The robots are coming; actually, they are already here. According to Wikipedia, Robotic Process Automation, or RPA, is “a form of business process automation technology based on metaphorical software robots or on artificial intelligence / digital workers.” Sounds sort of nebulous, right?

RPA is the exact kind of labor innovation that has propelled humanity forward for generations.  Our marvelous brains are made for more than filling in data fields, or mind-numbing, repetitive tasks.  We have also found a way to evolve beyond the human in “human error”. 

Keeping Up With the Joneses

First things first: Listen to the experts.  Approximately 98% of IT leaders say automating business processes is vital to driving business benefits.  This is a similar revolution to Ford’s assembly line – we have found a way to accomplish more labor in less time, with virtually no mistakes.  It’s the easiest win imaginable. 

Deloitte reports that if this growth trend continues, RPA will achieve “near universal adoption” within the next three years. Will your brand be playing catch-up? Technology is not a world in which you want to be last to know. More than 90% of C-level executives report some level of intelligent automation already exists within their organizations.

Those same execs also report their organization performs well above average in managing organizational change in response to emerging business trends. Not only will RPA help get your house in order, but it will also gird you for future battles.

Don’t Follow. Lead.

As organizations progress in their adoption of RPA, they tend to become more ambitious with cognitive technologies. Nearly 30% of those implementing and scaling RPA are also implementing cognitive automation, while only 6% of those that have not implemented RPA are progressing with cognitive automation.   

Let’s talk dollars and cents, though.  The overwhelming majority of companies deploying RPA see an ROI in the first 12 months.  An excellent case study can be found with a Turkish appliance retailer.  After identifying 85 processed that could benefit from RPA, the brand went all-in.  They’ve seen an 82% reduction in time spent on tasks, a nearly 96% running success rate, and over 125,000 working hours saved each year. 

And now for the big one: Robotic Process Automation saved this one small company $1.1M annually.  What are you waiting for? 

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