RPA
- Robotic Process Automation is a form of “ business process automation technology based on
metaphorical software robots (bots) or artificial intelligence (AI) workers” as
per Wikipedia.
Lets
dwell a little more to understand RPA. Now for those who don’t know what “Automation”
is it’s the technique
of making a process or a system operate automatically. In other words the creation and
application of technology to monitor and control the production and delivery of
products and services. There are different types of automation, fixed, programmable
& flexible sometimes called hybrid.
Robotic
Process Automation was coined by Blue Prism
in 2012.Now for beginners to get a better understanding think of Robotics
Process Automation as a software
solution that automates rule based tasks performed on single or multiple
applications. Its Automation that mimics human activities carrying out steps of
rule based, non-subjective process. Here Software robots are pre- programmed
with sequence of tasks, “IF-Then” logic. Robots can interact with any
application the same way a user does in a
Non Invasive / UI based interaction.
Let’s take an example of a “ Claim processing” by a finance team member in production. Here
the finance team member logs into the financial application, views their assigned
task and clicks on the task where a claim needs to be approved.Based on the rules
& guidelines set up for claim processing the finance team member views the
claim, the proof of submission and if it within the ambit of the rules and
guidelines set up for the claim. The finance team member approves or rejects the
claim. The robot can be programmed to do this whole task.
Now one would say to automate this we
could use an excel macro, yes we can and probably it would work well too. Macros
have technology limitation and dependencies. One needs to know a programming language like Visual
Basic. Macros do work well with office applications and yes needs governance. Have
you heard of a macro bringing down a complete mainframe system post a developer
leaving the firm costing a large firm millions of dollars in loss?Yes unbelievable
but true. There are challenges with excel that still can be addressed the
question we ask is if everything that can be done by RPA could be done by excel
then why was it not done years ago? Some so called technologists would like to belittle RPA by saying RPA is
macros on steroids.
Having given a view of Macros lets
understand the power of RPA. The economic value is that it reduces operational cost
and its attains return on investment goals faster. From a workforce standpoint it
moves from labor centric to technologic with the capability of working
24/7.There is improved accuracy and an audit trail and helps in digitalization
of manual process. While there is advantages in using RPA ,It still needs to be thought through and project selection becomes critical.
Here are some of the considerations to
take advantage of RPA. A careful assessment of the following factors is
required to determine where we use RPA and what impact to expect. Note this is
not a whole exhaustive list but some important ones.
1.
What is the Business
Objective of using RPA?
I.
Is it speed of service
delivery
II.
Quality of service
III.
Is it to meet Risk
management, Regulatory objectives
IV.
Is it to improve Efficiency
and to reduce Cost
2.
Is the process rule
based, repetitive [e.g. moving data from one system to another, creating
report from multiple sources, etc.] or is it subjective?
I.
Do standard rules or
variable rules apply. Are they documented?
II.
Volume of work , has this
been captured and determined?
III.
Seasonality / Variability/Exceptions
of the process
3.
Are there major changes
in the immediate horizon?
I.
Process changes
II.
Platform / Underlying
technology changes
4.
Is there a need to Optimize
/ Re-Design process ahead of Automation
I.
Can lean be applied and wastes eliminated before we apply RPA?
II.
Complexity of Process
Redesign, Not everything needs to be automated.
III.
Time to Market, how
important is this?
In other words to start of with RPA one
could consider a simple process which intensively manual with high volume, structurally repetitive,
low exception volume, high likelihood for human error process to start with.
The key is the business process is well understood and documented. I’m not
going to dwell on how important is the business involvement and stakeholder
commitment towards the RPA initiative ,
like any other project it is very important to set expectations with the sponsor
or business unit.
Finally while you think RPA , make sure
you think of all other process and governance areas like you would do for any
project. Do consider what is the business continuity plan, change management governance,
how the RPA teams both business and technical teams are engaged in the governance.
Do consider separation of duties & roles and responsibilities. How are the
robots being monitored and is it approved by the information security office
and meets regulation for that business process.
RPA is here to stay , though I’m sure future
products, applications would be pre-automated and there will be convergence of
RPA technologies within the products. Stay tuned for more in RPA!
