Technology has made it possible for businesses to work smarter and faster. While this has been great for customer experience, it’s caused an unforeseen symptom: people aren’t as patient.
In a world of instant gratification, your customers, vendors, and employees have been trained to expect information or results immediately. If your business processes haven’t kept up with modern expectations, you’re already behind. Businesses now have to up their game to keep pace with both internal and external expectations.
The good news is that digital transformation is about to revolutionize your business. Whether you’re a government agency trying to reduce wait times or a construction brand that needs to give your crew real-time project updates, gone are the days of accepting “we can’t do something” or “we can’t do something better” because our systems cannot communicate. The fastest growing part of the enterprise software market is Robotic Process Automation (RPA). RPA is white-hot because it is transforming the way organizations do business. Via RPA, organizations are able to dramatically reduce processing costs, transaction times and error rates, all while empowering them to embrace new business opportunities. And the best part about it is your employees are now freed up to perform more higher value functions like serving customers and growing the business. In other words, getting them back to doing the things they were actually hired to do.
What is RPA?
RPA is a cutting-edge digital technology that combines AI with process automation. In plain English, RPA uses software robots to perform various repetitive tasks. Like robots that fulfil your Amazon order or build cars, RPA bots will perform tasks such as data entry, move files, and can even complete complex transactions in multiple systems with little or no human involvement.
Businesses use RPA to automate processes that would take human workers more time to complete. Because human workers are more expensive and error-prone, RPA ensures that there are fewer problems in your processes at a lower cost. As a result, your human workers can focus on more important tasks while the RPA automates time-consuming to-dos that require a high degree of precision.
RPA is primarily designed to take action, taking over tasks your employees would normally do, like pulling reports and transcribing data. RPA can also do light analysis, like identifying work trends.
The benefits and uses of RPA
Businesses choose RPA for several reasons, including:
- Significant cost reductions. ROI is often measured in months, not years. Bots are significantly less expensive than human operators.
- Improved accuracy. Bots don’t make typos.
- Increased transaction levels. Bots type fast, don’t tire and don’t get bored.
- Enhanced security. Fewer human operators see the data – less chance of a breach.
- Easier for users to manage in production than traditional programmatic integrations.
- Institutionalized standardization, compliance, tracking and analytics.
- Human operators are liberated to perform higher value-added functions for the organization and customers.
No matter your industry, RPA has a place in your business. This will change how you interact with employees, vendors, and customers, becoming more competitive and cost-efficient.
The actual implementation of this technology depends on your business and needs. Here are a few common ways enterprise organizations put RPA to work:
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Customer support
Don’t leave your customers hanging. RPA helps businesses set up intelligent processes that serve customers immediately and efficiently. Use RPA to answer simple questions so your human customer service agents can tackle more complex issues.
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Accounting
RPA tracks expenses and income in real-time to see how profitable you are. It can help you make smarter decisions about certain projects and even which projects to bid on. Robotic process automation can partially or completely automate your accounts payable and accounts receivable processes too.
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Supply chain management
Manage your flow of inventory in an automated, hassle-free environment. RPA ensures you never run out of supplies, keeping your business online without interruption.
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HR
HR staff has a lot going on. Help them save time and give a consistent experience by automating the employee onboarding process. Have RPA perform background checks, send applicants vital information, and enter employee data in HR, Benefits, and payroll systems.
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Compliance
RPA helps organizations, especially in highly regulated industries, stay compliant. It alerts you to the latest laws and regulations, check for missing documentation, and monitors your processes so you stay compliant. With RPA as part of your enterprise content management strategy, you don’t have to stress about upcoming audits.
Should your company use RPA?
RPA is a wonderful technology, but like any business tool, it should only be used after careful consideration. Make sure you have a purpose behind implementing this technology. When in doubt, follow this process to figure out where to use RPA:dti
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Change management
Before you think about automation, consider your employees. How will this automation affect their jobs? What tasks will they now be free to take on with automation? Under what timeline? Have a clear plan for your employees before you jump into RPA.
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Evaluate current processes
What processes are the most manual, tedious, or inefficient in your business? These are the tasks ripe for automation.
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Digitize
Digitize your documents and processes for these manual processes. You can partner with DTI to upload this information into one central, secure hub. Don’t skip this step: you’ll need a digitized environment first to make the most of RPA.
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Business process optimization with RPA
The final step is to use RPA to speed up your manual process. Remember to revisit your automation from time to time to ensure it’s firing correctly. Always measure the time, money, and errors this switch has saved you so you can demonstrate ROI.
The bottom line
RPA is an emerging trend in digital transformation. It’s the key ingredient to saving more time, reducing errors, and delivering an amazing experience. This technology is relatively new, but it has clear benefits for your brand, especially if you want to scale into a profitable enterprise.
Remember, RPA and other AI technologies are an investment. Approach it with a strategy to make the best use of this technology. When you get it right, RPA will give the right information to the right people with just a snap of a finger.
Curious how RPA can change your business, regardless of you industry? Learn how you can become more efficient with robots and DTI. Check out the availability of our expert human, Ryan, today.
