What do you mean when you speak about 'Robotic Processing Automation'?

'RPA' or 'Robotic Processing Automation' is here and one of the hottest new things in business. It is something that can approve efficiencies and cut significant expenses from an organisation in a quick amount of time.

So what exactly is RPA?  Professor Leslie Willcocks of the London School of Economics has expressed it this way:

“RPA takes the robot out of the human.  It deals with simple types of task. RPA takes away mainly physical tasks that don’t need knowledge, understanding or insight—the tasks that can be done by codifying rules and instructing the computer or the software to act.

The major benefit we found in the 16 case studies we undertook is a return on investment that varies between 30 and as much as 200 percent in the first year. But it’s wrong to look just at the short-term financial gains—particularly if those are simply a result of labour savings. That approach does not do justice to the power of the software because there are multiple business benefits.

For example, companies in highly-regulated industries such as insurance and banking are finding that automation is a cheap and fast way of applying superior capability to the problem of compliance. You also get better customer service because you’ve got more power in the process.”

Tracking along from this a recent PWC report on RPA which stated:

RPA is part of the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ because of the dramatic improvements it makes on operations processes:

• Runs at 33% of the cost of an offshore resource and 10% of an onshore resource;
• Reduces process time by up to 90%;
• Reduces error rate to almost nil;
• Strengthens risk and compliance control management;
• Improves customer advocacy, revenue and retention;
• Frees up personnel to provide personalised services  and manage  unstructured data.

Please be advised this is general information only, and is not to be taken as legal advice. If you would like more information, or have a legal query, please contact Abbott & Mourly directly.
Reviewed: 17/01/2024