Robotic Process Automation as a software solution existed long before companies actually started considering it a potent tool for improvement. Its history dates back to the late 1990s or early 2000s, but the actual term was coined only in 2012. Initially, it was all about screen scraping, workflow automation, and artificial intelligence. Screen scraping or automation of extracting data proved to be an essential element for data-heavy industries that eventually laid the future foundation for RPA solutions.

The early adopters were the banks and insurance companies dealing with paperwork, a lot of unstructured data, and compliance challenges.

A. RPA Solutions – The Key Driver for Automation-as-a-Service

Enterprises had already realized the importance of transforming their operations digitally. And automation was the essential ingredient. But the growing need was subdued by an apparent lack of proper IT infrastructure and essential skills. Contrarily, RPA was considered an easy and affordable alternative for enterprises to go digital. Even today, automation-as-a-service remains the primary driver for pushing the RPA market forward.

The reason behind this would be the inherent capability of software bots to put simple yet recurring rule-based tasks on a fast track. Such workflows involve enterprise data consolidation from multiple sources. Granular data captured by the bots equipped owners with valuable insights to optimize their existing processes further. And the same data created the framework for easy deployment of other technologies, more advanced than RPA.

That being said, the real breakthrough came only after the global pandemic of 2019. The unprecedented challenges posed by the health crisis triggered the rapid adoption of digital solutions, and RPA became one of the powerful tools for change. The trying period questioned the survival of many small-scale businesses; hence, 80% of SMB leaders started considering the automation of tasks and processes with RPA solutions as the only means for ensuring their continuity.

B. What are RPA Solutions?

RPA solutions are software bots programmed to learn and imitate human actions while executing rule-based tasks for businesses independently. These bots are easy to build, deploy, and manage, enabling technology to emulate human-machine interactions as nearly as possible.

Robotic Process Automation software as a service can easily handle recurring, high-volume, and time-intensive tasks while delivering outputs with consistent and reliable accuracy and precision. As a result, it allows employees to divert their focus to more intricate workflows requiring their expertise, raising their morale and job satisfaction.

On the other hand, bots benefit businesses by executing tasks faster than humans without errors or downtime. From processing invoices to updating employee details, entering and capturing data, to executing faster customer responses, RPA solutions have numerous use cases and benefits.

C. Seven Primary Reasons to Choose RPA Solutions

RPA solutions are meant to complement daily work routines and assist resources in executing cumbersome tasks faster and more accurately. RPA is not replacing humans from their positions but enhances their capabilities and productivity levels. The bots are literally an added asset, helping businesses in ways beyond the given abilities of human resources. And there are specific reasons to justify their significance from a business standpoint.

1. RPA Bots are Versatile

RPA solutions have much broader applications apart from handling basic data-entry tasks. For example, the bots can be leveraged to generate mass emails at the same time, extract data from different document formats and types, auto-generate invoices, verify employee history, process salaries, and many more.

2. RPA Supports Quote-to-Cash

The bots can easily automate the entire sales-related operation except for the responsibility of onboarding new clients. It can execute transactions faster and accurately, support customer executives and raise customer satisfaction.

3. RPA Elevates Customer Servicing

As stated in the above point, RPA bots lend their assistance to improve customer support operations by relieving executives from recurring tasks plaguing the team. RPA tools auto-update customer profiles, provide billing data, and support the team with all necessary documents needed during customer interactions. As a result, the resources can focus only on serving their customers better without wasting time looking for supported documents.

4. RPA Helps with Data Management

An enterprise’s data management process is not only about updating a shared spreadsheet of information entering the system every day. Data management involves collecting inputs from multiple sources, storing them in a centralized repository, and processing and analyzing them for valuable business intelligence. The sheer volume of data entering an organization’s system every day is humongous and not executable flawlessly by one or two resources. With RPA solutions deployed here, the data management workflow becomes more streamlined and simplified.

5. RPA Improves Employee Relationship

RPA solutions empower businesses to properly utilize their human resources for tasks that require their knowledge and expertise. Instead of wasting their skills on mundane tasks, they can be optimized for profiles on value-added services like strategy-building. This improves employee morale and interest in the current job.

6. RPA Aids in Proper Resource Optimization

By letting the software bots cater to recurring simple but mundane tasks, owners can aptly utilize the time and human resources to drive more excellent value for their organizations. Further, they can save the cost of hiring extra hands to support the time-intensive workflows. Instead, the budget can be utilized for extending the capabilities of RPA bots so more time and resources can be saved for executing tasks beyond the capability of any software solution.

7. RPA Eliminates Costly Errors

Mundane, time, and labor-intensive workflows like data entry and extraction can reduce the efficiency and focus levels of resources involved with the process. That leaves enough room for errors. Such mistakes can prove expensive for the venture in the long run. Rectifying those errors can delay the process and leave scope for new mistakes. RPA solutions complete the same task in a few minutes without any error trail. It speeds up the workflow while adhering to quality and accuracy expectations.

The Final Takeaway

Robotic Process Automation has allowed owners to witness what enterprise automation would be like. It has proven itself a wise investment choice to stay ahead of the competition curve and survive the market volatility. And the above-mentioned points justify the fact that RPA solutions are precious for businesses, benefitting every department in any industry.  By deploying these software bots, enterprises have taken their first step toward automation. They can easily leverage the same bots to scale digital transition effectively across the organization end-to-end.