There's a lot of talk about the rise of robots in the workplace these days. No, you're not in a Sci-Fi movie. The robots we're talking about are software robots, built using Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
What is a Software Robot?
To be honest, the term 'robot' is simply a new name for an already familiar concept. Software robots, or bots, usually refer to what we used to call 'Agents'. Individual devices that run automation solutions. A robot can be installed on a PC, on a physical server, or on a virtual machine.
Bots are excellent employees. They don't make mistakes, they don't go home at the end of the day, and they don't take vacations. They're fine with performing 'robotic' tasks that your human employees find dull, and when you need extra help, new robots can be added within minutes (or you can adjust existing bots to implement new tasks in the workflow). Off-season, you might want to scale down, where you can simply stop some robots without having to fire human staff.
As software robots are becoming more popular, there may be some fear spread about robots taking your job. In reality, Robotic Process Automation offers better opportunities for your human staff by taking over tedious, manual, repetitive tasks, freeing up more time to add value to your business.
Which Processes Can Software Robots Automate?
A significant advantage of Robotic Process Automation is its flexibility. If you have a repetitive process, whether it spans multiple systems or needs to use if/then logic, your digital workforce of software robots can handle it easily. In some cases, it's better to automate a process from start to finish entirely. In other situations, your robots can work alongside your human staff.
While RPA can be implemented in almost every part of a business, there are several areas where software robots can make a significant difference in operations.
Here are the top 7 software robots to consider for your business:
1. Website interaction bot
The internet is supposed to make our lives easier, but sometimes it can create a mountain of work. If you have human employees (or risky custom scripts) that need to perform repetitive web tasks, such as logging into a website to upload files or collecting data from various sites daily, seek help from a robot!
2. Data Management bot
Data is crucial in running a modern business, but many companies struggle with all the manual work required to manage the collected data. A data management robot can collect, manipulate and utilise data from various sources. Get support from a digital employee for tasks like entering data to run various reports or extracting information from PDF files.
3. IT service bot
IT services need human employees for their problem-solving skills and communication abilities. Software robots prevent them from being overwhelmed by many simple repetitive tasks.
4. Human Resources bot
Human Resources (HR) staff are about people--recruiting, training, and ensuring they're successful in your business. But unfortunately, well-trained HR staff often spend their days dealing with an overload of paperwork instead of recruiting and training your staff. Software Robots can assist HR throughout the entire work cycle of employees, freeing up the HR team to do what they do best: work with people.
5. Claims processing bot
Claims processing is an area fraught with paperwork and complicated workflows. Let your software robots streamline every step in your existing process, process incoming forms, send notifications, payments, and more.
6. Accounts Payable bot
Almost every company deals with sending and receiving invoices. Software robots can be set up to automatically process invoices as soon as they arrive, whether electronically or by mail. The robots will never lose a file or make calculation errors.
7. Call center bot
The best call center customer service will always be provided by human employees, but they often struggle with quickly obtaining customer data and order information from various systems and making updates on the fly. A digital workforce of RPA bots that can access and update the data assists your human employees in providing the best possible customer service.
These Robotic Process Automation examples are just the beginning of what Software Robots can mean for your business.