Automation is one such example, where over the years the need to perform large scale testing at a rapid pace gave birth to it, and paved the way for accelerating the entire testing cycle. Back in the days, automation was only used in the context of manufacturing. However, now we see that not only has it become an essential part of the development cycle, but it has also evolved in to various forms. It has become so matured that many other technologies have emerged from it in the last couple of decades.
However, the real question is that has automation crept into every area of our day-to-day business? For many organizations, automation is only limited to customer facing processes. The internal processes remain manual or less automated. Once these office/back office processes are automated, it will save lots of time and the stakeholders can focus on their core business. The output will be better productivity, and that’s what we all are striving for.
So how can we be truly automated?
Firstly, there is a need to identify the areas that require automation, and then see how automating these activities contribute to the organization and its output. Naturally the next question would be, how could this be accomplished?
The answer is RPA (Robotic Process Automation). It is a technology, governed by business logic and structured inputs, aimed at automating business processes. Any organization employing RPA, can configure a robot to capture and interpret applications for processing a transaction, triggering ideal responses and communicating with other digital systems. These bot based activities range anywhere 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.
In a world that is still battling the pandemic, RPA can be just the added advantage we need to execute our business processes effectively and efficiently. However, this is just the stepping-stone on a long road towards intelligent automation.
Setting up Effective RPA
According to Forrester, “RPA has proven its value as a strong and direct mechanism to support an enterprise’s tactical and strategic goals.” However, getting it right has its challenges. Here are some points you can consider while implementing RPA in your organization.
Having the Right Team
There have been surveys in that past that have recorded that RPA is most successful when you have the right team driving it. At the same time, you should also have the right technology. If you are hiring a partner to implement RPA, it is important to ensure that you ensure that you pick the right team internal and external.
Assessment
One thing we need to know before we start assessing our processes is that not all of them are suitable for automation. Through the assessment process, you should be able to identify processes where automation can yield cost optimization and improved efficiency. All these factors have to be taken into consideration and key stakeholders need to be involved to ensure that each process is rightly assessed.
Preparing Use cases
Nobody knows your business better than you do. So prepare use cases based on real world scenarios and define responses you expect from the bot. Evaluate the responses after execution and see if the output you receive is ideally fulfilling your requirement. Before you go ahead with the deployment, always execute a pilot run and record the success and issues that are tangible.
Knowing/Educating about the Pros and Cons
Not everyone may be aware of RPA as a technology. As an organization, it will be important to educate your workforce about what RPA is all about along with the pros and cons. Connecting all necessary teams on this will help in implementing RPA effectively. Even at this time, the level of automation is still limited compared to the level of automation that can be achieved with existing technologies.
Companies like Walmart, AT&T, Walgreens, Anthem, and American Express among others have already implemented RPA. Their implementation is aided with hundreds of bots that do everything from answering calls, to retrieving data and other documents. This reduces the load on the workforce and helps to focus on the important functions.
According to Gartner, RPA as an industry is supposed to grow from $250 million to $2.9 billion by 2021. If the RPA trends growth continues then we can see a near universal adoption in the immediate future.
According to Deloitte Global RPA Survey, 61% of participants reported their expectations of cost reduction being met or exceeded.
Choosing the Right Partner
If you do not have the right skillset to implement this in-house, its best to hire a partner who has the expertise to implement it on your behalf. Always choose a partner based on your technical requirements, proposal, PoC, and their ability to deliver. Different RPA partners would have different approaches, and will conduct the configuration and test for you, while others will sell “bot” licenses and teach you to implement yourself. The partner should be able to educate you about implementing RPA, and help you identify where it works and where it doesn’t. A partner should be the backbone of the entire implementation.
eInfochips helps enterprises adopt a long-term process automation strategy that aims to implement intelligent automation solutions that combine both RPA and AI capabilities. eInfochips provides RPA consulting, Proof of Concept, RPA tool migration and RPA implementation services. eInfochips possesses extreme knowledge and expertise across various industries and use-cases like incident management, customer service and predictive maintenance to provide maximum value to a customer in their automation journey. We are not just talking about traditional RPA, but also cognitive RPA to automate your business processes. To know more, get in touch with us.
