Robotic Process Automation (RPA): Changing People, Processes and Perceptions
As part of Version 1’s Accelerate graduate programme, I’ve joined their Innovation Labs, which has given me an opportunity to explore and work with the latest cutting-edge technology. With a background in software engineering and data analytics post-graduation, I love experimenting with new technologies as part of my job. A recent example of technology I’ve worked on is Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
In this article, I’d like to shed some light on RPA and my experience with it.
What is RPA?
RPA is the process of automating business operations with the help of robots, to reduce human intervention. To explain in a simplified manner, the term RPA can be broken down as:
Robotic: Entities that mimic human actions (robots).
Process: A sequence of steps that leads to a meaningful activity. For example, the process of making tea.
Automation: Application of technology to enable a robot to perform a specific task without human intervention.
RPA is the application of technology, governed by business logic and structured input to automate a business process. Using RPA, companies can configure software i.e. a robot to capture and interpret applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems. RPA scenarios range from something as simple as generating an automatic response to an email, to deploying thousands of bots, each programmed to automate jobs in an ERP system. No complex integration is required to implement RPA, with RPA sitting on top of existing IT systems.
The main goal of RPA is to automate repetitive and boring tasks performed by humans, through a virtual workforce. RPA does not require the development of code, nor does it require direct access to the code or database of the applications.
Why RPA?
Consider this typical scenario in any business:
Organisations must continuously evolve their products, systems, and practices, etc to grow and stay competitive in today’s everchanging market. A typical organisation makes uses of multiple IT systems to run its operations. If there happens to be a change in any business process, these IT systems must be changed as per the new requirement.
However, changes to these IT systems are not conducted frequently due to budget, timing and implementation complexities. As a result, the business processes do not accurately map the technical process mapped in the IT system.
To solve this, the organisation must hire an employee to fill the gap between the system and process. For example, imagine an organisation has made changes to its sales process to require a mandatory 50% advance payment to confirm the purchase of a product. This isn’t coded into the IT systems yet, which means that a human employee will have to manually check invoice and payment details to process the sales order, as long as they can see that a 50% advance payment has been made.
Now, what is the problem here? Humans.
With any changes to business processes, an organisation would need to hire new employees or train existing employees to ensure IT systems and business processes are accurately mapped. This isn’t efficient as both solutions are time consuming and cost money.
RPA to the Rescue
With Robotic Process Automation, organisations can deploy virtual workers who mimic human employees. With changes in processes, a few lines of code will always be faster and cheaper than retraining hundreds of employees.
When comparing RPA to human employees, it's clear that RPA should be considered a key IT support going forward as:
· RPA can work 24/7 and not experience any mental fatigue.
· The average productivity of human employees is 60% with a few errors, compared to RPA’s productivity which is 100% without any errors.
· RPA is much better at multitasking compared to human employees.
Now, let’s look at some of the benefits and use-cases of RPA.
Benefits of RPA
Lower Operational Cost: RPA has been proven to optimise operational costs by up to 50%.
Analytical Capabilities: The Process Log generated during RPA contains a lot of “big data”, which can be further analysed to derive insights and fuel decision-making.
Regulatory Adherence: A fully RPA-enabled process can empower organisations to keep track of every operation and create thorough documentation.
Increased Efficiency: With RPA, a business can have automated processes functioning 24x7x365. Along with increased availability, this also ensures zero errors and 100% efficiency.
Employee Productivity: With repetitive tasks taken care of, organisations can leverage their employees for more complicated and intelligent tasks.
Increased Customer Satisfaction: With RPA working round the clock, this ensures customers receive instant responses and information at a time that’s convenient for them.
Examples of RPA
RPA can be implemented for the following business processes:
Customer Service: Automated customer service systems can sort queries and provide initial responses to customers. RPA can be applied here to automate and streamline customer calls as per the business processes to enable efficient responses to customers.
Invoice Processing: RPA can be used here for data input, consolidating data from different sources into a single financial database and rule-based decision making.
HR Operations: RPA can perform payroll-related activities such as new employee onboarding processes, payroll processing and hiring shortlisted candidates.
Travel and Logistics: RPA can be deployed here for ticket booking, order tracking and payment status retrieval, maintaining inventory updates, accounting, etc.
Insurance: RPA can be implemented for retrieval of premium and policy information, claims processing, addressing customer requests and services and much more.
Myths about RPA:
Some myths around RPA include:
1. Coding is mandatory for implementing RPA: To use RPA, it’s necessary to understand how the tool works from the front-end and how it can be used for automation.
2. RPA does not require human supervision: Humans are needed to configure RPA, task them for automation and manage them.
3. RPA is only for industries that use software heavily: RPA can be used for certain repetitive manual tasks, irrespective of industry.
RPA within Version 1’s Innovation Labs
The Innovation Labs is highly absorbed in implementing cutting-edge technologies with RPA being one of them. We collaborated with a UK based Government Agency to implement an RPA based solution to address their business problems. Our RPA solution enabled our client to use bots to execute processes, reducing time and manual efforts. This RPA solution helped decrease processing time by 60%.
The implementation of RPA shows how strongly we believe in using the latest technologies to solve our customer’s business problems. This project has increased our references and credibility in the RPA space and demonstrated how Version 1’s capability as an RPA services provider. I have learnt a lot about RPA since joining the company and very excited to see how RPA will develop in the near future.
The Innovation Labs has been in action since 2018 and has had many success stories in the form of successful collaborative Proof-Of-Values (PoVs). We are keen on engaging more without current and new customers to demonstrate how the latest technologies can add value to their business. To find out more about Innovation at Version 1, visit us here.
