Robotic Process Automation: The Latest Technology Realm

Automation targets highly repetitive processes as these can consume a considerable amount of time and effort for human beings. They can tire any organisation’s workforce and hence, productivity starts to decline.

Rather than investing in these high-volume and highly repetitive processes, human beings’ thinking ability and empathy can be utilised somewhere really required.

Then, who can handle all these boggling yet important day-to-day tasks? Right now, several industries have their faith in Robotic Process Automation. This particular technology can imitate human workers’ back-office tasks.

For example, RPA or Robotic Process Animation can fill in forms automatically, transfer files, extract significant data from piles of documents, and more without the interference of human beings.

Indeed, this automation technology utilises rule-based software to execute business processes. That’s why it’s also called software robotics. So, RPA handles all the mundane tasks that hardly require human intelligence and empathy. The prime motive of RPA is to free up human resources so that priority tasks can be performed.

Let’s check out RPA in detail along with its benefits, challenges, and more.

What Do You Mean by Robotic Process Automation?

Data Recovery Dubai professionals confirm that robotic process automation can mimic human interactions with software. And, this helps in executing repeatable and high-volume tasks. In the majority, RPA creates bots or special software programs that can take care of the following tasks:

• Signing into applications
• Retrieving unstructured data
• Opening APIs
• Entering data
• Copying data between workflows or applications and pasting them
• Calculations
• Completing assigned tasks and more

How can RPA extract data? RPA can be more potent when combined with machine learning and artificial intelligence. For example, RPA can capture information by reading handwriting or text with the help of OCR or optical character recognition. On the other hand, RPA can get significant information such as names, addresses, etc. from invoices through deploying NLP or natural language processing.

Hence, robotic process automation can be diverse and its use is increasing in multiple industries due to solid reasons. Robotic Process Automation can lead to better customer experiences by streamlining the overall process. On top of that, the technology can reduce costs significantly.

Bonus, RPA technology is easy to deploy in businesses. Additionally, you need not change your organisation’s IT infrastructure for this. Undoubtedly, RPA technology can bring wide-reaching change and revolution to the fields of technology and business.

What are RPA Bots Capable of? An Insight

Implementing RPA bots in the human workforce can be utterly useful. For instance, these software bots can work tirelessly and they don’t require a break or rest. Additionally, these software bots can complete repetitive tasks faster. Moreover, there will be no scope for human error.

Thus, you can expect an environment free from human errors. And, as a business owner, you can witness happier customers. On the other hand, back-office employees have to dedicate 80% of their day to repetitive tasks, such as:

• Filling out forms
• Processing orders
• Replying to emails
• Gathering data from online surveys
• Calculations and more

These tasks are more suitable for a robot. Robots can capture data, copy and paste them efficiently. RPA bots can complete almost any tasks that can be driven by schedules and rules. Furthermore, RPA can carry out complicated rule-based tasks with specialised application software or website.

The fact is that such mundane tasks can bore human brains. Not to mention, they tire out workers physically. Since RPA can handle these rule-based repetitive tasks, human brains can utilise their skill in problem-solving and creative thinking. Alongside this, your employees will be happier to become free from these tedious jobs.

Some Use Cases of Robotic Process Automation

In a few years, the growth in RPA technology was enormous if you look at the metrics. Back in 2016, the global robotic process automation market value was $271 million. By 2020, the figure has reached $2.5 billion. So, the main driving force behind this huge escalation is that industries have started adopting RPA technology and using them across different departments.

Small and medium-sized businesses have welcomed RPA, too. Here are some most common use cases that RPA contributes to

Customer Service

Companies now use RPA to bring changes to how to deal with their customers. Consequently, RPA can resolve complaint tickets much faster and more efficiently. RPA automates all the steps to verify data related to a customer’s profile.

Additionally, it combines all the necessary data after discarding vague ones. So, this will save employees from repeating the same old tasks time and again. Moreover, there will be no human error. Thus, it will eliminate the requirement for a human being to hop from one application to another.

Companies install RPA bots programmed to categorise and analyse the collected data from complaints. Even those bots can take pre-determined actions if companies have already sorted those complaints into different categories.

Without RPA bots and applications, human workers have to perform these tasks. Not to mention, these tasks will take longer with human interaction.

Enhancing Productivity

Do your employees have to spend their time extracting data, filling in forms, etc apart from excelling in their corresponding positions? Sorry to say, but that’s total exploitation of productivity, effort, and time. RPA bots can work 24/7, never complain, and never make mistakes.

You can save your human resources for other creative processes and analytical thinking. So, you can free up your employees from monotonous schedules. As a result, they can specialise in different skill sets and upgrade themselves. They can be happier than ever and satisfied with their jobs.

Order Tracking

RPA and its uses can be phenomenal in eCommerce industries. Reportedly, more than 80% of customers desire to track their orders and anticipate getting shipping updates. So, eCommerce companies can keep each other on their toes with a streamlined and precise process to deliver shipping and order tracking updates to their customers.

RPA bots can do wonders in this situation. This technology can entirely automate the process of tracking orders, updating customers, and more. After all, extracting valuable information is a unique advantage for RPA. Well, robotic process automation can help in the following ways:

• Logging tasks in the delivery management system
• Retrieving shipping information from incoming emails
• Delivering pick-up and delivery timestamps to carriers and customers

Hence, RPA can simplify order tracking and inventory management as well. For example, RPA software can deal with the following common issues associated with inventory management:

• Stock-outs
• Missing items
• Deadstock
• Inefficient tracking
• Controlling lead time variability

eCommerce businesses can manage inventory via notification automation, data extraction, and integration. No doubt, this will assist eCommerce companies to maximise customer satisfaction and minimise loss.

Payroll Management

HR-associated tasks, especially payroll management can be monotonous and time-consuming. Well, RPA bots can standardise such payroll processes extensively. Your HR team can now ditch spreadsheets and cheques and rely on an automated payroll system.

Such RPA-powered payroll systems can handle the following amenities:

• Salaries
• Commissions
• Raises
• Wage deductions
• Bonuses
• Expenses
• Overtime

In addition, an RPA bot can automatically track employee attendance, hours worked, and earnings adjustments. Furthermore, it won’t require any human input.

Boosted Analytics

The future of any business relies on data analytics. And, data analytics have never been easier before RPA came into action. RPA lets companies t collect useful data regarding task completion. Afterward, companies can utilise those data sets for scaling up purposes and setting goals.

However, RPA bots can execute work volumes and cycle times to figure out data points like errors, exceptions, etc. Additionally, data points can be collected and compared by RPA tools. Such high-quality analytics can bring innovation and improvement that can drive better and more informed decision-making.

In simpler words, RPA tools can help you identify weaker sectors of your business where improvement and efficiency are must-haves.

What are the Pros of Robotic Process Automation?

Robotic process automation can unleash countless opportunities for businesses regardless of their types.

Here are some proven perks of using RPA in several industries so far:

• RPA chatbots and bots are designed to work 365 days a year without resting a bit. Hence, they can efficiently handle customer complaints and requests. Customers will get their subjective matters to be resolved quicker and more accurately. Therefore, you can reap customer satisfaction at higher rates.
• Companies can program RPA robots accordingly and they can follow rule-based tasks. As a consequence, companies can avoid human error. In addition, RPA technology can offer an audit trail to monitor and solve issues faster.
• Surprisingly, deploying RPA technology and tools doesn’t require a lot of coding and development skills. Most RPA applications and tools are available with easy drag-and-drop features. Moreover, their user-friendly interfaces make it easier for non-technical staff to manage them.
• RPA uses can practically reduce the number of repetitive and high-volume tasks. Hence, your employees can be relieved. And, they can concentrate on critical thinking, decision-making, and more informed strategies that demand human resources. Thus, RPA can positively impact your employees’ satisfaction and happiness.
• As RPA can shift the workforce from mundane data entry and other departments, you can reallocate them where you need them. Undoubtedly, this will save you lots of money.
• Another main advantage of RPA is that it hardly brings any disruption to your enterprise’s existing IT infrastructure. You can keep the underlying IT infrastructure intact since RPA bots reside on the applications’ presentation layers.

Challenges Thrown by Robotic Process Automation

RPA can solve business and associated technology bumps. However, these are a few RPA pain points that should be addressed:

• RPA bots might require access to confidential information to accomplish their assigned tasks. Now, a data breach or similar risks can appear if RPA tools aren’t secure enough.
• Well, RPA will help employees to find out new potential. On the other hand, employees will be compelled to shift to newer technologies along with newer challenges. In addition, organisations should arrange high-level training for creative and strategic problem-solving and decision-making. So, automation requires organisations and their employees to step up to stay in the competition.
• On the other hand, reports have shown that customers face issues with scaling RPA programs. 52% of customers have complained about it. To reap the maximum benefits of an RPA-programmed infrastructure, a company must deploy more than or equal to 100 robots. However, the figure hardly reaches 10 in most cases.

What Technologies can aid Robotic Process Automation in the Future?

To be honest, Robotic Process Automation is a comparatively new technology. However, Big Data can help RPA in a lot of ways to bloom. Besides that, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and additional technologies can bring the RPA’s evolution era even closer.

However, RPA can be used in accounting, customer service, healthcare human resources, financial services, supply chain management, and more. Additionally, pay attention to the simplicity, speed, scalability, flexibility, governance, and costs of an RPA tool before committing to it for a longer term.