There are many RPA solutions on the market, but innovative new platforms such as 1RPA add intelligent functionality to the mix, which amplifies the potential of this technology.
Robot Process Automation (RPA) is a strategic priority in the enterprise. A recent RPA survey from PwC found that 98% of respondents said that developing an RPA program is “important, very important or extremely important.” This prioritization is understandable, as this technology allows businesses to automate routine, repetitive processes at machine speed while mitigating overhead costs. While RPA solutions have been on the market for years, the sector is moving into a new phase with solutions like 1RPA, which leverages our 20 years of AI experience to form a more intelligent RPA platform.
Here are some questions you should consider as your company begins its RPA journey so you can select an RPA vendor best suited for your business goals.
Does your company spend too many resources executing high-volume, routine tasks?
The first question is can RPA can add value to your business. When you look at your organization, do you find that your team spends too much time on rote tasks, issues or inquiries? If so, you aren’t alone. A study from Snaplogic found that 90% of workers are burdened with “boring and repetitive tasks which could be easily automated” and which end up costing businesses “19 working days per year per employee on average.”
Additionally, a reliance on humans to execute the routine can negatively impact other parts of the business. Not only is there an inherent lag in the time it takes a human to complete a task versus technology, but humans can only work so many hours per day, which often means waiting until “normal business hours.”
RPA can free employees from repetitive processes to work on higher-value tasks. Furthermore, RPAs can execute them at machine speed with 24/7 availability, which eliminates inefficiencies all along the entire value chain.
Do you have spikes in volumes of task automations?
Once your organization has made the decision to implement RPA, you need to consider which solution works best for you. When it comes to your specific automation needs, do you foresee a reliable stream of tasks or will there be spikes in volume which need to be accounted for at different times of the day/month/year?
Most traditional RPA bots can only handle a single task at a time and require bot clones to run simultaneously in order to address high volumes. This in and of itself is not problematic, except that some RPA providers charge users for bots on every concurrent process, which can prove to be particularly costly during volume spikes. 1RPA, meanwhile, is available as a yearly, per-bot subscription with no fees for additional components. Under this model, your organization can scale its bot workforce at no additional cost, so any increase in task volume can be addressed without undue extra cost.
Do you already have a dedicated automation team in place?
Have you created an internal team of automation engineers within your organization? If not, will you hire additional colleagues to handle RPA design, or would you like a system that can be utilized by non-technical workers?
Many RPA solutions require that users have a background in coding in order to structure unstructured data and design the actual bots. Others, however, use modern visual interfaces to try and open the process to a more diverse set of users.
1RPA takes the bot creation process one step further by tapping into the cognitive power of IPsoft’s digital colleague, Amelia. She can lead users step-by-step through the process of designing a new bot, and the platform can even reuse existing bot designs from previously deployed RPA solutions and make improvements. Furthermore, 1RPA can read and understand any unstructured text through Natural Language Reading (NLR), eliminating the need for workers to structure unstructured text to create new bots.
Each company’s RPA journey will be unique according to its organizational structure, business goals and operational needs. For example, the PwC survey referenced above also found that ROI expectations for RPA vary widely, from six months to two years. However, to achieve any measurable ROI from RPA, and long before selecting an RPA solution, enterprises need to discern their preparedness level for such a deployment, and what factors will drive success.