There’s a lot of discussion around the future of our workplace - especially as we teeter on the brink of a severe global recession that has the potential to compare to the 1930s Great Depression.

Yet negativity (and social distancing) aside, our workplaces are all moving towards one unifying factor: Automation.

In our never-ending quest to finish tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible, companies are adopting more ways to automate their processes. The latest, most impressive software advancement is Robotic Process Automation. RPA for short.

What is RPA in simple terms?

RPA is a software that uses artificial intelligence to mimic a lot of human user actions. This means that the robots, using advanced machine learning algorithms, can log into applications, move files or folders around, extract relevant data and even fill in forms on behalf of their master - I mean service provider. 

They are perfect for businesses who want to hand off on high-volume, repetitive tasks that previously your poor intern or junior person had to handle. 

How can you use RPA?

Currently, this technology is broken up into three broad areas:

1. Probots: This robot follows basic programming geared towards simple, repetitive tasks that follow repeating rules to process data entry. 
2. Knowbots: A knowbot collects and stores specific information from the internet. If you want to know what customers your competitors have (those that are public), a knowbot can scrape their website for any hidden information to the human eye.
3. Chatbots: This is the most complex RPA concept - but one you’ve probably interacted with before Chatbots read and process users’ words and give an instant, pre-programmed answer. Business owners can set up a chatbot to answer common queries their business gets on a daily basis, and they’re smart enough to remember users’ preferences as well as learn from past questions and answers.

Why should you care about RPA

Great, so tech companies are using fancy artificial intelligence programs, what does that mean for the regular business owner?

A lot actually.

A recent Gartner report predicts that the RPA market will reach $5B by 2024. This is because of the widespread adoption of RPA software by not just large tech firms, but SMEs and startups in almost any sector.  And the results are promising. There is the possibility of a 30-200% increase in ROI in the first year.

People are cottoning on to the fact that an initial investment in RPA software can improve their work output, streamline tedious administration work, and increase the amount of money saved by removing staff from mundane work and allowing them to focus on growth and opportunity. 

Benefits of RPA in your workplace RPA can help organisations undergo a digital transformation by

• Using chatbots to enable faster, better customer service
• Ensuring your business meets industry-specific processes and regulations, every time, with no human error
• Helping automate and digitise audits or other financial data-heavy tasks
• Cut costs on simple tasks
• Empower your employees not just to be more productive but to have more ownership 

RPA is a promising development in business automation that could make the difference between just scraping by in current economic conditions, and thriving on the other side.

Whether you’re in accounting, customer service, financial services, healthcare or logistics, there are case studies detailing the importance of RPA in business. By learning to embrace the latest digital trend, it will set you apart from your industry peers. 

Exit Advisory Group will be bringing new technology solutions to our clients, helping business owners:

• Free up their time to start focusing on the high-value aspects of their business and delegating the manual and repetitive tasks to automation
• Get their team working more efficiently and focusing on income-generating strategies rather than time sucking tasks 
• Save money by reducing overhead and administration costs and hence adding more to the bottom line
• Improve lead generation, marketing, sales, admin and accounting processes.

If you’d like to learn more about how your business can adopt Robotic Process Automation, get in touch.