Automation is often thought of as a solution for injecting efficiency into business processes. Achieving this sometimes means transforming the business process. However, huge increases in productivity can also be delivered by offering automation as a tool in an employee's toolkit, freeing up time spent on mundane tasks to use on higher-value activity.
The robotic process automation (RPA) market will continue growing significantly next year. A recent Gartner report suggests double-digit growth through 2024, as companies look to automation to deliver cost savings.
Are there barriers to adoption?
In the same report, Gartner suggests costs for licences from major RPA vendors such as UIPath, Automation Anywhere and Blue Prism will fall over the next few years allowing automation to be widely used. But, as more companies adopt RPA, finding skilled resources to deliver projects will be an increasing challenge that organisations need to think carefully. Where will automation provide the most benefit, and how will it be delivered? That automation can provide significant cost-savings is clear. More challenging is determining where to start with automation and assessing the expected return on investment. So how is that achieved?
Transformation through automation
Automation can be viewed as a transformative technology, building on process re-engineering and digital transformation efforts. Intelligent automation integrates elements of automation with other technology, such as machine learning, to solve complex problems. This can allow an organisation to transform the customer experience and can be a powerful differentiator. However, automation shouldn't just be limited to transformation programmes. As licence costs fall, finding a cost-effective delivery partner will enable automation to spread throughout the organisation.
Robot helpers everywhere
Automation, can be used as a tool to increase employee productivity. Robots, or bots, are built to perform specific tasks from data entry to customer service. Employees can take a bot from their toolkit to help them achieve a task with less errors, allowing them to focus on higher-value activity. UIPath sees the future of RPA as one where every employee has a robot assistant helping them complete their work. Though it may not appear as transformative as intelligent automation, providing employees with bots to help make everyday tasks easier provides game-changing benefits to productivity and efficiency. Achieving this requires a different approach to most software development projects. Individual bots will have limited returns, meaning bot development costs need to be managed. They also need to be created quickly and iteratively, with input from end-users. Outsourcing development can help manage development costs, but a partner who is comfortable working in an agile, responsive way on short-duration projects is required.
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