Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is becoming increasingly commonplace in modern workplaces.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a technology that automates all the mundane, repetitive tasks humans used to have to do, instead passing that mundane work onto software bots. So, say your company makes cars, and you need more tyres to be ordered every time stock is running low. Once upon a time, the job of checking inventory and ordering enough tyres to make more cars fell upon human hands. But today, RPA can take care of all that for you.

That’s just one example, but the use cases of RPA are endless, especially if you start using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (MI) in tandem with RPA. When used effectively, it can cut costs, reduce errors and make your employees more productive. And it’s relatively quick and easy to implement.

Which Processes Can Be Improved by Robotic Process Automation?

RPA is amazing at automating certain kinds of tasks, but it can’t do everything. To use it effectively, you’ve got to know what it’s suited for - and what it’s not.
 

The key thing to know here is that RPA is not, despite its name, actually made of robots - or at least not the kind you might imagine. It's made up of software bots, which can do simple tasks including:

• 'read' information in documents
• fill in forms
• update databases
• send invoices

If you use Artificial Intelligence (AI) within your software bot, you can also use it to do more complicated tasks:

• recognise speech
• organising unstructured data (this could be anything from text messages to pictures)
• understand a conversation and reply (like a chatbot)

So those are the tasks that RPA can do. But what kinds of processes can they automate?

For RPA to be suitable, a task must be:

• Rules based - if you can give clear, unambiguous instructions about exactly when and how to perform the task, that probably means it follows logical rules. And if there’s anything a software bot can do well, it’s following rules.
   
  
• Repeatable – The task must follow the same process every time you do it. If the way you carry it out changes each time you do it, it might be too complicated for RPA.
   
  
• High volume – A task that only needs doing once a year probably isn’t worth the effort of automating it. The transformative potential of RPA lies in tasks that employees currently hate having to make time for frequently.

Case Study: Zuellig Pharma

A simple example is checking invoice emails and paying them. A software bot carry out this process end to end: 

• scan emails for ones related to invoicing
• examine attachments and extract the relevant information
• carry out payment

Healthcare company Zuellig Pharma used RPA to carry out this exact process. They’re one of the largest healthcare companies in Asia, supplying more than 350,000 medical facilities with distribution, digital and commercial services. Millions of people rely on its services, so they’ve got to work smoothly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the company needed to create a more efficient ordering process, so clients could get exactly what they needed to treat patients.

To this end, Zuellig Pharma put into place a new system with RPA at its centre. It automated the whole ordering and billing process end to end. The impact of this is clear even from looking at just one part of the process: receiving customer order emails and moving the information into spreadsheets and PDFs. Before RPA was implemented, that task fell onto 20 employees who had to do it all manually every day. Now, those employees can forget about this menial task and focus on value-added tasks across the business. And the process is more reliable now too - because RPA doesn’t have to take time off or deal with pandemic related crises, orders can be processed 24/7 without ever needing delays.

Want More Info About How RPA Can Help Your Business?

Kagool can help you figure out where RPA can make your business more efficient, cutting costs and increasing productivity. We’ll talk you through the whole process. If you’d like to chat, or if you just want more information about the benefits of RPA, please get in touch.