How Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is Proving to be a Game Changer for Businesses in 2020

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Why RPA
• RPA Use Cases
• Planning Your RPA Project
• FAQ

Introduction:

When an HR service provider found itself handling over 2500 sick leave certificates per month, taking up most of their time, the solution they turned to was robotic process automation. This resulted in 90% process automation which saw the firm achieve return on investment within six months. Their error rate went down to zero, manual efforts reduced to 5% and processing times were down by 80%! A major transformation that significantly reduced overheads and put the firm on the path to success in no time.

While examples of such automation have been in vogue for a while in repetitive back-office operations, they are increasingly finding their way to front-office tasks too. As several industries around the world struggle with manpower and elimination of errors, robots are coming to the rescue. With the ongoing pandemic situation, the importance of process automation is being felt more acutely and enterprises worldwide are finding novel uses of the technology to take their businesses to the next level.

Why RPA:

The chief driving factor of RPA is its ability to help enterprises get leaner, more flexible and scale faster. The enterprise RPA market is seeing an unprecedented growth of CAGR 65%. A nascent technology in 2016, the industry is now looking at investments upwards of $3 Billion by 2021.

According to a Forrester report, 2021 will also see the number of robots in the workspace grow to more than 4 million. From office and administrative tasks to those related with sales and outreach, they’ll be covering a wide range of verticals. Hence, there’s no better time to adopt than now.

What makes RPA so effective is its ability to drastically reduce costs while helping businesses to scale immensely. It also leverages existing infrastructure as the robots quickly learn, adapt and begin contributing to processes. The robots involved in the operation have the ability to mimic most human actions. They have the ability to log in to applications, transfer folders and files, copy and paste data, enter information in forms, extract and arrange data from documents and more. This makes pretty much every high-volume, business rule-driven, repetitive process eligible for automation.

RPA Use Cases:

When a trade credit insurance company with upwards of 50,000 clients worldwide decided to shift from manual information gathering to automation by bots, they ended up saving over 2440 hours of human work per month. Time that’s now being used by employees to work directly with clients on more complex tasks.

Sometime back, a leading Indian pathology lab approached us to explore how they can improve existing customer experience by leveraging automation. They were dealing with a high volume of patients undergoing a variety of tests and were looking for a solution which would enable them to communicate an accurate time for patients to pick up their reports. We implemented a machine learning algorithm that took multiple parameters into account and generated automated estimates on when each report would be delivered. The solution was a major success and the laboratory reported overwhelmingly positive responses.

As demands for goods and services increase around the world, human labour alone is proving increasingly inadequate to address them. For instance, here’s a chart demonstrating how productivity declined over the years in US and EU:

Source: siliconangle

Planning Your RPA Project:

With manpower shortage already bogging production down and COVID-19 catalysing it all, the necessity for enterprises to go all in on robotic process automation has skyrocketed. However, like many digital transformation exercises, RPA is a complex process and improper planning could lead to an expensive failure. Let’s break down how you can go about facing various challenges and getting your implementation right:

Phase 1: Identify opportunities for robotic process automation:

Do a thorough study of every function and process in your organization and look for areas which could benefit from RPA. Assess the cost savings you can expect if shortlisted processes are transitioned to an automated model. Look for every little detail and document every task to figure how efficient and error-free automation can be

Phase 2: Consult a RPA Partner

Once you have identified the processes, the next major task is to shortlist a digital transformation partner who can help you formulate an implementation strategy and take care of execution. It’s advisable to look for organizations who specialize in end-to-end services as that’ll take a lot off your plate. Once the selection is complete, work closely with the team to define the scope of work, magnitude of transformation and craft the detailed development plan.