What is RPA or Robotic Process Automation?

Automation is one of the biggest trends in the world right now. A McKinsey report shows that advanced automation is one of the weaknesses that Europe needs to address to close its technology gap. With automation, technology companies are trying to reduce repetitive tasks and make digital transformation a reality. In the field of automation, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is changing the way we look at the use of technology. These handy software robots are able to make work more fun, more productive and more meaningful.

What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a software technology that helps companies build, deploy, and manage software robots that mimic human actions when interacting with digital systems and software. These software robots are designed to function in the same way as humans and do things like understand what's on a screen, complete the correct keystrokes, navigate systems, identify and extract data, and perform a wide range of defined actions. These software robots differ from humans in one big way: speed. They have consistently proven to be faster and more consistent than humans. This software technology enables users to create bots by observing human digital actions.

What can RPA do for me?

Robotic Process Automation software bots should be seen as a digital workforce that is able to communicate with any system or application. They are designed to have the same digital skills as humans. In terms of application, they can copy-paste, scrape web data, make calculations, open and move files, check emails, log into programs, connect to APIs, and extract unstructured data. These bots can also adapt to any interface or workflow and can be applied without changing existing business systems, applications, or processes to automate. One of the reasons for their popularity is that they are easy to set up, use, and share.

What are the business benefits of RPA?

The advancement of automation in companies is primarily driven by the need to support people. The RPA-based software bots are essentially intended to let people do their jobs without worrying about repetitive tasks. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) streamlines workflows, helping organizations to be more profitable, agile, and responsive. According to UiPath, RPA is non-invasive and can be deployed quickly to accelerate digital transformation. “And it's ideal for automating workflows related to legacy systems that don't have APIs, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), or database access,” UiPath explains on its website.

Is RPA transformative?

Indeed, RPA is transformative as a technology because it changes the way work is done globally. Software robots are now seen as performing repetitive and lower-rated tasks previously done by people who were often dissatisfied with their work. In addition to these repetitive tasks, software robots are also breaking through in the form of sophisticated robots that perform cognitive processes, such as interpreting text, participating in chats and conversations, understanding unstructured data, and applying sophisticated machine learning models to make complex decisions. The advantage of this transformative business technology is that people can focus on the things that matter to the company. Software robots deployed via RPA allow people to focus on innovation, collaboration, creation and even customer interaction.

Where do you see RPA being used?

RPA is revolutionizing the way work is done across a wide range of industries and processes. In the process of creating this transformation, software technology frees people from repetitive tasks. Common areas where RPA is found include companies from financial services to healthcare and manufacturing. You'll also see that RPA changes lives in the public sector and retail. Because it is easy to implement, the implementation is really broad and most processes with a high volume and repeatability have an alternative in the form of software robots.

What do you need to consider when implementing RPA?

There are some key features and capabilities that companies need to understand and implement with their RPA technology. To build and manage an enterprise-wide RPA program, we recommend technology that “can go beyond just automating a single process.” As a technology platform, RPA must support end-to-end by helping you discover great automation opportunities everywhere. It should enable users to build high-performance robots to manage thousands of automated workflows.

RPA: Why is it the fastest growing business software?

RPA adoption is accelerating globally thanks to its ease of implementation and measurable value. Robotic Process Automation is also the fastest growing business software because it can help many different types of industries address their specific operational issues in new and powerful ways.

Business leaders see that RPA improves many processes, resulting in higher capacity, faster throughput, and fewer errors for key processes. IT executives love RPA because it can be deployed with little disruption.

Is RPA the same as AI?

In simple terms, RPA is not the same as AI and AI is not the same as RPA. The confusion between the two technologies, however, is due to how they are used to support each other. The combination of RPA and AI has unlocked huge new opportunities for companies around the world. Robotic Process Automation is so advanced that it is now possible to incorporate advanced AI skills in the form of machine learning models, natural language processing (NLP), character and image recognition, and more into RPA robots.

With AI, RPA is able to scientifically discover a complete range of automation options for companies. The insights provided by AI also help companies build a robust automation pipeline through RPA applications such as process mining. RPA is a transformative technology and with AI, it will drive digital transformation and further change how we work.