Robotic process automation (RPA) involves leveraging technology to automate business processes through the use of structured inputs and guided by business logic. By utilizing RPA tools, a company can program software, commonly referred to as a “robot,” that is capable of capturing and interpreting applications. This software can then process transactions, manipulate data, trigger responses, and communicate with other digital systems. RPA scenarios vary in complexity, from generating automated email responses to deploying numerous bots designed to automate tasks within an ERP system.
CIOs are increasingly adopting RPA to streamline enterprise operations and cut down on expenses. By automating routine rule-based business processes, businesses allow their employees to focus more on customer service or other high-value tasks. Some view RPA as an interim solution on the way to achieving intelligent automation (IA) through machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) tools. These tools can be trained to make predictions about future outcomes.
What are the benefits of RPA?
The capability to decrease staffing expenses and human mistakes is offered to organizations by RPA. According to intelligent automation specialist Kofax, the concept is straightforward: Allow human employees to focus on their strengths while robots manage tasks that cause hindrance.
Organizations can pursue growth without incurring significant expenditures or causing friction among workers by implementing low-cost and easy-to-use bots, which do not require custom software or deep systems integration.
Kofax states that when software robots are configured correctly, they can enhance a team’s work capacity by 35% to 50%. For instance, mundane tasks like copying and pasting data between business systems can be completed 30% to 50% faster with the assistance of robots. Additionally, automation of these tasks can boost accuracy by eliminating the possibility of human mistakes like typographical errors when inputting data.
Enterprises have the ability to enhance their automation initiatives further by incorporating cognitive technologies, like ML, speech recognition, and natural language processing, into RPA. This enables the automation of more complex tasks that formerly relied on human abilities to perceive and make judgments.
Participating in a value chain called intelligent automation (IA), these RPA implementations automate a significant number of steps, typically ranging from 15 to 20.
10 tips for effective robotic process automation
Your organization can be assisted in implementing RPA by following these tips, considering the potential complexity of legacy business processes and the necessary level of change management for RPA success.
1. Set and manage expectations
Achieving quick successes is possible with RPA, but achieving widespread implementation of RPA is a more complex task. Many RPA difficulties arise from inadequate management of expectations. Exaggerated assertions about RPA from vendors and implementation consultants have not been beneficial. That is why it is crucial for CIOs to approach RPA with a cautiously optimistic mindset.
2. Consider business impact
RPA is frequently promoted as a way to enhance return on investment or lower expenses, but it also has the potential to enhance customer experience. As an illustration, airlines have a large number of customer service agents, but customers still experience delays while waiting for their calls to be answered. To address this issue, a chatbot could assist in reducing some of that wait time.
3. Involve IT early and often
COOs were among the first to embrace RPA, but often faced challenges during implementation that led them to seek assistance from IT. Nowadays, non-technical “citizen developers” use cloud software to implement RPA within their business units, although the CIO may sometimes intervene and impede their progress. Therefore, it is crucial for business leaders to involve IT from the beginning to secure the necessary resources.
4. Poor design, change management can wreak havoc
According to Sanjay Srivastava, chief digital officer of Genpact, many implementations fail because design and change are not managed effectively. In their haste to deploy something, some companies overlook communication exchanges between different bots, which can disrupt a business process. Srivastava advises that before implementing, one should consider the design of the operating model and how the various bots will collaborate. On the other hand, some CIOs fail to anticipate the impact that new operations will have on an organization’s business processes. To prevent business disruption, CIOs must plan for these changes well in advance.
5. Don’t fall down the data rabbit hole
A bank that uses numerous bots to automate tasks such as data entry and software monitoring produces a significant amount of data. This can lead CIOs and their business counterparts into a situation where they are interested in utilizing this data. Srivastava explains that it is not uncommon for companies to apply machine learning techniques to the data generated by their bots and then incorporate a chatbot interface to make it easier for users to query the data. As a result, what was initially an RPA project has transformed into an ML project without proper planning. Srivastava states that the situation is constantly changing, and CIOs find it challenging to keep up. Therefore, he suggests that CIOs should view RPA as a long-term strategy rather than a series of separate projects that become difficult to manage.
BONUS: Workflow Automation
Workflow automation involves the utilization of rule-based logic to initiate a sequence of tasks that operate without any human involvement. Once the rules and logic are set, automated workflows can perform tasks such as sending emails, creating reminders, scheduling tasks, initiating drip campaigns, and more, all without the need for manual intervention from team members.
By utilizing automated processes for manual tasks, workflow automation can contribute to time and cost savings, reduce errors, and increase productivity in your business.
Workflow automation involves the utilization of rule-based logic to initiate a sequence of tasks that operate autonomously without human involvement. Once the rules and logic are set up, automated workflows can perform various actions such as sending emails, setting reminders, scheduling tasks, initiating drip campaigns, and more, all without requiring any manual input from the team.
Workflow automation can assist your business in saving time and money, reducing errors, and increasing productivity by utilizing self-operating processes to handle manual tasks.
How does workflow automation work?
Workflow automation generally depends on utilizing a sequence of if/then statements to initiate a subsequent task. It subsequently diverges based on the action executed by a lead, employee, or another stakeholder.
Let’s go through an example process for transforming a form submission into a chance for a deal opportunity.
- A website visitor submits a form.
- The action automatically enrolls the visitor in a drip campaign. It creates a new deal and sets the status to “New.”
- The first email of the drip campaign is sent to the lead, requesting to schedule a meeting.
- The lead clicks through to the meeting scheduler and creates an appointment.
- A thank you email is sent to the lead, confirming the date and time.
- The CRM creates a new task and assigns it to a sales rep.
- The sales rep then reaches out personally, ending the automated workflow.
Workflow Automation Examples
- Subscribing a user to a drip campaign when they download a resource from your website.
- Placing each lead at a different stage of the pipeline when they take a certain action.
- Creating a new ticket in the system when someone reaches out through social media or email.
- Deleting duplicates once they have been detected or merging two properties if they’re the same.
- Removing candidates from the database if they’ve been inactive for a period of time.
- Taking an expense approval process from start to finish.
Marketing Workflow Automation
Marketing automation software allows you to automate repetitive tasks in marketing, such as sending emails and posting social media updates. It enables you to schedule your entire social media calendar and create workflows that nurture specific prospect categories through email offers.
Automated workflows in marketing encompass:
- Subscribing a user to a drip campaign when they download a resource from your website
- Welcoming a user to your company after they purchase a product
- Reminding a user to check out after they’ve added various items to their cart
- Scheduling social media posts across multiple platforms
- Distributing marketing tasks across team members
Sales Workflow Automation
Sales workflow automation simplifies the laborious tasks of handling leads and prospects, allowing representatives to concentrate on selling instead of inputting data. In addition to efficiently guiding leads through the sales process depending on their actions, an automated sales workflow can also include prospects in targeted marketing campaigns and adjust the stages of deals as they progress.
Sales automation encompasses a range of activities including:
- Placing each lead at a different stage of the pipeline when they take a certain action
- Moving a lead out of the pipeline if they’ve stopped responding to emails
- Sending an introduction email from a sales rep to a lead after they download an ebook
- Updating the deal stage once the lead has scheduled an appointment or meeting
- Creating tasks for sales reps once a lead has scheduled a meeting
Customer Service Workflow Automation
Workflow automation is highly beneficial in customer service as it can handle tickets, cases, and common inquiries by either sending a sequence of emails or generating tasks, in addition to conducting surveys.
Automated tasks within customer service involve:
- Creating a new ticket in the system when someone reaches out through social media or email
- Onboarding customers with a series of helpful emails
- Sending NPS® surveys and enrolling them into different email campaigns depending on their rating
- Assigning tickets a priority label depending on the tone of the message or email
- Resolving and archiving tickets once a resolution has been reached
Operations Workflow Automation
Operations, which is crucial for any organization, can also be automated in order to decrease the need for manual data entry.
In operations, tasks that are automated are included.
- Deleting duplicates once they have been detected or merging two properties if they’re the same
- Managing team permissions for new team members
- Establishing priorities for different businesses processes
- Automatically compiling reports at the end of every quarter
- Creating tasks in third-party tools such as Asana, Slack, or Zoom
Human Resources Workflow Automation
Instead of tediously inputting personal information of all newly hired employees, such as addresses, social security numbers, and other employee details, into various payroll, expense, and insurance systems, HR automation software can swiftly handle the task within minutes.
Automated functions in human resources encompass:
- Removing candidates from the database if they’ve been inactive for a period of time
- Sending emails to candidates that haven’t made it to the final round
- Filtering candidates with certain keywords in their job history
- Sending W2s to current employees
- Collecting employees’ feedback after they’ve been at the company for a period of time
Finance Workflow Automation
Finance process automation software has the ability to streamline travel requests, reimbursements, and budget approvals by enabling you to build forms, design workflows, and track processes.
Automated tasks within the field of finance encompass:
- Taking an expense approval process from start to finish
- Managing vendor and contract approvals
- Assigning priorities to ACH and wire requests
- Managing travel expense requests depending on location and activity
- Approving budgets based on a predetermined set of parameters
