The Power Of Robotic Processes Automation Revolutionizing The Technology Industry
Alok Bansal, MD and Country Head, Visionet India, 0
As Forrester rightly said, "RPA has proven its value as a strong and direct mechanism to support an enterprise's tactical and strategic goals. But getting it right has its challenges". Let us find out the suitability and applicability of RBA in real-time situations.
The future of business in almost every domain will lie with the organization's speed and adaptability quotient. Making businesses sustainable and relevant is an integral part of any CXO strategy towards a steady and inclusive growth trajectory.
Digital technology and its impact on the economy: past and present
Digital technology has become the cornerstone of business transformation by remodeling products, processes, operational and organizational structures. Product-based industries apart; RPA also has the ability to change the face of the service industry, especially the financial, logistics, telecom, marketing, accounting, law, Human resources, and public administration domains, amongst others. Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, has been coined the gateway of Artificial intelligence.
The 1950s saw the advent of robotization of production processes, and the concept has now advanced into business processes at a very nascent level. Robotic Processes Automation is essential, denoting the extensive use of software capable of reducing human intervention. Surveys indicate that the RPA market will touch USD 2.9 billion by 2021 end. This is a massive leap from 250 million in 2016. The recent pandemic has only one silver lining, which comprehensively shifts to digital processes.
How Robotic Processes Automation Works
To better explain the term and showcase human intervention and automation's synergy, we need to understand what RPA is. It signifies the use of 'robots' or software to replicate human jobs. A virtual bot copies the human action in the application's graphical user interface, and the task is duly automated. It is a tool that enhances productivity and effectiveness while minimizing errors, increasing security, and lowers the incidence of human failure in performing a task.
By lowering the repetitive and manual work by incorporating technological advancement, it can bring positive reinforcement to business's economic environment. The labor market itself will see the creation of hereto unknown workplaces due to the use of RBA. This augurs well for the economic scenario that desperately needs job creation and a good start-up environment to scale new heights.
Influence of RBA on Digital Transformation in the real sense Robotic Processes Automation is a digital transformation technology and enables the industry to automate repeatable routine jobs with software. Autonomous robots replicate administrative processes in an amalgamation of software, machine learning, and artificial intelligence capabilities to automate manual jobs. The management must look for the right strategies to automate.
Human intervention is necessary even though automation has been making processes easier and quicker. The choice between human capital and cost-effectiveness can be bridged by up skilling and relevant training. Recently, Tech Mahindra had to let many employees go as automation became the best option to improve efficiencies.
The following are the ways that RBA can revolutionize the tech industry at large:
• Employees can be relieved of tedious and repetitive jobs and become available for more complex tasks. Employee engagement, creativity, and problem-solving abilities expand exponentially.
• Business processes become nearly ten times faster, error free, more efficient, and the standardization of repetitive tasks is improved drastically.
• Organizations faced with technological debt can benefit from the fast results brought about by RPA. A predefined rule determines checks and quality control and brings validation and accountability to operational processes.
• Multiple systems that interconnect an enormous number of computer applications like Excel, PDF, ERP, Power Point, and others show flawless results. It forms the base for analytics.
• The RBA technology has the power to initiate a personalized solution for each user by extracting specific knowledge from previous emails within strict security protocols and data confidentiality.
• Compliance and process reliability increase manifold as the bots stick to a predetermined workflow process, and there is no scope for deviation. Standardization of processes is achievable with RBA.
• Substantially reducing costs can lead to improved bottom-lines: infrastructure costs, rentals, and other allied expenses, reducing human resource costs.
Criteria for Suitability of RPA
So, the actual question that often goes unanswered is whether RBA applies to all operations functions. The best application of Robotic Processes Automation is with jobs with low cognitive requirements. Complicated and multi-faceted processes are often not suitable for RPA. As the application can be with existing systems, it can be best used with little or no requirement to multiple systems. The task or process assigned should be in use frequently, and limited exceptions, with a high incidence of human error, are most suitable for RPA.
The use of automation is standardized but does not provide customization. It is best suited to mechanical and repetitive operational processes, and it must incorporate human intervention. Many human interventions are needed to keep the synergy rolling. Business leaders must find the delicate balance between automation and customization to see clients' ideal solution from every walk of life.
The Future of RPA
The human-technology relationship is slated to bring about the fourth industrial revolution in the coming years, as it substitutes and not just supports human enterprise. Disruptive technologies like RPA require no coding and are non-invasive, user-configurable, and significantly low cost to install and operate. Artificial intelligence and ML empower robots to acquire new skills that involve decision-making tasks rather than rule-based actionable tasks. Not only are the new age 'robots' capable of handling basic tasks but also act intelligently.
Robotic Processes Automation technologies' increasing versatility has unearthed a disruptive potential for industry transformation and is slated to attract significant investments. RPA and other technologies that complement it like AI, ML, OCR, business process management, NLP, and others help achieve complex processes. This enables many more complex automation processes.
The adoption of automation is the future of every industry, large and small businesses, to increase efficiency, reduce costs and save time in an error-free process. The potential of exponential growth that can be multiplied holds particular connotations in the banking, retail, insurance, logistics, human resources, accountancy, telecom, customer services, and other domains that need client servicing on a large scale. There is no upper limit to what automation can achieve, and the future belongs to Robotic Processes Automation. The recent pandemic has shown us that work from home processes that involve automation will be the way businesses grow in the future.
• Employees can be relieved of tedious and repetitive jobs and become available for more complex tasks. Employee engagement, creativity, and problem-solving abilities expand exponentially.
• Business processes become nearly ten times faster, error free, more efficient, and the standardization of repetitive tasks is improved drastically.
• Organizations faced with technological debt can benefit from the fast results brought about by RPA. A predefined rule determines checks and quality control and brings validation and accountability to operational processes.
• Multiple systems that interconnect an enormous number of computer applications like Excel, PDF, ERP, Power Point, and others show flawless results. It forms the base for analytics.
• The RBA technology has the power to initiate a personalized solution for each user by extracting specific knowledge from previous emails within strict security protocols and data confidentiality.
• Compliance and process reliability increase manifold as the bots stick to a predetermined workflow process, and there is no scope for deviation. Standardization of processes is achievable with RBA.
• Substantially reducing costs can lead to improved bottom-lines: infrastructure costs, rentals, and other allied expenses, reducing human resource costs.
Criteria for Suitability of RPA
So, the actual question that often goes unanswered is whether RBA applies to all operations functions. The best application of Robotic Processes Automation is with jobs with low cognitive requirements. Complicated and multi-faceted processes are often not suitable for RPA. As the application can be with existing systems, it can be best used with little or no requirement to multiple systems. The task or process assigned should be in use frequently, and limited exceptions, with a high incidence of human error, are most suitable for RPA.
The use of automation is standardized but does not provide customization. It is best suited to mechanical and repetitive operational processes, and it must incorporate human intervention. Many human interventions are needed to keep the synergy rolling. Business leaders must find the delicate balance between automation and customization to see clients' ideal solution from every walk of life.
The Future of RPA
The human-technology relationship is slated to bring about the fourth industrial revolution in the coming years, as it substitutes and not just supports human enterprise. Disruptive technologies like RPA require no coding and are non-invasive, user-configurable, and significantly low cost to install and operate. Artificial intelligence and ML empower robots to acquire new skills that involve decision-making tasks rather than rule-based actionable tasks. Not only are the new age 'robots' capable of handling basic tasks but also act intelligently.
Robotic Processes Automation technologies' increasing versatility has unearthed a disruptive potential for industry transformation and is slated to attract significant investments. RPA and other technologies that complement it like AI, ML, OCR, business process management, NLP, and others help achieve complex processes. This enables many more complex automation processes.
The adoption of automation is the future of every industry, large and small businesses, to increase efficiency, reduce costs and save time in an error-free process. The potential of exponential growth that can be multiplied holds particular connotations in the banking, retail, insurance, logistics, human resources, accountancy, telecom, customer services, and other domains that need client servicing on a large scale. There is no upper limit to what automation can achieve, and the future belongs to Robotic Processes Automation. The recent pandemic has shown us that work from home processes that involve automation will be the way businesses grow in the future.