The drive to digital transformation has made businesses around the world, the majority are companies in the technology industry, to see the importance of utilizing automation tools in increasing their productivity. RPA software revenue grew 63.1% in 2018 to $846 million, making it the fastest-growing segment of the global enterprise software market, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner also expects the RPA market to reach $1.3 billion within this year.
Over the past decade, innovative leaders and tech pioneers have raised awareness of the common capabilities of Robotics Process Automation (RPA): the ability to “learn” repetitive tasks and the capacity to perform activities across multiple applications. These characteristics sure sound appealing. Think of virtual robots that are programmed to emulate human activities, ensuring error-free and accurate outputs.
For the present business leaders who are intrigued by this emerging technology, the real challenge is to scrutinize and make the informed decision as to whether or not prioritize practical application or dive right into the trend. Will the benefits of automation tools would really apply to your entire company, or just in a limited way, to your department’s immediate work activities?
Choose Your Adoption Approach
The first step to introduce RPA to your organization is to look through different levels of process automation.
Majority of companies would start their automation journey at the ‘bottom.’ The ‘low hanging fruit’ processes in this level are relatively simple, those that involve only one person on his or her own workstation. These processes present a combination of ‘high potential,’ driven by volume and estimated time reduction, and ‘low complexity’ characterized by the presence of structured data, numbered steps, and rule-based.
Further, there are ‘departmental level’ processes. The tasks selectively automated are contained within a single department, involving multiple people that run the spectrum of simple to relatively complex activities.
Lastly, there are the ‘inter-departmental processes’ which cut across multiple departments and engage multiple people. Automating these more complicated processes frequently yield impressive results like reduced human errors, operating cost, and execution time. Successfully implementing RPA in this level proves the power of automation since inter-departmental processes oftentimes require process redesign, inter-departmental collaboration, and the use of multiple technologies. It also encourages departmental collaboration to achieve company-wide digital transformation.
Find out What RPA Tools Best Suit Your Company
In choosing your RPA solution, you have to understand your work process and tools. Based on your organizational structure, you must first identify the departments that would benefit the most from automation, know how much savings you will get, and how open your members are to pending changes.
Knowing the tools and processes involved in your organization is also key to choosing the right RPA solution for your company. Assure your organization has sufficient capability to successfully execute the automation project. In order to do so, prepare resources available in writing automation scripts. Alternatively, you may engage third party RPA consulting firms to help in setting up your team. RAX Automation Suite sifts through each task in an organization to arrive at a scored list of those that should be prioritized in order to obtain high productivity gains.
Train RPA Developers and Analysts
Harnessing your people with relevant knowledge about information technology (IT) and programming serve a major purpose in getting started with your RPA journey. Automation still creates anxiety, even fear, among employees, particularly if new technologies are not well understood. One of the most efficient ways to allay these fears is to launch an internal program to allow employees to be trained and get involved in the automation processes.
Relatively, RPA is low/no code technology. A person who has not enough programming skill or knowledge can master the technology thru RPA trainings like the ones offered by RAX Automation Suite. Organizations should capitalize on these opportunities to be able to sponsor an internal training program where employees train themselves on RPA. Organizations will have the advantage to upscale the employees’ capabilities, form a group of enthusiastic ambassadors of the technology, and create a talent pool embedded in each department that will drive automation deployment.
With an approved trial design, finalized budget, and commitments from essential resources, your organization is now ready to embark on your own RPA journey.