I recently attended a conference where one of the ‘topics-du-jour’ was Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and how it could deliver benefits to organizations. Most of the presentations on this topic were given by RPA vendors, who may have had some bias in their views on the effectiveness of using RPA. So, I decided to conduct a deeper investigation on the topic. Not surprisingly, what I found comprised a somewhat more sober view of RPA.
WHAT IS RPA?
Simply put, RPA is a technology for developing software (i.e. ‘robots’) which allows business processes to be automated so as to reduce the burden of repetitive work on human resources.
BENEFITS OF USING RPA
There seems very little argument that RPA can deliver benefits to an organization. Two of the most commonly mentioned are:
- Improved Job Satisfaction Among Employees: RPA provides the opportunity for mundane, high-volume tasks to be removed from the day-to-day activities of human resources, allowing them to focus on more meaningful – and hopefully more stimulating – activities.
- More Efficient Processing: RPA can reduce the number of errors which typically occur when human resources are engaged in monotonous and repetitive business tasks.
DRAWBACKS ASSOCIATED WITH RPA USE
Just as most of the literature out there identifies two primary benefits of using RPA, so it most commonly highlights two drawbacks:
- Fear of Unemployment: Not surprisingly, when employees hear that ‘robots’ will be utilized to perform a portion of their jobs, the initial reaction is one of fear: “I’m going to be replaced by a robot!”. Needless to say, this belief can cause major issues for an RPA installation.
- Complexity of Implementation: It seems that a large number of RPA projects fail (See “Robotic Process Automation Failure is 30 – 50%, Says EXL CEO Rohit Kapoor” in the January 2, 2018 edition of Business Today), and they most often fail because of the impacts that changes to the business and I.T. environments have on the robots. System and process changes can effectively bring a robot to its knees. Therefore, there must be a constant evaluation of the impacts of change on that robot. This monitoring activity, coupled with the need to update the robot to compensate for system /process change, places a tremendous burden on the organization.
Having said this, there is a belief in some quarters that the use of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and AI (labelled CRPA – Cognitive RPA) can minimize this burden, but currently there are mixed reviews as to the effectiveness of these tools for doing so.
GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTING RPA
If your organization does plan to proceed with an RPA implementation, here are some guidelines which I suggest be kept in mind during the project:
- DON’T OVER-ESTIMATE THE BENEFITS: Do not assume that robots are self-sufficient. Depending on the process being automated, there are always errors and exceptions which the robot cannot manage. Therefore, there needs to be human intervention to deal with these exceptions. (A rule-of-thumb seems to be that one human will be required to manage every 10 robots.)
- DEVELOP A CHANGE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY: While this is critical for any major project, it is especially important for RPA implementations. An effective change management strategy is essential in helping to alleviate an employee’s fear that they are going to be replaced by robots, and in mitigating the impacts of this fear.
- HAVE ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT: Given the potential negative impacts that process and system changes can have on the implementation, the entire organization must be brought on-board, and be made to understand the importance of communicating even minor changes to the RPA team.
- DO NOT AUTOMATE BAD PROCESSES: Obviously, spending time and resources in an effort to automate (and thereby speed up) a flawed process could have exactly the opposite of the intended effect, as the increased processing speed could
amplify any negative effects the bad process is having on the organization. - SELECT THE RIGHT PROCESSES FOR AUTOMATION: In light of #4 above, here are some hallmarks of processes which are good candidates for automation:
- they are repetitive, with very few alternative processing paths;
- they are high-volume;
- they require very little human judgement; and
- they are stable (i.e. they work well, have no ‘bugs’ and don’t require any enhancements or additional development)
In summary, RPA can certainly render benefit to an organization, but – as with most newer technologies – it should be utilized with caution and only after taking the time to fully understand its pros and cons, and their potential impact on your company.
[If you would like to dig a little deeper on this topic, a good starting point is Jason Bloomberg’s excellent article in the November 6, 2018 edition of Forbes magazine “Why You Should Think Twice About Robotic Process Automation”]
