called Cognitive RPA. This involves a human command to process the system. For example; using Google to find the shortest route while driving.
2. Today 47% of workforce-related tasks can be automated with the help of RPA (2)
3. The overall processing time is reduced by 40%.
4. IoT and big tech products can see a boost in their growth with RPA usage.
5. RPA offers visualization models and enhanced analytics to customers that make it advantageous for businesses. RPA is ideal for cases where workflow needs to be automated, and the infrastructure, plus the back-office process are labor-intensive. The software program which runs the RPA can send a sequence of commands to get assignments done efficiently. For example; if a sales rate goes up by 20% and this code is not entered into the IT system, someone will usually have to check the invoices manually. An RPA can do this work in half the time.

Thus – we can see that RPA will enable companies to focus on providing a better quality of experience to customers/stakeholders.

RPA Best Practices

While RPA has the potential to make companies vastly more efficient and productive, one must still take care when rolling out one’s own RPA implementation. Some basic practices to keep in mind are as follows.

The Right Process

Choosing a process that is simple, repetitive, demands accuracy and must be performed at regular intervals.

Phase-wise Execution

Rolling out an RPA process is best when it is executed in stages – with a single department and team. Only when it is successfully up and running – you could extend it or scale it upwards.

Numbers Matter

Have a plan with costs and timelines for your creating and running your RPA solution – including the costs and resources you would be saving once implemented.

People Matter

You need buy-in from your top management about the benefits of RPA in your organization. Once that’s done – RPA agents need to collaborate with other employees and both need to balance out their capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses for optimum performance and results.

Have a Strategy & an Execution Plan

A complete and detailed RPA process strategy and detailed execution plan sounds obvious – but can make the difference between success and failure.

Account for Technology and its Usage

Across multiple usages and processes for optimum results using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, taking into account cyber-security requirements, licensing and internal control risk management, exception handling, and monitoring are critical factors in executing an RPA solution.

Bottomline

A human can work an average of 8 hours a day. An RPA can work 24hours a day without stopping the arrest. This means the average productivity of a human is 60% (with a few errors). RPA productivity is 100% and without any errors.

What else is RPA Capable of?

1. High-volume, Repetitive Tasks: Entering data from one system to another, at a fast pace, over and over again.
2. Multi-tasking: Operating complex tasks, across different systems; such as sending detailed reports, managing data, and processing transactions.
3. Automated Report Generation: Extracting information accurately, and in a timely manner.
4. Auditing: Checking, validating and creating compliance and auditing outputs.
5. Product Management: Bridging gaps between IT systems and product management. Handling technical debts and reducing gaps.
6. Data Migration: Automating migration, across systems. This was not possible earlier with documents, source data files or spreadsheets.
7. Filling in Gaps: Finding, correcting and checking process deficiencies and errors.
8. Quality Assurance
9. Forecasting: Analysing massive amounts of data and generating predictions.

Conclusion

Many recent studies conducted in the finance and accounting industries show the vast potential of RPA software in removing time-consuming and repetitive manual processes. As the Big Data boom continues, it will prove to be a strategic and important tool for organizations. Companies that deploy RPA can upgrade staff to more value-added roles and combine the best of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and human insight.

Today, there are many examples of companies that have done just that. Kryon Systems used to take four working days to complete a payment process for a global insurance provider. After deploying an RPA, the same task took only two hours to complete! (3)Zurich Insurance witnessed a50% cost reduction in their insurance and pension division in the UK thanks to RPA.

The RPA solution offering is versatile and flexible and suitable for use across multiple industry verticals such as Banking and Finance, Insurance, Technology, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Goods, and Manufacturing.

RPA is expected to remain the fastest-growing enterprise tech as most industry analysts expect the global RPA market revenues to continue growing at a strong pace.

• Gartner: $1.3bn by 2019
• Forrester: $2.9bn by 2019
• KeyBanc Capital Markets: $100bn by 2029

To conclude – in the words of Leslie Willcox, London School of Economics Professor – “ The relationship between technology and people has to change in the future for the better and I think RPA is one of the great tools to enable that change.”

I believe that RPA together with Cognitive Automation can enable an organization’s competitive edge – by enabling faster and efficient information sharing and decision making, reducing errors and redundancy.

So that it is able to function better and to be more creative in quality of output – delivering stakeholder value while improving their human resource assets and valuation.