Are companies ready to adopt RPA technology? (part 2)

Estarão as empresas prontas para adoptar a tecnologia RPA? (parte 2)

By Adriano Ribeiro, CEO & Partner bwd and Rui Raposo, CCO & Partner bwd

You can read the first part of the article here.

And what are the advantages/benefits generated by the passage of these human tasks to robots?

First of all, people welcome this technology because they hate the tasks that systems do, relieving them of growing work pressure.

Another advantage immediately recognized by the users of these RPA solutions is the significant increase in the productivity of the organization as employees are freed from time consuming tasks to start to perform more stimulating tasks.

Additionally we can add as advantages of RPA solutions:

  • the high scalability of operations without the need to increase the workforce;
  • the elimination of activities related to manual data collection and human error;
  • the monitoring of the speed of the business, due to the speed gains that the solution allows to obtain.

All this without any use of code, allowing teams in various business areas to create robots autonomously for the tasks they wish to automate, with the rapid attainment of increased operational efficiency.

Is the adoption of these RPA solutions a small investment?

Yes, and being a small but variable investment, your return is always less than a year. So if a RPA tool is inexpensive and additionally does not require great IT skills to implement, its implementation turns out to be a no-brainer. The implementation of RPA solutions is, in fact, simple, allowing very fast results. This is particularly important when, as we all know, in our organizations often, the business wants something relatively small, but the IT department having larger fish to fry puts these requests and materials last. Once this reality is realized, the only major concern regarding the implementation of this RPA solution has to do with the disruptive effects. For this reason, we often find IT teams in denial about RPA and what it can do. The solution lies in the use of a competent partner in the implementation of these solutions that can understand all the impacts that these encompass for the IT structure, in total alignment with the IT teams and ensuring that the designed RPA solution is conveniently embedded in the overall strategy from you.

Do these solutions easily integrate with organizations’ information systems?

This is another of the advantages in implementing these solutions – its simple and easy integration with any legacy or non-legacy systems architecture. It is very interesting that the adoption of automation programs, because they are neutral technologies, allows the organizations to maintain a high rate of modernization with the internalization of the rapid advances that are realized in this area, unlike other IT investments in which the organizations are obliged to rethink your approach every time you adopt a new technology. In addition to this alignment with the IT strategy, the implementation of an RPA solution within an automation strategy in order to be successful must be fully aligned with the business and operations strategy. More than simply automating an activity, advances in artificial intelligence, software robotics, machine learning, and innovative technology platforms enable companies to redefine their processes and consistently evolve to modernize their organization. Therefore, workplace automation provides a significant opportunity for improvements in the performance and overall efficiency of organizations.

The main objectives identified in the adoption of technologies such as RPA are:

  • Reducing risk – Many companies automate processes to reduce the risk of malware and other threats. The risks inherent in upgrades and migrations also drive organizations to software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing. Finally, the risk of inactivity is another driver to select the new generation of RPA, ITO, BPO and XaaS.
  • Increased efficiency – Companies that embrace RPA implementation often do so because automation leads to significant productivity improvements and increased organizational flexibility
  • Increased Compliance – By recording all actions and identifying and removing data gaps between multiple sources, RPA assists in performing reviews and recognizing compliance issues.
    Higher quality information available.

The methodology applied in the implementation is also fundamental. If properly implemented, automation can provide tremendous improvements in all these areas. But the balance of benefits can vary with different technologies and approaches. The right balance for any organization will depend on your overall strategy and your business goals. Automation programs should therefore start with a clear articulation of the problem. Each project must be able to identify where and how the automation can offer improvements and show how these improvements are linked to the overall strategy of the company. To maximize return on investment, companies must be careful not to specify, overstate, or overspend on investments in automation. Choosing the right level of complexity to meet current and future predictable needs requires a deep understanding of the organization’s processes and systems.

It seems clear from our experience that the most successful RPA solution implementation projects have the following characteristics:

  1. Decentralization in terms of governance in project management. Decentralization in functions or business units as responsible for automation initiatives, with or without support from a core team. Conversely, experiences in less successful organizations are those where a central team is the sole responsible for delivering automation throughout the organization.
  2. The expansion of Buy-in in automation throughout the organization. Encouraging a truly enterprise-wide program and pursuing the adoption of more advanced cognitive automation technologies.
  3. The involvement of the IT function. The success of automation programs also depends on the early involvement of the IT function. First and foremost, IT teams from these organizations are more likely to have automated their own processes. Your involvement in the automation effort is definitely a differential in success.

In conclusion, the evidence suggests that Artificial Intelligence solutions like RPA deliver real value to business and can be a powerful force for disruption. The first to adopt AI solutions that combine strong digital capacity with proactive strategies have higher profit margins and stand out in terms of the performance of other companies. Numerous success stories in implementing retail, utilities, manufacturing, healthcare and education companies highlight AI’s potential to improve forecasting and sourcing, optimize and automate operations, develop targeted marketing, price management, and improve experience.

The importance of implementing the AI ​​solutions as RPA in a correct digital strategy for each organization means that there are no shortcuts to the companies in this regard, otherwise they run a serious risk of implementation failure.

Companies cannot even delay the start of their digital journey, including IA. The first to adopt, will create great competitive advantages.

A successful program requires companies to address many elements of a digital and analytical transformation: identify the business case, set up the right data ecosystem, build or purchase appropriate AI tools, and adapt workflow, resource, and culture processes .

AI promises benefits, but it also poses challenges that run across companies, and workers and teams need to be prepared to exploit the RPA and resist competing with it.

So we asked: Is RPA technology ready and available for companies, large or small, but are companies ready to embrace RPA technology?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *