Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to Streamline Enterprise Operations

Tedious tasks can take up a huge chunk of the workday, while time can be spent on work with higher value and benefit to the employee and the organization.

Robotic process automation (RPA) aims to free workers of redundant and routine projects that don’t require their attention and effort.

Streamlining certain enterprise operations not only frees up the workforce but can reduce a number of costs and even enhance customer experience.

Investopedia explains RPA as,

“Robotic process automation (RPA) occurs when basic tasks are automated through software or hardware systems that function across a variety of applications, just as human workers do. This can greatly reduce labor costs and increase efficiency by speeding things up and greatly minimizing human error.

The software or robot can be taught a workflow with multiple steps and applications, such as taking received forms, sending a receipt message, checking the form for completeness, filing the form in a folder, and updating a spreadsheet with the name of the form, the date filed, and so on. RPA software is designed to reduce the burden for employees of completing repetitive, simple tasks.”

Common Attractions of RPA

The combination of RPA with artificial intelligence and machine learning leads to exciting possibilities for organizations. Using machine learning techniques, RPA can add more context to the routine tasks being performed.

A Mindbreeze Insight Service we often discuss is entity recognition. As an example, natural language processing, a popular subfield of artificial intelligence, allows RPA to capture and recognize different entities within a document – names, addresses, or any terminology the user is interested in.

RPA can also be utilized in a wide variety of functional areas and business use cases. RPA requires very little support from IT teams or a big learning curve for the average employee. These traits make RPA easy to scale across a company.

Examples of RPA Being Used in Business Today

RPA is used across the supply chain to eliminate manual data entry and help companies limit machine failure with predictive maintenance.

RPA is used in finance and insurance companies to process invoices and automate governance and compliance.

RPA is used in human resource management to update and submit time sheets and employee information.

RPA is used in healthcare to handle patient records, billing, and reporting.