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WHITE PAPER

Robotic process automation gives a smarter future to business process services by automating routine tasks.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) A Futuristic Robotic Solution for the Business Needs

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Executive Summary

Automation in today’s outsourcing industry is the most effective

and much pursued means of bringing innovation in any process.

The primary objective of using robots in outsourcing industry is to

carry out the business processes that would normally be done by

human beings. Robots are most suitable for the processes which

are repetitive and rule-based.

Major benefits of process automation by robots include:

More cost-effective than offshore FTEs (full-time

employees)

Flawless performance of repetitive tasks

They can execute tasks around the clock and at the fraction

of a second

They make gathering and organizing data easier, so a

company can easily predict outcomes and optimize their

processes.

This white paper explains why robotic process automation (RPA)

is important and how it helps service providers effectively

manage business processes.

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‘Robotic Process Automation’

refers to the use of sophisticated

computer software to automate

rule-based processes without the

need for constant human

supervision

“RPA: The future” – changes outsourcing strategies

Robotic process automation (RPA) is the application of technology

that allows employees in a company to configure computer software

or a “robot” to capture and interpret existing applications for

processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering

responses and communicating with other applications.

Due to the dynamic nature of the telecom industry there is

always the need for newer and better processes which

invariably lead to processes with multiple touch points and

manual interventions. Most of the companies who adopt

outsourcing as critical strategy face this problem. Emergence of

RPA marks a significant watershed in changing the dynamics of

outsourcing.

RPA helps global companies drive greater levels of productivity and

accuracy, thereby improving their competitive advantage.

Where to Implement RPA?

Before deploying RPA, identify right

areas for automation and build a

business case for them. Today,

Prodapt’s RPA helps multiple

processes with high-volume,

repetitive tasks with many

validation rules; Figure-1 gives some

of such tasks:

Apart from cost savings, RPA gives

significant improvement in the areas

such as Cycle time, accuracy,

reporting & analytics, and controls.

A 2014 survey reports, robotic automation tools are up to 65% less expensive than

offshore full-time employees (FTEs). Therefore, not surprisingly, industry analysts are

looking at RPA to transform the global outsourcing industry, and disrupt the

traditional BPO business model.

“

Figure - 1

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RULE BASED PROCESS

REPORTING & ANALYTICS

EMAIL TRIGERRING & ESCALATION

FILE TRANSFER TO FTP/WEB

DUAL DATA ENTRY SCENARIOS

AUTOMATIC FORM FILLING

RPA is possible in decision based tasks provided the rules driving

those decisions are well laid out.

RPA provides systematic reports by deconstructing available

data into structured reports, in order to give diverse insights on

how businesses are performing.

This further helps in exploring data by dissecting and extracting

significant perception, which can be used to better understand

and improve business performance

Processes wherein reports are sent through email to multiple

stakeholders are generally rule based; RPA offers as the best

substitute in doing these tasks without any human intervention.

RPA can help in interacting with different system to extract data

and upload it into FTP/Web since these are common rule based

scenarios.

Process which requires data entry in multiple systems/applications

with the same data, RPA replaces dual entry effort and automatically

updates multiple system/application in fraction of time

Request received from various customer portals must be entered in

customer order entry system. If the input is clean and the rules are

well laid out, it can be performed through RPA

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How RPA Works?

RPA works by capturing and interpreting actions

from existing applications for processing an

order, manipulating data, triggering responses,

and communicating with other applications.

Screen scraping (screen capture) and scripting

are a couple of techniques that provide us with

minimal human interaction and thus enable

mistake proofing, automated work allocation,

and responses.

For instance, RPA performs task by interacting

with various client applications, fetching order

details and validates them based on certain pre-

defined rules. Subsequently, it also updates data

set into different application to complete the

transaction. Thereby significantly improves cycle

time and accuracy of data. It also provides

structured reports, data analytics and controls.

The below figure explains how RPA typically

works.

RPA Limitations

RPA has certain limitations which are listed below:

Non-Digitial Input Types: RPA products can’t

read/extract data from images without using extraction

software to extract data.

Improper input format: Process which receives

multiple formats from different vendors with improper

structure can’t be handled through RPA.

Reading unstructured emails: Data arriving as an

unstructured/unformatteed emails needs human

intervention where RPA product can’t help.

Figure - 2

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Exception handling & research: Processes which require human

intervention due to exceptional scenarios such as judgement/research

based decision making are not suitable for RPA

Benefits of RPA Implementation

Robotic process automation (RPA) applies specific technologies to

automate routine, standardized tasks. By freeing human employees

from these mundane tasks to allowing themselves to core business

objectives, RPA offers a number of compelling benefits to the

workplace:

Lower Cost

Robotic Process automation creates a 25%-50% cost savings. Process

automation enables 24/7/365 execution at a fraction of the cost of

human equivalents. A software robot can cost as little as one-third

the price of an offshore full-time employee (FTE) and as little as one-

fifth the price of an onshore FTE.

Higher Efficiency

RPA offers an improved service delivery model by

increasing production and accuracy, reducing cycle times

and decreasing the need for ongoing training. Unlike

humans, robots can work 24 hours a day, seven days a

week. Typically, one robot can do the work of two to five

FTEs.

Advanced Analytics

Process automation makes gathering and organizing data easier so a

company can predict future outcomes and optimize their processes.

The analysis determines areas of improvement, and the improved

processes, in turn, produce more specific data that allows for further

improvement of operations and higher levels of efficiency.

Greater Performance & Quality

Out of every 100 steps, a human is likely to make 10 errors,

even when carrying out somewhat redundant work.

Robots are trustworthy, consistent and tireless. They can

perform the same task the same way every time without

error or fraudulence. RPA optimizes capabilities that grow

organizational capacity.

USE CASE: An order entry process takes an

average of 20 minutes to complete an order.

Deploying RPA helped in completing the order

entry process in one-third the time.

USE CASE: Deploying RPA in a fulfilment

process resulted in significant improvement of

process accuracy by consistently achieving

above 99% for the past one year.

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Conclusion

Robotic process automation is a significant evolution in business

process services. Apart from improved cost-effectiveness,

productivity, and operational efficiency, it also enables enhanced

data quality and an improved control environment.

The outsourcing industry will see RPA playing a major role in the

foreseeable future, whether it’s eliminating manual processing

altogether in favour of “straight-through” processing or advancing to

smart robotics with artificial intelligence built in.

About the Author

Prakash Ramakaimal is the Vice President at

Prodapt, and he heads the Business Process

Services division. An ex-serviceman, Prakash went

on to become a renowned consultant, speaker,

and lean practitioner in the telecom industry. He

is a Six Sigma Black Belt and lean-trained telecom

professional with over 20 years of process

experience.

Prakash’s critical skills include service delivery, business strategy

development, large program management, business transformation,

outsourcing, vendor management, etc.

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