In the past year, both in the media and at conferences, there has been a growing interest in robots and the use of cognitive and artificial intelligence technology.
Early adopters in shared services and other administrative organisations are reaping major benefits from robotic process automation (RPA), which is already proving to be valuable.
RPA-based responses to strategic priorities
This year’s study attracted more than 400 responses from executives in charge of global business services, shared services, finance, procurement, HR, marketing, and operations, among other transactional processes. The following stood out as their top strategic priorities when asked:
- Strive for ongoing development (35 per cent)
- Increase automation level (24 per cent)
- Improve your analytics skills (17 per cent)
Continued investment in RPA adoption is not surprising given the significant impact it has on these top three priorities. Nonetheless, there is still a sizable core of businesses that are, at best, lagging in utilising RPA.
In comparison, there hasn’t been much of an increase in the number of businesses looking into RPA or developing proofs of concept, and only a tiny minority (3%) of progressive executives have scaled their operations to the point where they have more than 50 robots working for them.
Process automation with RPA is still in its infancy, and many businesses have yet to fully understand its benefits, even though a few early adopters have already made the transition from experiment to scale.
A dedicated mentality and approach shift from experimentation to transformation is necessary to maximise the impact of RPA. When implementing this shift, organisations must make the right strategic decisions in order to lay the foundation for a “premium” digital workforce to support their search for competitive advantage.
Large enterprises in particular need some time to become familiar with and deploy RPA at scale due to the relative immaturity of the automation market. RPA adoption at scale may be accomplished through three major steps, and the report goes into greater detail on each of them To have a big goal.
Companies that use RPA at scale set high goals for their digital workforce and deliberately take actions to meet those goals.Organizations should “think large, start small” because not all RPA journeys begin with an enterprise-wide reach.
Several of the clients have made modest beginnings in a particular functional area where there is support from stakeholders and an obvious opportunity, such as finance or human resources, or in a shared service or global business services organisation.
After this has been established, they may demonstrate it to other divisions of the company and assist leaders in “thinking big” about the wider possibility throughout the entire firm.
Aim high
In terms of targets, respondents who had implemented RPA often expected that 20% of their operation’s capacity might be provided by robots. This was by what firms aiming for proof of concept or pilot stages, who were aiming for just about 20% of capacity in their operation, expected.
The average aim was as high as 52 per cent of capacity for businesses that are currently scaling robotics, though. For administrative and repetitive duties, those that are deploying at scale think their digital workforce will be more efficient than their human workforce.
Establish a solid base
Robots with higher performance levels use leaner, less prone to error, and less specialised processes. A team of flexible, efficient individuals designed and ran them.
To attain these goals and develop highly flexible robots that collaborate with an enthusiastic human workforce, solid foundations must be in place.
A process-oriented approach is required.
- The top difficulties for those who had scaled up RPA include:
- Standardization of processes, along with IT support
- Solution integration and adaptability
- Expectations and buy-in from stakeholders
- Effect on employees
Robot complexity is driven by process complexity, which also raises operating expenses and causes more business interruption. It also increases the cost and difficulty of designing and implementing RPA. Robots must be trained at the keystroke level and demand meticulous process accuracy.
Even in cases when thorough process documentation is present, organisations are discovering that processes are not always clearly understood. Operations that in the process of documentation seem to be conventional are frequently very different in practice between different nations and/or business divisions.
For a complete understanding of the intricate processes and prompt resolution of any problems, implementation teams must collaborate closely with the company.
Global process owners (GPOs), who are frequently quite supportive of RPA, should be included as stakeholders. One crucial strategic choice to make, ideally with the assistance of your GPOs, is whether to automate the existing processes with minimal changes or to take into account more thorough process changes as part of the automation.
Technology assistance that is quick and secure is necessary for RPA implementation.
The next hurdles in implementing RPA are getting the support of an effective IT department and successfully integrating the RPA solution, which emphasises how crucial it is to involve and integrate the IT organisation throughout the automation process.
It is advisable to involve the IT department early on, incorporate it into your governance, and schedule face time with executive sponsors. Consider enlisting CIO support if your IT teams are having trouble so you may assemble a small, hand-selected team of digitally savvy, agile technologists to support your RPA implementation and guide you successfully through the larger IT organisation.
People are usually involved in and effectively bought into the change process in organisations that have had success expanding RPA. There appears to be less opposition to the implementation of RPA across enterprises than there was to outsourcing.
Employee resistance to RPA was experienced by only 17% of firms who are piloting it, and none of those organisations that have advanced to deployment or scaling saw much resistance (3 per cent).
Some businesses have involved their staff in the planning and development of the robots as well as how this will change the roles and abilities of the people who will be working alongside them.
They asserted that as a result, many employees liked RPA, realised that their staff members were happier when it was used, and wanted to take the initiative in leading the development of this new technology.
Conclusion
Companies that have implemented RPA at scale have progressed from experimentation to transformation. They are implementing strategies and tactics related to large-scale change projects because they are aware of the potential and scope of the impact.
