Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is transforming the digital landscape at an exponential rate. A new report from Gartner states that the RPA market has grown over 63% in the last year, making it the fastest growing enterprise software category. By automating manual, repetitive tasks, your business will be able to separate itself from those who lagging on embracing RPA.
What is RPA?
Put simply, RPA enables software robots or ‘bots’ (software running on a physical or virtual machine) to stand in for manual tasks that are normally done by humans at a faster speed and error free. They can imitate most human-computer interactions, such as copy-pasting or moving files from one folder to another. By automating these everyday manual tasks, organizations see increased efficiency as employees focus on more challenging or creative work. Despite the many benefits of RPA, the path can filled with obstacles. If you are considering introducing automation at your company, here are 5 mistakes you can avoid.
5 Top RPA Mistakes and How to Avoid them
Mistake #1: Ignoring broken processes.
RPA can increase efficiency and improve overall satisfaction at your company. It can easily integrate with existing software and improve built in processes. However, one thing it cannot do is fix a broken process. Applying RPA to a broken process will only make things worse and speed up the faulty software. By conducting a thorough analysis of what needs to be done and how the processes currently work, then automation can be discussed.
Mistake #2: Too much automation, too soon.
RPA is transforming the digital landscape and many companies are interested in finding RPA software companies or in-house resources to automate their outdated processes. Nonetheless, RPA is intricate and automating too much, too soon can result in projects being abandoned. Again, conducting a thorough analysis of your needs with upper management and communicating them fully to a vendor can help to set achievable benchmarks and avoid and roadblocks.
Mistake #3: Overlooking upper management.
By having the support of senior leadership and the IT department in your company, an RPA initiative, as with any project, will result in successful project execution and completion. Senior leaders will champion and support the project, while IT will help to resolve any unexpected challenges as well as help staff along.
Mistake #4: Not investing enough testing time.
RPA robots can manage various tasks if they are programmed that way. Conducting extensive testing early on and ensuring the bots know exactly what they are to do will save your organization time and effort in the future. By working with an RPA software company and using an iterative approach in the development phase, you will be able to fix any broken processes early on.
Mistake #5: Assuming RPA does not need attention.
Although RPA is automated and much of it is hands-free, freeing up the time of many employees, it can call for some attention as business needs change and grow. Even past the launch of your automated software, there will be times when your bots need maintenance and routine attention. There may even be times when a glitch occurs, and delayed attention can cause it to fall through the cracks. Make it a routine to conduct maintenance on your new bot with your RPA software company or in-house expert.
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