For businesses, the most redundant and time-consuming task is data entry. To avoid such incompetent manual workarounds, most organizations have turned to Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

RPA has found great success as a very simple method for automating processes using legacy systems. As most legacy solutions do not have accessible APIs, the fastest and most cost-effective way to work with them is to leverage automation software going through the interface layer, imitating human actions. In this blog, we will delve into the details of RPA and if it is the right choice for your business.

What is Robotic Process Automation

RPA is software that imitates humans while performing tasks within a process. The software can perform repetitive tasks quickly, accurately, and diligently. Employees of an organization then have more time to do other tasks that require human capabilities such as emotional intelligence, judgment, and reasoning.

In the last few years, RPA has soared in popularity for its ability to automate simple tasks. RPA can be implemented easily by any business to manage basic tasks that do not require specific knowledge, understanding, or insight. The software is apt for tasks to be completed via rules-based if/then statements.

RPA Applications

The use of Robotic Process Automation has its place in almost every organization, however, there are some industries where RPA can make a bigger impact in the way they operate on an everyday basis.

Robotic Process Automation in Healthcare and Insurance

The insurance sector is rife with redundant tasks and employee time and skills remain untapped. Employees have to focus on mundane tasks that can be automated. For easy-to-repeat tasks with little or no variation, RPA can free up employee resources and time. In insurance, RPA is frequently leveraged in underwriting and onboarding, claim processing, and policyholder services. However, one must note that RPA struggles when processes increase in complexity, or when low-quality or highly variable documents have to be processed.

Robotic Process Automation in Government

RPA is expanding all across the public sector and government organizations across the world. It helps with the automation of manual labor, elimination of typos, and shortens processing times. The software is clearly freeing up staff to concentrate on more important activities.

In government agencies, RPA is often used in enhancing contact centers and in compliance validation. According to a forecast by Gartner, 75% of governments will have at least three hyper-automation initiatives underway by 2024. RPA is a critical part of the modernization journey.

Just as in finance and healthcare, RPA use in government public sector agencies decreases in effectiveness as the processes increase in complexity. For complex processes that include large volumes of documentation or messy handwriting, such as benefit claim processing, intelligent automation and Machine Learning (ML) offer transformative results.

Robotic Process Automation in Finance

RPA applications in finance allow organizations to work more efficiently and with fewer errors, specifically when it comes to highly redundant tasks. Processes that need very little decision-making, but require constant input are key targets for RPA—for example, account reconciliation or validating contract terms.

Just like with healthcare, in finance too the use of RPA is restricted to simpler processes. Gartner states, “Automating finance processes needs a combination of finance robotics with other intelligent automation technologies.”

RPA Advantages

RPA bots find significant use across various industries and have advantages for a wide range of organizations across the world, and not just in specific industry settings.

Increased Productivity and Efficiency

Allocating digital workers to repetitive tasks via RPA helps automate repeatable responsibilities and frees up employees to concentrate on more important tasks. Moreover, RPA software is diligent and accurate. A single RPA robot can finish the same amount of work as a human in less time, making data entry far more efficient.

Ensure Compliance

Most industries face strict guidelines for auditing and documenting processes. With so many error opportunities, the risk of a regulatory breach increases significantly. RPA helps organizations enhance regulatory processes by eradicating the need for employees to enforce regulatory compliance manually. Checking customer data, creating regulatory reports, and sending out account closures are requirements of industry regulations, and RPA can help with these requirements.

Extend System Life and Avoid Risk

Many industries that use RPA (such as finance or insurance) have home-grown technologies in place that are incredibly difficult to update or migrate from. By implementing an RPA solution, these organizations can extend the life of their existing technology while they search for long-term solutions.

Customer Support

Customer service is a high-maintenance and commitment process that needs a huge amount of attention and time from employees. With the help of RPA, staff can focus completely on customers. This helps in better resolution times, minimal disputes, and overall customer satisfaction.

Problems With Robotic Process Automation

Despite the many pros associated with RPA, the software also has a few cons. If RPA is not used efficiently, then there can be issues that aggravate existing problems rather than solving them.

Unwieldy Maintenance

Due to the stiff functionality of RPA solutions, there is a probability that you may have to install more bots to cover more functions within your business process. Furthermore, this rigidity means that RPA can no longer complete its assigned tasks when a business process changes. The bots then have to be redeployed leading to exorbitant maintenance costs.

Magnification of Existing Issues

RPA can accelerate existing problems. By taking a process that is underperforming and amplifying it, most errors that take place will be magnified. Organizations should note that RPA installation also needs a good amount of support to keep processes running efficiently.

Solidifies Current Processes

RPA can bind you to the current processes and create long-term technical debt. As it leverages a combination of user interface (UI) and surface-level features to create scripts that automate routine, any future changes in a process can lead to disruption in its automation.

High Overhead Costs

Due to its inflexible architecture, RPA requires significant, upfront technical resources and custom development to fit within any organization and find functionality, resulting in lengthy implementations.

Bottomline

While RPA is great for simple and well-defined tasks, it lacks the intelligence and flexibility to automate complex processes. Yet, the software works very well with processes such as:

• Copying and pasting structured, machine-readable data.
• Clicking and dragging files through various file paths.
• Following well-defined business rules in If / then statements.
• Opening emails & attachments without understanding the context or content.
• Making calculations.