Basic RPA can be so inexpensive and easy to deploy that in most cases there’s little if any financial or business risk in experimenting with it. Pilot programs in which one, or a few, tasks are automated can be set up in a few days or weeks. These programs can provide useful learning opportunities as well as data you can use to build a business case for more robust "RPA plus" automation.
- Choose a few simple tasks to automate and see if their parameters fall within the capabilities of the RPA software you’re trying.
- Gather information about how much time each task takes, both individually and in aggregate across the business.
- Record the task steps using the RPA software.
- Make any updates to refine the script.
- Put the robot into production for a trial period.
- Measure results and analyze the impact on both the workflow and employees.
- Assess efficiency gains, time savings and quality improvement.
It’s important to recognize that many companies still have fewer than 10 bots in production. Barriers to being able to scale beyond pilots range from failure to identify best use cases to lack of the right controls. To gain the momentum needed to scale, start by showing business and operations teams what the bots are doing and the value they bring. Prioritizing an RPA pipeline for future bot needs that takes a whole process view is also key to getting the most out of the good decision to make RPA part of any automation toolkit.
You can try it right now here.