What is Robotic Process Automation?
RPA, or Robotic Process Automation, is a revolution in the domain of business process automation. This technology enables people to easily carry out the configuration of computer software, by bringing in a sort of “bot” or software that helps in imitating tasks carried out by humans. RPA helps in the integration of many people interacting within a digital domain or system, to achieve the final goal of executing a business process.
In other words, RPA is software that lets businesses accomplish the automation of digital tasks with ease, error-free, thus changing the face of the game entirely. Where it used to be tedious and cumbersome, bots take over to finish tasks with perfect ease. One of the many reasons why RPA should be preferred over other kinds of software is the very fact that, unlike traditional IT solutions, RPA allows for the automation of tasks in organizations while only taking up a fraction of the cost and time that other solutions demand.
Much like human beings, RPA uses the user interface for data capturing, and for the manipulation of applications. A wide selection of highly repetitive tasks is carried out by its ability to interpret, trigger and interact with other systems. The difference is that, unlike humans, RPA requires no rest, and there is zero error, so these repetitive (and possibly boring) tasks can be carried out with maximum efficiency without taking up any person’s time and energy. This is why RPA is a breakthrough in changing how the workplace is designed and how it functions, and also the basis for future development of such technology.
How Does Robotic Process Automation Work?
RPA works by mimicking human user activity. It can move folders, sign in to applications, connect to system APIs, read and write databases, copy and paste data, scrape web data, open and view emails and attachments, make fast and accurate calculations, and extract and process semi-structured and structured information from forms, documents, PDFs, emails and so on. RPA can also carry out tasks like employee and vendor onboarding, payroll processing, etc. All of this is accomplished by first observing human actions over digital space, and then letting the bots/software mimic these activities round-the-clock, according to a rules-based system.
There can be as many as thousands of these bots employed at a time, each one of them already programmed to automate various jobs in an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. RPA is also one of the software on the frontier of the no-coding or low-coding trend.
Software, Services, and Tools for RPA
Robotic Process Automation software is easy to use, and not much technical expertise is needed. It is not hard to set up, use, or share these RPA bots. The software allows the cloning, scheduling, sharing, and customization of these bots throughout an organization to carry out business processes like never seen before.
RPA services are used extensively in the fast-moving consumer goods industry (as the flexible nature of the software is excellent for frequently changing customer demand patterns in the market), banking (delinquent loans are easily dealt with by sending pre-timed emails and notices to the clients), health care fields (auto-maintenance of relevant documents and stronger enforcement of compliance to rules and regulations) and manufacturing (increased efficiency of supply chains helps with workflow turnaround timings, and with minimizing material costs).
Since most organizations have tasks that are repetitive and scheduled, such as generation of reports, data entry and extraction, and so on, these tasks are usually performed manually by employees, taking up a lot of time and effort. RPA changes the scene of the workplace by automating the same tasks to be completed by RPA bots at a much faster and accurate rate than ever before.
Some popular RPA tools are UiPath (it comes with a community edition for people with no knowledge of programming, and has multiple hosting options), Blue Prism (it is a platform-independent tool), Automation Anywhere, Pega, WorkFusion, Jacada, WinAutomation, NICE Systems, Contextor, and so on. Before choosing the right RPA tool some factors such as scalability, platform independence, security, ease of usage, cost, maintenance, and support systems, etc., must be considered.
Benefits, Companies, and Future of RPA
Benefits of the RPA include
. Fast and easy implementation
· Major reduction of effort in the back-offices of organizations
· Improved customer service
· Improved accuracy
· Improvement in compliance, cost savings, greater scalability
· Improved efficiency and productivity
The future of the workplace concerning businesses, operational processes, and other functions will experience a sort of snowball experience with this kind of software. Measurable benefits to businesses will appear immediately with the implementation and promotion of such software. It frees human employees from repetitive and time-consuming tasks and allows them to focus on other duties, increasing employee engagement within the organization.
Some of the well-known corporations that have already adopted the RPA software, are Walmart, Vanguard, Walgreens, AT&T, American Express Global Business Travel, etc.
Conclusion
Automation helps businesses tremendously by speeding up their processes, increasing accuracy and efficiency, etc. While there is no magic formula for full implementation, if RPA were to be made part of the long-term journey of business processes on a large scale, there would be visible positive effects and transformations.
