Robotic Process Automation 101

Robotic Process Automation 101

A beginner's guide to understanding RPA

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4 min read

RPA is an innovative technology that helps organizations automate their mundane tasks. Even though some have acclaimed this technology to be a game-changer, some are still uncertain about it, so in this article, let us understand what RPA is and how it could benefit you or your business to strive for success.

What is RPA?

RPA, which stands for Robotic Process Automation, is a technology that allows the creation of software, otherwise known as the robot. The robot emulates human actions and works with any digital system to execute a process efficiently and quickly without errors.

The robot can execute rule-based, highly complex processes the same way a human would - as it can log in to webpages, scrap data, access databases, send & receive emails, monitor systems, generate files, and do much more.

These robots can be designed to work independently or in tandem with the users depending on the requirement. It can also be scheduled to run and stop at a specific time or run 24/7. Humans can log in sporadically and check on the robot's work.

Why do we need RPA?

The primary goal of RPA is to help businesses become more productive and reduce costs, despite the domain/industry, the size of the organization, or the complexity of the business process.

In general, a complex rule-based process with high human intervention is chosen for automation. This way, the robots can do the tedious work whereas, the humans can engage in more meaningful work.

๐Ÿ”ธ Here are a few reasons why you should consider RPA:

  • Significant increase in cost savings, and ROI.

  • Improves overall business efficiency, and helps employees become more productive.

  • Increased process accuracy as the robot makes fewer to no mistakes.

  • RPA is non-invasive, meaning it doesn't require new infrastructure to build new automation solutions.

  • RPA solutions are quicker to build and deploy, as they are built using low-code platforms.

  • All RPA solutions are scalable, which means they can be enhanced or customized whenever required.

How to get started with RPA?

โŒจ๏ธ Developers:

If you're a new college graduate or an experienced software developer who wants to try out RPA, check out the free courses provided by leading RPA vendors. These courses can help you master the RPA tool and build your automation. There are also a lot of RPA communities across all social platforms that you can join to get help and build your network.

๐Ÿˆบ Businesses:

Every organization needs to plan its automation journey based on several factors, with a few important ones being listed below:

  • Understanding what can be automated: It is crucial to understand that not all processes can be automated just as it is. For a process to be automated, it has to be rule-based that is, it must follow a finite number of steps.

  • Reading Whitepapers: A white paper is a guide that often addresses issues and the ways to solve them. Reading whitepapers can help you understand the different RPA use cases with the complexities, challenges, and solutions.

  • Choosing an automation tool: Upon shortlisting the process for automation, our next focus should be choosing an automation tool that offers the optimal features for implementing the automation solution. There are so many popular choices in today's market. However, the decision has to be made based on factors like cost, ease of use, technical features, etc.

  • Reaching out to sales teams: This step involves reaching out to sales teams of different RPA vendors via vendor websites. The sales teams will help you understand more about RPA and how you can automate your business process. They will also help you with everything you need to prepare you for an RPA PoC.

The future of RPA

๐Ÿ“ˆ Industry Growth:

RPA is fairly a new technology. Given its existing popularity among industries, it's not going to fade away anytime soon.

Technology is gaining more attention and popularity as several business industries such as BFSI, healthcare, high tech, retail, manufacturing, and government are starting to implement scalable automation solutions for their business processes.

The records also state that the global robotic process automation market size is projected to hit around USD 23.9 billion by 2030 and is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27.7% from 2021 to 2030.

๐Ÿ’ฐ Career Growth:

As the industry expands, several organizations have started to provide RPA services which in turn, creates a demand for skilled RPA personnel. RPA has also become a new buzz among students as many universities and schools are starting to include RPA in their curriculums.

Therefore, a career in RPA is considered to be very effective. The pay packages for RPA experts are relatively higher when compared to other fields. This includes RPA developers, business analysts, pre-sales engineers, CoE leads, solution architects, infrastructure engineers, etc.

Conclusion

The RPA market is growing significantly and is expected to grow at the same pace for the next few years. The business industries are just starting to understand the various benefits RPA brings to their table therefore, as far as the future is concerned, it is certainly bright.


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Cheers ๐Ÿ‘‹

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