Our Future: Robotic Process Automation
What is Robotic process automation?
In simple terms, Robotic Process Automation is a software that can perform high volume and repetitive tasks just as humans do. For example, creating invoices by collecting data and mailing them to the relevant persons.
RPA software is based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. The software is programmed in such a way that it follows a basic algorithm and deliver the required results. They are designed just to mimic a human worker. These software/robots can also perform complex tasks.
RPA can be classified into three main categories,
1.Probots — These types of Robots can perform simple repetitive tasks.
2.Knowbots — It is used to gather and store information and then analyze it.
3.Chatbots — It simulates human conversation through voice or text. Sometimes it is so accurate that it becomes difficult to differentiate between customer service executive and a chatbot.
Advantages of RPA
Following are the advantages of Robotic Process Automation,
Saving time
Automotive and repetitive tasks are often time consuming and boring. Thus, RPA saves valuable time of employees by performing these monotonous actions
Cost-Effectiveness
It can save cost up to 90% when human is replaced by RPA.
Error-free
Humans are prone to error when high volume and repetitive tasks performed by them, while RPA is error-free and you don’t need to recheck the results as it will always give accurate outcomes.
Seamless Workflow
It can improve the workflow process by performing a series of tasks in a proper sequence.
Increased Output
Humans have a limit they can’t work for 24*7, but robots can work for 24*7, 365 days without stopping unless a technical failure occurs. Thus, automation gives you an edge over your competitors.
Improved customer experience
It’s 1 AM customer problem that needs to be solved, RPA will be active 24*7 and will solve the problem by analyzing it and giving an accurate and reliable solution.
No need of paper-pen
You no need to note down anything, everything will be stored by robots and information will be available to the employers.
Increase in speed and accuracy
It can perform an operation in seconds which might take several minutes or hours to do. Not only it is fast, but it will give accurate results.
Empowering Employees
The workforce will be free of menial and boring jobs and thus can concentrate on other tasks. This will make work of employees a lot easier and studies have shown that RPA increases employee job satisfaction.
Data security
Your data is completed secured with RPA. No data leakages are possible unless the algorithm of RPA is changed.
Applications of Robotic Process Automation
Robotic process automation is used in various industries, following are some of the main applications of RPA,
1.Travel and Logistic
Passengers ticketing booking and mailing all the details
Accounting and Data Management
2.Healthcare
Patients records and claims
Customer support, billing and account management
3.Human Resources
Candidates shortlisting, Job posting, etc.
Employee detail management like salary payment, employee leave details and sending regular emails.
4. Customer Service
Chatbots and automated call centers to solve customer problems at any time
Verifying Information, automated sales mail, and billings.
5.Supply Chain Management
Automating Order details, package tracking, and inventory management
Order processing, payments and data management
6.Banking and other Financial Services
Automated account openings and closings, managing foreign exchange, card activation, etc.
Processing insurance claims, sending messages and emails to a customer, online transactions processing and funds management
7. Big data processing and Data Mining
Management, securing and storing a large amount of data
Accurate and relevant data can be mined used RPA
Downsides of RPA
Unemployment / Job losses
One of the greatest fears of humanity is one-day robots will take over most of the jobs in the world. In this competitive market, every organization wants to be at the top and RPA seems to be a cheaper and better option.
Robots are faster, more efficient than humans, thus in the near future, we can expect robots taking over some jobs.
Difficult Implementation
Sometimes in complex situations, it becomes challenging to implement and optimize the RPA. As RPA is still in the early stages it will take some years to have advancements in it.
High Initial Investment
RPA may look good for the long term but for the short term, it will be very costly. So, some companies can’t risk a large sum of money for the implementation of RPA. But it is sure that after several years the technology will be relatively cheaper than it is now.
Skilled Workers Requirement
RPA can be optimized, maintained and modified with the help of skilled staff. Since it is a new field it is a headache for the company to hire skilled staff. The second thing is the wages of these skilled workers are very high when compared to the wages of people employed in other professions.
6 Features your RPA must have
The future of RPA
Robotic Process Automation will be the next technological revolution of the 21st century. Though it is in the initial phase we can expect a lot of improvements in the future. As per the Forrester report, the market will be more than $ 2.9 Billion by 2021.
- Different industries like manufacturing, aviation, retail, etc. will be using RPA.
- Data entry and Data mining jobs will soon become extinct
- It will be used to give more accurate results and improve efficiency
Artificial Intelligence combined with RPA will improve the algorithm and will be able to perform operations with logic.
In future RPA will be making our life easier and more jobs will be automated. Workers will no longer have to do boring, mundane and monotonous jobs, according to research by Oxford University 35% of the jobs will be taken by RPA. It will drive up efficiency, quality and customer satisfaction.
The next-generation RPA is often referred to as RPA 2.0, which will be incorporated machine learning and artificial technology. So, it will be unassisted RPA which will perform operations without any human interaction. But clear algorithms and rules must be defined for the software to run smoothly.
Originally published on Zenesys.
