I predict that, because of artificial intelligence and its ability to automate certain tasks that in the past were impossible to automate, not only will we have a much wealthier civilization, but the quality of work will go up very significantly and a higher fraction of people will have callings and careers relative to today - Jeff Bezos

If you are thinking RPA, Artificial Intelligence, and Automation are consistent with the dystopian future described by movies like 'The Terminator,' and you think it is the beginning of the machine apocalypse where machines rise to rule humankind with ruthless efficiency. You are far away from reality; RPA involves nothing of the sort except the efficiency part. Humans are simply looking for better ways to make machines do human work faster and more efficiently. Suffice it to say; that no actual robots are involved in this workflow automation.

More businesses are turning to Robotic Process Automation to get rid of tedious tasks, which allows corporate workers to have more time to perform higher-value work.

RPA is an emerging technology that allows businesses to streamline enterprise operations and reduce costs. With RPA, organizations can automate routine, rule-based business processes. Hence, this allows business workers to devote more time to serving customers and other more productive work.

Some people see RPA as a step toward Artificial Intelligence via Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools, which can be trained to make future decisions by emulating human behavior.

What is RPA?

RPA is a form of business process automation that allows anyone to define a set of instructions for a robot or 'bot' to perform. They are capable of mimicking most human-computer interactions to carry out a ton of error-free tasks, at high volume and speed – Aaron Bultman

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is a software technology that makes it easy for robots to emulate human actions to interact with digital systems and software. It is an application of technology, governed by business logic and structured inputs, to automate business processes.

Using RPA platforms, an organization can configure the software or a robot to capture responses and interpret basic operations like processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses, and communicating with other digital systems.

The use of the RPA system ranges from something as simple as generating an automatic response to an email to deploying thousands of bots, each programmed to automate jobs in an ERP system.

Senior Executives at major organizations have realized the need for RPA adoption and are actively figuring out ways to facilitate business processes without increasing the costs or headcounts.

6 Amazing Benefits of RPA Software

1. Reduced staffing and costs:

Software robots provide organizations with the ability to reduce staffing costs and human errors. Typically, system bots are low-cost and easy to implement and require no deep system integration.

Companies are trying to get some breathing room so they can serve their business better by automating the low-value tasks – David Schatsky, managing director at Deloitte LP.

2. Allows for modification:

RPA software enables organizations to supercharge their process automation efforts by injecting RPA with cognitive technologies such as ML, speech recognition, and natural language processing. Thereby automating higher-order tasks that in the past required cognitive intelligence and the judgmental capabilities of humans

3. Increases productivity:

Businesses and organizations like RPA because it helps them improve productivity across a wide range of populations – users, customers, employees, sales and marketing people, business people, accountants, legal and financial analysts, etc., says Muddu Sudhakar.

Ehrlich describes the productivity potential of RPA as 'too promising to ignore.' RPA platforms digitize and audit the data process, making it easy for organizations to improve efficiency in carrying out tasks.

4. Better customer service:

RPA robots are trained to mimic human interaction on the UI of an IT system. They are designed to perform basic tasks like entering information into fields, making cursor jumps, pushing buttons, etc. Traditionally, most organizations have a hard time managing customer demands and the various forms they come through. Since RPA handles dull and repetitive tasks, basic information is collated by the robots. In comparison, the employees can focus on handling customer demands. Also, the software robots can generate reports and analytics that enable employees to understand customers' requirements better.

5. Employees become more productive:

Software robots never take time off. They can work for 24 hours a day all year round. Neither do they take vacations, breaks, or fall sick. RPA software can handle the workload of 2-5 employees comfortably. With their consistency, robots can handle more work and get them completed in less time than humans. This enables humans to have more time to handle more important tasks. Also, since the boring and redundant works are in the trusted hands of robots, employees can attack more productive tasks with a stable emotional and focused mind. Above all, the employees can improve their level of expertise and do stuff that interests them.

6. Pitfalls of RPA:

Not all organizations can use RPA. Like every other automation building technology, RPA tends to reduce jobs available to humans. This has brought many organizations to the plight of managing not to lose the talents at their disposal to the advent of technology. While many organizations are looking into ways to migrate workers to new jobs, Forrester Research predicts that the use of RPA software will threaten an estimated 230 million livelihoods. This estimate puts about 9 percent of the global workforce at risk

Even if the human problem was resolved, the processes of implementing RPAs fail more often than not. Installing thousands of bots is increasingly taking longer and costlier than organizations think it would be. Several robotics programs have been put on hold, or CIOs have flatly refused to install new bots, Alex Edlich and Vik Sohoni, senior partners at McKinsey & Company, said in a May 2017 report.

RPA bots do not allow for flexibility. They are designed for repetitive and rule-based tasks. Hence they do not allow for a change in rules or duties. The platforms on which RPA bots interact can change often, and the necessary flexibility is not always configured into the bot. For example, if a new regulation requiring a minor change is instilled into application forms, bots are working on, this could throw months of work as the bot or the bot builder breaks down.

Difference Between RPA and AI

Even though more organizations are RPA, there are disagreements on the basic relationship—and differences—between RPA and AI.

The basic difference between the two is that RPA does not learn as it goes. If you are to change its basic set of instructions, you need to add it to the RPA software at the start of the operation. Immediately after the operation is initialized, it is almost impossible to make changes to the instruction set, and the RPA bots cannot learn anything new on their own. One essential point to note is that RPA software has versatile features like visual builder which allows more human interaction while AI does not provide much of that.

Conversely, AI can learn on its own, as it goes. AI uses thorough observation of daily human interaction to analyze and carry out future output. So, in layman's terms, AI is like wine; the older it gets—in operation—the better and more effective it gets.

Unfortunately, it would be wrong to take that point of view to heart and believe that RPA and AI are distinct. They are not, and there is a relationship between RPA and AI—a growing relationship.

When RPA is deployed in concert with AI technologies, it gains capabilities. Leveraging AI and the continuous development of processing increasingly complex data emulates human-level decision-making. This helps organizations to make faster decisions, and it eliminates the propensity of human bias

Where Can You Use RPA Automation?

1. Customer Service

Organizations can use RPA to provide better customer service by automating the whole process of customer interaction. Software robots can automate contact center tasks, verify e-signatures, upload scanned documents, and verifies information for automatic approval and rejections. With RPA, you can attend to more customer requests by automating the steps, one at a time

2. Accounting and Financial Services

Businesses use RPA both in the accounting and financial services departments for processes like data management and more. The software robot can handle boring tasks in general accounting, operational accounting, transactional reporting, budgeting, exchange payments, automating account openings and closing, managing audit requests, and processing insurance claims.

3. Healthcare

RPA in healthcare by medical facilities to handle patient records, claims, customer support, account management, billing, reporting, and analytics.

4. Human Resources

HR organizations and departments can use RPA platforms to automate tasks like onboarding and offboarding, updating employee information, and timesheet submission processes.

5. Supply Chain Management

Software robots can be used in supply chain management for procurement, automated order processing and payments, monitored inventory levels, and tracked shipments.

BotPath- Best RPA Software

Suppose you are looking to build a business of the future that can manage complex infrastructure and maintain security and compliance. 500apps designed BotPath just for you. It is the best RPA software in the market to help you bring new products to the market faster and gain operational speed. With BotPath, you can create the business you want.

BotPath is a cloud service provider to a skillful and adaptable digital workforce that increasingly helps you meet your enterprise's needs. The software robot helps you unify your human and digital workforces to free your staff to do greater things. You can configure bots to execute tasks accurately and with timely precision.

500apps offers one pricing for 30+ apps. Use BotPath and 29 other apps for just $14.99 per month. Other than the features you enjoy while using the BotPath RPA software, you enjoy a steady 24/5 customer support and personal onboarding process.

Conclusion

In every case we looked at, people welcomed the technology because they hated the work machines now do, and it relieved them of the rising pressure of the work.- Leslie Willcocks.

The challenges you face in your business call for the need to integrate automation solutions. Automation is a fast-growing field of technology, and you should leverage it. Become a dynamic enterprise by seamlessly mixing digital workers, human workers, and systems using automated processes. Also, you can manage processes all over your business, from the back office to customer support using RPA.

There is a thin line between RPA and AI, and it's best to consider the two as siblings. RPA and AI work in tandem to expand automation into news areas, allowing you to automate more complex processes. RPA handles the monotonous rule-based task while AI imitates humans to replicate human actions in similar situations and give judgmental outputs.

You can do this using the BotPath intelligent automation platform The software is versatile, autonomous, self-organizing, and secure. Therefore, you can gain better insight and control over your business. And also create a new and transformative way to operate. Above all, you empower your people to jettison redundant tasks and focus on the work that truly matters.