Taking the Robot Out of the Human
Article submitted by Sandra Ahmadieh, IoT & Analytics Specialist at Tech Data
Recently I have seen the above phrase referenced in several articles and I just love it. There is no better way to describe the added value of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Over the past few years, it seems everyone has been talking about RPA, but automation as a technology is not a new concept. So why all the buzz lately?
The new demand for RPA can be explained by several factors which are affecting companies globally. Increased governmental and compliance-related regulations, and increased workloads and burnout among employees in every industry have all been challenges and a driver for organizations to adopt RPA. The pandemic has also sped up digital transformation and workplace transformation by months or years.
If you clicked on this article you likely already know what RPA is, however, I will go ahead and briefly define it in the context of a workplace setting. RPA is the process of utilizing software robots or bots to mimic the repetitive, high-volume, rules-driven, and routine tasks of employees. I imagine some of you may be nodding now, linking the title of this article to the challenges companies are currently facing. A lot of employees have or had to do these types of repetitive, time-consuming, and sometimes boring tasks that take up a lot of their time, making their jobs seem tedious and uninteresting with little room for creativity or innovation. By implementing RPA to automate business processes, specifically allowing these mundane tasks to be handled by bots, actually saves a lot of time, allowing employees to focus more on what we humans are best at: critical-thinking, collaboration and creative projects.
Nowadays, with increased complexity and demands, automating only repetitive or unattended tasks, that is, tasks where no decision-making is involved, is no longer enough. Hence, the need for cognitive intelligence, making way for Intelligent Automation (IA).
IA, or hyperautomation (as defined by Gartner), has been identified as one of Gartner’s Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2022[1] .
IA is the application of Artificial Intelligence and technologies such as Computer Vision, Cognitive Automation, and Machine Learning combined with RPA to execute business processes automatically on behalf of employees. With IA, bots learn from doing tasks and become smarter after the completion of every task. The results are increased productivity and accuracy, increased scalability and flexibility, enhanced employee morale, in addition to improved customer experience and compliance.
Organizations worldwide are implementing IA. The global IA market size is expected to reach $15.8 billion by 2025, rising at a market growth of 12.5% CAGR during the forecast period.[2] The industries and departments positively impacted by IA are endless. Banking, public sector, healthcare, life science, telcos, and insurance industries are all using IA to improve accuracy and efficiency within their finance, procurement, HR, sales and customer service, and supply chain departments, among others. A recent Gartner survey shows that nearly 60% of organizations are pursuing, on average, four or more concurrent hyperautomation initiatives.
IA promises significant benefits like automation of repetitive and scheduled tasks, digital workers alongside human workers, governance and reducing risk compliance, and business agility and speeding up the rapidly changing business processes. Realizing those benefits however require an intelligent automation strategy that enables organizations to scale and remain competitive.[3]
Now, a question for you — where is your organization at in its intelligent automation journey? Reach out to learn more about how Tech Data can help along this journey.
[2] The Global Intelligent Process Automation Market size is expected to reach $15.8 billion by 2025, rising at a market growth of 12.5% CAGR during the forecast period (prnewswire.com)
