Category: Managed IT

The COVID-19 pandemic magnified a new challenge for the human workforce. We know that automation saves money over manual workload, and that manual work can cause human error. Now, we can consider human beings becoming sick on a massive scale and unable to perform work in person. RPA, or robotic process automation, is becoming more and more of a hot topic. One reason is that it is a solution when challenged by a pandemic. According to Computer Economics, RPA is picking up steam. As of 2021, 20% of organizations adopted robotic process automation, which is up from a 13% adoption rate in 2020. The previous year, 2019, had an adoption rate of 12%. Are your competitors adopting RPA? Do you want to stay ahead of the curve and edge them out of your market space? Let’s dive into “what is robotic process automation” and how it can both benefit and transform your business. What is Robotic Process Automation? RPA technologies are a game-changer. They automate corporate processes. It is a tool designed to ease human employees from having to perform tedious, repetitive jobs that are of low value. Basically, humans take on higher-value responsibilities and perform tasks that add value versus involving them in jobs that a BOT can manage. RPA Bots mimic human behavior and can replace humans for any tasks that are rules-baed and deterministic. RPA automation repeats a pre-defined operation which is much faster than a human can do because it performs tasks in an automated way. If robotic process automation can be adequately designed and strategized with the proper IT governance, it will be a success for the company. Features and Capabilities How RPA works is you would first log in to a system, software, or application and connect to an API. RPA then transfers documents and folders, copies and pastes data, and fills in forms. Robotic process automation can analyze and extract content from multiple sources like PDFs, emails, documents, scrapes browsers, and more. It will read a database and rewrite it. They can open emails and attachments, as well as make calculations. Is RPA the Same as Artificial Intelligence? While RPA and AI have similarities, they are not the same thing. Robotic process automation works with humans by automating repetitive processes. RPA has certain AI capabilities as well, that can leverage machine learning and natural language processing. The biggest difference between RPA and AI is that RPA leverages structured logic and inputs, while AI leverages unstructured inputs.  Artificial intelligence develops its own logic based on it’s experiences. Why is RPA Transformative? Robotic process automation assists companies in improving their business results. Another way to word it is that RPA can bring forth digital transformation. All the rage today, Forrester Research predicts that the RPA software market may reach as much as $6.5 billion by the year 2025. Where Can RPA be Used? The possibilities for RPA are endless, with its ability to work in pretty much every industry you can think of. It can impact all business units that have processes that occur the same way each time.  In the supply chain, we can use RPA for predictive maintenance, data entry, and after-sales service support. Telecommunication businesses can configure new services along with the associated billing for a new account by using RPA. Other areas where we can use RPA include: Finance and RCM (Revenue Cycle Management) Customer service Shared services Data management Human resources Information technology Sales and marketing While it requires serious planning and forethought before implementing RPA in these areas, these are functions and departments of the business that will find RPA highly beneficial. Types of RPA There are three types of robotic process automation. We will break them down for you. Attended Automation Usually, attended automation is an RPA that will operate on the computer of a user. The most exclusive element of attended automation is that they program every robotic system specific to the user. Whenever a worker needs the robot to execute a process, the robot is available and ready to go. All that needs to be done is that the user activates the robot’s functions. The benefit is accuracy and time-saving features. It is possible to activate a robot automatically with user behavior that is pre-defined with more advanced technology. If an employee is non-compliant with a defined rule or behavior, the robot can do one of two things. The robot could execute the procedure automatically on behalf of the employee or send a message letting the employee know they made a mistake. Unattended Automation RPA that is unattended automation basically runs on a virtual machine. It will have the perspective that an enterprise user will. Leadership will need to understand this. An unattended robot that is performing unattended automation will carry out the procedures for a group of employees, as opposed to being deployed by one user. It will execute a procedure that is delegated by a defined schedule, pre-defined event, or API. The biggest benefit of unattended automation is that it will run on its own, operating on a virtual machine. A user does not need to stop what they are doing or halt carrying out their tasks on their computer or device. It is for these reasons that some companies prefer unattended automation over attended. Especially if the procedure takes a long time to operate. Hybrid Automation Even if your robot moves fast, it still may take a long time to complete a process. Although, it is still far less time than it would take a human to do it manually. When you have hybrid automation, this means that an unattended robot will carry out the parts of the process that demand a human worker to be involved. An unattended robot that operates a virtual machine takes care of the rest of the project. That is why a hybrid approach is extremely versatile as an option. Further, depending on your needs for the project, an employee could launch the process and trigger the attended robot.