RPA. What is Robotic Process Automation?
What is RPA, how is it rapidly changing the business landscape and how can RPA help you?
What is Robotic Process Automation?
So, what exactly is RPA or Robotic Process Automation? Diversified Robotic says "RPA uses software robots (bots) to automate any business process in the digital realm." Think of RPA as a digital employee that can mimic the actions of a human on a computer. That means once a set of rules are applied to a digital employee, those rules are followed to the letter, every time. There are so many repetitive tasks that we do on the computer, day in and day out. Estimates as high as 55% of these mundane, mindless, data-entry and copy-and-paste processes we do can be automated. Businesses have spent millions in an attempt to do so. Some businesses did this without regard to the human element and some wanted to free up their talent, but that's an ethical discussion for another article. Up until recently, this automation was mainly done with API's or the Application Programming Interface level. Basically, API's allow applications to communicate with one another through complex coding and programming. Traditional automation in this manner takes a lot of time to program, implement and test. This, of course, raises the costs tremendously. Enter Robotic Process Automation ! As mentioned, RPA mimics human actions and operates on the User Interface (UI) level like you and I (hence, U & I. Sorry, geek joke). If you have to log in and out of five separate apps to enter information, create graphs and then email your manager, RPA does that exact same process. Being based on human actions makes RPA easy to create and easy to implement quickly; driving the costs way down in comparison to traditional automation.
How is RPA rapidly changing the business landscape?
But, let's say you have the fastest mouse in the West and you could complete said process ending in an email to your manager in 20 minutes. You are a valuable employee and you should be commended! Now, let's say your company has a RPA digital employee that knows this process and all you have to do is click a button to initiate it. You just freed up about 19 minutes and 15 seconds of your time. What would an already valuable employee do with that time? Send another email perhaps? Follow up on some warm leads? Or maybe, reach out to existing customers and grow their satisfaction? Do you see how the business landscape is changing?
As with any new technology, fear of change will cause many to hear the word "robotic" and instantly conjure up Hollywood movie scenes of killer robots in their minds. This is not that technology. Artificial Intelligence might be that technology. I am ambivalent about AI. It both intrigues and frightens me. Again, this is a discussion for another article. RPA has no harmful intent. As in the above scenario, RPA is freeing up employee time and thus allowing employees to focus on higher value tasks or creativity. Will every employee utilize that time and adapt? Do all employees have a strong work-ethic? Stanton Jones, director and principal analyst of ISG, said in a recent ZDNet article : "Not every employee will adapt and innovate, but we believe most will. Those that do adapt will go in two directions: one group will focus on becoming more productive by doing more of the same kind of work they did in the past with the assistance of digital labor. The other will move on to more value-added activities." Gerard Badorrek, the GSA’s chief financial officer, recently commented : "What we’re doing is freeing them up to do the higher-level work." When I hear "higher-level work", I hear higher-level pay. This is exactly what's happening. I personally know of a case where a woman would spend 4 to 5 hours of her day processing about 400 orders. A RPA bot now handles processing the orders and the woman has become a Managing Partner of the firm.
So far, RPA is saving businesses time which, in turn, saves money. Robotic Process Automation is also re-purposing employees to higher-level activities which increase productivity, efficiency and overall profits. Sounds like a pedigree race horse: Win Win Win.
How can RPA help your business?
"But, I'm a small or medium-sized business. This new technology is probably still too expensive for me to utilize." Well, wrong again my friend. RPA isn't really that new. For years, the Fortune 500 have been using it and it's just now trickling down to us average Joe's. That's one of the reasons big business has been able to scale so quickly. Even today, you mostly hear of large enterprises using Robotic Process Automation. However, RPA is now being offered to small and medium-sized companies at an affordable monthly subscription price that can actually reduce their back office operating costs by over 50%. This has truly changed the game and leveled the playing field for businesses of all sizes. Want to learn more about this opportunity? Watch this informative video and learn how you can use RPA in your business digital transformation!
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