How RPA Can Enhance Organizations and Impact Today’s Workforce
In today’s technologically-driven workforce, business owners are constantly seeking new ways to improve processes within organizations in an effort to maximize efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance productivity.
One clear and viable way of achieving that is by implementing a solution that allows robots to take over the rule-based tasks currently performed by staff in almost any kind of business.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) consists of software robots which are capable of performing repetitive tasks instead of humans. Not only does this level of automation allow businesses to reduce human effort, it also largely mitigates human error, leading to a better service offering and improvements in overall product quality.
McKinsey & Company, a well-established management consulting company, has found that over 45% of tasks performed by humans can be replaced by robots, which means that RPA will have a substantial impact on the way organizations are run, and the ways in which employees work in coming years.
How Exactly Does RPA Work?
RPA uses software to capture and interpret the specific actions and processes of a job. The
software then learns to perform these processes, and can then automatically perform these tasks autonomously. These tasks can include anything from reading CV’s and identifying the best candidates, to automatically searching the web for best price information.
RPA can generate significant value for companies looking to operate more efficiently and enhance their competitive advantage. Some of the earliest industry adopters of RPA include healthcare, manufacturing, insurance, and financial service firms. More commonly, one might find RPA being used in claims processing and credit analysis, today.
What About Current Trends?
Although RPA is fairly new, it is gaining traction rapidly across industries on a global scale. With organizations looking for new and efficient ways of reducing costs, it is without question that they are turning to RPA to minimize the human effort being placed towards rules-based tasks.
It is estimated that automation and RPA could raise productivity growth by 0.8 to 1.4 percent annually across the globe. Workers can start moving away from mundane work and focus more heavily on work that requires creativity and innovation.
Furthermore, according to The National Association of Software and Services Companies;
“RPA implementations can provide companies with cost reductions of 35-65 per cent for onshore process operations and 10-30 per cent in offshore delivery…[and] an investment recovery period as short as 6-9 months.”
Thus, this technology can have a huge impact on the overall profitability of companies worldwide; a current trend not to be ignored.
Where is RPA Headed in the Future?
Based on a recent report by Transparency Market Research, “RPA is expected to see a compounded annual growth rate of about 60.5 percent worldwide through 2020.” That means many jobs will be soon taken over by software robots and machines. Workers who are likely to be impacted by this trend must start considering ways in which they can transform their roles.
In general, RPA can only be used on rule-based processes and roles for now. Although researchers are looking to increase the sophistication of RPA, it is unlikely they will be able to automate jobs that require a real human touch. For instance, empathy is a human skill which is difficult to emulate with a robot.
RPA will free up workers to focus on more complex and creative work, as opposed to spending time on repetitive and mundane tasks. This is positive since repetitive tasks are typically not stimulating for workers, and often lead to complacency in the workplace. This results in human error, workplace injury and inaccuracy, which can be very costly to businesses.
If workers can begin to dedicate their days to being more innovative and creative instead, we might see a more focused and fulfilled workforce arising in the near future, all while improving the processes and profitability of businesses all over the world.
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