Earlier this year, we launched our Automation Products & Services line of business to help companies improve productivity, efficiency and client satisfaction. In the first of a series aimed at demystifying this corporate game-changer, we focus on the emerging technology known as RPA, or robotic process automation.
In short, RPA is a rules-based technology to streamline business operations—everything from auto-filling forms and validating invoices against purchase orders to automating payments and creating an expense report via a mobile application. RPA’s true value is that it makes everyday tasks easier and less time-consuming, freeing your staff to focus on higher-value projects and delivering better customer experiences.
To frame it another way, robotic process automation is to business what the player piano is to music (if you’re not familiar with player pianos, check out this excellent example in HBO’s Westworld). Both require some basic infrastructure to create routines that, once created, are available to perform flawlessly and in perpetuity. At its core are business logic, structured data inputs and validations converging to create an automated script that can then perform a defined task or unit of work that would otherwise be completed by staff. In the player piano analogy, this script would be the musical scroll, and the staff would be a capable musician. Unlike player piano scrolls, however, RPA automated scripts are designed with reusable components and with greater scalability than a single piano, enabling you to create as large a symphony as you need to perform any number of tasks across a multitude of digital systems.
What tasks can RPA address? Just as a player piano scroll can be created to perform a variety of musical genres, RPA can provide a range of solutions, from addressing simple administrative tasks to far more complex hyper-automation services. An RPA bot can log in and out of systems, move files, copy and paste data, and interact with various systems and departments. Bots can also self-monitor the RPA infrastructure, leveraging cognitive processing, artificial intelligence and advanced technologies to simplify business processes, all while analyzing and socializing data for better decision-making. This adds up to more efficient teams and greater financial capitalization for your business.
RPA is the fastest-growing enterprise technology, and with good reason. RPA is paramount for any organization’s digital modernization and/or transformation and has shown stunning results across a variety of industries. One global information services firm, for example, eliminated errors by implementing RPA to automatically process more than 7 million faxes from clients. This change not only reduced human errors and streamlined processes, but it also enabled the company to extract data and convert it into actionable insights. As organizations continue to address new dynamics to their operational model and adapt to a changing workforce, they’re increasingly turning to RPA as a key part of their digital strategy.
If you’re ready to accelerate your business processes, increase productivity and give your bottom line a boost, or if you’d like to see examples of RPA within your industry, let’s talk.
Up next, we’ll explore how to identify the best service provider (RPA-as-a-Service, or RaaS) to build and manage your RPA technologies.
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