Without a doubt, today’s companies put a lot of emphasis on efficiency. Businesses seek to improve productivity by leveraging efficiency, regardless of industry or market size. Adopting RPA (Robotic Process Automation) into business functions is one of the best ways to make business more responsive and leaner. The majority of companies depend on time-consuming, out-of-date, and redundant functions and processes like data entry and file access. Businesses that automate these processes save money and time in addition to increasing efficiency.
Bots are used in RPA tools to automate the repetitive tasks within an application that are usually performed by an organization’s employees. Programme logins, data copying and pasting, rearrangement of files and folders, filling out forms, and extracting structured and unstructured data from documents are all activities that RPA robots can imitate.
RPA is expected to be worth $2.9 billion by 2021, according to a recent Forrester study. RPA is a technical advancement for businesses because it effectively automates all workflows in a business. Robotic process automation, which fully removes the possibility of human error, can be used in industries of all sizes. Let’s have a look at some of the top RPA use-cases across industries.
Top RPA use cases across industries
RPA in banking industry
Incorporating RPA into a bank’s workflow reduces labor and operating costs. It also greatly decreases human errors and as well as helps the employees concentrate on more crucial tasks. RPA in banking sector reduces processing costs by 30 percent to 70 percent by reducing turnaround time (ClaySys). Organizations in the BFSI industry can leverage RPA in the below mentioned ways:
1. Automation of accounts payable processes
The traditional accounts payable method entails collecting invoices from vendors with the help of OCR (Optical Character Recognition), validating the data that is provided in the fields, and then processing the invoices. RPA automates the whole transaction and credits the money to the vendor’s account automatically. RPA also sends automatic alerts to customers, reminding them to provide necessary documentation and accurately processing account closure processes.
2. Processing credit cards and mortgages
RPA automates background checks and verification based on pre-defined rules and procedures, which speeds up the credit card dispatching process. Banks, including mortgage lenders, must conduct a number of background checks, including jobs and credit records. The implementation of RPA, which is based on well-defined algorithms, speeds up the entire process.
3. Detection of fraudulent activities
With the introduction of RPA, potential frauds may be detected ahead of time. With automation, banks are now able to recognise and flag accounts that are likely to pose a threat. As a result, banks such accounts are scrutinized and fraud investigations are initiated.
4. Improving customer service
RPA helps banks minimise processing time on everything from customer onboarding to checking customer information to account and loan inquiries. This aids banks in retaining and sustaining customer loyalty.
RPA is healthcare industry
Healthcare industries are prioritizing cost saving and productivity as two major benefits of RPA in healthcare industry, as the number of patients continues to grow exponentially. The following are some of the most popular applications of RPA applications in the healthcare sector:
1. Scheduling patient appointments
Patients can book appointments without the intervention of hospital staff thanks to the adoption of RPA technology. In addition to eliminating the need for resource allocation for scheduling, RPA can help boost customer relations by allowing patients to schedule appointments more quickly and efficiently.
2. Management of claims
Billing takes up enormous amounts of time after a healthcare service because of the manual and repetitive procedures involved in the claim management process. Input, compilation, and evaluation of records and data are all part of claim management. RPA-led claim management can minimize human errors during claim processing in addition to automating time-consuming tasks.
3. Regulatory compliance
RPA allows healthcare providers to monitor and record each stage of the compliance process in organized log files in order to meet external audit requirements. RPA improves data security since these processes are managed by bots.
RPA in information technology industry
In the IT industry, robotic process automation (RPA) is perfect for streamlining production processes and enhancing performance and effectiveness. Here are some of the use cases of RPA in the information technology industry:
1. Automation testing
It is a well-known fact that manual user testing takes time; however, with RPA, this approach can be streamlined, and bugs can be identified and corrected more efficiently.
2. Configuration
To create applications, apps, and websites, developers must write codes. RPA is ideal for configuring and setting up the coding environment for the first time.
3. Installation of tools
RPA can automate the process of installing tools on a system, which helps in saving time for employees.
RPA in media & entertainment industry
1. Content discovery
With relevant metadata, OTT companies can make their archived content more searchable, where title, episode name, and synopsis can be auto-extracted. Using RPA intelligently to deal with large quantities of structured and unstructured data using NLP, machine learning, and image processing, can help M&E companies explore relevant and specific keywords.
2. Content creation
The RPA bots can monitor online trends and generate a list of top and relevant posts automatically. The metadata updates can also be used to prepare content for subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) services. When RPA is combined with AI technologies, it gives birth to intelligent automation which can provide in-depth insights about new ways to create original content.
3. Customer service requests
As the network grows, so does the difficulty in dealing with more requests from a larger number of customers, who are becoming more knowledgeable of their rights to get their concerns resolved in a timely manner. RPA can automate customer service requests and provide efficient responses regardless the working hours.
4. Device activation
To meet consumer needs, media and entertainment companies must ensure that mobile and other digital devices can be activated quickly. RPA bots can effectively operate through multiple systems in parallel, reducing computer activation processing time from days to hours.
RPA in manufacturing industry
Manufacturing companies are increasingly adopting robotic process automation in their production units. Automation has resulted in a 40% reduction of operating costs in product assembly, quality control, packaging, and back-end processes (ClaySys). Here are some of the use cases of RPA in the manufacturing industry:
1. Management of inventory
RPA can be used in to manage the inventory by automating communications, digitising paperwork, and monitoring inventory levels and product demand.
2. Administration and reporting
One of the most significant benefits of RPA in manufacturing industry is that it can produce reliable production reports and provide a good picture of the situation. It facilitates efficient decision-making and a faster response to production demands.
3. Automation of bill of materials
The bill of materials, which includes a list of raw material required for manufacturing a new product, contains extensive details. Using RPA to create bill of materials speeds up the process while also ensuring accuracy and timeliness.
RPA in customer care
The customer service industry is one of the sectors that has embraced RPA in full swing. When dealing with rule-based redundant work, BPOs rely heavily on robotic process automation. The following are the various RPA use cases in customer care:
1. Lowering processing cost
According to a report by Accenture, average handling times are approximately reduced by up to 40%, and processing costs have been reduced by up to 80% when organizations use RPA effectively. By delegating repetitive tasks to these software bots, RPA implementation lowers operating costs. This aids businesses in boosting their ROI.
2. Automation of data exchange
Customer service representatives work in a data-driven environment. Customers’ critical data is collected, and insights are derived from it. RPA automates the whole process, allowing businesses to save time and money by providing better and quicker service to their customers.
3. Accurate workflows
Automated workflows are reliable and quick since they need very little human intervention. By delegating routine tasks to automated bots, only a small percentage of the workforce is involved in the process. This not only improves accuracy, but it also reduces operational costs and helps save time.
Conclusion
RPA software, according to Gartner, has been recognised as one of the fastest growing software segments in the last two years, with a growth rate of more than 60%, while the ‘overall enterprise software industry’ grew at just 13%. The COVID-19 disruption has had the most surprising impact on almost all industries, triggering a massive acceleration in RPA adoption. IT teams will need to change their strategies to keep up with the speed of RPA adoption across the company as the range of RPA technology expands.
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