RPA, more commonly known as Robotic Process Automation, is an automated way of completing repetitive and mundane tasks. This technology enables organizations to automate manual (such as extracting data from paper), and rule-based repetitive tasks by implementing software robots.

RPA helps reduce costs, improves efficiency and accuracy, and frees employees to help them focus on higher-value work. This automation technology is well suited to rule-based, highly structured, and repetitive tasks.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been around for a long time, although it has long been accessible only to large companies.

With the technological changes we have experienced in recent years, RPA has also become available to small businesses at a fraction of the cost. Its benefits and multifunctional features have brought it into industry best practices.

Although it has a developing application base and several features to boast about, there is much uncertainty about what it is and how it benefits businesses. 

What RPA is useful for

RPA software analyzes, processes, and uses collected information to complete repetitive tasks. For example, an RPA robot can be programmed to receive data from a computer system, manipulate it, and then send it to another system or person via e-mail.

The key to using RPA is to find repetitive manual tasks in daily work routines. Once these activities are clearly defined, code can be written for an RPA bot to complete the work automatically.

As digitization is gaining momentum, many companies are turning to emerging technologies such as Robotic Process Automation to streamline operations and reduce costs. RPA automates mundane processes allowing organizations to spend more time on customer service or other important tasks.

According to Gartner reports, global RPA software applications reached $1.89 billion in 2021, a 19.5 percent increase over 2020. Despite the pandemic of COVID-19, the RPA market is estimated to grow by two times by 2024.

It is worth noting that RPA does not make decisions, but only works on preplanned activities.

Where can you use an RPA?

RPA can be leveraged by any business, especially if it involves repetitive activities such as banking, healthcare, finance, insurance, and telecommunications. For example, RPA can be used in finance to automate governance, reconcile accounts, or process invoices. In addition, RPA can help automate processes such as data entry, predictive maintenance, and after-sales service support in the supply chain.

Telecommunications companies use RPA solutions to organize new services and all related billing systems for new accounts. RPA also helps these companies pull data from multiple systems when old equipment breaks down or anticipates problems.

Regardless of the industry, RPA benefits larger organizations and small and medium-sized businesses with its ability to streamline business processes and improve efficiency.

Customer service

According to a Deloitte survey, more than 95% of organizations showed an increase in productivity using RPA. 

Customer service employees regularly deal with the tasks of manually processing a multitude of information. From sorting information to repetitive query management, they must adhere to a regular cycle of work.

You can use a variety of robotic automation applications in your work routine to automate low-value-added tasks. 

In this way, you can free up your employees’ time, improve productivity and use the available time to work out efficiency-oriented approaches.

In essence, there is a growing scope to transfer file processing, data management, information management, and information segmentation to bots that can perform the task in minutes.

In addition, customers like to reach their favorite brands 24/7; By enabling chatbots, customers can talk to companies anytime without the need to connect with human agents. This enables faster resolutions and supports brand goodwill.

Manufacturing Industry

RPA is a well-known enabler within the manufacturing industry to drive digital transformations. For example, different types of automation technology can be used within manufacturing to automate accounts payable, invoice processing, and supply chain management.

Some additional benefits of RPA automation software in the manufacturing sector include:

• Recording of meeting minutes
• Scheduling of meetings
• Ordering standardized inventory
• Reporting on inventory levels
• Sending automated reports to management
• Archiving invoices and increasing sales
• Data management for better reporting standards

Healthcare

Healthcare has many manual tasks, each of which must be automated to ensure the best patient experience. When patients visit any medical facility, the general idea is that they endure as little waiting time as possible, followed by rapid doctor-patient interaction.

This process is not as simple as it should be because of ongoing formalities such as bill processing, claims handling, appointment scheduling, billing, and many other factors.

With the introduction of RPA automation in the healthcare industry, there has been a sea change in the way medical institutions manage their medical records, thus giving the entire industry a significant impact of innovation and modernity.

From automation for appointment scheduling to insurance claims management to fast and uncomplicated billing: RPA takes care of the entire process in its entirety. In addition, software-oriented bots can be trained to perform standardized, repetitive tasks to ensure a faster patient check-out experience.

Cybersecurity

RPA is very useful when it comes to cybersecurity both within applications and to protect network perimeters and improve threat prevention techniques.

For example, here are two practical examples of use cases for RPA within the cybersecurity domain:

• Routine checks and elimination of unauthorized access: when dealing with sensitive data, there is always a threat of unauthorized access. Maintaining continuous vigilance over network perimeters is challenging and often difficult to monitor consistently. The RPA is useful for automatically checking each access and reporting any unauthorized entry into the network, without additional time consumption.
• Rapid remediation and updates: as soon as a security breach occurs, RPA bots can inform staff to take the necessary actions and handle the cyber attack immediately. With manual interventions, such attacks can usually turn into large-scale ransomware attacks, making it difficult to contain and counter the danger in real-time.

Public Administration (PA)

Robotic Process Automation systems are the missing piece between Public Administration (PA) and its full digital transformation. Application solutions based on automation technologies save time and achieve better results. Therefore, it is clear how relevant they are in a sector that has to deal with long and complex workflows and many internal exchanges of documents and information.

RPA solutions can significantly improve the efficiency of public administration, reduce costs and improve the services that are delivered to citizens. Through Robotic Process Automation systems, PAs can better support people to work more efficiently and more effectively.

The PA sector’s IT environment, by the way, has to deal with an infrastructure that is very much tied to legacy systems: RPA solutions do not force companies to start from scratch but allow them to better connect pre-existing software by creating digital bridges that can enable a transformation that is now unavoidable.

Financial Services

The banking sector was among the first to embrace automation. Today, many renowned banks use Robotic Process Automation to automate important tasks to combat money laundering, process user queries, open accounts, and conduct KYC (Know your Customer) research. RPA is also useful in banking to generate reports and perform reconciliations.

Retail

Retail is an area where automation can be applied to ensure a better experience for the public and make employees’ jobs easier. In this context, RPA capabilities include consumer relationship management, feedback processing, fraud detection, and inventory and order management, among other activities. 

Insurance sector

The insurance industry also needs to handle repetitive requests that can be optimized with RPA. This segment already automates several activities, such as policy management, underwriting, regulatory compliance, and claims processing.