RPA 101: Software robots to the rescue!

More CIOS is using robotic process automation to eliminate repetitive chores and free employees to concentrate on higher-value work. But if RPA is to support the business, it needs good design, planning, and governance.

What is robotic process automation (RPA)?

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technological application that automates business processes using structured inputs and business logic. A business can set up the software to record and analyze applications for handling transactions, altering data, eliciting replies, and interacting with other digital systems using RPA tools. RPA situations range from working with hundreds of bots trained to automate tasks in an ERP system to sending out an automated email answer.

Many CIOs are using RPA to automate business processes and cut expenses. Business users may spend more time on customer service or other higher-value tasks by automating tedious, rules-based business processes. Others consider RPA a stopgap on the way to intelligent automation (IA) using ML and AI tools, which can be educated to make predictions about future outputs.

How does RPA work?

RPA functions by extracting data from your current IT systems, either through a back-end interface or by simulating a human user's front-end access. With older corporate systems, you frequently can't access the back-end system directly; instead, you must go through the front end.

The RPA system performs a predefined job after extracting the information it requires. Applying business rules, producing a report, sending an invoice for a receivable, or producing a check for a payable are common use cases.

Robotic process automation can run either supervised or unsupervised. Supervised RPA bots act in response to requests from employees. Unattended RPA bots operate according to a timetable, such as producing nightly reports. Nearly all RPA bots require oversight and regular auditing to operate properly.

An RPA bot cannot function without the workflow being defined by a human. Often, this starts with process recording, which is similar to recording a macro but occurs across numerous systems. Writing and editing bot scripts can be compared to using macros. Almost anyone can define workflows thanks to the several RPA solutions that provide a flowchart-like interface for connecting various parts of a bot's operation. However, IT needs to build up some RPA systems, or a prominent provider must do it for the organization.

Identifying the business processes and their functioning is one of the challenging and time-consuming aspects of replicating existing business processes. While some RPA process mining systems can analyze existing process logs, others necessitate personnel observation and recording. In the worst situation, manual work will be required for this process discovery, which a provider can do.

Benefits of RPA

RPA allows businesses to cut down on employee expenses and human errors. The guiding premise is straightforward: let robots perform activities that get in the way and let human employees focus on what they do best.

Bots often don't require specialized software or extensive system integration, making them inexpensive and simple to create. These qualities are essential as firms strive for expansion without high costs or employee conflict.

Software robots with the right configuration can voluminously boost a team's productivity. For instance, deploying robots to execute straightforward, repetitive operations like copying and pasting data between business systems can speed up the process by 30% to 50%. Automating such operations can also increase accuracy by removing error-prone human situations such as being entered in the wrong order during data entry.

Incorporating cognitive technologies like ML, speech recognition, and natural language processing (NLP) into RPA can help businesses accelerate their automation efforts by automating higher-order tasks that formerly required human perception and decision-making skills. Intelligent automation (IA) is a value chain that includes RPA deployments, where up to 15 to 20 phases can be automated.