As the market for RPA solutions continues to grow and evolve at an unstoppable pace, some important aspects emerge. In this section, we present 5 straightforward topics of importance for all clients, whether they are starting their journey in business automation or scaling an existing RPA solution.
The adoption of RPA with a systematic and intelligent approach
In the rush to adopt RPA solutions, many companies have embarked on this path without dedicating sufficient time to evaluate which software tools work best, considering infrastructure limitations or IT policies. Furthermore, adoption has not been accompanied by the creation of a systematic program, or a Center of Excellence, around RPA to guide process selection, robot development, and robot management. These tactical considerations are just as important, if not more so, than the automation of the processes themselves. It is crucial to assess whether the relevant stakeholders have embraced the initiative across the organization. A framework should exist to transition from the concept of automation to full implementation. The initial time invested in creating a robust governance model around RPA allows business users to scale effectively.
Increase in RPA providers
What started with a small group of RPA providers has exploded into a frenzy of mergers and acquisitions, not to mention partnerships and collaborations that are poised to take a slice of the RPA market. While these “marriages of convenience” may consolidate the market and reduce costs, they create more confusion when evaluating various RPA solutions. Fortunately, the trend toward providing a holistic solution (not just a point-task automation tool) that incorporates RPA as part of an automation toolkit will allow customers to tailor it to their needs.
We suggest you ask a potential RPA provider the following questions:
- What is your product roadmap?
- How are you shifting from an RPA approach to a comprehensive automation solution?
And what if the vendor you chose is acquired by another organization? This brings us to the next obstacle when evaluating RPA solutions.
Compare licensing models
The licensing model that most vendors adopt is a “per robot” or “per component” model, where customers are charged an annual fee for each robot in operation. However, in the future, more “flexible” licensing models will be adopted that allow customers to pay per use, measured by metrics such as time, volume of operations, etc. While this is a more intuitive and efficient model for the end customer, the journey to this point will cause confusion among vendors, who will be faced with licensing models as diverse as the companies offering them. It will not be easy to compare licensing agreements with each other, as each RPA vendor will have its own approach to pricing. The most important thing will be to understand exactly how each model works and the projected costs considering the volume of processes that will be run. Over time, this will become easier as M&A activity allows vendors to be grouped together.
Why RPA alone is not enough for process automation
While RPA provides automation of manual tasks, it may not be sufficient on its own. For a proof of concepts, a simple task automation capability may serve the purpose. However, as a company scales and applies automation to more business processes, it is clear that RPA alone will not be sufficient to meet the objectives. For example, what if the process you need to automate relies on multiple data formats? What if multiple input channels need to be used? Is there an active relationship between people and automation? All of this suggests the need to combine RPA with complementary capabilities such as capture, BPM and analytics. Taking a holistic approach to bundling these capabilities to automate business processes is called Intelligent Automation. From day one, it is critical to have an Intelligent Automation approach in place to avoid falling into the trap of applying RPA to all processes and then realizing (after the investment) that it was not the right thing to do.
Finance and accounting departments can be ideal candidates for “intelligent automation” since repetitive tasks and unstructured data are commonplace in these areas. The procure-to-pay process, particularly invoice automation, can benefit from these two types of automation. You can use RPA to extract invoice data from e-invoicing web portals. Then, an advanced Intelligent OCR capability recognizes the document, extracts and refines the information into a digital format, and RPA completes the process by moving these images to your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
Tailored to the customer; why is scalability essential?
Finding the right automation solution requires a conscientious approach and the involvement of the right stakeholders. Unfortunately, making the wrong decision at this juncture can lead to wasted investment, disappointment, and rejection of RPA, even though it could have driven ROI. The most important thing for a business investor is to adopt a platform that allows for scalability. The current scenario shows RPA with vendors trying to bolster their scalability message through external partners and alliances to fill technology gaps. Leading software vendors offer a intelligent automation platform, which groups RPA and complementary intelligent automation technologies into an integrated platform, customizable to your current and future needs.
SOURCE: https://www.kofax.com/blog/5-considerations-when-choosing-an-rpa-solution
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