RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is a technology integrated with Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation to work on the computer system as a human interacts with it. In RPA, human UI Interaction is done using Bots. A Bot is a program which work like a human with the system in order to perform repetitive task. Automating the Repetitive task saves time and money although it provides the accuracy which human cannot maintain by himself working on the same process. These Bots are easy to develop, train, organize and maintain. RPA provides easy integrations with different kind of Platforms and work in an efficient manner. RPA is suitable for every kind of business-like Aviation, Finance & Banking, Insurance, BPO, Telecom, Retail and Manufacturing. RPA focuses more on generating revenue that’s why most of the organizations are adhering RPA and focusing on the process where they can apply it.
It works well with the Traditional IT Infrastructure to automate them using cutting-edge RPA Technology. It reduces the manual Back Office effort and Employees can see the progress reports generated by the Bots and continue with their stuff. RPA will continue generating profit and will be the future of work which we are doing on systems. People will be doing value work rather than just doing their repetitive work.
There are three type of RPA Automation:
Attended Automation: – Attended Automation works where User interaction with the System is mandatory. In this case bot run on the user machine in a way so it can ask for any user input, any action or any other kind of trigger. This automation helps when the user want control on the automation and want to check manually the process outcomes. In attended automation User and Bot both take participation. This type of automation is required when there are challenges in some part of bot where Human intelligence is required and it can ensure the user to regulations and corporate policies.
Unattended Automation: – Unattended automation is a way where the automation works independently. It does not require any User interaction with the system. Bot can be scheduled and perform it tasks. There are several ways to store the output and monitor it at the end whenever user wants to check. Some examples of Unattended automation are to extract customer details and fill into the Database on daily basis.
Hybrid Automations: – Hybrid Automations are best of both. Large Organization can choose both type of automations in their environment and achieve their purpose. As RPA Bots are faster than a employee in the company and work 24/7. Using Attended and Unattended automation you can create bots which can work without intervention of human and the processes where Human intelligence is required that can come in Attended Automation. So, using both at the same type for different process is more efficient, more accurate and reduce cost.
Right now, there are numerous companies providing their tools for automation of repetitive Back Office work. Some of them which most of the Companies using are:
- UiPath
- Automation Anywhere
- And BluePrism
Work Fusion and Pega Systems are also having a good Market in automation Industry. Microsoft Power Automate which has launched recently is also giving competition to the other vendors.
Attached is the image from the report of Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant (Robotic Process Automation) which clearly describe the competition in Product Vendors in RPA.
All these Companies are working on their products to provide Digital Transformation using RPA Tools. All these Products provide basic RPA functionalities but differ in size of the Industry, Architecture and their cost. Here we are comparing UIPath, BluePrism and Automation Anywhere based on the Capabilities and other functionalities.
| Tools | Architecture | Coding | Cost | Intelligent Automation | Recorder | Industry | Reusable Code |
| UIPath | Web Based | Drag and Drop Functionality to develop Bots | Community Version – Lifetime Enterprise Version with 2 Month Trial | AI Fabric and other interesting features introduced | Yes | Small, Medium, Large | Marketplace available |
| BluePrism | Client Server | Little Coding Required | Trail for 1 Month | Intelligent Automation is introduced with Digital Workforce | No | Medium, Large | Digital Exchange |
| Automation Anywhere | Client Server | Drag and Drop Functionality available, Coding Knowledge will enhance the capability of developing Bots | Free Community Edition with limited capabilities 750 USD/Month for Starter Pack | IQBot is a feature of AA for Cognitive capabilities | Yes | Small, Medium, Large | Bot Store available |
RPA Technology is not just limited to automate a simple process. All the companies providing RPA tools are moving towards Intelligent Automation. By adding artificial intelligence and cognitive abilities to the RPA Bot it can do a lot more in the Industries. There are lot of business scenarios right now which is solved using RPA and Companies are generating revenue out of it. RPA can be integrated with Intelligent Character Recognition and Natural Language Processing to provide document processing for various use cases.
Be ready for the change that RPA will be providing in the near future and the work we do right now will not be the same. We will be more focusing on the value work rather than just typing on the keyboards with some repetitive work, Data Entry and all other business operation will be automated and Companies will focus more on Customer Satisfaction towards quality and offering Products.
