Digitalization, Digitization and Digital Transformation were the buzzwords in tech at the start of the 21st Century. And even though these terms may mean different things to different people, what\’s not disputed is their importance for the survival of many businesses. Everyone in senior management positions in various industries are at least talking about them.
Successful businesses were the early adopters of the mindset behind digital transformation.
The idea is not to simply spend more on technology and technical infrastructure. It\’s literally rethinking how best to leverage the latest technology and the benefits it has to offer and then streamlining business processes around it.
Off The Shelf Technology
Based on the desire to leverage technology for all, companies like Oracle, SAP, Microsoft and later Salesforce came up with off the shelf products, both softwares and applications, to automate business processes and operations support systems including but not limited to resource planning, customer relationship management, billing/charging and so on.
These products significantly enhanced the enterprise\’s ability to streamline and automate processes making them efficient through the use of available technology. Human engagement was reduced in these processes, allowing less errors while enhancing the speed of delivery, consequently improving customer experience and other value and objectives businesses are trying to achieve.
Despite major advancements in process automation through products offered by the likes of Oracle, SAP, Microsoft, and Salesforce, there still remains major limitations in automating many processes end to end.
Human involvement remains a bottleneck in achieving the desired goal of errorless delivery of value to customers in the shortest possible time. With every automation, seamlessness between processes would be the ideal, where there is no human involvement.
Bots Step In
This problem became one of the triggers behind the conceptualizing of Software Robots or Bots. The concept turned into a fairly mature area of technology called Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
RPA allows end to end automation and removes the need of human intervention. There is minimal need for system integration as RPA can interact just like an end user would.
Deloitte reported in September 2019 that 53% of companies have begun deploying RPA and that 78% of adopters will invest more in RPA in the next three years. In fact, assuming the current trend continues, it’s anticipated that RPA will achieve “near universal adoption” within five years.
Before Choosing the Right Product
Leading RPA providers offer off the shelf products and mainly rely on third party System Integrators for the implementation of their products. In my experience with working with clients, they value a mature product but what they value most with it is the thinking or support prior to the engagement of such product companies.
Limitations With Off The Shelf Products
An off the shelf product deployed without comprehensive understanding of the customer\’s current process landscape and their main pain points would not result in the desired outcomes expected from an RPA tool.
The lack of support in this vital area of detailed planning from off the shelf product providers would most likely make the RPA fail in delivering the desired outcome. This is not a failure of the RPA but the lack of understanding of customer environments and their specific needs.
What Is the Best Approach?
For organizations to make best use of RPA, there is a need for expertise within the organization or external consultants that can come in and understand the processes that need automation.
These consultants need to understand the existing business processes and with the ability to translate those processes into a documented format which explains what can then be automated.
Only rightly skilled Business Analysts (BA’s) or consultants can translate the processes into technical requirements thereby laying successful foundations for the implementation of RPA.
Apart from BA’s or Process Consultants, a team of expert Digital Delivery Managers, Developers, Quality Assurance, and Technical Support would be needed for the successful implementation of RPA initiatives.
Final Thoughts
While off the shelf products seem like a good option, and may well help organizations in their digital transformation, customized RPA solutions will serve organizations better. By taking stock of current processes, pain points and bringing in automation in a step by step way, RPA benefits will be realized far quicker and will be long lasting.
The best way forward is to choose experienced Systems Integrators that offer end-to-end RPA implementation and support services (i.e. having all the capabilities described above). This also includes post deployment support, which is also of critical importance.
