Businesses these days are burdened with mundane, repetitive tasks that take up the majority of their time, and resources and are still not fruitful. Robotic process automation can help organizations automate these processes & help them increase productivity. This step-by-step RPA implementation guide will help you achieve successful RPA implementation!
From multiplying the staff productivity to the utilization of information efficiently, Robotic process automation is helping enterprises automate almost every task.
Deloitte’s third annual RPA survey states almost 53% of companies have already begun the “RPA journey.” Also, RPA will soon achieve global adoption in the next 5 years.
But an organization can reap the benefits of robotics only when the RPA implementation & planning is done in the right way, and to guide you for the successful RPA implementation, we have sorted this step-by-step RPA implementation guide for you all!
What is RPA?
Robotic process automation (RPA) is an automation solution that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to handle high-volume, repeatable tasks performed by humans.
A successful RPA implementation automates repetitive tasks, helping your organization increase efficiency.
According to a study by Global newswire, the global robotic process automation market is projected to reach USD 23.9 billion by 2030 and is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.7% from 2021 to 2030.
Expectations from Robotic Process Automation
One of the most frequently asked questions while implementing RPA is the expectations, and how will it scale in the future with advanced robotics?
RPA is already helping businesses in data management, revenue generation, improving process performance, and much more.
Moving forward, businesses can implement RPA & meet their expectations, which are:
- No-code RPA: Facilitating development with no-code RPA solutions would help businesses simplify their processes even further, especially in no-code development environments.
- Utilizing process mining to auto-extract process knowledge from RPA solutions can help businesses simplify the RPA implementation process.
- Expanding bots to have more extensive capabilities to function well in RPA marketplaces enables developers to submit their code easily.
- Open-source RPA: Since RPA is expanding exponentially, the demand for transparent RPA with open source is also increasing.
Understanding Business Challenges in RPA implementation
Before starting on the RPA implementation journey, organizations must assess their challenges and how RPA will be beneficial for their organization.
Businesses face various challenges in RPA implementation that range from organizational and technological to financial and regulatory challenges.
1. Organizational Challenges
Technological advancement of such a scale requires organizations to buckle up and prioritize RPA initiatives. However, limited resources, lack of the right skills, and lack of sense of urgency are some of the barriers that enterprises need to overcome to implement RPA successfully.
2. Technological Challenges
Implementing an enterprise-wide digital workforce requires the right tools, skills, and technology.
40% of the organizations implementing RPA faced cybersecurity and data privacy concerns. Implementing RPA means granting access to all your legacy data systems to RPA bots, and in such case scenarios, there is a fear of data mishandling.
Apart from data privacy risks, difficulty in scaling applications is a real challenge. For example, only 3% of organizations have scaled their digital workforce, according to the Deloitte Global RPA Survey.
3. Financial & Regulatory Challenges
For RPA implementation, the total cost of ownership (TCO) poses a great risk. This is because software costs such as OS costs, bot licenses, and hardware costs for machines, servers, and databases are high.
Ensuring regulatory compliance is another aspect that must be considered while RPA development. Businesses and IT teams should collaborate and actively provide business updates to the RPA support team to update scripts in the production environment.
In order to counter these challenges, businesses should make decisions based on individual and organization-specific requirements such as RPA’s implementation timeline and functional requirements.
A proactive enterprise-wide discussion about the expected results would allow organizations to make the most of the RPA and its benefits.
Apart from understanding and mitigating the challenges, the stepwise approach to RPA implementation, as discussed in the next section, is also beneficial for the proper implementation of RPA steps.
7 Step Process for Successful RPA Implementation
A well-prepared implementation approach helps you to take full advantage of the technology. Everyone of us come up with the question how to implement robotic process automation. The Final RPA Implementation Journey involves the below-mentioned steps:
1: Program Initiation
2: Assessing Potential Opportunities
3: Developing Proof of Concept
4: Deploy a Pilot
5: Resource Organization
6. Setting up of an Implementation Plan
7: Operate and Monitor
Selecting the Right RPA Vendor for your RPA Implementation
The RPA implementation needs are different for different organizations, and to fulfill them, you need RPA vendors who can understand these needs and offer you customized solutions.
Here’s a list of parameters you should consider while selecting a vendor for the RPA to avoid any bottlenecks in the implementation:
- Cost and time required to deploy the bots
- Ability to deliver bots that can handle financial complexities
- Provisions for encrypting the data and ensuring their privacy and confidentiality
- Presence of audit trail feature, which records the transactions made by the bot
- The RPA bot supplied by the vendor should be non-intrusive and well-equipped to adapt to the change in technologies.
Along with the organizational credentials, the technical skills of the vendors should be verified.
6 Benefits of Successful RPA Implementation
The global robotic process automation market size was valued at USD 1.89 billion in 2021 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.2% from 2022 to 2030.
The benefits of adopting the RPA systems range from boosting productivity, improving employee engagement, accelerating time to market, and generating more revenue. Successful RPA implementation can generate operational and strategic advantages.
Source: Medium
When various tasks have to be differently processed, which adds costs as well as complexity, especially for large enterprises. But the benefits offered by RPA make this technology worth every penny:
1. RPA Gives Accuracy
Human error results in the loss of billions of dollars annually. Do you remember the simple typo that caused the stock market to plunge 1000 points and wipe out $1.1 trillion in 2010?
To achieve the highest level of efficiency, it is important to eliminate errors. The average benchmark for data entry errors ranges from 2 to 5%. This risk is significantly elevated with tedious and repetitive tasks that induce boredom.
2. Productivity Enhancement
RPA never takes leaves or never goes on a vacation. They keep working tirelessly, round the clock, with consistency and efficiency.
The productive gains of RPA are real as well as measurable. According to a new study from the Information Services Group (ISG), a leading global technology research and advisory firm, RPA enables companies to execute processes 5-10 times faster with approx 37% fewer resources.
3. Time and Labor Saving
As per The National Association of Software and Services Companies, RPA reduces up to 35-65% in labor costs and delivers a return on investment (ROI) in as few as six months.
Source: Medium (Graphical Representation of Time Saving)
4. Scalability
The robotic workforce can be as large or as small as per your requirement. The new bots can be deployed quickly, and that too at a minimum cost.
Whenever there is peak business activity like a new product launch, RPA can handle the improved transaction volume. This means there is no need to hire new staff and train them.
5. Improvement of Service Level
The businesses that deploy RPA to handle routine tasks can refocus their employees on creative, strategic work and deliver better customer service.
An intelligent way to integrate it into business operations is to allow the bots to work efficiently on tasks.
For example, you can improve service levels by automating tasks during customer interaction, reducing time to resolution, and decreasing customer frustration.
6. Flexibility & Adaptability
RPA is compatible with any software system. It mimics human action without coding changes, making it flexible and adaptable to virtually any business. ERP, CRM, and industry-specific applications are the best candidates for RPA.
Key Takeaway
Big names like AT&T, Gamestop, and Verizon, have already adopted the RPA system, and soon, there will be more joining the league. RPA would be implemented across a number of operations in the organization including processes that are customer-focused. They will be fit to deal with the data-intensive tasks error-free, sparing the sector significant time and liberating individuals to aim at high-value work.
You can successfully implement RPA when you have the right team with you. Minimize efforts, enhance client satisfaction, and boost revenue.
Still on the fence and thinking whether or not you should bot-o-mate your business tasks? Check out the Robotic Process Automation Implementation to get the competitive edge required to get ahead in your industry.
Thanks zoombazi for allowing me to post my article here.