28 Jun, 2021 | Blogs
How has Robotic Process Automation turned into one of the most sought-after technologies in the global enterprise software category? According to a research by Gartner, the growth rate of RPA was a staggering 63% in 2019. And this number would have increased further due to the Covid-19 pandemic and its subsequent norms like remote working and social distancing. This belief is concurred by Statista, which predicts RPA to reach a market value of 3 billion USD by 2022.
What is RPA: Quick Recap
RPA is automation software comprising three essential elements: The robot/bot, console, and studio.
– Robot/bot — Think digital workers like droids in Star Wars
– Console — Think remote control of the bot
– Studio — A place to configure/build the robots
RPA bots mimic human actions and work effortlessly across different platforms, with little-to-no changes required in the current IT infrastructure. It rose to prominence due to the ease of its implementation and scalability. Unlike macro, it is not restricted to Excel or Windows-only applications, making it ideal for processes that need minimal/no human judgment.
Since RPA is a low-code technology that offers myriad benefits, businesses have embraced it with open arms. This bot can perform repetitive, time-consuming, and dreary tasks like filling forms, creating reports, updating records, etc., more quickly and accurately. Now that we have some context, let’s look at some interesting statistics and facts about RPA.
Top Five RPA Statistics
These statistics provide valuable insights into RPA trends and how this technology is impacting business processes around the world.
- The global RPA market size is likely to reach USD 10.7 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 33.6% from 2020 to 2027 – Grand View Research
- RPA is expected to achieve “near-universal adoption” in the next 5 years – Deloitte 2018
- The market for collaborative robotics is set to reach $12 billion by 2025 – MarketsAndMarkets
- By 2024, organizations will reduce operational costs by 30% by using hyperautomation technologies with redesigned operational processes. Gartner
- The RPA adoption helps companies lower operational costs and improve overall customer satisfaction, increase transparency and visibility for service functions, and decrease manual efforts – Reportlinker
Also read: Business Process Reengineering (BPR): All You Need to Know
Five Facts about RPA
- RPA will not replace humans: One of the lesser known facts about RPA is that the technology is designed for humans to work efficiently and does not intend to replace them with bots. Job loss and replacing humans with bots are probably the biggest misconception and fear that impedes the adoption of RPA. Truth be told, RPA is designed to work alongside humans to alleviate the quality of work and make their jobs easier. RPA bots perform tasks that are repetitive and mundane and allows the team to improve efficiency.
- RPA will disrupt the nature of outsourcing: RPA has transformed the outsourcing industry as the bots enhance efficiency and usability. While RPA has threatened traditional BPO setups, it has opened a new opportunity for BPOs to embrace the benefits of this transformative technology for improving client satisfaction levels.
- RPA implementation is complex: RPA implementation can appear complex when companies fail to identify the correct process. Another reason for arising complexity is disjointed systems that updates on-premise or cloud infrastructure. RPA is an easy-to-use, low-code technology that doesn’t need costly APIs or other tools for integration between systems.
- RPA is limited to a few processes: While RPA is mostly used for high volumes of repetitive rule-based transactions, it can be combined with AI and ML for automating processes that involve some level of reasoning and decision making. Some commonly automated processes include Payroll processing, reconciliations, and reporting.
- RPA only involves automation: RPA is more than simple automation. It allows businesses to re-define processes and make them more efficient. The automated processes should not be about changing the AS-IS process into workflows that are executed by the robots. The TO-BE process should be re-designed more effectively.
Conclusion
RPA has come a long way and is probably the future of IT automation. It is being adopted by companies in various industries to automate data rekeying and data entry tasks. RPA will soon evolve into Smart Process Automation (SPA) by integrating with technologies like AI and machine learning to achieve new levels of efficiency and productivity. To know more about RPA and process optimization, contact us today!