As the digital revolution marches on, there’s only a handful of technological advancements that can genuinely claim to be true game changers. There’s the internet, obviously. Its transformational effect on how we connect, communicate and access information is nothing short of revolutionary. 

And then there’s the rise of data and cloud computing. The ability to pluck information to personalise experiences and cross-pollinate in milliseconds from a repository that’s everywhere and nowhere is borderline magic.

Another is the proliferation of software. If you can dream it, it can be created. There’s few problems that software can’t solve.

And now, there’s another technology to add to the pantheon of game changers — Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

So, how do you know when your business is ready for automation? I’ve broken down some of the key questions to be asked and summarised the steps you need to take to get automation up and running.

Discovery time

In a nutshell, Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, is all about productivity. 

It doesn’t choose sides. It’s both process, department and industry agnostic and usually meets four basic task qualifiers.

If the task is highly repetitive, of high volume, rule-based, and prone to human error, you’re certainly in the ballpark. 

Not all of these are required at once, but the more you can tick off, the better the automation fit.

Then, there are seven points to consider in assessing if your business is automation ready:

1. Can the task be completed manually by a human sitting at a PC?
2. Does the business system you are entering data into or extracting data from lack an API and/or is the vendor expensive and slow if you want to establish or change an API schema?
3. Does the human worker perform that task more than once a week? The more time, more people, and more hours that go into the task, the stronger the need for automation.
4. Does it involve sensitive data? This is a critical point, as with sensitive data, there is always going to be a human element of risk. RPA bots are programmed to do what it is required to do — minimise the risk of inappropriate handling or errors. We’re only human, after all.
5. Does the task need to be completed quickly? Often, manual tasks are the bottleneck in completing a process, indirectly negatively impacting customer experience.
6. At a time when skilled labour shortages are a very real issue, manual tasks that could be automated suck up time and resources that could be better spent elsewhere.
7. Think about how you can improve employee engagement and satisfaction. Ideally, you want to automate the worst part of someone’s job if you can.

Start the process

It’s all about the business outcomes. Start at what is your most important objective and work backwards. 

For example, if the most important outcome is customer experience, then it is important to work backwards through the processes and identify any bottlenecks. These might be backend processes and things people don’t see and are not aware of. If a task in this process requires multiple screens to be open and manually copying and transferring content into another system — it could be ripe for automation.

Think of RPA being like a torch that can shine a light on your bad processes.

Build the business case

It’s important to identify enough use cases for system integration, no code integration, or RPA to get your business case off on the right foot. If you can package up RPA in a wider set of opportunities, you’ll also get a better bang for your buck.

In terms of ROI numbers, there’s scope to save millions of dollars if done correctly.

From our experience, one Cloudwerx customer has just saved 2100 man-days per year — the equivalent of $600,000 — by automating a process that previously took eight people to complete. 

On top of the financial benefit, this client had a shortage of staff, so they were able to redeploy these eight people to higher value activities and roles. 

Good growth

It’s hard to understate how much automation will continue to grow. It rightfully deserves its place as a true technology game changer.

And despite the doomsayers who lament its potential to cannibalise jobs for real people, the truth is it helps free up the tasks where humans are more needed. Think person to person contact, creativity and engineering. And that’s good for everyone, and the bottom line.

On that, one of our best humans at Cloudwerx is ready to talk to you about how robots can help your business reach new heights of productivity. Book a free scoping call with Chris Baldock today to understand if your business is ready for RPA.