Leveraging RPA & Human Interaction for Maximum Efficiency
Back-office processes have a lot of repetitive and routine tasks that can be dreary and uninteresting for most employees who could offer more value elsewhere. This is where organizations can leverage RPA to enable better control of the business processes and gain resilience in difficult times.
Deploying RPA effectively improves productivity in the workplace and reduces human errors in business process. Furthermore, RPA software does not require any coding making it simpler to migrate complex tasks to bots.
So, what is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?
Ui Path defines RPA as a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots that emulate human actions interacting with digital systems and software.
Intelligent automated processes are beginning to have a profound effect on business. Just like humans, software robots can navigate systems, understand, identify and extract data and perform a wide range of defined actions.
In fact, software robots can do it more quickly, reliably, and consistently than humans, freeing them to focus on other more complex tasks which require a human such as emotional intelligence, reasoning, judgment, and interaction with the customer. Thus organizations can save more overhead costs.
The untold potential of Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Efficient Business Process = Improved ROI
As enterprises strive to meet the market demand in times of COVID-19, industry leaders are realizing the true potential of RPA because of its ability to enhance process quality and optimize costs. According to reports, companies can save between $5 trillion to $7 trillion with the help of RPA.
Global Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software revenue is projected to reach $1.89 billion in 2021, an increase of 19.5% from 2020, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc. Despite the economic pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the RPA market is still expected to grow at double-digit rates through 2024.
Worldwide RPA Software Revenue (Millions of U.S. Dollars) – Source: Gartner (September 2020)
| 2019 | 2020 (expected) | 2021 (predicted) | |
| Revenue ($M) | 1,411.1 | 1,579.5 | 1,888.1 |
| Growth (%) | 62.93 | 11.94 | 19.53 |
With the long-lasting effects that the pandemic and recession have created in the past year, many enterprises are heavily investing in RPA. Gartner predicts that 90% of large organizations globally will have adopted RPA in some form by 2022 as they look to digitally empower critical business processes through resilience and scalability while recalibrating human labor and manual effort.
Through 2024, large organizations will triple the capacity of their existing RPA portfolios. In fact, by 2024, Gartner predicts nearly half of all new RPA clients will come from business buyers who are outside the IT organization.
How RPA can deliver maximum efficiency?
To simply quote Leslie Willcocks, professor of technology, work, and globalization at the London School of Economics’ department of management, “RPA takes the robot out of the human.” It streamlines workflows where humans and technology can work together in harmony making organizations more profitable, flexible, and responsive. Here are the 5 most significant of those benefits.
- Better Internal Processes
RPA tends to introduce flexibility to business operations especially in current times of COVID-19 when human workers are restricted on the industry floors. RPA systems have the intelligence to adjust how they operate and can quickly adapt to changing environments and circumstances, freeing up employees to do more useful work. They are better equipped to carry out critical communication data and update files and documents so that workers can receive the latest information along the process.
- Reduced Cost
Automation saves nearly 30% of the operating costs. Moreover, software robots are less expensive than full-time employees. It also reduces the possibility of costly errors in business processes, which can lead to erroneous analytics and poor decision-making by the leaders. RPA does not limit itself here, it improves the speed of operations and also keeps them going 24/7 with no downtime.
- Empower Workforce
When robots take mundane tasks out of employees’ schedules, it increases their work satisfaction, improves employee engagement, and enhances their productivity as they are left to perform meaningful tasks worthy of their time. When employees know they are making something crucial out of their energy, it keeps them more focused and boosts their spirits. This helps organizations retain their human talent and build a workplace with driven people. Hence with a skilled and proficient workforce, the companies can better understand the customer needs and address their demands.
- Improve Analytics
RPA allows enterprises to gather data regarding task execution such as work volume patterns, cycle times, errors, etc for analytical purposes. These data create comprehensive insights to helps companies see right through the processes and improve them with minimal error rate. Robots also help collect data from areas not feasible for humans. With such differentiated data at their fingertips, companies can make better decisions for the company, determine operational gaps to enhance efficiency.
- Secure Data
With robots working on data and analytics, there are lesser chances of data leakages, obsolete information, and incorrect analytics as data accesses are being carefully monitored and registered. RPA can also be integrated with a variety of applications to improve data security eliminating the risk of unauthorized access as business functions use and inherit the existing available security infrastructure, which already has authorization principles in place.
Top industries leveraging RPA
RPA is rapidly gaining traction in a variety of industries around the world. It can be already witnessed in sectors such as health care, manufacturing, retail, and banking together accounting for 66% of RPA spend.
- Banking and Finances
Banking and financing industries require streamlined and accurate handling of the large volume of sensitive data. Many of the tasks associated with these industries such as account opening and closures, managing balance sheets, compliance regulation, statement processing, and more complex workflows can be easily automated, boosting the overall speed efficiency of the industry.
The reason why around 80% of finance leaders have implemented or are planning to implement RPA. In fact, the banking and financial services industries were market leaders in RPA adoption 2019, accounting for a 29% share of the global revenue.
- Healthcare
With an acute need for accuracy and efficiency, RPA is arguably the most demanded technology in the healthcare industry. Other than handling the back-office functions such as managing vast numbers of patient records, claims, customer service, billing, medical report collection, etc, RPA enhances data confidentiality as well.
It assists medical workers to focus on value-based care with administrative pressure being taken care of. According to CAQH’s study, the healthcare industry could save $13.3 billion if administrative tasks are automated in the revenue cycle.
- Manufacturing
Manufacturing companies have already started to deploy industrial robots in the production line to complement human employees, especially during the pandemic. This has helped to strengthen supply chain procedures and bridge the gaps between the administrative operations and assembly line. This boost in efficiency has resulted in increased revenue making the back office functions equally efficient as the factory assembly lines.
- Insurance
Insurance businesses are using RPA to speed up their back-office functions such as claims processing and policy quotes, updating underwrites and payouts, detecting data for frauds, etc. For 100 application processing, RPA cuts the time from 3hrs to 3 mins. These are a high volume of repetitive tasks and require efficiency and accuracy. Using RPA for such functions free employees to focus on more complex processes, retains customers, and helps to grow the client base.
- Retail
RPA in the retail industry automates and supports an array of activities such as inventory supply chain control, returns processing, invoice, and contract management as well as store planning management. It also helps with onboarding, staff selection, payroll, training, health and safety, and other office activities.
If we look at the retail industry statistics, online sales in the US alone are expected to double by 2023, reaching approximately 20 to 25% of the overall retail sector. With such rising demand, RPA is essential to transform the retail industry, boosting productivity, enhancing customer experience, and delivering reliable results.
Impact of RPA in 2021 and beyond:
As we enter into the second year of the pandemic, industries are taking an interest in technologies that will keep their workforce safe and production boosted. As per Forrester’s Prediction 2021 guide, one in every four information workers will receive help from software bots or Robotic Process Automation in 2021. While RPA was widely accepted in 2020, it is expected to mature more across with hyper-automation redefining the way businesses operate today.
To make sure your business isn’t missing out on the benefits of RPA, all you need is the right technology that understands your business needs and facilitates growth. Founded in 2002, iLink has served major organizations worldwide with digital transformation initiatives and we’re ready to help you get started.
For more detailed information, get in touch with us.
Endnotes
4.https://www.edgeverve.com/assistedge/blogs/rpa-transforming-finance-accounting/
5.https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/robotic-process-automation-rpa-market
8.https://go.forrester.com/blogs/employee-experience-in-2021/
