How to Marry the Imperatives of RPA and Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is about harnessing digital technologies, ramping up capabilities, and changing customer relationships, operational processes, sales, and service for the benefit of the business. Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, can be a catalyst in achieving successful digital transformation by automating mundane, repetitive, and time-consuming processes. It frees human resources from doing frustrating manual tasks and allows them to focus more on the critical areas of business. The use of RPA services is expanding at a rapid pace across industries and offers a host of benefits for organizations. These include cost reduction, optimized operations, reduced or minimized bugs or errors, improved customer experience, better management and control, and improved ROI. Statistics suggest that spending on RPA solutions in the year 2022 will be in the range of $2.4 billion in 2022 (Source: i-scoop. eu).

Although organizations can look at RPA implementation without a full digital transformation program in progress, the inverse is not always true. Without the inclusion of RPA consulting, most digital transformation programs may grind to a halt. RPA can facilitate the reshaping and re-engineering of operations and the response level of businesses at most digital touch points and customer interfaces. This technology can help businesses address operational challenges, namely, executing large volumes of repetitive back-office activities. Further, its analytical capability can allow businesses to gain crucial insights into the performance of their business workflows and patterns. These insights can then be leveraged to plan and implement effective digital strategies to make the workflows more efficient.

Robotic process automation solutions can perform the actions of employees, such as simple copy and paste jobs to complex bank reconciliations and invoicing. Thus, they can fit into the workings of systems such as ERP, CRM, and others. This allows businesses to free up resources and redirect them to higher-value-added activities like customer service, marketing, and sales, resulting in a better customer experience and retention. RPA services can enable organizations to improve business performance, thereby achieving digital transformation.

Key parameters to consider when using RPA for digital transformation

One of the reasons RPA is held dear by businesses is the ease with which automation is executed. It does not require someone with years of experience to automate the basic tasks; even a few hours of training for a rank newcomer can achieve the same. However, digital transformation is not only about automating some basic tasks. There are factors or parameters that businesses need to consider while implementing RPA for digital transformation as mentioned below.

1. Strategic alignment: When instituting an RPA program, the objectives need to align with the overall digital transformation strategy. To cite an example, should an enterprise be aiming at improving the customer experience for its products and/or services, the RPA framework should include processes or workflows that can impact the customer experience. Thus, any RPA program should be aligned with the imperatives of digital transformation to ensure management focus and the scaling of resources when needed.

1. Governance: For successful RPA implementation, it is important that stakeholders plan to scale the automation activities in view of the overall digital transformation journey. In the absence of planning and buy-in from stakeholders, scaling RPA bots on a larger level and making them impactful will be a challenge. Even though RPA is known for its easy scalability, unless it is supported by a large fleet of bots and guided by the management and other stakeholders, it may turn out to be a non-starter.
2. Process stability: It is easy for RPA services to run their programs in a stable and robust process environment. This is because any changes in the application or processes can botch RPA execution. Businesses should avoid implementing RPA in processes and systems that are braced for near-term digital transformation. So, the assessment of RPA’s viability for the digital transformation roadmap should be undertaken in right earnest.
3. Change management: RPA deployments often fail due to a lack of planning and poor execution of change management. It can bring about new approaches to working, especially for employees used to doing their work in a certain way. Remember, any change in the working processes of employees can generate anxiety and confusion, often leading to resistance. So, to enable such change management seamlessly, RPA initiatives should be accompanied by suitable cultural transformation. Importantly, transparent communication is the key to driving people to adopt a new style, scope, or methodology of working.
4. Metrics defined: It is important to define the metrics to measure the quantifiable benefits to be accrued from RPA deployment. Without it, businesses can run the risk of upsetting stakeholders by creating false expectations. The metrics under consideration are accuracy, productivity, consistency, compliance, reliability, and employee satisfaction.

6. Focused approach: To enable digital transformation, robotic process automation services should not be an afterthought but an integral component. To achieve success from RPA deployment, skilled resources, an appropriate control framework, well-defined process management plans, and a robust governance model should be in place. To create a successful digital transformation strategy, there should be proper focus and sustained support.

7. Financial Impact: One of the foremost benefits of achieving digital transformation is saving operational costs. Find out the cost savings over a yearly and five-year period by automating mundane and repetitive tasks and deploying employees for other critical processes.

Conclusion

RPA and digital transformation are not mutually exclusive but complementary. However, it is important to plan the deployment and measure its impact by considering the downstream effects. The success story for the RPA-aided digital transformation initiative can be achieved when the metrics are brought to life by focusing on the basics and by taking the stakeholders on board.

James Daniel is a software Tech enthusiastic & works at Cigniti Technologies. I'm having a great understanding of today's software testing quality that yields strong results and always happy to create valuable content & share thoughts.