Robotic process automation (RPA) is among the most rapidly developing trends across all industries. Its solutions allow companies to remain competitive and resilient in a rapidly changing landscape.
Automating business processes helps reduce costs, improve efficiency, and accelerate operations. However, successfully executing such an automation strategy requires the right approach and roadmap.
Why Should Companies Choose Business Process Automation?
Automated business systems already provide a wide range of benefits for organisations around the world. With the right strategy and implementation, companies will be able to:
- Reduce labour requirements and efficiently use valuable human resources within the organisation.
- Ensure operational continuity due to a reduced reliance on manual tasks, even during labour shortages.
- Keep processes functioning 24/7/365 without breaks, interruptions & downtime due to shifts.
- Scale operations with agility in response to shifting demands and specific business requests.
- Achieve the highest level of customer service and improve the overall efficiency of customer interactions.
- Maintain seamless workflow integration between different applications and software solutions, including legacy systems.
- Automate decision-making where possible while still maintaining full transparency, visibility, and control.
These are just some of the reasons why more and more companies are choosing robotic process automation. Your unique business processes and operations could provide even more opportunities for an RPA project to deliver exceptional results.
Challenges With RPA Implementation
While the benefits of RPA implementation drive many businesses to attempt RPA projects, 30% to 50% of those projects fail. We often see that businesses lose time and money due to a mismatch between their automation roadmap and their RPA strategy, allowing their competitors to get ahead.
RPA programs can only be successful if you truly understand your business and its processes, and build on that foundation. By combining this deep understanding with the right strategy and support, you can be more confident to secure the intended benefits for your company.
The involvement of the right stakeholders is also vital. Due to the detailed nature of RPA processes, projects require a collaborative effort that rely on the involvement and feedback of employees at every level of the organisation.
Your Automation Roadmap
There are several steps that you’ll need to go through when working with an RPA service provider to successfully implement business process automation. Each of these steps is vital and provide a solid foundation for the next steps to come. By attentively navigating this journey, your business can successfully reap the rewards of process automation.
1. Identifying Businesses Processes to Automate
Not every process within your organization is suitable for automation. You must first identify appropriate processes for which RPA would be both feasible and beneficial. Key points to look for include:
- Processes with predefined rules or steps
- Repetitive tasks that consume manual resources
- Tasks with standardized inputs, digital or physical
- Processes that are stable and do not deviate from key steps
Such tasks present an ideal case for RPA. Automating them will save time, where the repeatability and standardisation will allow for the best use of RPA technology.
2. Selecting the Right Processes for RPA
Once the candidates have been identified, you must select the specific processes that should be automated. This entails a closer evaluation of the steps in the process. These steps must be streamlined as much as possible to unlock the full benefits of RPA.
Choosing inefficient processes for RPA can consume excessive amounts of resources and lead to project failure. These processes can be successful candidates only if they are optimised prior to automation, The key to success is ensuring that every process selected brings some real benefit to the organization through its automation.
3. Creating a Proof of Concept
Before implementing actual RPA for the selected process, establish the potential value of the project. At this point, ask your RPA partner to help demonstrate the business case for automating that process.
Once you establish the benefits of RPA for a specific process, you are ready to make a case to management to expand the project and begin working on expanded RPA implementation.
4. Establishing Your RPA Centre of Excellence
It is crucial to gather and document your knowledge and insights systematically, preferably by establishing an RPA Centre of excellence (CoE). The CoE will establish standards and best practices, measure success, manage governance and training, and facilitate collaboration.
Depending on the size of your organization and the extent of the planned automation, there might be a need to establish an internal team. Alternatively, your RPA partner will provide the guidance and technical expertise embodied in the CoE.
5. Instilling Change Management
Effective change management is critical to the full adoption and success of any project. Good planning is critical. It enables stakeholders to understand, accept, and adapt to new RPA processes and its technology, and reduces resistance to change. Open and transparent communication is key here and there should be frequent consultation and discussion both before and during the RPA implementation.
6. Designing Your RPA Roadmap
Moving forward with your RPA project, you can now put in place a detailed roadmap highlighting which processes are to be automated and when. The roadmap should identify the key resources, tools, technologies, and skill sets needed to complete your RPA project.
In most cases, addressing processes that are easier to automate is the best first step. Let your team secure a series of quick wins and develop experience before tackling more challenging and complex processes that are more critical to your operations.
Make the Most of Your Automation Strategy
Renoir provides robotic process automation solutions for companies across many industries worldwide. We help you lay the foundation to attain the benefits that come with effective robotic process automation.
We can accompany you throughout the entire automation journey. We will identify key opportunities for process automation in your organization and provide the expert team you need to implement that strategy.
Our change management expertise ensures a smooth adoption of your automation strategy to deliver long-term benefits to your organization, especially through the building of capability within your business to tackle future projects yourself. Talk with one of our consultants today to see how Renoir can address your unique business automation needs.
