Frequently Asked Questions about Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

There has been growing interest in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) by businesses.

More organisations are turning to this automation technology to streamline workflows, achieve internal efficiencies and reduce costs. In fact, 53% of businesses have already begun adopting RPA as part of their digital transformation journey.

So, with RPA becoming more relevant in today’s business landscape, it’s important to clarify a lot of confusion surrounding how RPA works and the true business value RPA offers.

Here are the most frequently asked questions about RPA – all answered to help provide more clarity and dispel any myths.

What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?

Robotic process automation is a useful tool for maximising the efficient use of a company’s available resources.

When we say tool, this encompasses both the software and services that complement your workforce to boost productivity and achieve the best business results.

Following pre-defined instructions, RPA technology optimises software robots (“bots”) to replicate human actions to perform high-volume, repetitive tasks. RPA automates manual work efficiently and more accurately, so your team can focus on more value-adding activities.

How does RPA work?

Robotic Process Automation works by simply showing the bots how to get things done and they’ll complete the tedious work on your behalf!

What results does RPA offer?

At CiGen, we say that RPA gives you back time – that’s the main benefit.

Automating business processes through RPA can also lead to a return on investment of between 30 and 200% in the first year alone and up to 75% cost savings on operations.

With the innovation that RPA brings, you can also position your organisation as a forward-thinking business in your industry.

For more information, read 6 Signs that Your Company Is Ready for Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

What is the market size of RPA?

With a value of $1.40 billion in 2019, RPA’s global market is expected to reach $11 billion by 2027 – expanding at a compound annual growth rate of 34% from 2020 to 2027.

Worldwide revenue from RPA software is also predicted to reach $1.89 billion with a growth rate of 19.53%, while the Australian RPA software market will rise by 12.2% to $109 million this 2022.

What processes are eligible for automation?

With the help of bots, a lot of your team’s tasks can be accomplished quicker. RPA enables your employees to focus on what they do best, so they can generate more profits for the business.

However, not all processes are suitable for RPA. To keep you guided, here are some that are eligible for automation:

• Manual and repetitive – Processes that involve a high degree of manual input, including structured and repetitive activities that are susceptible to human error.
• Rule-based – Activities that have clear processing instructions (template driven) with decision-making based on standardised and predictive rules.
• Low exception rate – Activities with a low rate of variable outcomes that would otherwise require complex human exception handling.
• Readable inputs – Processes requiring readable input types, including text-based data, user interface (UI) activities (keyboard strokes, mouse clicks, etc), optical character recognition (OCR) and green screen. These processes can operate within almost any application or environment such as desktop, Citrix, web, server, etc.
• High volume/high frequency – High transaction volume processes (including batch processes) such as those that run at the end of the day and end of the month. High-frequency processes such as those that run intra-daily, daily and weekly.
• Mature and stable – Processes that are stable, predictable and well-documented within the business with operational costs that are consistent and well-defined.
• Measurable savings – Processes that can be evaluated against a known cost/time base. The cost savings or benefits gained can typically be expressed in terms of greater accuracy, faster response times, reduced staffing costs and higher productivity from reallocated staff.

To get the most out of RPA, we strongly recommend you avoid automating processes that are either marked for re-work or those that will continually change over the short-medium term.

For more, read the 5 Factors to Choosing the Right Business Processes to Automate.

What are the benefits of automation?

By elevating your employees’ productivity and capacity to work on more important business matters, RPA equips organisations with excellent business outcomes such as:

• Operating cost reductions
• Process speed and timeliness
• Shift from process focus to customer focus
• Improved accuracy and quality
• Rapid scalability to demand spikes
• Headcount flexibility
• Improved risk, compliance and audit management
• Workforce shifts to higher-value tasks
• Regulatory reporting improvements
• Competitive advantage
• Minimal technology integration costs
• Revenue leakage detection and reduction

Also, here’s how RPA improves business and increases efficiency.

What industries in Australia use RPA?

Thanks to RPA, many Australian businesses from this wide range of industries have become much more agile, flexible and responsive in their day-to-day operations.

• Banking 
• Legal 
• Medical and Healthcare
• Recruitment 
• Financial services 
• Logistics and Distribution
• Mining
• Retail 
• Hospitality
• Media 
• Portsand Aviation
• Utilities

Where do businesses start with automation?

Leveraging RPA enables you to benefit from higher productivity levels, greater efficiencies, cost reductions, improved customer satisfaction and other competitive advantages that take your business to the next level.

Nevertheless, its implementation can come with challenges. So, before you optimise RPA, make sure to take these things into consideration:

• In which areas or departments do you want to start RPA? 
• Do you have the budget or are you building a business case for the next FY? 
• Have you identified the initial processes to start RPA? 
• What is your process frequency (hourly, daily, semi-weekly, weekly, monthly, etc.)? 
• What RPA drivers (cost reduction, service/quality improvement, reallocation of headcount, reduction of revenue leakage, competitiveness, etc.) that matter to your business?
• What are your timeframes (PoC/Pilot, Initial Production, Full Enterprise Production)? 
• Who will lead the RPA program? 
• How about your RPA Model (Centre of Excellence, Managed, Hybrid, etc.)? 
• Do you have sufficient resources (personnel, IT, HR, etc.) to start with?

See Implementing Robotic Process Automation: An Overview of the Potential Opportunities and Difficulties for more information.

Are you ready to embrace RPA in your business?

At CiGen we offer a comprehensive range of Robotic Process Automation and Intelligent Automation services such as:

• Consulting
• Proof of Concept / Pilot Program
• Cigen On Demand
• Implementation & Training
• RPA Software Licencing
• Management and Support

We partner with organisations like yours to help you actualise the benefits of process automation, achieve rapid ROI and cultivate a flexible operational environment for your future growth.

Our ultimate goal is to energise the organisations and workforce of tomorrow as digital technologies increasingly evolve toward Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computational Intelligence (CI).

Let CiGen’s RPA solutions lead you to business success

Fortunately at CiGen, we make RPA adoption easier than ever – even for small to medium-sized businesses with CiGen On Demand.

Here are some applicable scenarios that are ideal for RPA:

• When you have high-volume, low-frequency tasks such as annual, quarterly or ad hoc batch processing
• When you have limited resources that are being hindered by back-office processing requirements
• When your team is falling behind on time-sensitive or SLA-related operations
• When there’s an unexpected spike in data entry or data conversion
• When you are looking to extend capability without increasing headcount

In fact, some benefits that await if you use our CiGen On Demand services:

1. Significantly cheaper when compared to an FTE
2. No software investment required
3. Instant notification of task completion or unexpected scenarios
4. Tasks can be executed 24 x 7 x 365
5. No RPA knowledge or learning required
6. No interference with your day-to-day operations
7. Win back time to focus on growing your business
8. No technology infrastructure to build and maintain

Harness the true power of automation with CiGen On Demand  

Our team of RPA specialists are here to ensure you reap all of the rewards of business automation, while we address all of the potential risks.

At CiGen, we even provide an affordable automation service to small and medium-sized businesses through our CiGen On Demand subscription solution, making it even easier for your business to harness the true power of automation and earn back your valuable time.

Contact us today for more information on how we can help your business to succeed through robotic process automation.