Robotic Process Automation is on the top of the list as enterprises look for capabilities to manage regular and repetitive tasks. Almost every process within a workflow can be improved; however, it depends on businesses. Enterprises should start small with RPA and take a more strategic view toward RPA implementation.
Why do businesses need to opt for RPA software?
1. Data related tasks are time-consuming
Data entry, analysis, transferring, and storage are some of the genuine challenges faced by most of the enterprise. These tasks require time and are tedious. Thus, it creates boredom for human employees, to work on it. Also, for human employees, it’s not always possible to perform error-free tasks.
2. Issues with the business processes
The ongoing business processes sometimes fail to work well with the new applications. Even after investing so much on the latest technologies, it doesn’t deliver what desired. Ultimately, it’s a waste of time and resources.
3. High investment but no desired results
Experimentation with technologies demands high investment that, too, there is no immediate change and reduction in expenditure it delivers.
4. Gathering insights and analytics
The modern-day business environment is complex. Multiple operations and processes run at the same time. So, it’s a hectic task to collect, organize, track, analyze, and report data.
In this scenario, RPA software can perform repetitive tasks, reduce human error and staffing costs while increasing productivity and efficiency.
Enterprise RPA can increase productivity by 20-80% in any process, but the trick lies in making the right strategy to implement it. In 2017, according to Deloitte’s survey of 400 global firms, it was seen that 63% of surveyed organizations said their expected delivery time and 37% said their expectations of cost to implement RPA was not met. However, businesses continue to invest in RPA. And why not, when RPA can benefit the overall workflow, automate tasks, and free up employee time.
So planning a roadmap for RPA at scale is necessary to avoid the silly slip-ups. While strategizing, you must consider some steps which will help you to set a good plan.
- Avoid over-analyzing the alternatives instead save that budget on RPA implementation with the best RPA tools.
- Though RPA software doesn’t make changes to the existing business operations, however business subject matter experts can contribute to improvement strategy. Both the IT team and business SMEs can help in making the roadmap.
- Set aside some budget for ad hoc operation needs.
- Automating all processes may not be economical. Carefully observe the workflow and involve your operations team to understand the requirement.
- Help employees to know about RPA implementations and how it will help to boost productivity.
As per a global survey 2019 by Protiviti, the top five RPA business case criteria are:
Characteristics of Enterprise RPA software
What attributes of enterprise RPA steal the show? Here’s what you need to know:
- Enterprise RPA is not about running robots on the desktop; it’s about using the software for the process, which requires scalability. RPA tools help you to scale results in & out and measure the progress.
- The unattended robots can take care of the work on servers. The RPA bots are reliable, and they can finish the task on their own.
- RPA software programs are reusable and easy to maintain when not in use.
- RPA bots are effectively manageable and controllable in groups as well.
- The software programs come with the ability to audit and assess whether they are working according to the planned.
- It comes with a repeatable and reliable development process.
- The software bots are developed for fast implementation with high-performance execution.
An industry or organization that includes partners, training and well-aware departments witness suitable RPA progress.
Characteristics of Enterprise RPA software
What attributes of enterprise RPA steal the show? Here’s what you need to know:
- Enterprise RPA is not about running robots on the desktop; it’s about using the software for the process, which requires scalability. RPA tools help you to scale results in & out and measure the progress.
- The unattended robots can take care of the work on servers. The RPA bots are reliable, and they can finish the task on their own.
- RPA software programs are reusable and easy to maintain when not in use.
- RPA bots are effectively manageable and controllable in groups as well.
- The software programs come with the ability to audit and assess whether they are working according to the planned.
- It comes with a repeatable and reliable development process.
- The software bots are developed for fast implementation with high-performance execution.
An industry or organization that includes partners, training and well-aware departments witness suitable RPA progress.
RPA implementation in top four growing sectors
In sectors that require rigorous operations, RPA works as a virtual worker performing all the mundane & tedious tasks. However, the RPA maturity stage varies across industries. Banking & Finance, technology, media and telecommunications are adopting RPA fast.
With banking and finance, numerous processes require end-to-end processes. RPA software meets the modern-day criteria of high demand audibility by streamlining all the transactional process. From managing the invoice process, onboarding new customers, KYC process to the general ledger, RPA take care of the processes in a jiff. It is both labor-saving and cost-effective.
Real-world examples:
DBS bank partnered with IBM to scale an enterprise-wide Center of Excellence in RPA. They thought about using RPA beyond back-end operations. Till September 2019, they have optimized more than 50 complex business.
OCBC, one of the Singaporean banks, reduced the time of re-pricing home loans from 45 minutes to just 1 minute with the help of RPA. Their RPA software also checks the customer’s eligibility to sustain the re-priced home loan, send re-priced options
Telecommunications
In telecommunications, RPA is used as a middleware to automate customer information. As the telecom industry deals with a huge volume of data and repetitive information, RPA software helps in managing those streamlining the back-office tasks. Also, functions like report preparation and distribution, responding to partner queries, tracking competitor prices, and providing first call resolution to the clients are some of the best solutions provided by RPA software to the telecom industry.
Real-world examples:
An Australian telecom and media company automated its order creation and service removal process with the help of Uipath RPA tools. Within some weeks, robots were running for 24/7 on the client’s CRM system and they were able to process a lot of orders which help in generating daily reports. This enabled them to save ten full-time employees’ effort and cost.
Manufacturing
Software-based RPA is gaining more popularity than physical robots in the manufacturing industry. These software programs help with supply chain procedures, general ledger, invoicing, accounts receivable, and other operations.
Real-world examples:
Forbes Marshall, one of the leading process engineering & energy conservation providers, completely automated their taxation work. It saves a lot of time and reconciliations are done effortlessly. However, some processes need a little support. Additionally, they have built a mobile app for their engineers to track and trace workflow on the go.
Healthcare
By 2024, the healthcare sector is expected to be one of the fastest-growing sectors. In the healthcare sector, RPA can offer quality service to the patient by reducing the amount of processing time. From revenue cycle management, claims processing to medical billing, automation is managing all the vital works.
Real-world examples:
A hospital in Texas streamlined its monthly data load with the use of RPA. They also enabled valid payment accuracy on test claims, managed and monitored day-to-day activities on lesser time with a high level of accuracy. With the help of machine learning and AI, RPA can structure data and help in making a better decision.
Overall, it may be said
In the coming times, we can see further improvement in RPA, coupled with other advanced technologies. Although RPA is here to save money, reduce process time and increase productivity, it requires an initial monetary outlay for enterprise RPA implementation. However, if you keep in mind the general characteristic and identify the real pain points on your business process, you’ll be able to find the best solution. Also, note that RPA developers can customize the RPA-based software according to your business needs.