Robotic Process Automation Solution: Experts Guide to RPA

Data heavy and process-driven tasks don’t have to take up your team’s valuable time anymore. With the use of a robotic process automation solution, you can allocate your human resources to focus on high-level tasks as computer software manages the day-to-day and repetitive, but vital tasks that need to get done.

Here, we will take a look at how a robotic process automation solution can help your business optimise its functions and outcomes.

Coming Up

1. What is Robotic Process Automation?

2. What are the Benefits of Robotic Process Automation?

3. How Does RPA Transform Finance?

4. Where Can RPA Be Used?

5. Who Uses RPA?

6. What Features Are Most Important in RPA Tools?

7. Why Is Everyone Using RPA Solutions?

8. What is the Difference RPA vs AI

9. What are the Best Robotic Process Automation Solutions?  

10. What are the Types of RPA Solutions?

11. How to Implement RPA?

12. Wrap Up

What is Robotic Process Automation?

Robotic process automation is the use of RPA bots in applications and business systems to execute finite tasks that humans would otherwise have to manually do. This technology relies on structured data and is programmed to mimic the workflow of a human.

RPA bots can be deployed to handle rules-based business processes. Once you show a bot what to do, you can walk away from the task and rest assured that the bot will carry out the steps accurately and efficiently.

What are the Benefits of Robotic Process Automation?

Robotic process automation tools are changing how businesses run. It will completely reinvigorate your workforce as you can remove the tedious and boring tasks that often bog down and frustrate employees.

The processes that a robotic process automation solution takes care of are important for business operations, but they don’t have to be performed by a human. In fact, the benefits of using RPA are extensive.

RPA allows you organisation to gain upsides like:

• Reduced errors as human errors are no longer a risk
• More efficient workflows as RPA bots can work quickly
• The ability to perform processes 24/7 with no need for breaks
• Accurate and precise outcomes
• Low cost to implement
• Provide a low barrier of entry for automation
• No code solutions that can be immediately deployed
• Ability to integrate across platforms
• Enhanced customer experiences
• Possibility to retain employees due to increased employee satisfaction
• Can expand to include artificial intelligence (intelligent process automation)

How Does RPA Transform Finance?

At the forefront of adopting RPA technology, finance teams have been heralding the way forward. This is because the nature of finance teams and services relies heavily on data and the timely execution of finite and repetitive processes.

That’s why an automation solution like SolveXia is so desirable for CFOs. SolveXia’s human analytical process automation tool provides software to design and execute process automation. The tool goes beyond just RPA as you can gain valuable insights for decision-making based on advanced analytics and real-time data.

RPA is one of the reasons why finance departments and teams are undergoing finance transformation. Finance transformation can be defined as the way in which finance teams are providing strategic value to businesses overall, rather than solely remaining focused on bookkeeping and accounting tasks.

Instead, RPA can manage these lower-level tasks, while humans can allocate their brainpower to thinking strategically and achieving business goals.

Where Can RPA Be Used?

RPA can be utilised in any type of business, regardless of industry or business size. Industries like healthcare, manufacturing, finance, and retail have already taken advantage of the benefits that RPA brings.

Robotic process automation is intended for repetitive processes that have been completed manually. As a software, RPA is trained and ready to deploy quickly to take over such tasks.

The best way to identify the right types of processes for RPA adoption are to consider this checklist of characteristics:

• The process is repetitive by nature
• The process relies on structured data
• The process occurs in high volume
• The process is finite with a clear beginning and end
  

Some examples of RPA usage include: insurance claims processing, onboarding new employees, customer support, inventory management, accounts receivable, invoice processing, and more.

Who Uses RPA?

Different departments can utilise RPA for their respective functions. RPA can be used for data management, human resources, call centers, IT services, finance teams and more.

Let’s take a look at how they can help.

• Data management: RPA bots can extract and utilise data from various sources to conduct tasks.
  

• Claims processing: Reduce human error and hasten claims processing by using bots to review claims, notify of approval or rejection, and make payments.

• Accounts payable: RPA can take over the tedious tasks of having to check and process invoices upon arrival. You can ensure that accounts are always paid on time and improve vendor relationships.

What Features Are Most Important in RPA Tools?

There are many RPA options. To help you in your robotic process automation solution selection process, it’s best to choose one that provides most or all of the following features:

• Drag-and-drop interface: To aid in workflow building, solutions offer drag-and-drop features which provide a visual editor. This removes the need for coding your solution. For example, automation tools like SolveXia has a drag-and-drop interface with predetermined actions within the library. Our low code/no code solution means that you can implement process automation quickly and smoothly.
  

• Recording: Users can record themselves performing workflows so that the bots can mimic human action, again without having to use coding.
  

• Integrations: The best types of automation solutions provide the ability to integrate with other tools, including CRMs and ERPs. Tools like SolveXia allows you to continue using data from legacy systems so that no useful information runs the risk of getting lost in the shuffle.

• Bot scheduling: Rather than having to initiate a workflow on command, you can schedule bots to begin processes based on a trigger of an event or human action.

Why Is Everyone Using RPA Solutions?

RPA solutions are rapidly being deployed because of the advantages that they bring to an organisation. They transform how businesses operate to help reach new levels of efficiency and optimisation.

Across departments, employees and leaders alike are recognising the gains. IT executives can see how RPA can be easily deployed and understood by employees, even those without much technical knowledge or experience.

Employees, who may have once feared that robots would take over their jobs, can see the value RPA adds by removing redundant tasks from their workload. Additionally, employees are able to code processes themselves using functions like drag-and-drop, which gives them a new sense of ownership over their responsibilities.

As a CFO, you can clearly see the ROI of RPA, especially given its relative low initial investment for its practically immediate returns.

What is the Difference RPA vs AI

Robotic process automation and artificial intelligence (AI) often get mixed together. While RPA can be enhanced by AI and provide a foundation, they are not one in the same. RPA bots must be programmed and guided on how to complete tasks. The data required for RPA must be structured.

On the other hand, artificial intelligence may encompass RPA, but artificial intelligence refers to the ability of software to learn on its own and make human-like decisions based on data. AI is able to work with both structured and unstructured data to execute actions and improves over time as it is fed more information.

What are the Best Robotic Process Automation Solutions?  

Now, it’s time to review some of the best process automation solutions for your business. Of course, this list is abbreviated, but it can aid in narrowing down your list of options.

1. SolveXia

SolveXia is a human analytical automation solution that brings process automation and analytics to your fingertips. Although SolveXia is not an RPA tool per se, it is a complementary software that can further enhance RPA’s capabilities.

The tool is simple to deploy and can interact with legacy systems to pull, transform, and utilise data for your benefits. With transparency into workflows, you can easily see the status of every process that’s occurring within your organisation at any time.

SolveXia can be deployed for a variety of use cases, including: performing reconciliations, transaction matching, generating and submitting regulatory reports, calculating commissions, and allocating expenses, to name a few.

By using the solution, you can reduce key person dependencies, prevent human errors, expedite process completion times, and maximise productivity.

2. UiPath

UiPath empowers your organisation with a robotic process automation workforce that is open source. The software can be hosted in the cloud or in virtual terminals. UiPath is touted for its bot scheduling, analytics, custom automation, and pre-built templates.

3. Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere includes intelligent automation that can carry out tasks and perform analytics using machine learning. The software features include: workflow recording, collaboration, and a visual editor.

4. Blue Prism

Blue Prism is an enterprise-grade solution bringing intelligent automation to companies. The software is based in Java Programming Language and has drag-and-drop and visual designer features.

5. Pega

Pega Platform’s intelligent automation system is a low code solution for robotic process automation. It allows for low-code development, reporting, decision management, and data integration.

What are the Types of RPA Solutions?

There are three main types of RPA solutions to be aware of, namely:

• Attended automation: Human intervention is required while the bots perform the process.
  

• Unattended automation: This type does not require human intervention as the software has AI capabilities and intelligence allowing for decision-making to occur.

• Hybrid robotic process automation: Both aspects of unattended automation and attended automation come together in hybrid RPA.

How to Implement RPA?

Implementing RPA is typically a seamless process, as long as you check all the boxes first. Since most solutions are low code or no code, most of the upfront work will involve more change management than anything else.

This means that you have to get your team aligned and on board with the adoption of new technology to aid in workflows.

Without intense knowledge of technology, these tools can be integrated into your organisation seamlessly. However, it is a good idea to designate a person or team in charge of the deployment.

Begin by automating processes that fit the defined criteria for RPA and test it out. Then, once you see the results are as you had hoped, you can expand the robotic process automation solution  across use cases within different departments.

Wrap Up

A robotic process automation solution is a primary technology that business leaders continue to invest in, and for good reason. Last year,the majority of enterprises (53%) had already begun the RPA journey. The biggest reasons behind the shift to RPA include increased compliance and productivity.

As more and more businesses begin to invite this useful technology into their doors, the universal adoption of RPA is rapidly hastening. At SolveXia, we provide a robust solution that can handle your RPA needs and so much more.

To learn more about how tools like SolveXia can help boost your business’ productivity and security, take the software for a spin by booking a demo.