Five reasons to implement RPA

Introduction

Digital transformation is a trend that has taken hold, and as a result, the need to implement RPA has become essential. In this article, we present the top reasons to implement RPA in your organization.

What is RPA and how does it contribute to digital transformation?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that uses software to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks traditionally performed by humans.

These digital robots can mimic many of the actions that humans perform on a computer, such as entering data, performing calculations, moving files, and running applications.

As a result, RPA plays a key role in digital transformation by automating repetitive, rule-based tasks, enabling organizations to significantly improve operational efficiency and reduce errors.

According to Gartner research, global RPA growth is expected to reach 72% over the next two years, and 53% of enterprises worldwide will begin implementing RPA.

This means that more than half of companies are already considering it.

Is your company in the half considering it?

However, we have seen that many of the companies in Latin America have certain reservations or failed experiences when it comes to implementing RPA.

On the one hand, there are those who think that automation is only for large companies, and others who jump into building digital robots without having a well-consolidated structure and digital culture.

The point is that automation is not just a trend for large companies, and it should not be taken lightly. It must be approached strategically and with good governance.

When is the right time to consider RPA in your organization?

The right time to consider implementing RPA in an organization may vary depending on the specific needs and characteristics of the organization.

However, there are certain indicators and situations that can signal that it is the right time to explore this technology:

1. Repetitive and rule-based processes: If your organization has a lot of repetitive and manual tasks that follow defined rules, such as data entry, invoice processing, and report generation, it is a good time to consider RPA. These tasks are ideal for automation because robots can perform them with high accuracy and without errors.
2. Common errors and associated costs: If your business faces frequent errors in manual processes that result in additional costs due to rework, penalties, or lost customers, RPA can help minimize these errors and improve the quality of results.
3. Need for scalability and flexibility: If your business is growing rapidly or has fluctuations in work demand that require agile scalability, RPA can provide the flexibility to handle these changes without the need to hire and train additional staff.
4. Compliance and audit requirements: If your company operates in a highly regulated environment with strict compliance and audit requirements, RPA can help ensure that processes are performed in accordance with regulations and provide detailed and accurate records for audits.
5. Low value added to current tasks: If your organization’s employees are spending a significant amount of time on low-value-add administrative tasks instead of focusing on strategic and higher-impact activities, RPA can free up their time to focus on more important initiatives for growth and innovation.
6. Handle large volumes of data: If your business needs to process and analyze large volumes of data efficiently and quickly, RPA can be the solution. Robots can process large amounts of data quickly and accurately, facilitating data-driven decision making and improving operational efficiency.

Benefits of implementing RPA

RPA allows companies to reduce their costs by 30% to 50%. It is a wise investment, if applied in the right process and especially if well managed, it can significantly improve the organization’s results by positively impacting profitability, as well as quality and continuous improvement indicators.

How to approach process automation, RPA?

Implementing RPA requires a strategic vision and a culture that is open to change.

This implies a change in work and operating models. It also requires a high level of acceptance and understanding on the part of employees regarding coexistence and productive interaction with technology.

To approach process automation, it is important to consider the following aspects:

1. Determine the expectations regarding the level of automation. In other words, it is necessary to define the differences between the current state of the processes and the results expected with RPA. This is done by analyzing each process and its variables: actors involved, execution times, errors, inputs, results, costs, etc. Knowing the current situation and the expected goals will allow you to manage the initiatives in a solid way and promote the potential ROI.
2. Ensure that all stakeholders are involved in the project. You need an operational strategy with a collaborative, comprehensive and cross-functional approach across the organization.
3. Governance. Introducing automation without clear business visibility and oversight is dangerous. Digital robots are a workforce that, like any other, must be properly managed and directed to maximize their effectiveness.
4. Automation tools. In order for an automation project to generate as few rejections as possible, it is advisable to use user-friendly tools that allow the interaction of functional profiles.

Free or licensed tools?

Many organizations choose to get started with RPA using open source tools because there are no upfront licensing fees and it is a valid way to get started.

However, it is common for initial enthusiasm to wane dramatically as the project progresses, as they may require additional implementation costs, the hiring of specialized resources, longer than expected deployment times, and a reliance on the open source community for support and updates.

In fact, open source tools are often more expensive to implement than commercial tools and can increase risk.

In addition, scaling RPA requires skilled people to write the scripts and maintain the digital robots. The need for trained RPA engineers in open source automation environments can be costly and will become increasingly important as companies understand how to automate other areas of the business and demand for RPA grows.

STELA RPA an option to consider

In this sense, getting to know the STELA RPA platform is a good way to get started with the technology.

Its approach is based on building robots using natural language, i.e. without code, which can be operated by people who do not know how to program, by functional profiles or by those who perform and know the process.

In this way it is possible to involve the teams in the implementation and to obtain a very good profitability by saving resources and time.

This tool provides speed and simplicity in the creation of automations, facilitating the maintenance and scalability of the RPA.

STELA RPA is developed in Latin America, so training and support are in Spanish.