What's RPA from a People, Processes, and Technology Perspective?
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a cutting-edge technology that allows knowledge workers to escape repetitive work. Put in other words, process automation 'takes the robot out of the human.'
According to a survey by Redwood Software, nearly all organizations have their people completing repetitive tasks and 74% of them spend over a quarter of their time on such monotony (Ostdick, 2020).
The delegation of menial duties to automation enables employees to apply their skills in meaningful ways that create value. These are activities such as those which span engaging with patients in healthcare, analyzing market trends in finance, or supervising production floor performance in manufacturing.
Until RPA came about, companies had little choice but to have their workers manually key data into systems. Not only was this time-consuming, but it was mind-numbing as well. A perfect example is seen within the sales industry, where sellers spend a fifth of their time on CRM activities (Krogue, 2018).
The other option to menial software usage, before RPA, was to develop custom software or to implement integration platforms. IT departments could take years to implement these alternatives, or they may have never been automated at all.
The allure of RPA is that cycle times for automating mundane tasks are decreased to a matter of a few weeks or months.
The benefits of RPA are fully realized when integrated into a process improvement program — this is something explored further in How Can My Company Benefit From RPA?
What's Robotic Process Automation from a business process perspective?
Trite as it may sound, Robotic Process Automation is a technology which enmeshes people, processes, and IT. This perspective is explored through the article for its benefits and limitations.
From a process modeling perspective, specifically the business process modeling and notation (BPMN) specification, there are three levels of processes.
The Descriptive Process Model
The first level is the descriptive process model, which describes how the business perceives the process from a high-level, for example:
- Who's involved?
- What are their responsibilities?
- When is the process completed?
- Where does the process take place?
- What is the scope of the work?
The Operational Process Model
The second level is known as the Analytic or Operational Process Model, which describes the process in greater detail to a specific audience. The audience might span a process engineer, an integration analyst, or a process improvement consultant.
At this level, there are also specific metrics that are tracked for individual process executions (i.e., transactions) as well as the process itself (a summary view).
The Executable Process Model
The third BPMN level is known as the Executable Process Model. This document serves as an agreement between the process analyst and the process engineer as to how the process will be executed. The level of detail at this stage makes it possible to develop a process, produce test cases, identify room for improvement, provide context for metrics, and much more.
Business rules, in the form of tables or Decision-Making Notation, can compliment executable models as well. Executable process models may also reference the ingestion and storage of data required for execution (Business Process Incubator, 2015).
In the industry of RPA, process models and accompanying procedures are often documented in the 'as-is' state using Process Definition Documents (PDDs). PDDs are descriptive in nature. The proposed 'to-be' state is documented using a Solution Design Document (SDD), this describes the process from a technical automation prespective.
The RPA industry has shown that automation quality is enhanced when process models and planning are approached from a Business Process Management or Lean Six Sigma (rather than a mere PDD and SDD approach). It’s important to see it from a BPM perspective since RPA isn't an end-all-be-all solution — it's a technology that simply builds on Business Process Management.
Answering just how the process is completed today, and how it can be automated, is not enough to answer how the automation will impact the business, how it will enable other benefits, and how it will be maintained to deliver continuous value.
What's RPA from a technology perspective?
Robotic Process Automation consists of two major components:
- A software robot which imitates computer input (spanning mouse and keyboard movements for executing a process).
- An orchestration mechanism that executes and checks the process as needed.
Some sources refer to RPA as being a subset of AI. While this may be true from isolated academic/technical perspectives, it’s important to not confuse RPA for AI.
The nuance is better understood as follows: the computer vision aspect of RPA's ability to ‘view’ the screen is powered by AI 'computer vision.' However, the automation of interacting with those elements (including the logic and orchestration) is a subset of software engineering.
When RPA is combined with Artificial Intelligence which offers specialized cognitive capabilities, the resulting solution is called Intelligent Automation. Examples of cognitive capabilities include image detection, optical character recognition, and sentiment analysis. AI which processes unstructured information can compliment RPA, but that doesn't mean that RPA is in of itself AI.
In other words, one can think of RPA as mimicking the steps one would take to complete a process using well-established steps and rules. AI on the other hand, can process massive amounts of data to determine which process it should complete or how certain information should be classified, handled, or generated.
What's RPA from a people's perspective?
RPA can be considered a threat to people and this can lead to employee anxiety. The fear of robots taking over one's job can also lead to automation project failure because of direct or indirect resistance.
To contrast the human fear of losing a job, against the reality of the matter, one would consider that there are many methods of automation available for companies to use. CRMs, ERPs, and financial systems provide numerous opportunities for automation by including workflow capabilities (such as in Salesforce) and system connectors that remove the need for manual data entry.
The point is that automation opportunities are numerous and should be seen as an avenue to advance rather than something to fear. If employees cling too much to the old way of doing things, i.e. getting paid to move information from one system into another without any value add, there is no guarantee that their company won't become the next Blockbuster.
It's the responsibility of leaders to remind their people that innovation is inevitably a marker of success and that stagnation is a marker of failure.
In the short-term, some jobs may become redundant. For example, if a department acts as a cost center (in the case of a managed customer service provider) then a 20% savings through automation of mundane tasks could result in downsizing. That's no different than self-checkout registers requiring retailers to employ fewer staff.
The reality is that for many businesses using RPA, employees with a tenure can take on work that's more meaningful and variable. When a company is presented with the option of upskilling a reliable employee to become more valuable, they'll often take that option instead of letting them go. Or at least that's how it ought to happen for a company that's figured out where they stand regarding the Enterprise Evaluation Dilemma.
From a people perspective, automating tasks that are boring and offer no job fulfillment allows individuals to lean into their creative side*. It also allows employees to focus on improving the business rather than dealing with an increasing amount of drudgery when they could be upskilling or connecting with customers more.
Developing bots is easier than regular software, which means system administrators (who typically don't produce new software) can make the jump into RPA should they be interested. Business users intent on making the switch to 'BizDevOps' also have a great opportunity in the emergence of RPA.
Footnote:
The term 'Robotic Process Automation' is used due to its popularity in the industry. Process automation is a clearer term that'll ideally replace 'RPA.'
References:
Business Process Incubator. (2015, October 22). BPMN Process Model – Descriptive, Analytic (Operational) to Executable. BPI - the Destination for Everything Process Related. https://www.businessprocessincubator.com/content/bpmn-process-model-descriptive-analytic-operational-to-executable/
Krogue, K. (2018, January 10). Why Sales Reps Spend Less Than 36% Of Time Selling (And Less Than 18% In CRM). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkrogue/2018/01/10/why-sales-reps-spend-less-than-36-of-time-selling-and-less-than-18-in-crm/?sh=7bbbf7a4b998