RPA

Robotic process automation (RPA)

is an emerging form of clerical process automation technology based on the notion of software robots or artificial intelligence (AI) workers.*
While this description is accurate, we could discribe it in more spicific way. RPA is a generic tool using screen scraping and other technologies to create specialized agents which can automate clerical tasks. RPA is currently one of the most popular Artificial Intelligence application areas as it allows companies with legacy systems to automate their workflows. Companies are excited about RPA solutions because

WHY Companies are excited about RPA solutions?

  • Most large non-tech companies still rely on legacy systems
  • A large share of knowledge workers still complete automatable work using numerous systems including some legacy systems

    • RPA is a promising new development in business automation that offers a potential ROI of 30–200 percent—in the first year

    McKinsey

    RPA Types

    Programming options

    RPA bots need to be programmed and there are a few ways to program bots which involve trade-offs between complexity of bots and programming time

    Cognitive capabilities

    Programmed bots need to have cognitive capabilities to determine their actions based on inputs they gather from other systems. RPA tools provide a range of cognitive capabilities

    Usage

    Bots serve specific functions. Though most RPA tools can be used to build bots that serve all these functions, some tools are more optimized for attended or unattended automation. While unattended automation is batch-like background processes, in attended automation users, for example customer service reps, invoke bots like invoking macros.

    In our bank we have people doing work like robots. Tomorrow we will have robots behaving like people. It doesn’t matter if we as a bank will participate in these changes or not, it is going to happen.

    John Cryan, CEO of Deutsche Bank