When you first hear about the benefits of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) – increased productivity and improved accuracy – the temptation to dive headfirst into it can be compelling. RPA software helps businesses automate repetitive, manual tasks, thereby reducing workloads and freeing up time for high-value activities. Probably, there are many tasks on your to-do list that you'd be happy to delegate to software robots.
However, the best way to start with RPA is to choose one focus area, streamline it, and only then move on to other departments or processes within your organization. Once you start seeing results and have excited your colleagues about the benefits of RPA, you'll be better positioned to expand your RPA strategy. In this article, we discuss six key areas you can start with when implementing an RPA solution in the workplace.
1. IT Services Automation
When you receive a reminder to change your password, it's a simple task for you. But behind the scenes, it's your IT team tasked with facilitating such a change – not just for you, but for your entire organization. Your IT team could be working on more critical projects rather than repeating these simple tasks over and over. With RPA software, you can fully automate responses to common requests, such as password changes, saving your IT team precious time. RPA can also monitor systems and provide automatic, real-time alerts of issues to analyze your IT services. This allows your IT team to spend more time keeping your systems running.
2. HR Automation
For HR personnel, everything should be about people – recruiting and training people, ensuring their success within your company. But instead, these skilled personnel often spend their days dealing with paperwork. Software robots can assist HR with many tasks they need to repeat for each new employee. An RPA solution can automate much of these user registration processes and integrate with Active Directory for quick onboarding, transfers, and account management. You can also collect data from application and benefits forms, automatically send emails to managers, and integrate every workflow within the employee lifecycle. This freedom allows the people in HR do what they do best – work with people.
3. Data Extraction Automation
If you need to process large volumes of data, an RPA solution can bridge the gaps between your business applications or databases, making data processing easier. Leverage the power of data with bots that extract, manipulate, and utilize data from various sources, both on-premise and in the cloud. RPA software can integrate with web browsers, CSV files, databases, Microsoft Excel, and even email programs like Microsoft Exchange or Gmail. Use RPA software to swiftly build a workflow that reads a table in a database, summarizes the content, and writes the data to a second database table, merging it with other data if necessary along the way. This way, you can focus on analyzing your data, instead of wasting time sorting it.
4. Claim Processing Automation
Accuracy and speed are vital when processing claims. But claims can also involve a lot of paperwork, not to mention complex, error-prone workflows that can take a lot of time. Let Robotic Process Automation streamline every step in your claim processing workflow – processing forms, validating eligibility, sending notifications, and executing payments. Furthermore, the accuracy that a software robot offers can virtually eliminate all human errors, enabling you to process claims not only faster but more accurately.
5. Accounts Payable Automation
No one likes delayed payments. When suppliers need to be paid, you have to act efficiently and promptly, which can be a lot of pressure. RPA software can automatically process invoices as soon as they arrive – whether that's in your inbox or as a scanned form – extract the necessary data and manipulate it. You can also set up custom workflows to manage your organization's unique accounts payable workflows. Once you automate these processes, you improve accuracy and efficiency, ensuring everyone gets paid on time.
6. Call Center Automation
Call center representatives have one goal – to provide superior customer service. To achieve this, they need as much information as possible about each customer before even picking up the call. Do you have customer data located in multiple places? An RPA workflow can quickly access multiple systems (such as a CRM or ERP) to retrieve, analyze, and process order history and other data. Software robots can also automatically place orders, saving call center representatives from doing it manually. Save your call center representative's time by ensuring the information they need is readily available and by automating data entry, allowing them to focus on assisting customers.
In Conclusion
When getting started with RPA software, it's essential to have a solid RPA strategy and a well-thought-out roadmap. Pour your energy into streamlining one focus area and then expanding to other workflows and departments. If you're curious about the benefits of an RPA solution for your business, please contact us. We'd be happy to tell you more about the possibilities!