In today’s constantly evolving industry, businesses need a driving force that will help them lead the industries they belong to. Business enterprises today need the power of automation that will drive efficiencies in data-centric operations, back offices, and front offices.
Automation basically plays an important role in driving success for businesses who are tapping on digital transformation initiatives. Robotic process automation or RPA offers automation services that allow the automation of a wide array of structured and semi-structured data.
RPA Technology versus Traditional IT Automation
RPA software, on the other hand, is not part of an organization’s information technology infrastructure. In fact, it sits on top of it. It enables a company to implement the technology efficiently and quickly without the need to change the existing systems and infrastructures.
So, what distinguishes RPA technology from traditional information technology automation?
RPA technology is a highly specialized software that can be aware and adapt to evolving circumstances, new situations, and emerging exceptions. RPA software can be trained to capture and interpret the actions of certain processes in present software applications. Once successfully trained, it can manipulate data, generate responses, initiate actions, and connect with other systems autonomously and automatically.
RPA Technology and Software Bots
Robotic process automation or RPA refers to the utilization of software associated with artificial intelligence as well as machine learning capabilities to handle and execute high-volume and repetitive tasks that formerly required humans to do. Such tasks can vary and they can include calculations, queries, and maintenance of transactions and records.
RPA technology comprises software robots that can mimic the work of a human. These RPA bots have the ability to log into applications, calculate, enter data, and complete tasks then log out once done.
Experts in RPA technology have categorized RPA bots into three categories.
- Probots. This type of RPA robot follows simple and repeatable rules to process data.
- Knowbots. This type of bots functions through searching the internet to gather as well as store user-specific information.
- Chatbots. This type of bots is virtual agents who can actually respond to customers in real-time.
Benefits of RPA Technology
Robotic process automation technology offers a lot of benefits to organizations especially those who are on their digital transformation journey. In fact, a lot of businesses are opting for RPA technology to improve their business process and operations.
The benefits of RPA technology include:
- Enabling customer service
- Allowing business processes to be completed in a more rapid manner
- Ensuring business processes and operations comply with the standards and regulations
- Enabling employees to be more productive and to focus more on the critical business operations and processes
- Creating cost savings pertaining to repetitive and manual tasks
- Providing improved business efficiency through auditing and digitizing process data
Applications of RPA Technology
RPA technology can be utilized in different businesses across various industries. Some of the top applications of this technology include the following:
- Human Resources. Human resource tasks can also be automated through RPA technology. These tasks include updating employee information, onboarding and offboarding, and timesheet submission processes.
- Customer Service. RPA can actually help businesses offer better customer service through automating contact center tasks, which would include verifying uploading scanned documents, verifying electronic signatures, and verifying information for automatic rejections and approvals.
- Financial Services. Businesses involved in financial services can make use of RPA technology through automating account openings and closings, processing foreign exchange payments, processing insurance claims, and managing audit requests.
- Accounting. Accounting businesses can make use of RPA for operational accounting, general accounting, budgeting, and transactional reporting.
- Supply Chain Management. RPA technology can also be used in supply chain management across various industries. It can be used for automating order processing, procurement, automating payment processing, tracking shipments, and monitoring inventory levels.
- Healthcare. The healthcare industry can also benefit from RPA technology by handling various tasks like patient records, customer support, claims, billing, account management, analytics, and reporting.
The Evolution of RPA
While it was in the early 2000s when robotic process automation first made waves in the industry, this technology has already been developing several years previously.
This type of technology has evolved from three key technologies including artificial intelligence, workflow automation, and screen scraping. Screen scraping refers to the collection of screen display data from a legacy application so that the data can be displayed by a modern user interface.
On the other hand, workflow automation software refers to the elimination of the need for manual data entry and increasing order fulfillment rate including accuracy, speed, and efficiency. Lastly, artificial intelligence refers to the ability of computer systems to perform tasks that previously required human intelligence and intervention.
Today, RPA technology has evolved significantly and has enabled many different complicated systems to interact together fluidly. With this technology, business software now has the ability to adapt, self-correct, and self-learn processes and operations without human assistance.
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