The Benefits and Applications of Robotic Process Automation

Over the years, the transition of technology has redefined the way things are done in businesses on a global scale. Robotic process automation is one such technological breakthrough which has introduced a sea change to the manner in which things are done. Machines have replaced human beings due to which the tasks that took hours or days to conclude in the past are performed in a matter of seconds or minutes at the present time.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is the utilisation of machine learning capabilities and artificial intelligence for handling repeatable tasks in high volumes as a measure to replace human effort. Apart from serving as the ideal substitute for the human labour force, it also saves a lot of time and money. By and large, companies use RPA for carrying out various tasks linked to the maintenance of records, calculations and queries.

The automation process sits on top of the IT infrastructure of an organisation to ensure an efficient as well as a quick implementation of technology without altering the systems and infrastructure that are already in place. Sometimes also referred to as bot or software robot, it imitates an employee or a staff member to execute tasks such as logging into applications, performing calculations, entering data, logging out and so on.

Benefits of RPA

Robotic process automation makes the journey of digital transformation for an organisation simple and easy in the following ways:

•  Improves the quality of customer service
• Makes certain that the processes and business operations work in tandem with approved standards and regulations
• Leads to faster completion of processes
• Tweaks the audit, digitisation and efficiency of process data
• Creates opportunities to cut down the costs pertaining to repetitive or manual tasks
• Boosts the overall productivity of employees or staff members of an organisation

Applications of RPA

In the current age of technological evolution, RPA is considered as an invaluable asset to an organisation. Some of its top applications are given below.

• Accounting: Organizations make use of RPA for various operations related to accounting such as transactional reporting, operational accounting and general accounting.
• Customer Service: RPA enables companies to provide quality customer care services by virtue of tasks such as uploading scanned documents, verifying information for automatic rejections and approvals and verification of e-signatures.
• Healthcare: Medical organisations use robotic process automation for handling customer support, billing, account management and analytics.
• Human Resources: The use of RPA in human resources include onboarding and  offboarding, timesheet submission and managing employee information
• Supply Chain Management: In this regard, RPA comes in handy for a variety of procedures such as tracking shipments, monitoring inventory levels and processing payments.

Most experts believe the RPA market would reach $5 billion by the completion of 2024. This process is likely to gain traction in the coming months as more companies adopt RPA technologies to improve their performance and capabilities and seek ways to boost cost savings.