What Is Robotic Process Automation and How It Drives Business Growth

Robotic process automation or 'RPA' may sound futuristic, but the technology is not exactly what it says on the label. First of all, it doesn't involve robots. Second of all, it doesn't handle entire processes but rather takes care of individual tasks within processes. In spite of this arguable mismatch between its name and its function, robotic process automation plays an extraordinarily important role in modern business. Even better, it does so with technology that exists and is being widely used (with very successful results) right now, as we will see in the next section.

This overview will give you insights into the current and future potential of robotic process automation, explaining why demand and use for it are growing faster than for any other type of enterprise software.

Success in numbers

Last year robotic process automation software revenue market was worth US$846 million (RM3.5 billion), an increase of 63.1% over 2017. That trend is expected to continue with RPA spending surpassing US$1.3 billion (RM5.4 billion) in 2019. While one study estimates that the market will be worth US$3.1 billion (RM12.8 billion) by 2025, another is confident that it will take a shorter time to get twice that far, with the global RPA market reaching US$7.3 billion (RM30 billion) by 2024.

The fastest growth will be in Asia Pacific, and the region is already buckling up for the ride. Malaysia, for one, has established its first RPA Centre of Excellence (COE), with the Capgemini RPA CoE, launched in 2019.

What does Robotic Process Automation do?

While there are still many things' computers can't do as well as humans, there are also things computers can do much better. Robotic process automation focuses on the types of tasks where computers excel and humans… not so much. Among these are the many dull, repetitive tasks (from data entry to fact-checking to product testing) that take up so much of your employees' time.

The human brain is not wired to spend hours on tedious tasks. It gets tired, bored or distracted, which increases the likelihood of careless mistakes. Robotic process automation, on the other hand, does not need a task to be interesting to hold its attention. Nor does it need breaks or even sleep. It carries out the work in the precise way and sequence it was programmed to do with much higher speed and accuracy than even the most dedicated human worker.

How this impacts business

By 2020, it's expected that 40% of banks and insurance firms in Asia and the Asia Pacific region will have implemented robotic process automation. That figure is understandable given the volume of success stories, such as:

• Bank of America using RPA to manage thousands of mortgages and vehicle-servicing cases in real-time.
• ICIC Bank dramatically improving productivity and reducing errors by automating millions of daily transactions.
• American Express deploying RPA to fast-track airline ticket cancellations and process refunds.
• American Fidelity, an insurance provider, now classifies and routes thousands of email claims in seconds, a task that previously took 45 staff hours.

These examples show that robotic process automation doesn’t just save time—it scales impact.

RPA explained

Manual, labor-intensive tasks such as processing insurance claims can be significantly sped up with robotic process automation.

Non-industry specific support

Virtually any company has certain functions (HR, finance, accounting, IT, customer service, legal, etc.) that can be vastly improved by outsourcing parts to automation process. The thing to remember is that robotic process automation doesn't just take over manual tasks, it also improves on them. Take internal auditing, for example. When done manually, it takes great amounts of time, effort, and coordination to conduct yearly audits on all business process automation areas. To save time, companies resort to using only small data samples for the audit, resulting in an incomplete picture.

The right robotic process automation solution uses its processing power to conduct audits on your entire data set. It can also work continuously, helping you uncover key risk indicators in real-time and enabling you to make the best business decisions based on up-to-the-minute information.

Replacing tasks, not people

Concerns about job losses are common whenever a new technology promises to improve efficiency. But it’s important to note: robotic process automation is designed to relieve employees of mundane, repetitive tasks, not replace them.

Most employees don’t enjoy spending hours on manual data processing or form filing. RPA gives them back that time, allowing them to focus on strategic, creative, and value-adding work. In fact, a Harvard Business Review study found that in 47% of reviewed RPA projects, replacing workers was neither the intent nor the outcome.

Managing expectations

Widespread adoption of robotic process automation has shown it can nearly double compliance, accuracy, and productivity rates. Most companies report ROI within 12 months, although some cases may take up to 18 months.

That said, not all implementations succeed. Failures usually occur when the process being automated is already broken or isn’t well-suited for automation.

Do you need Robotic Process Automation?

Robotic process automation excels at certain tasks, and identifying these tasks within your company is the best way to ensure you get a fast and high return on your tech investment. Tasks that can be handed over to robotic process automation are those that are:

• Digital
• Rule-based
• Time-consuming
• Repeatable
• Predictable
• Prone to human error

However, robotic process automation is not suitable for:

• One-off tasks
• Processes which, in themselves, have problems
• Tasks that humans still do better than machines, such as anything that requires visual confirmation
• Any tasks that a person can do quickly and easily without it causing undue tiredness or boredom
• Work that tends to be heavy on exception-to-the-rule cases
• Anything that requires creativity or ingenuity

When intelligently implemented, robotic process automation can reduce your business costs, raise productivity and eliminate errors. It can also improve staff morale. By taking boring, repetitive work off your employees' plates, it leaves them to concentrate on the more rewarding aspects of their job. Now that is a win-win.

As businesses continue to evolve, combining robotic process automation with IoT automation can unlock powerful synergies automating both digital workflows and physical systems for unprecedented efficiency.