How to Get Started with Robotic Process Automation in 5 Steps

July 8, 2019 – This contribution comes from Australia’s Mama Advertising, one of the first companies to develop search engine capability for the Internet going back to 1996. Recently the company reached out to 21st Century Tech blog with a number of article ideas that it felt would fit our readers’ interests. In looking at the content proposed I was intrigued by this treatment on robotics which adds to what is already written here on the subject. Automation sparks fear in so many who already see the nature of work becoming more precarious each decade. A recent article I read stated that automation would replace 30 million jobs in the next decade. If so, then it will likely be offset by many new job opportunities one hopes. In any case, the process to implement automation is described in what follows. Please let me know what you think.

Gone are the days when a company needed hundreds or even thousands of employees to do repetitive tasks such as packaging and other tedious jobs. Such jobs are tedious, time-consuming and boring since workers have to do the same thing over a long period of time. For this reason, the quantity and quality of output declines over time as fatigue sets in.

Unlike us, robots don’t need supervision, salary, rest, and other basic human needs. They can operate continuously with a high level of precision and accuracy and without compromising quality of output. Robots don’t tire and they won’t complain about heavy workloads. For manufacturers robots make it easier to estimate output accurately and meet targets on time. But bringing in robots requires organizations to take some necessary steps to achieve a successful robotic process automation, also known as RPA.

Step 1: Select the Right Process

The most important step in RPA implementation is to determine which operations in your business to automate. Most organizations have multiple departments with complex processes making it difficult to pinpoint what to automate first. Your organization might be in need of a simple robot to reduce redundancy or an advanced robot with intelligent automation capability. The only way to know what is best for you is to develop a framework which establishes the benefits of RPA without compromising business objectives. Consider the following when creating that RPA framework.

1. The labour resources needed to carry out long-running and repetitive tasks.
2. The ease of programming the system.
3. The ease of digitization of subcomponents and components.
4. The importance of automation in your organization.
5. The ability of automation to minimize errors and enhance user experience.
6. The challenges related to the automation process.
7. The workload to be processed by automating.

Step 2: Involve All Stakeholders

Automation is a sensitive topic when it comes to production. Most employees look at robots as an enemy wanting to take their jobs. The more elderly employees may not be willing to learn about new technology in the workplace and tend to stick to traditional ways of doing things. For top management, it is important to ensure that all board members are in agreement to adopt automation before proceeding.

The organization should hold a staff meeting to let all employees understand the purpose of automation: reducing redundancy, increasing efficiency and maximizing profits.

If implementing RPA means taking an employee’s job, some employees can be retrained to operate the robotic system while the rest can be shifted to other departments where automation is not planned. This ensures people don’t lose jobs, minimizes work stoppages, sabotage, lawsuits, and other potential human resource problems. Any challenges related to the new system should be addressed immediately to minimize impacts on operations.

Step 3: Select The Vendor

Make the right of RPA vendors that fits your business and organizational model. The technical know-how, resources to carry out research, customer support and commitment can vary from one RPA vendor to another.

When selecting choose a vendor with experience in automating a wide range of business processes. According to CiGen, most organizations experience a common set of processes and functions which can be automated. For example, you can automate sales, finance, payroll, and other repetitive tasks.

Reputable RPA specialists can quickly fix automation issues that you might experience during implementation and operational phases. They have highly skilled personnel to help test the system before it goes operational. 

Here are some of the things you should consider when selecting a vendor.

1. The total cost and time needed for RPA set up.
2. The scalability of the RPA.
3. The data privacy and encryption algorithms required.
4. A capability to detect data breaches and errors.
5. Availability of RPA performance monitoring.
6. The ability to upgrade the RPA easily.

Step 4: Implement the System

The automation team should come up with guiding principles to govern the implementation and operation. All requirements needed should be identified.

Once all previous steps have been taken, select an implementation partner. This can be someone on staff or an RPA vendor. The partner should be highly skilled to avoid errors in implementation. The partner should lead the team in coming up with a process map to indicate all the sections requiring automation and how the robots will work within each targeted section.

The RPA vendor should then program the robots to function as expected, and once complete, test them to ascertain if the process is successful. If errors are detected, the RPA vendor and automation team can work together to fix outstanding issues. Once everything is working in test mode, it is necessary to develop a fallback plan to keep the organization running in case of robot failure. At this point, a full pilot program can begin to further test and ensure operational requirements are met. During the pilot, it is important to check outputs from the robots randomly to see if they are meeting operational standards. If system errors are detected, the automation process should be stopped to work out problem fixes. Only then should the robots go live.

Step 5: Monitor Performance

At this point, your organization should have in place performance indicators to measure the success of the implementation.

What are some of these?

1. Reduced processing time
2. Increased accuracy
3. Increased productivity
4. Reduced wastage of raw materials
5. Better quality output
6. Better compliance with the set regulations

If all of the above steps have been taken, and all indicators listed above are positive, then you have implemented an RPA successfully and minimally disrupted your workforce. Your initial cost of implementation may be high, but once running you should reap the benefits in terms of revenue growth and improvements to the bottom line.