Across industries, leaders are accelerating digital transformation efforts with robotic process automation (RPA). In fact, Gartner predicts that by the end of 2024, organizations around the globe will triple their use of this automation technology.
From improving productivity to rapid scaling of business operations, RPA is optimizing business processes and increasing profits for all types of organizations.
What Is RPA?
RPA is a business process automation (BPA) software technology based on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots. Software robots are programed and use machine learning algorithms to replicate human interactions with system interfaces. They perform everyday tasks more efficiently and accurately than humans — tasks such as:
- Comparing information and verifying accuracy
- Transferring data between systems
- Copying and transforming data within Excel tables
- Navigating websites and entering data
- Recognizing text and communicating through chatbots, virtual assistants, and conversational agents
How Can Robots Improve Business Processes and Help Companies Win?
RPA offers substantial benefits to organizations across sectors, including health care, manufacturing, financial services and banking, technology, and retail.
Though individual industries, companies, and departments will find their own best applications for RPA, following are some across-the-board benefits:
Increased efficiency and productivity
RPA can take over repetitive, time-consuming tasks, like preparing reports and filling out forms with multiple fields. Automating these tasks can save countless human hours, freeing up time for staff to focus on mission-critical tasks and innovation.
Better bottom line
By taking over mundane processes, RPA can help save new headcount-related expenses. It can also be less expensive than implementing traditional automation through program coding and APIs.
Improved accuracy
Humans are only human, after all, but a robot's behavior is predictable. Predictable behavior brings predictable results, allows fewer processing errors, faster execution, and less risk.
RPA isn’t a turn-key solution, however. It requires testing, training, as well as governance. By allowing flexible control of operational performance, you can adjust rules according to various results and scale growth.
Increased security
Robots don’t leak or steal information, and they only perform the automated processes assigned to them. Access to data is documented and controlled.
Rapid business operation scaling
Robotic process automation allows organizations the flexibility to pivot quickly or expand operations according to changing requirements.
Easy integration into existing systems and technology
RPA platforms engage with systems at the UI level, and use flexible, non-intrusive architecture that removes much of the complexity users run into with other types of integrations. In fact, companies often use RPA to automate operations on existing legacy systems to lengthen their lifetimes.
When it comes to employee adoption, RPA ranks higher than many other technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT)-driven data platforms.
Which Departments Benefit Most From RPA?
Almost any department in an organization can realize benefits from using robotic automation processes customized to meet specific needs.
How Do Leaders Use RPA to Advance Operations?
Management
Business leaders frequently rely on RPA to streamline workflows, control budgets, optimize cumbersome or manual business processes, and track work processes.
IT
With systems like Microsoft’s Power Automate (a Gartner 2022 Magic Quadrant Leader for robotic process automation), IT teams can quickly integrate RPA into any desktop, SaaS application, or service for a flexible, automated workflow – an improvement over manual implementation of traditional integrations.
Marketing
Marketing departments are using robots to scrape websites for data that brings potential for more insights, successful analytics, and even AI.
HR
Automation within CRM systems can help HR accelerate new employee onboarding processes and help track personnel performance. It can also automate selection processes, analyze resource needs, identify skill gaps, and support staff in meeting operational goals.
Sales
RPA allows sales teams to work more efficiently and effectively with prospects. By taking care of automated tasks, like filling out forms, robots can save sales teams hours — hours they can put into analyzing and improving the quality of their customer interactions.
CASE STUDY: Read about how Wimmer Solution experts implemented RPA with Microsoft Power Automate to improve our own internal operations.
Can RPA Software Improve Operations at Your Organization?
Do any of the following apply in your organization?
- We have programs, services, systems, or forms that still require manual data entry, programming, or other repetitive tasks.
- We have multiple information systems with expensive integrations.
- We’re using legacy systems that hold up productivity, but we don’t have enough budget for complete digital transformation.
- Our company has a goal to automate key routine business processes.
RPA: The Bottom Line
If any of the above scenarios sound familiar, then doing business without RPA may be costing your organization time and money.
Consider automating business processes at your organization to help improve efficiency and increase productivity so you can spend your time on important tasks that require a human touch.
Ready to Win With RPA?
Automate processes instantly and scale infinitely with RPA experts at Wimmer Solutions.
Once our experts learn more about your specific business problems or objectives, they can help you determine the best use of RPA for achieving your goals. Schedule your consultation today.
