RPA is a tool that operates in the cognitive process automation sector, using the latest AI (Artificial Intelligence) devices to bring new solutions to the corporate world.
With RPA, several company processes are optimized, transferring human labor from repetitive activities to strategic tasks.
As a result, employees’ intellectual capital turns to more creative and relevant activities, and your business can reach the pinnacle of digital transformation. RPA will change the way your business interacts with technology.
Were you curious? Continue reading and find out how and why RPA can be the solution to increasing productivity and quality in your organization.
What Is RPA?
RPA ( Robotic Process Automation ) is a technological application aiming to automate business processes. With this fantastic tool, the organization can configure the software — or robot — that captures and interprets apps to:
- process transactions;
- manipulate information;
- stimulate responses;
- communicate with other digital systems.
Inserting the word “automation” in the name can lead to confusion between RPA, ML ( Machine Learning ), and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
RPA can include these two technologies but is governed by structured inputs and business logic. Not to mention that its rules remain consistent. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence technologies can be trained to make judgments about unstructured inputs.
Robotic Process Automation uses software robots that imitate human actions in computer systems, while ML and AI are the simulations of human intelligence through machines.
Robotic Process Automation, therefore, is the terminology given to automation solutions with the use of robots or software that navigate in the systems visualization layer and make the business flows step by step in the systems, automating all human activities routines, such as validations, registration, exports and queries, increasing productivity, ensuring more incredible speed in processes and reducing errors.
It is a tool focused on companies’ business and product layers and serves various market sectors. A significant advantage of this approach is that it allows the integration of different systems without needing customization since the robots use existing interfaces and have a shorter creation time than any customization. The best: the ROI (Return on Investment ) can be achieved in less than six months.
RPA is an essential tool in the digital transformation of corporations; after all, it speeds up the digitization of processes, moving what is analog and operated by humans on screens of systems by robots performing integrations between systems.
How Does RPA Work?
As the name implies, RPA technology involves the automation of robotics processes. It is a robot software that travels in the visualization layer of the systems, replicating the user’s actions and interacting with several activities carried out in operation.
In other words, Robotic Process Automation is the technique of robotizing the voluminous and repetitive tasks that integrate business processes. For example, most invoice and payment methods are subject to automation. That’s why RPA is being sought after by companies.
According to the HFS Research survey carried out with organizations worldwide, technology was pointed out as the main interest of the IT sectors of these companies.
Among the business areas with the highest investment in the solution, the following stand out:
- Sales (27%);
- Customer and Support (33%);
- Supply and Logistics (22%);
- Order Processing (21%).
Another relevant data is that 43% of the vice presidents participating in the survey intend to invest significantly in RPA. For now, High Technology (53%) and Financial Services (44%) are the industries that support the concept.
The principle of RPA is using robots, algorithms capable of performing activities that, at first, repeat human actions, imitating the interactions that users perform when working with systems.
Processes can advance to cognitive algorithms, which mimic human judgment, using Machine Learning to make decisions, and going up another progressive step, increasing human intelligence using Artificial Intelligence.
In conventional automation systems, the employee must enter data into the system at some point when entering automatic information. In Robotic Process Automation, the robot is responsible for collecting and working with information.
Integrating multi systems, any platform (CRMs, ERPs, CRMs, financial management systems) can be automated. Also, because RPA does not work by acting directly on the code of such applications, it acts by imitating the commands that a person would do in a digital system.
In data quality and validation, while performing its functions, the system can structure the transacted information, analyze the quality of your data, and, soon after, produce a report capable of providing an overview of what is happening in your company.
How Vital Is RPA For Businesses?
An excellent RPA can act directly to reduce human errors and company costs based on the standardization and automation of this type of execution.
Another fundamental point of applying Robotic Process Automation in a legacy system scenario in a large corporation is the famous “patchwork.” For a system developed in 2000, the software technology is not what it is today.
During this period, new technologies were integrated into the initial system, creating a giant patchwork quilt and affecting productivity in general. RPA replaces these complex systems and automates the manual activities that arise due to the lack of communication between the systems.
Another advantage of RPA is its much more affordable development; it does not require adaptations or modifications between these systems. Reducing the time between tasks and scalability are relevant advantages when using an RPA solution.
Every day, companies must analyze a large volume of data: information on purchases from suppliers, prospecting for customers, sales of products and services, expenses, and available budget, among others. We are living in the information age, and companies that need to learn how to deal with this will undoubtedly face significant problems in the long run.
It’s a matter of survival, not more of a differentiator. Businesses adhering to this trend will surely stay caught up and close faster, outpaced by the competition.
Another point is that automation helps quickly identify failures, unlike human processes. Generally, recording a number incorrectly by a professional can be detrimental to the entire analysis, requiring much effort to identify the problem. With automation, this is done immediately.
In addition, it helps to maximize the efficiency of companies, allowing business scalability. For example, if there are repetitive processes that your employees carry out, what do you think of directing them to more analytical questions, leaving the automated systems to do the activity?
This reduces processes and operating time costs and ensures that efforts are well-directed in the corporate structure.
Lower costs and greater efficiency imply, consequently, excellent growth opportunities . If your business model is scalable, using automation, you can streamline the growth process, ensuring the necessary support to achieve this goal.