Beneficial Fusion of Process Mining and Robotic Process Automation

During the past decade, industries have begun to change rapidly due to new regulatory, technology and market challenges.

Companies are looking for new ways to decrease costs and overcome stagnant productivity growth.

The rapid expansion of new regulations — as well as firms’ initiatives to improve efficiency — are driving demand for solutions that can be seamlessly integrated with existing infrastructure while enhancing productivity and performance.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is just such a technological innovation capable of delivering immediate operational effectiveness, quality and cost efficiency.

What is Robotic Process Automation?
RPA represents a more efficient way to execute basic, high-volume, low value-added processes. It delivers increased accuracy and control by standardizing tedious, manual tasks, and having them performed by software applications.

These software robots interact with the user interface of third-party applications and are configured to execute steps identically to a human user.

Robots don’t make human errors, can work 24/7 and can be scaled up in an instance to match fluctuating process demands. Deployed within a company, they achieve more work and greater productivity with the same number of people.

Rather than being programmed using code-based instructions, “robots” are configured using demonstrative steps.

A business user can set up the robotic virtual worker in an intuitive manner which is akin to how an operational user would train a human colleague. This frees up limited IT resources for more strategic IT implementations.

Benefits of RPA solutions go far beyond cost reduction. Companies that have implemented RPA-based solutions, often see returns on their investments in as little as one quarter.

Since RPA can be implemented without altering existing IT infrastructure and systems, this lowers implementation risk. Moreover, RPA does not require all processes and systems to be converted at the same time.

RPA also provides full audit trails and process compliance.

Key role of Process Mining in assessing, evaluating & monitoring RPA
To maximize the impact of robot-led automation, there is a need for a solid understanding of the as-is processes, legacy systems, and an overview of automation opportunities.

Process Mining tools provide key insights throughout the entire RPA journey, from defining the strategy to continuous improvement and innovation.

Benefits of process mining within the RPA lifecycle include:

• Provide general overview of processes within the company, based on specific criteria
• Identify processes suitable for RPA implementation during the preparation phase
• Determine the optimal process flow/process path
• Analyze the extent to which RPA can be implemented in the legacy processes and systems
• Provide monitoring and analysis of RPA performance during the transition/handover of customization
• Provide monitoring and continuous improvement of RPA in post implementation phase

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The article was originally published on the Minit.io blog.