RPA is doing much more than we expected. 2023 witnesses a rapid change and experimentation with RPA tools. RPA as an industry growing exponentially. A prediction by Forrester shows it will increase from $250+ million in 2020 to $2.9 billion+ in 2024. The big organization believes that if the ongoing trend continues, we will witness a vast adaptation of RPA in almost all sectors.

Indeed, if you are planning for RPA, you are likely to see the fruit of investment. However, if you are still wondering where to start, here is an ultimate guide for your business needs.

What is RPA(Robotic Process Automation) software?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has emerged as a transformative technology in streamlining repetitive tasks within various industries. RPA solutions are designed to mimic human actions in digital processes, enabling organizations to achieve enhanced efficiency and accuracy. As a leading RPA development company, we specialize in crafting bespoke automation solutions tailored to the specific needs of our clients. From automating data gathering and interpretation within applications and systems to optimizing workflow processes, our expertise in RPA implementation ensures seamless integration and significant operational improvements.

RPA compared to traditional process transformation approaches

How does RPA work?

RPA for small businesses offers a significant advantage by automating everyday manual tasks executed by configuration analysts. Manual jobs such as application configuration, data entry, file validation, creation of test data, data load, and report generation can all be streamlined and made more efficient with the implementation of RPA technology.

RPA uses the following components:

Cognitive Automation Platform (CAP) – It is powered by machine learning & predictive capabilities to generate meaningful data from any format of unstructured data.
Unified Test Management Solution (UTMS) – Bots support it to boost productivity and efficiency by performing labor-intensive mundane tasks.

Configuring the application:

The configurations are generally rules-based. A typical configuration has around 1500 rules. An analyst typically takes about 4-6 weeks for each project to complete the configurations. When a configure analyst performs these tasks, implementation consultants wait to do the validation. This contributes to a lengthy implementation cycle.

So, here the RPA improves not only the timelines but also the quality & productiveness of resources. Business requirement documents and other input documents such as price sheets, IDM, payroll schedules, etc. are stored in the cognitive automation platform to identify the required configurations. Static data and business rules are required to onboard a project.

How do CAP and UTMS ensure a smooth workflow?

Structured roles output is generated from CAP. It includes static data, project-specific data such as benefit areas, plan options, and much more that need manually entered into the configuration tool.

Business rules are temporary and custom rules generated in the process to enable system functionalities. All of these rules are kept on the configuration pool. The CAP ensures structure rule generation from different unstructured file formats stored in it. The UTMS offers the capability to create the robotic scripts ensuring that the process rules are stored in the configuration tool without any manual support.

Utilizing the unique capabilities of CAP and UTMS, we reduce configuration effort by 60% and the product implementation time by 30%

The RPA is applied in different industries with the use of a wide range of RPA tools. The most popular RPA tools are UiPath, Blue Prism, Kofax, and Automation Anywhere. These tools succeed because of their user interface, maintenance & support, and vendor experience.

What is RPA used for?

RPA can effectively complete any routine business process that follows simple rules to make a decision. So, you can perform an entire end-to-end process for your business.

Robotic Process Automation is best suited to use for:
Rules-based task.
Time-critical and particular period.
Prone to error.
Highly repetitive and mundane work.

According to Deloitte, 1 minute of a task for the bot is equal to about 15 minutes of work for a human employee. So, work like email attachment collection, saving PDF data in Excel documents, generating reports, and then confirming process completion via email can be efficiently done with the help of RPA software.

For different sectors, it comes with different advantages, however here is a list of some of the tedious work where RPA is applied:

In Finance, RPA is used for accounts payable. Processes like data validations, data migration between applications, customer account management, report creation, form filling, financial claims processing, and many more are efficiently performed with RPA software.

In the Retail domain, most of the tasks can be handled by RPA. Extracting product data from manufacturer’s websites, automatic online inventory updating, and importing email sales are some of the popular tasks automated.

In Healthcare, RPA is used in patient data migration, data storage, patient data processing, sending emails from medical billing systems and claim status, etc.

In Insurance, it is used to automate the administrative and customer service activities associated with receiving, reviewing, analyzing, and suspending claims.

In the telecom industry, RPA finds numerous applications across various operational facets. One significant use case is in streamlining customer onboarding processes, where RPA can automate form filling, identity verification, and account setup, enhancing efficiency and reducing errors. In addition to customer onboarding processes, RPA use cases in telecom sector extend its utility to areas such as network management and maintenance. 

What are the potential benefits of RPA?

Accuracy– RPA software is generally less prone to errors. It works with high uniformity and precision.

Consistency– All the tedious works are executed in the same manner.
Cost-cutting technology– Decreases the manual workforce and hence reduces the cost of operation.

High productive rate– Execution time is faster; this, in turn, increases overall productivity.
Less coding required– RPA software doesn’t require much programming knowledge.

Besides, improving the timeline enhances the quality and productivity of the resources.

Note: While adopting RPA in an organization, scalability, reliability, speed, and intelligence are the main features you need to check. 

RPA developers usually have hands-on experience with top RPA tools such as Kofax, Uipath, Automation Anywhere, and Blue Prism.
Learn: Top 10 tips for a successful RPA implementation

How fast does RPA get implemented?

Before any implementation, Proof of Concept (POC) or a pilot RPA project is necessary and we are still doing that. We know companies have more expectations with POC and are curious about the more significant return on investment. Involving a partner like us can accelerate the POC and companies can work on a hybrid model by consistently developing their capabilities and reducing the involvement of external workers.

To reach substantial automation goals, companies need a comprehensive RPA strategy. Well, depending on the project, an organization can implement automation in three months. However, at the enterprise level. RPA implementation might take a little longer, but it is often shorter as compared to traditional IT approaches.

How does RPA increase the efficiency of the company?

Automation comes with the potential to offer a holistic transformation to companies. To effectively increase enterprise-wide transformation, companies must start from the identification of inefficient processes. However, a company can still begin to leverage its potential that fit the automation criteria while also optimizing needful processes across the entire organization.

Organizations that begin with a precise aim and well-defined metrics combined with robust control are well-prepared to scale their practice.

How to measure the success of RPA investment?

Many organizations find themselves in the necessity of inventing new KPIs and developing their tools to solve them. Measuring RPA implementation success primarily relates to these metrics-

With RPA, companies can eliminate errors. To track it, measure the amount of work that needs to be redone before & after RPA implementation. The more companies develop their processes and eliminate the diversion, the more efficiently RPA software will work. 

Also, a check on employees highly exposed to the effect of automation, whether they are operating the robots or interacting with them is necessary. It is vital to ensure employees understand what is happening in the organization and how they can take advantage of the transformation.

How to secure the RPA ecosystem?

To secure the overall RPA implementations, companies must consider the technical process and human employees involved with the workflow. The entire product lifecycle from requirements, selection, architecture, implementation, and ongoing operations must be within a secure design.

Your RPA consultant can guide you with a secure RPA

What’s the future of RPA?

More than 40 % of enterprises will develop futuristic digital workers by combining AI with RPA. By the end of 2019, automation will cut 20% of many service desk interactions. However, as you see, more and more sectors are embracing RPA for their daily tedious tasks; it is sure to make a position for future development.

The best RPA tools usually have three amazing qualities:

• It should interact with different systems either through screen scraping or API integrations.

• It should make decisions and determine its deeds based on inputs gathered from other systems.

• It should have an interface to program the bot.

Summing up what is RPA

RPA works as a virtual employee. It can work with your existing applications, software, and business strategy to carry out structured processes automatically. The remarkable part is that it works on the existing systems, just like any other human employee. For example, in processing an invoice, report generation, and even employee onboarding, RPA efficiently handles all these tasks (along with others) for any business.

RPA bots can either follow the rules defined by the users or can use machine learning capabilities to suggest the user with the recommendation and generate meaningful results. RPA can be used to automate a huge amount of tasks in the fields of Human Resources, Finance and accounting, Healthcare, Supply chain management, customer service, etc. Each industry can use RPA to reduce the manual workforce and work efficiently.

Read more: The Top RPA tools and their comparison

Top Trends in RPA in 2019 [in short]

• RPA is already an ROI-positive investment.

• Seamless RPA integration with different tools and varied technologies.

• Increase in RPA adoption.

• Most of the companies will deploy RPA in the mainstream.

• Better employee engagement and customer experience.

Takeaway points

• RPA along with other technology is creating better opportunities for developers & organizations to experiment.

• Automating processes fast and with minimum business, impact is one of the vital features of RPA.

• Using a Cognitive Automation Platform (CAP) supported by machine learning & predictive capabilities and a Unified Test Management Solution (UTMS) supported by bots reduces configuration effort by 60%.

• RPA tools come with exceptional attributes to simplify an end-to-end business process.

• RPA implementation takes a little more time, but it is often shorter as compared to traditional IT approaches.

• Companies can measure the success of RPA using performance metrics.

• The RPA deployment is increasing for both better employee engagement and customer experience.