How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Automation

Robotic process automation is typically used to streamline mundane and repetitive business processes to gain efficiency and free up workers’ time for more meaningful tasks. Tasks that can be accomplished using RPA run the gamut, from data entry and tracking orders to sending emails and making phone calls, to filing paperwork and sequencing basic mouse and keyboard operations.

The use cases keep expanding. RPA usage is projected to grow significantly in the next few years, with the market expected to expand at double digit rates through 2024, according to a Gartner report.

Apps Associates own subject matter expert, Preeti Lobo is quoted in this article.

Assess the Processes You Want to Automate

Bill Gates has been quoted as saying: “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

That’s a sentiment Preeti Lobo, practice director, business integration and automation at Apps Associates, agrees with. Issues tend to arise when companies do not thoroughly evaluate the processes they wish to automate.

“Organizations that implement RPA to automate inefficient processes will not realize the benefits of automation but, instead, further propagate inefficiencies,” Lobo said. “It is important for organizations to evaluate the processes/tasks that they intend to automate first and bounce them off a few rules.”

Among those, she lists:

• Is the existing manual process efficient?
• Has the process been performed manually for at least 6 months?
• Does the volume/frequency of the task make it a worthy case for automation?
• Is the task/process currently cumbersome?
• Does the process cause customer dissatisfaction or delays due to it being handled manually?

Read the full article here.

About Apps Associates:

Apps Associates is a premier enterprise application services leader with a customer-first focus, who for more than two decades, has helped organizations innovate through digital transformation initiatives. Customers such as Brooks Automation, Hologic Inc., Edwards Vacuum, and Take Two Interactive Software turn to Apps Associates for end-to-end strategic counsel, system integration and the services required to solve their most complex business challenges—applying expansive expertise in data and analytics, application modernization, automation, digital systems, technology and operations and change management. To learn more about how Apps Associates can help align your business with the right technology, visit: www.appsassociates.com, or follow Apps Associates on social media on Twitter and LinkedIn.