The rapid growth of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is disrupting the entire functioning of several business operations. According to one report, the global market for RPA usage reached $271 million in 2016 and is expected to grow to $1.2 billion by 2021 at a compound annual growth rate of 36%.
Implementing RPA in existing business systems significantly helps save costs incurred due to human errors. According to the Harvard Business Review, erroneous data input by humans costs $3 trillion per year in the US alone.
Businesses across several sectors are now using RPA to reduce operational costs, reducing human errors and related expenses. According to the NASSCOM, domestic businesses can cut costs by up to 65% through RPA.
An intelligent machine with advanced cognitive abilities sans the human limitations can bolster business functioning. More efficiency, reliability, and improved performance gains are among the few perks that invariably leads up to minimizing errors, reducing operational costs with minimum loss of time.
RPA digitizes high-volume, expensive and error-prone manual processes. With all sources of data having a digital audit in all steps of every activity, there is little scope of procedural errors. According to a McKinsey White Paper, “RPA is a promising new development in business automation that offers a potential ROI of 30–200 percent — in the first year”.
RPA reduces errors and operational costs in the following ways:
24×7, 365 days
RPA Software work round the clock through web automation, thus maximizing efficiency. It not only performs a task autonomously but also self-modifies and learns from the feedback from its environment.
Drastically increases accuracy
The software is configured with non-programmatic instructions from humans and can mimic human actions and exceptions. It is periodically told what it needs to do and when. This continuous feedback mechanism overtime builds more accuracy and perfection in analysis while cutting off deleterious items and errors in the business process.
Faster processing time
RPA handles large volume of routine work at high speed which is otherwise strenuous and boring if done manually. Key analytics of RPA can collect data, find faults and loopholes and report them with great speed thus ensuring faster and smoother functioning of business processes.
Businesses across sectors are easing out workflow using RPA to reduce time and costs while ensuring maximum accuracy.
RPA in Logistics
The logistics supply chain incurs heavy losses due to data delusions or poor product data. A 2017 Deloitte study (PDF) found that 49% CPO’s believe that quality data is a major barrier to business, followed by the 42% who said lack of data integration is the next barrier.
Lack of data integrity further creates major discrepancies in product line and bills that lead to incorrect pricing and cost reporting in consumer bases. RPA allows for the more efficient integration of data thus saving hassles in business logistics. Moreover, filtering and prioritizing information from data can allow better decision in logistics, which RPA can easily accomplish with great speed and accuracy.
RPA in Insurance
For the insurance sector, the immediate potential of implementing RPA lies in manual tasks such as underwriting, claims processing, business and process analytics. These require a lot of paperwork and manually gathering of information from multiple sources for risk assessments.
RPA software can also learn how to develop and manage new products and services and launch new products which further saves human costs. The biggest benefit of RPA in the insurance sector is the accuracy of evaluating fraud within seconds. Intelligent RPA assists agents in having a more personalized interaction with customers during calls by providing the agent with smart, timely information and insights.
A PwC study (PDF) projects automation will transform 51% of financial jobs by 2019.
RPA in Banking
In the banking sector, RPA uses automated interfaces to perform a variety of functions such as processing forms and adding client data to the system. RPA software facilitates automated underwriting that leads to error-free credit card scoring, risk assessments, terms and conditions assessment, better document management and workflow management.
When it comes to RPA implementation in banking, the technology can make optimize branch operations by automating customer onboarding by 70%, LC transaction process 100% automated, compliance process automated to 80% and eliminated audit and compliance failure.
RPA in Contact Centers
The primary target of any contact center is to offer best customer experience. Contact centers can leverage workflow optimization using RPA. Intelligent software can transform contact centre operations by automating the complex business process with real-time data integration. It analyzes process contents and works behind the scene assisting agents to handle customer calls better.
The software can finalize resolution and validate customer satisfaction with resolution using automation thereby performing additional tasks that involve more time and labour. Identifying happy customers and increasing business with them can lead to more financial growth of a business with minimum investment.
RPA in Shared Services
Shared services have been the early adapters of technology and innovation. Streamlining of processes has enabled businesses to build on their efficiency, leveraging on the economies of scale to deliver a differentiated experience for their employees and customers alike. Shared services may involve several business functions and IT processes. In shared services, RPA automates repetitive tasks, bringing increased efficiency by minimizing data entry errors while ensuring sustainable cost savings. RPA also enables greater scalability and cost savings in Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) through virtual elimination of errors and minimizing operational risks through better analysis.
A White Paper by PwC study also talks about (PDF) the most overlooked benefits of RPA — Its ease of deployment and the speed and agility it confers on the enterprise.
And, even as many organizations are still in the early stages of understanding what RPA is and how it can help them, by 2020, 86% of companies say they will hit ‘breaking point’ and will need intelligent automation to keep up. By 2025, RPA will have a potential economic impact (PDF) of nearly $6.7 trillion.
By stepping out of the routine function that fails to mentally stimulate a human mind, RPA is bringing forth a scenario where employees can leave such repetitive functions to the software while engaging in more creative, challenging, interesting and high-value activities.
