Ease in doing business.” That is what every C-level execs strive to achieve in their business process and it is no secret that they’ve increasingly turned to
.
The first digital computers were invented mostly to calculate tasks but as the technology progressed, we learnt to program hand-code automation through bespoke applications. What brought the RPA into existence was the slow and laborious hand-code automation.
But, as we no longer need to keep our fingers glued to systems to enter data fields and value, there exists some brittleness to the robotic process automation.
Table of Contents:
- What is Robotic Process Automation?
- What ails Robotic Process Automation?
- What is Low-Code Development?
- Why to program in a Low-Code Development environment?
- How does Low-code development help in mitigating RPA implementation?
- Concluding Thoughts
What is Robotic Process Automation?
Deloitte defines RPA as software that “automates repetitive, rules-based processes usually performed by people sitting in front of computers.” Picture your mouse automatically scanning your email for 70 new unread invoices, adding the data to a spreadsheet, and inputting information into your CRM, while sending two outliers to an employee for manual review – all within a fraction of the time it would take a person to do the same tasks and with far fewer errors. RPA workflows are established on logic-based inputs and tasks across applications for the bot to efficiently carry out manual, repetitive tasks with greater accuracy.
Additionally, by separating the uniquely human skills like critical thinking, empathy, and decision making from the manual, repetitive tasks, corporations can provide a more fulfilling and rewarding career for their employees.
Sounds great, right? Of course, it does.
That’s why it’s the fastest-growing market in enterprise software, with 48% of companies saying they are planning to invest in RPA and is projected to be worth nearly USD 4B by 2025. Corporations across industries are buying in to streamline a wide variety of operational tasks, connect legacy systems, and drastically remove errors introduced by humans.
Operations that can benefit from RPA technology include:
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Generic office tasks – gathering quarterly cross-department data into an excel sheet, automating CRM inputs, and inventory management.
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Back office processes – instead of five people checking for new orders and applying discounts, the tasks are reorganized so the employee is providing a human-level of validation to the order.
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Manufacturing – order fulfillment, purchase order processing, and transportation and inventory management.
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Retail – product categorization, automated checkout, and delivery tracking.
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Customer service – credit checks, account number assignment, and activation tasks can be allocated to bots and employees can speak to a customer and apply empathy and discernment to the situation at hand.
What ails Robotic Process Automation?
The raised fostering of RPA highlights the advantages of the modern technology, however the trip of automation is not without some bumps in advance.
Presently, a bulk of RPA options deal with a typical weak point– a small adjustment to information layouts, service procedures, or application user interface can lead the whole software program to damage down.
By style, RPA is durable software program however that likewise shows its frailty in adjustments.
If anything changes, that can break the automation.
- Jason Bloomberg, Leading IT market expert
For instance, Bloomberg discussed, if an interface component like a switch relocates or transforms dimension, the automation may damage. Or probably the information style adjustments due to the fact that a person included a brand new area. “In other cases, the business requirement for the process logic changes, requiring a rework of the bot.”
RPA functions best with older and also tradition applications powered by regular procedures that go through little adjustment and also secure information layouts. For companies looking to take advantage of the modern technology, the brittleness of RPA might lead to tightening alternatives and also applications in companies.
Financial establishments, as an example, are typically wed to tradition systems and also applications, for which RPA is well matched to aid take care of. However, in a vibrant electronic age– which calls for service dexterity– RPA’s absence of versatility when incorporated can be restricting.
What is Low-Code Development?
Low-code software development could be compared to a car manufacturing assembly line. Both processes
automate difficult and time-consuming tasks, in order to increase delivery speed and free up people to focus on high-level tasks.
In technical terms, low-code is a set of tools that developers can use to build applications inside a drag-and-drop visual interface – including complete UI, integrations, data management, and logic.
READ MORE: DISPELLING FIVE MYTHS OF LOW-CODE APP DEVELOPMENT
Why to program in a Low-Code Development environment?
In a quote to address the brittleness of RPA, the arising idea of low-code reveals appealing possibility. Its ability to faster way and also separate software program parts streamlines the design procedure.
For RPA software program that calls for an upgrade, low-code offers the all set-to- code design to convenience the restructuring of systems.
Low-code simplifies the work of developers, whether they be building applications or constructing bots. But even more importantly, low-code empowers developers and business stakeholders to work together more effectively to manage change in the behavior of the software.
- Jason Bloomberg, Leading IT market expert
In significance,
low-code opens brand-new opportunities for designers to focus on establishing special software program systems that are matched for particular companies.
READ MORE: BENEFITS OF LOW CODE DEVELOPMENT WITH REUSABLE COMPONENTS
How does Low-code development help in mitigating RPA implementation?
Here’s where
low-code development can save the day.
Low-code platforms enable cross-functional teams of professional developers, citizen developers, and functional staff to easily collaborate and connect multiple applications for end-to-end solutions. Because the platforms are built on open standards and are cloud-native, they can easily connect internal legacy and third-party applications in a bot-friendly interface and quickly establish bot workflows that model the real business processes. Enterprise RPA initiatives can get off the ground in a fraction of the time without bringing on additional staff and infrastructure.
What does low-code and RPA implementation success look like in real life? Just ask Avertra and 2 Sisters Food Group.
Avertra provides technology and consulting solutions for telecom and utility companies, including a modular digital customer experience framework built with the Mendix ecosystem and integrated via API with enterprise solutions like ERP systems, work management applications, and external data sources. Alongside their clients, Avertra establishes which processes to automate, builds user stories, and deploys bots which then follow workflows, transfer data between systems, select appropriate resolution paths, and follow through with documentation and compliance – all within a fraction of the time it takes an individual agent.
Meanwhile, UK poultry supplier 2 Sisters used low-code to implement RPA across 11 accounting transactional processes, moving from 100% manual work to 97% automated within six weeks. They used Mendix to build a data-structuring application that extracts, parses and cleans the data. 2 Sisters was able to reduce their customer invoice verification process from 65% of invoices needing manual data verification to only 8%. Manual data entry was nearly eliminated, save for a few outliers identified by the bots, and employees have more time to analyze the data and costs.
Low-code enables both technical and non-technical users
to play an active role in implementing and maintaining RPA initiatives, taking the burden off of the IT team, operating securely within their infrastructure and parameters, and reducing the need for additional developers. Avertra empowered their client’s citizen developers to make workflow iterations in the Mendix platform based on data results and their internal business knowledge. With the assistance of Mendix partner AuraQ, 2 Sisters built 300 unique customer remittance templates in 3 months and over 3,000 have been created to date (and they’re still going).
The beauty of low-code platforms is that applications can be easily adjusted as the business evolves, RPA technology improves, and new automation opportunities are identified, enabling companies to be more agile and competitive. Avertra’s clients have used data insights to produce new and revised resolution paths addressing outlying issues not caught by the RPA framework and 2 Sisters is now analyzing their data to identify their next digital transformation target. Their investments in RPA implementation and low-code development have quickly paid off and will continue to return dividends in the months and years to come.
Concluding Thoughts:
Low-Code Development is the simpler way to adjust and improve RPA as per the business demands. With the entry of IoT powered by high-speed 5G, low-code programing is touted to be the tool to speedy up RPA innovations. AI has become the most important trend in the low-code RPA market thus making implementation of RPA with low-code quick and agile.
READ MORE: THREE SMART WAYS TO USE LOW-CODE DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS