How to Make RPA Work for You
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the way many future-focused businesses are leveraging technology and people to meet the ever growing market demands.
At a time when customers are demanding higher quality service without the wait and companies are trying to innovate their operations to meet these demands, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) allows organizations to gain process efficiencies and provide data in real time.
RPA is a digital enablement technology that predominately leverages a combination of user interface (UI) and surface-level features to create scripts that automate routine, predictable tasks. RPA is automating the repetitive aspects of engaging with existing business applications. With RPA employed, organizations can achieve process efficiencies and scale while keeping deployment costs low, allowing for updates as changes in the underlying business or systems take place. Currently, about 10% of large enterprises have incorporated RPA, but research shows that will jump to 40% by 2020. When implemented correctly and for the right tasks, RPA allows organizations to provide higher quality of service by improving corporate operations, but what is the most effective way to do this to achieve the desired gains?
Before choosing to implement RPA, it’s important to understand what it is and how it is beneficial to any organization. Unlike other forms of automation, RPA is rules-based, not code based, allowing it to interact with multiple programs easily without the need to customize software. RPA works by observing human labor perform tasks on a graphical user interface and then replicates tasks such as data entry, scanning invoices, or answering simple questions in a chat box. All the tasks that RPA can perform free up employee time, so more time is devoted to providing higher quality customer service. Employees are now able to perform more complex and intellectually stimulating tasks, which studies have shown increase employee engagement, job satisfaction, and retention. Now more time can be devoted to value-add tasks such as providing high quality products and services instead of engaging in a continual cycle of training new employees to perform high-turnover, low-skilled jobs.
Where to Begin
Once an organization has decided RPA is beneficial, how can it be implemented correctly to achieve the desired gains? The first step is deconstructing processes down to the task level to truly understand what work is being done. Focus on the current state of the processes to determine how much variation exists, identify the problem areas, and what tasks are automation compatible. RPA works best with tasks that are high in volume and low in complexity. Because RPA operates on a rules-based approach, simple, repetitive tasks are most compatible. Any type of mature (little variation) task with minimal skill involved such as data gathering, data entry, and data mining have proven to be compatible with RPA. With its’ ability to work within multiple applications, RPA has been successful interpreting incoming data from an email, using the rules that were taught, and entering the correct information into an ERP system. Work that was once outsourced now can be done in-house by bots (think of bots as your RPA digital workforce).
New tasks that quickly change or require complex thinking are not compatible candidates and should continue to be done by an organization’s employees. For example, jobs that require an understanding of different situations and emotions like making a disgruntled customer satisfied should not be switched over to RPA. That does not mean that RPA can’t be helpful in customer service though. When a customer calls, the bot can decide which department a caller should be transferred to or get basic customer information. When used in conjunction with human labor, RPA allows a business to achieve a high ROI by limiting errors and allowing employees to focus on delivering quality products and services to improve customer loyalty.
Automation Across Industries
Companies are leveraging the capabilities of RPA to automate tasks so that employees can focus on higher value activities thereby increasing customer satisfaction for internal and external clients.
Retail Chat Help
Instead of using human labor to answer common questions, Walmart is utilizing RPA to retrieve information in their database to answer employee questions. This feature of using RPA for a chat box is incredibly versatile, scalable, and can be used in any industry.
Automated Travel Notifications
Before the implementation of RPA in the travel industry, the instant a flight was canceled or an airport shut down, hundreds of passengers would call customer service to find another flight or alternative option. Now, RPA immediately notifies passengers of the flight being canceled and can either give a refund or recommendations of other flight options. This allows the passenger to decide which choice is best for the situation without having to wait in a long line at the ticket counter or stand by on the phone. A seamless and quick process to rebook a canceled flight improves customer service, which directly affects customer loyalty and revenue for the organization.
Loan/Credit Card Applications
In the credit industry, RPA tools can analyze applications for a loan or credit card. Bots search for key data attributes and “red flags” in each application. The Bot is programmed to make recommendations for approval based upon the organization’s defined decision tree logic. Since the loan/credit card data points are standard and evaluated by the same rules, review and approval recommendations for loans/credit cards is highly compatible with RPA. With RPA’s ability to search through the information significantly faster than a human, a customer does not have to wait long for a response and judgment error can be eliminated. This quick turnaround helps customers feel that his/her time is valued by the company, thus increasing quality of service.
More applications of RPA are created everyday by automating repetitive, low skill tasks benefiting an organization by providing high quality service.
Are you interested in evolving your organization?
Clarendon Partners can help your organization implement RPA by:
Enhancing Your Team – Our team can deconstruct your processes to identify key tasks applicable to RPA in a scalable way allowing your employees to focus on more complex tasks.
Strategic Focus – Our team has proven tools that can help you automate repetitive tasks while enhancing the customer’s journey and increasing loyalty with a higher quality of service.
Technical Experience – Our team has the experience needed to provide a current state assessment in order to implement RPA the correct way for maximizing efficiencies and achieving your desired gains.