Robotic Process Automation – Pros & Cons

What is Robotic Process Automation?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a trending word in the industry of information & technology, it assures to bring a change from the traditional way of doing business, and IT operations in organizations. Businesses that are unable to streamline their processes are often spending a large amount of time and resources to complete repetitive yet essential tasks. Hence, this not only adds overall expenditure but also reduces business efficiency. 

Robotic Process Automation does not involve any physical robots, but software bots installed into your computer. Companies looking for ways to optimize and automate as most of the companies can maximize the value that they are getting out of their actual employees. Companies are now creating not just workers but Digital Workers.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that runs on top of a computer, and it works with almost any type of system and helps to automate the repetitive processes and helps organizations to be much more efficient with their human workforce. It was initially adopted by banking, financial services, and insurance industries where they were dealing with a lot of data, and they had large back-office operations. Now we can see RPA in all the organizations over the Globe.

Types of Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

1. Unattended/Autonomous RPA – They are used for reducing work by doing it automatically by its own like completing data processing tasks in the background. Hence, these bots can be launched by using specific intervals, bots initiated, and data input. These bots work independently and follow certain rules for completing a task. It mainly focuses on back-office tasks. It helps in reducing operational cost, increases productivity, removes the errors, support employees in doing repetitive work, increases compliance, and more.
2. Attended RPA – These bots are like a virtual assistant who helps an employee in doing his work and increasing the productivity of the business. They can be installed on an employee’s device, Auto-run based on conditions, or they can be initiated by the RPA client tool. Employees put these bots into their system, and it helps them to interact. It deals with the front office tasks. It helps to increase productivity, enhance customer experience, reduce the call handling time, and many more.  
3. Hybrid RPA –They are the combination of attended and autonomous bots. These bots work on both front and back-office tasks of the business.

Benefits of Robotic Process Automation

1. Cost-Effective: – Robotics can reduce the additional and operational cost by 25-50%. Robots can bring more efficiency and cost-effective solution to most of the repeated task.
2. Accuracy and Quality: – RPA works on those areas where there are high chances of human errors, and hence it is reliable and efficient, which helps in improving the overall quality.
3. Consistency: – Robotics is a safe and non-invasive technology; they follow consistent rules and never interfere with the inherent systems while performing the activities.
4. Improved Analytics: – Through its error-free and accurate data from various sources would improve the quality and analysis of data which will lead to better decision-making for the business.
5. Increased Employee Productivity: – RPA helps the employee to get rid of monotonous work and focus more on the clients, and customer interaction where humans are needed more rather than robots. If there is more satisfied customer and clients, then it will lead to the growth of a business.
6. Increased Customer Satisfaction: – By providing a better quality of work with high accuracy and proper human interactions with the customer or clients will increase customer satisfaction and helps in the goodwill of a business.
7. Versatility: – RPA is used by various industries to perform a wide range of tasks. If a process has its fixed rule and repetitive, then it can be done by Robotic Process Automation Technology.
8. Faster: – Bots can handle a large amount of data and completes it within a short period.

Shortcomings of Robotic Process Automation

• In Robotic Process Automation, it is essential to understand your processes. If you don’t understand your processes, and the processes are wrong, or it’s not aligned, then RPA will fail.
• RPA as a tool being implemented in a flexible software. So, software that does not have certain versions would have issues in adjusting RPA. Most RPA is based on fixed rules and regulations, and hence if there is a change in the software versions, then RPA may fail.

Future of Robotic Process Automation: HYPER-AUTOMATION

Robotic Process Automation will be our next level of productivity revolution. Through RPA, we can improve the customer experience by reducing errors and problems, increasing service hours, and putting employees to look on consumers with trickier issues that genuinely require human interaction.

In the future of RPA, we will come across of hyper-automation. Hyper-automation usually works with the help of advanced technologies which includes artificial intelligence and machine learning to increase automated processes and augmented humans. Hyper-automation is spread across a wide range of tools that can be automated. It involves Robotic Process Automation, intelligence business management software, and Artificial intelligence to increase AI-driven decision making. The global Hyper-automation market size by 2027 will be around 23.7 bn USD. According to Globe Newswire research by the year 2023, we will be going to see 40% of the infrastructure, and operational teams are using AI-augmented automation, and this will result in higher IT productivity and great scalability. Gartner predicts that by 2024, companies will lower operational costs by 30% using Hyper-automation.