As waves of digital transformation continue to shape the way businesses work across the globe, robotic process automation (RPA) has become a staple for those looking to digitize. From basic spreadsheets to fully automated employee onboarding, business transformation RPA software can help relieve employees of rote, repetitive tasks.
In this blog, we’ll look at robotic process automation for digital business transformation. Or in plain English: automations that will make your organization’s work more productive, more efficient, and more rewarding for everyone. So, what exactly is RPA, and how can it help you achieve your business transformation goals?
What is robotic process automation (RPA)?
RPA makes use of robotic programs, AKA ‘bots’, which can be programmed to carry out tasks in a software interface that would normally be done by a human. It is usually used in instances where a task is repetitive, but vital to operations, such as collecting data from various siloed spreadsheets.
This doesn’t just reduce the employee workload, it also reduces the risk of human error, improves accuracy, and can even help businesses ensure that they are compliant with data privacy regulations.
5 ways to transform your business with RPA
1 – Data mining
Data mining is the process of extracting useful data from your company’s vast data storage silos and using them to paint detailed, accurate pictures of:
- Customer behavior
- Product usage
- Employee engagement
- Sales figures across different regions
- Pretty much anything that is measured using digital datasets
Business transformation RPA is really the only viable way of conducting data mining, as manually trawling through spreadsheets is impossibly slow and has a high chance of fatigue-induced error for humans. Setting up an RPA bot to automatically converge certain incoming data into a single dashboard could help you identify opportunities within your business that you would otherwise have missed.
2 – Invoice processing
Invoice processing is one of many important tasks that finance departments undertake. An accidentally added zero could cause mayhem for your organization.
Business transformation RPA removes the chance of human error entirely and relieves finance employees from the rote task of editing, checking, and sending invoices. By setting up an RPA bot to match customers and orders and automatically draw up invoices, businesses can save time, increase accuracy, and avoid possible disasters.
3 – Employee onboarding
Automation isn’t reserved only for data mining and finance tasks. It can also have an impact on the human side of a business too. HR departments across the world use automation to help manage crucial areas of the business – an example of this can be found at the beginning of the employee journey.
The onboarding process usually consists of background checks, collecting payslip information, references, and more. This stage of the process doesn’t require human interaction, and therefore business transformation RPA can be used to speed it up and create smoother onboarding experiences. Implementing automation here also frees up time to focus on more pressing HR matters.
4 – Customer service
90% of customers rate an “immediate” response to customer service questions as essential or very important. For 60% of customers, that means ten minutes or less. But for organizations with large customer bases and small customer service teams, that magic ten-minute window is mere fantasy.
Chatbots are perhaps the most ubiquitous application of RPA. They can transform customer services by creating a kind of filter for your customer service team. Setting up a business transformation RPA chatbot that can respond to common customer queries can significantly reduce workload. The average deflection rate of a chatbot is 50%, meaning that your customer service team’s workload could be reduced by half.
5 – Customer information storage
Storing and handling data is a challenge for many businesses. With vast data sets and stringent data security regulations, keeping data secure and in good health is tricky.
RPA can be set up to anonymize data sets and carry out all-important data-health activities, such as deleting and archiving obsolete data. Many businesses now rely on RPA when dealing with customer data, as it allows for a higher level of accuracy and eliminates the need for a human interaction with sensitive data – creating a more secure ecosystem overall.
Automate robotic process automation for digital business transformation
No, that’s not a typo. You really can automate the automation process. Before you start building RPA automations to help various departments in your organization, you first need to identify where the issues lie. This can be easier said than done, as many processes are hidden within other programs and offline activities.
This stage of the automation strategy usually means manually mapping out processes across your business – which can be extremely time consuming. This leads many businesses to abandon projects altogether or simply make an educated guess on where to focus their RPA power. The “spray and pray” approach is rarely effective in process optimization and could even produce further issues for your organization.
That’s why we recommend finding a trustworthy automated process discovery partner. Automated process discovery software uses a combination of AI and RPA to monitor the way your organization works and identify inconsistencies and bottlenecks that can be optimized for more efficiency. If you didn’t think you had the time or resources to implement RPA, this could be the way forward.
Automated business transformation RPA with Nintex
Nintex is a trusted automation partner to many Fortune 500 companies, which use our software to continuously manage, automate, and optimize their processes. We offer market-leading RPA software and automated process discovery software, as well as other automation and process mapping programs to help you achieve process excellence.
To learn how our business transformation RPA can help your business start a 30 day trial today.
