What is Robotic Process Automation ?

Robotic Process Automation is the technology that allows anyone today to configure computer software, or a “robot” to emulate and integrate the actions of a human interacting within digital systems to execute a business process. RPA robots utilize the user interface to capture data and manipulate applications just like humans do. They interpret, trigger responses and communicate with other systems in order to perform on a vast variety of repetitive tasks.

Robots involved in the Robotic process automation aren’t robots in the physical sense. Rather, they are software bots that reside on a computer and interact directly with business applications. They use existing technologies like In- house mainframe, Cloud,  Enterprise automation and Desktop automation to perform business functions. RPA software mimics human interaction with core systems, web, and desktop applications to work 24/7 within the existing IT landscape.

RPA – A Major Disruption Beyond Cost Benefit

RPA is not just deployed for getting cost benefits. It also helps in improving Service Delivery and enhancing operational efficiency.

Improved Service Delivery could mean quality and speed and operational efficiency naturally categorizes into governance security and business continuity.

Quality: any RPA Implementation helps to minimize human errors, reduces rework

Speed : RPA helps to optimize turn-around time of transactions and enhances overall operations delivery.

Moving on to operational efficiencies, RPA creates an automated governance Framework which is real time and scalable in nature. An example of this would be creation of a governance Framework which enables to send out follow-ups, reports and Email communication across various departments and internal stakeholders.

Types of RPA Tools

The different types of RPA tools primarily revolve around three basic type of implementations, one is a desktop based solution followed by an enterprise oriented solution, and the third being a mix of both.

A desktop based solution is an RPA hosted on the desktop of the user like any other application or software and which requires small or no programming effort. Typical characteristics of desktop based solutions are it works as a personal assistant by integrating applications and data, it also has limited capability to run processes at backend without any human intervention and they are usually priced on a per license basis, which could either be a perpetual or a periodic license based on usage. Some of the vendors operating in this space are PegaSystem and Win Automation.

In case of Enterprise RPA solutions, the RPA tools are typically hosted on the server which can be assigned tasks as workflows through multiple terminals which typically requires some programming effort. Examples include scenarios like deploying connectors with underline systems. An Enterprise RPA tool functions as a network of automated FTE’s (Full Time Employee) running processes at the backend. They typically extend high flexibility in terms of handling almost all type of rule based processes. The pricing of enterprise RPA solutions are usually more complex than desktop based solutions, with charges for consulting implementation and maintenance also included in the overall pricing.

Finally coming to the mix of both RPA solutions, this type of RPA solution is flexible to be deployed on desktop or at an enterprise level depending upon client requirements. Typical characteristics include their modular structure which consists of a fundamental component sufficient for desktop mode and optional components for server based operations. Typical examples of vendors dealing in the space are Automation Anywhere and UI Path.

Choosing the correct RPA

Because of the presence of a large number of tools in the market for business process automation, it becomes important to assess which of them would be suitable for a given type of automation. Here are some key factors you need to look out for when you’re evaluating and RPA tool - scalability, speed, reliability, simplicity, intelligence and integrability:

• An RPA tool should be able to scale rapidly and also be centrally managed. Easy and rapid scalability is often touted as a big advantage of RPA. The cost of creating a bot is certainly less than that of hiring and training a human being. However, organisations need to compare the cost and time required to create and deploy additional software bots while selecting their RPA vendor. Hence the RPA tool should be able to scale rapidly and also be centrally managed.
• They should be able to design and test new processes to optimize the bots to work quickly.
• Built-in monitoring and support systems should be present to monitor the health of systems.
• Enterprises should make sure that their products are simple and are easy to learn and implement.
• RPA tools should be able to support simple task-based activities, perform data manipulations. Organisations should look for an RPA platform where smart robots can be built to handle multiple types of work—from collection of data to transforming content into meaningful business information to enforcing the rules of your processes and understand whether RPA tool is going to run assisted (on the employee's desktop) or unassisted (in a server room), or both, it has great implications for tool selection.
• Companies should look for tools that provide scalability, reliability, and manageability. The RPA tool should be compatible with the underlying legacy applications. Some RPA tools have integration issues with particular platforms. During the proof of concept phase, it should be ensured that the tool is less IT intrusive or else it may lead to cost escalations. RPA deployment will almost always mean that sensitive data is being processed. As a result, security measures are an essential selection criteria.

Summarizing the above, if we have a good tool for our process automation and the right prioritization of the processes then half of our job is done.

Is RPA affordable to your business?

RPA is not as costly as you think. It is even possible to start automating business processes at zero budget as many of the RPA providers even provide free software for SME’s. It is a myth that RPA is suitable for only big enterprises with huge number of employees and processes. Cost of the RPA implementation is purely based on the depth of integration and number of process a business wishes to automate.

Possibilities of RPA

RPA across the business to solve numerous and often completely different challenges. Any processes which are highly manual and repetitive, rule based, which have readable electronic input types, standard inputs, low exception rates and high volume processes are the most suited for RPA implementation. Following are few examples,

1. Vendor, Customer and Employee Onboarding
2. Vendor, Customer and Employee Maintenance
3. Report aggregation
4. Payroll processing
5. Customer Due Diligence
6. Competitive Pricing and Monitoring
7. CRM Updates
8. Order Processing
9. Shipment Scheduling and Tracking
10. User Setup and Configuration

Changing perspectives and future

RPA in the current state has had to follow a long and winding road to reach here. This is a journey from being able to handle structure data to reach a state where it can handle unstructured data.

The most basic type of RPA implementation starts with a trigger-based automation, followed by screen mashup based RPA, followed by robotic process automation at an enterprise level and finally followed by cognitive computing and artificial intelligence - which is also the most complex implementation of Robotic Process Automation.

With the evolving generations of RPA, expectations from RPA are also changing in terms of Value and Capability.

Earlier, RPA was used to Act on structured data as a basis for repeatable actions to result in Desktop Automation. This was the age of macros and workarounds and leveraged Pre-existing basic technologies like VBA, auto hot keys and screen-scrapping.

We’ve moved beyond the primitive stage of RPA into an era where RPA is expected to not just “Act” but truly “Perform” as a strategic platform for tactical change which has broad applications in rule based automation on routines. This is an example of unattended service based processing which can take binary decisions.

Finally, the most complex arena be in the automated cognitive engines which is capable of performing transaction on its own based on machine learning and cognitive intelligence. This is the aspirational state for RPA vendors and we’re just trying to reach there.