Emerging Technology in Automation: Robotic Process Automation

The workflow for any company includes some menial or procedural tasks, like entering data or simple coding, which need little skill compared to the amount of time they require. For a company trying to grow, the labor hours and money that go into these tasks can weigh heavily.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a massive step toward eliminating this load, by using artificial intelligence (AI) to train software robots for these tasks instead.

With businesses moving online during the pandemic, RPA has been adopted much more, and a PwC CEO panel survey shows that 76% of CEOs predict this shift will endure past the pandemic.

Though it’s still relatively new, there are already many benefits and use cases for RPA that suggest any company could save money by switching to it.

What Is RPA?

RPA is the act of configuring software robots to do repetitive and lower-value work. For example, an RPA bot can process transactions, manipulate data, and move files around.

Benefits of RPA

Many companies are adopting RPA as a way to grow without adding heavy costs or friction among staff. It can greatly benefit a company in many ways, including:

• Streamlining its workflow, making it a more profitable, flexible, and responsive business
• Boosting employees’ satisfaction, engagement, and productivity by eliminating mundane tasks from their work responsibilities
• Reducing staffing costs and human error, because bots are generally inexpensive and easy to set up
• Working around the clock without breaks
• Functioning with reliability and precision

What Technology Does RPA Use?

A basic RPA bot can be configured just by recording clicks and keystrokes when someone is using the brand’s service, like an app. This recording is the building block for many more complex bots that incorporate higher-level processes.

For example, a tool could expand on these recordings by recording a workflow and using it to generate a new workflow automation according to certain parameters.

A company could also use process-mining or task-mining tools to capture business workflows instead. Process miners extract business data to analyze processes in real time and find inefficiencies, while task miners use a local app with machine vision to capture a user’s actions on multiple apps. Both offer a strong foundation for RPA tools.

Companies can also connect their RPA tools to Python-coded AI modules with features like machine vision, decision engines, and natural language interpreters to create intelligent process automation. This automation uses AI to learn how to improve and change its functioning over time.

RPA Use Cases

RPA can save businesses time and even improve customer satisfaction in any industry with its manipulation of big data. Below are two ways in which RPA can enhance a business.

Finding Leads

Instead of having a person manually search for leads, an RPA bot can search through a much larger number of people and add profiles that match certain preset parameters to an SQL database of leads for someone to look through.

Onboarding New Employees

The documentation necessary in the onboarding process can be time-consuming for an employee. An RPA bot, on the other hand, can automate this and even some interviews, so everything can be processed faster.

RPAs are only one way in which a business could optimize its workflow. Companies that are looking for other ways to improve and grow, or are just in need of a consultant to speak to confidentially about issues they’re trying to overcome, should reach out to Ghost Mountain to see how we can help.