What is Robotic Process Automation?

“Like in nature, companies that do not automate and evolve, are destined to be replaced by companies that do.”

“What is RPA” is a common question. It is the technology that allows anyone today to configure computer software, or a “robot” to emulate and integrate the actions of a human interacting within digital systems to execute a business process. RPA robots utilize the user interface to capture data and manipulate applications just like humans do. They interpret, trigger responses, and communicate with other systems in order to perform a vast variety of repetitive tasks. An RPA software robot never sleeps, makes zero mistakes, and costs a lot less than an employee.

How is RPA Different From Other Enterprise Automation Tools?

In contrast to other, traditional IT solutions, RPA allows organizations to automate at a fraction of the cost and time previously encountered. RPA is also non-intrusive in nature and leverages the existing infrastructure without causing disruption to underlying systems, which would be difficult and costly to replace. With RPA, cost efficiency and compliance are no longer an operating cost but a byproduct of automation.

Different Types of Robots

Attended Bots

Robots that interact with humans on a desktop, often in the “front-office”

Unattended Bots

Robots that execute an entire human function often in the “back-office”

Hybrid RPA

Automations that combine both attended and unattended tasks

RPA robots are capable of mimicking many–if not most–human user actions. They log into applications, move files and folders, copy and paste data, fill in forms, extract structured and semi-structured data from documents, scrape browsers, and more.

See how robots extract data using OCR and automate common processes.

Robots include many native skills. They can read, categorize and process content from any application, document, or database, in almost any form including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured. With cognitive enhancements including intelligent Optical Character Recognition (OCR) from applications from Google, Microsoft, and ABBYY.

Watch a Robot Perform Accounts Payable Transactions in an Oracle Environment

What are the Business Benefits of RPA?

Robots are here to stay. The faster you harvest their potential, the faster you create a competitive edge for your business. Robotic Process Automation delivers direct profitability while improving accuracy across organizations and industries. Enabling RPA to handle any processes will not only transform and streamline your organization’s workflow. It will allow for superior scalability and flexibility within the enterprise.

Software robots are easy to train and they integrate seamlessly into any system. Multiply them, and instantly deploy more as you go. They constantly report on their progress so you can go even bigger and better by using operational and business predictability while improving strategically.

Reduce Effort in the Back Office

A global retailer was using its store closing reports to validate closing information for each of its registers across hundreds of stores. The store’s employees used a manual and sluggish process to pull up these reports. By automating the process the store freed up its employees to now focus on more customer-centric activities. The RPA robots now move the closing reports to one server, then read and consolidate the needed information for the store’s closing reports.

Implement Fast, Achieve ROI Fast

An HR service provider from Europe was processing 2,500 sick leave certificates per month with an average handling time of four minutes per item. Within three weeks they implemented an RPA solution and achieved 90% process automation. The RPA robot extracts data from a transaction in SAP, inserts the information into the customer’s systems, and prints it. The HR service provider achieved a return on investment within six months, with error rates reduced to 0%, manual effort reduced to 5%, and processing time reduced by 80%.

Improve Customer Service In the Front Office

A trade credit insurance company with over 50,000 clients worldwide automated the credit limit request underwriting process. Underwriters were previously gathering information manually, from internal (Risk & Policy) to external (Customer Site, Google News) sources. With RPA, they saved 2,440 hours of human work a month. Employees now use that time to work directly with customers.

How Does Optelcon Add Value?

Optelcon is in the business of making companies more profitable by reducing & containing costs, improving efficiency, and sourcing more effectively. Through our strategic partners, Optelcon is a vendor-neutral, RPA integrator. With over 50 RPA developers and process engineers, we use best practices to help select the best software for the job, document, program, integrate, and update the bots when processes change. We make sure it gets done right.

For a free process analysis and proof of concept, please contact us