In today’s business world Automation is going everywhere and it becomes a hot topic. With automation, organization can significantly improve business response time, efficiency, accuracy and reduce man hours spent on mundane repetitive tasks. Automation is universal and can be applied in any vertical or industry.
You may tempt to automate every other process, but it’s good to have a plan to do it right the very first time and to make the best use of time and resources needed to implement automation.
Below are the tips for successful Robotic Process Automation:
-
Understand the Process Completely which you are Automating
We must completely understand the process before planning for any process automation. One should not automate the process with half knowledge. We must identify, evaluate and document processes, then validate and test those to ensure that they deliver the desired results after automation.
Once defined, processes must have a life. They can’t just be captured and documented; Process should be actively used, dynamically refined, and updated and automated – then evaluated and continuously updated over the life of the process.Organizations follow tasks to ensure that they adopt best practices for the processes such as:- Provide oversight
- Review and validate method
- Optimize tooling consistency and consolidation
- Document and test before production
- Recommend refinements
- Retire automated processes
-
Lack of Documentation for Existing Process
Start establishing a process documentation culture, starting with standard and repetitive processes. Getting started is an intricate part. Just get the things on paper, though they are not perfect. Focus on routine tasks that are highly repetitive and prioritize business outcomes, and will positively affect the business. Leaders should formalize process documentation and automation expectations and make them part of job descriptions, reward structures, and compensation models.Organizations follow following tasks to ensure the best practices for the documentation.
- Start documenting the standard processes.
- Provide a process documentation capability to capture and record initial process concepts.
- Provide templates to establish common standards for documentation.
- Establish shared repositories to document workflows.
- Establish a process review team or committee to evaluate and peer review recommended process before automation.
-
Help Your Team in Adopting Automation
The people who are working on manual processes must be very busy with their routine work. Introducing automation may fear the loss of personal identity and designation in the organization.
Adopting automation should include a focus on efficiency gain. We should focus on the business outcome and implement end-to-end metrics to track and communicate progress. Align performance metrics, recognition and compensation systems to drive and reward desired behavior when results improve.
- Shortage of Robotic Process Automation People and Skills
Automation tool vendors continue to add process definition and automation capabilities to management, monitoring, and support tools. These automation tools are used by functional specialists to simplify day-to-day activities within their areas of specialty. These automation tools are developed to improve speed and agility and helps in focusing on the application lifecycle, from development to test to production. In many situations, these tools have a programmability orientation, with generous support for integration and logging.
-
Need to Focus on Specific Objectives
The objective of any automation project must be clear. We should document and communicate the primary objective and manage to success milestones.
Managers need to ensure that all stakeholders are on the same page, with a clear understanding of the technical and business benefits.
Need to define a specific set of milestones with measurable objectives. Do the right things first. Set and manage expectations, then communicate regularly and often.
-
Automate Incrementally and Prioritize
Start automation by creating a list of what measures will have the impact on business and then prioritize by how much effort and risk involved in implementing automation. Automation takes a lot of time and resources, both of which you will recover if you do it right.
-
Think of Long-term Solution
While going for automation one must consider for long-term solution. The tool should be flexible to grow and adapt to future changes in your application.
- First, you need to find Ready-Made Solutions
Many tools have ready adaptors available which we can use directly for automation. So research on available things before decides to develop your own automation which will save your time and money. - Plan Ahead for the Switch to Automation
We must do things manually and then switch to automation because you understand the domain better. When you’re building a new product, be careful about the number of tasks you automate. You may have to revert it.
-
Calculate ROI of Automation
We have to estimate the time and cost savings that automating a process will give and compare to the time and cost required to automate that process. Make sure to prioritize automating the processes that will save the most time and have the greatest ROI.
Conclusion: RPA works its magic only when implemented smartly
Even though businesses across industries are all set to adopt RPA globally, there are still many of them who fear making the move. RPA is surrounded by many misconceptions, which compels it to fail. Remember, RPA can turn to be a phenomenal tool for businesses as it boosts efficiency and productivity. However, the process strongly demands heavy investment in planning and maintenance.
Don’t miss out on these tips before introducing bots in your processes, to experience the true benefits of a successful RPA implementation with minimized risks and maximized success.
If you are evaluating RPA tools for your organization, don’t miss this RPA Buyer’s Guide with evaluation criteria.