2 Hows and 2 Whys of Process Mining and Robotic Process Automation
Do you know why companies are interested in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and how they find the best process candidates for such automation?
Find out in the survey put together in cooperation with SSON Analytics.
(This is the 4th — and last — post in a series about the latest insights on how organizations are embracing Robotics Process Automation, and where Process Mining fits in. Want to see the 3rd post? Click here: The Perfect Marriage: Robotic Process Automation with Process Mining.)
Why Are Companies Investing in Technologies Like RPA and Process Mining?
As the chart below discloses, 38% of the Shared Service organizations identified Intelligent Automation (e.g. RPA) and 34% Process Mining as an area they are looking into for their next investment.
In an interview, McKinsey published a statement made by Leslie Willcocks, Professor at the London School of Economics, that companies who implemented RPA have seen an ROI of 30% to 200% in the first year.
In addition, RPA projects help companies with compliance challenges, especially in highly regulated industries such as banking or insurance.
(Understand where Process Mining is now, and see where it’s headed next as an industry, technology, and community. Download the Process Mining Trends in 2020 guide here.)
Thanks to implementing a Process Mining solution, companies reported 21% saved process costs, 27% lower throughput time, and 30% higher efficiency.
Respondents in Deloitte’s Global Robotic Process Automation Survey said that RPA “meets and exceeds expectations across multiple dimensions, including: improved compliance (92%), improved quality / accuracy (90%), improved productivity (86%), cost reduction (59%)”.
How to Spot the Best Candidates for Automation?
To identify processes that are best suited for automation, organizations should look into these five criteria:
- ROI. It makes sense to automate the process from the perspective of seeing a return.
- Standardization. The process is based on rules which the bot can follow.
- High volume. The process is repeated frequently within the company and occurs in high volume.
- Employee involvement. The process requires human judgement and more complex decision-making. If so, it can be split into smaller tasks that can be divided between employees and bots.
- Data. The organization has structured data for the process that can be analyzed by a Process Mining tool.
How to Excel with RPA via Process Mining in 4 Steps
1. Understand Organization’s Processes
Many processes have variations and deviations which the organization doesn’t necessarily need to know. Decisions for automation based on incomplete understanding of the process can cause automation to fail outright.
2. Identify the Best Scenario
With Process Mining at hand, organizations can identify the most efficient variant of the process for the bot, as well as testing it before going live.
3. Monitor the Bots
To keep the bots working properly and effectively, organizations should be monitoring them through Process Mining even after the RPA project is live.
4. Evaluate the Benefits
Validating ROI of the RPA action through Process Mining, such as throughput times, continuous compliance checking, and other metrics, is the best start for Digital Transformation within the organization.
Why Even Think About Robotic Process Automation Projects?
According to experts, Robotic Process Automation is the next big thing in the Digital Transformation of enterprises. After the successful deployment of robots in manufacturing, even the service industry has started implementing the solution, based on the state of the technology.
Organizations can benefit from the use of human potential in multiple areas, other than just repetitive and error-prone tasks employees tend to work on daily. Understanding, advice, skills, judgement, and decision making are traits humans excel in.
It’s time that companies start to value them and free up employees from mundane activities. Maybe this was not possible in the past, but with today’s modern technology of Robotic Process Automation, it’s the best way to go.
As the “The Perfect Marriage: Robotic Process Automation with Process Mining” guide proves, Robotic Process Automation provides clear and tangible benefits that organizations can build upon to further serve their customers and, eventually, increase their revenues.
However, any Robotic Process Automation initiative without previous process analysis is most often doomed to fail.
Therefore, Process Mining is a necessary step towards understanding processes, their variants and deviations thoroughly, which later leads to a successful RPA implementation and thriving businesses.
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The article was originally published on the Minit.io blog.
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash
