This is RPA time (Robotic Process Automation)

2020 saw automation become one of the mainstream tech trend,with the COVID-19 pandemic having a direct impact on the way we work. From the
office to the home office, organizations had to change their working methods. More and more organizations have used the RPA for a variety of reasons. As an expert and having implemented this technology among a large portfolio of clients worldwide, I will introduce it with more details.

What is RPA ?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology using business logic and structured inputs, whose purpose is to automate business processes. The robot aims to capture and interpret applications in order to process a transaction, manipulate data, trigger responses and communicate with other systems.

Which organization can use RPA ?

Any organization can use this automation technology. The RPA holds promise for companies that need fast and efficient processes to become more efficient and offer better experiences to their employees and customers. Indeed, the transversality of the process makes it possible to use it for all departments Finance, IT, HR, Marketing, Client Services, Supply Chain, etc..

What are the benefits of RPA ?

First of all, it’s a productivity gain for businesses. It reduces personnel costs and reduces human error, of course on simple and fast processes to implement. Automation can be continuously operational (24/24h), anywhere in the world. There are 3 factors to consider in this analysis, the company, the customer and the employees.

Company

Optimizing execution quality by reducing human errors
Speed and responsiveness of operations in business processes
No training required for employees
No change to existing business process

Client

Reduce time to market
Improvment of Offer and Customer Relationship

Employees

Priority on tasks with a higher added value

Increased self-esteem and satisfaction as there are fewer
repetitive tasks

RPA’s use cases for different business unit

Human Ressources

Earnings and deductions
Payroll payments
Employee data management
Employee onboarding
Employee offboarding

Database Administration
System Administration
Daily Check
Test Automation
Network Support

Finance

Invoice processing
Account reconciliation
Automate workflow and approvals
Regulatory reporting

Supply Chain & Client Service

Customer management
Update CRM
Progress Chasing

RPA’s market represents nearly $2 billion in 2021. As this technology is not free, the ROI (Return on Investment) must be important. There are certain criteria to consider such as (number of hours/men earned, cost reduction, reduction in the number of errors, timeliness, etc.). This technology is a real added value for organizations and more and more companies are using the RPA.

Artificial Intelligence & RPA

In a phase where artificial intelligence solutions are in maturity phase, automation processes like the RPA see their skills improve significantly by being more autonomous, better and faster. Four steps are required to have an operational and effective solution:

Learn through machine learning with decision trees, deep learning or neural networks
Perceiving through automatic language processing (voice recognition) or image processing (face recognition, emotion)
Decide using rule managers, reasoning engine, natural language processing, learning planning.
Act by generating APIs, speech synthesis, generation of reports, etc.

To conclude, automation topics are very popular and will continue to improve over time. Businesses are using it more and more, and this is a strategy that will become more democratic. It is important to point out that the RPA aims to improve the daily lives of employees and not to replace humans with robots.