Talk like an RPA Subject Matter Expert in 15 Minutes
Updated: Feb 21, 2022
1 What is robotic process automation?
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software technology that helps firms create, deploy, and manage software robots that emulate humans actions interacting with digital systems and software.
Example: Imagine that an employee can enter a sales order in your ERP in 30 minutes on a laptop or desktop computer. RPA can help you automate this process. In some cases RPA has been known to reduce this time to 5 minutes per sales order.
Like people, software robots can do things like understand the content on a screen, hit the required keys on your keyboard, navigate between screens, identify and extract data, and perform a variety of predefined actions. But software bots can do it quicker and more reliably than people, without the need to get up and stretch or take a coffee break.
2. Benefits of RPA for businesses ?
Robotic process automation helps businesses to
Cut costs - by helping fewer employees do the job of many
Accelerate processes - because software bots can perform business processes faster
Reduce errors - because software bots are very accurate.
3 Why is RPA the fastest-growing enterprise software ?
1. Rapid and measurable ROI
- Most RPA projects can be implemented in 1-3 months with clear ROI stats
2. Minimal investment
- Unlike big technology solutions RPA investments cost very little. For example: we recently implemented a Robot for $2000 which saved our client $50,000 annually
3. Does not disrupt existing systems
- RPA bots are simple and require very little coding to build
4. Low code to build software bots
- RPA bots have low complexity and require very little coding to build
5. Scalable and Enterprise ready
- RPA bots can be scaled easily across different business departments
4 What are some Common RPA use cases ?
4.1 Use cases for Manufacturing firms
Administration and reporting: One of the key benefits of RPA for manufacturing firms is that it can create accurate reports of data regarding production and present a clear picture to the key people. It enables more accurate decision-making and allows management to be agile about production needs. Inventory management: RPA can be used in inventory management to automate emails, digitization of paperwork , monitoring inventory requirements and the products levels in plants. Bills of material:– RPA case studies in manufacturing often highlight how software bots can effectively automate bills of material by data extraction and providing accuracy in data, leading to less errors and transactional issues.
4.2 RPA use cases in Customer Service
Quick initial responses: RPA software bots sort through common customer queries and send immediate responses.
Query assignment: RPA bots can categorize queries in different buckets based on set rules and automatically send them to the right departments.
Sales data: RPA can be used to automate customer relationship management by providing data to sales personnel with a pre-defined trigger to save time.
Data categorization: Robotic Process Automation enables companies to categorize customers and identify their journey’s for better targeting and service.
4.3 RPA use cases for Retail Industry
Product categorization: RPA bots can extract SKU data to help businesses categorize products and identify their market share in different regions.
Product returns: Returning a product involves a lot of processing and manual check points. RPA bots enable all these processes and accelerate the returns process..
Inventory management: A famous RPA case study in retail is for inventory management. Robotic Process Automation bots can provide data for key products and alert whenever there is a shortage or overflow.
5 What are the different RPA platforms that my business can use?
Number | Name | Description | License Price |
1 | Automation Anywhere | It is the oldest RPA platform. Rolls Royce of RPA tech. | $$$ |
2 | Blue Prism | Another established player | $$$$ |
3 | Kryon | Quite established | Unknown |
4 | TAGUI Python | Open source platform | Free |