Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is helping to change the normal processes of many businesses today. It can change and improve the way a business operates, and it provides companies with a range of possibilities. When used properly, it can help to increase efficiency in your business. It’s commonly used in the finance field, but it can work quite well in other industries, too. Before learning when and how to use RPA, it’s important to get a firm understanding of what it is.
What is Robotic Process Automation?
RPA is a type of software technology that helps to make it possible to build, deploy, and manage software robots. These robots will perform actions like a human, and can interact with software and a range of digital systems. Quality RPA software can understand what’s happening on a screen, navigate through systems, find and gather data, complete keystrokes, and more. It can do the same sorts of things that humans can do. However, it does it faster and with unerring accuracy.
How Can RPA Benefit Finance?
Adding RPA in the finance department can help to reduce the need for humans to handle many of the common, mundane tasks. The RPA can handle these types of tasks, reducing the need to hire more people and allowing your current employees to focus on other areas of their job. Check out some of the processes that could benefit from the use of robotic process automation.
- Customer On-Boarding – Typically, bringing a new customer on board will require going through a lot of documents and checking them manually. With RPA, the data can be taken from the KYC documents to automatically fill out the information.
- Opening Accounts – The RPA system can help to reduce the potential errors that might occur when someone is opening an account.
- KYC Documentation – This type of documentation tends to take a long time to complete, and it is a tedious job. RPA can automate the process by filling out the information.
- Generating Reports – Your team will no longer need to worry about generating reports for various accounts or activities. The RPA can read the reports automatically and provide them to you in a simple, structured format.
- Detecting Fraud – Fraud is often a problem in the finance industry, and it could be missed with a manual check. It might also be purposefully overlooked with a manual check. The RPA software can find fraud and even let you know before fraud happens.
- Loans – Another great way to use RPA in finance is for processing loans. The RPA can verify records automatically and can then provide the proper amount for the loan. It has the potential to help speed up the process, which is good for your business and your customers.
These are just some of the ways that RPA could help various types of financial institutions. It could also help with things like approval for credit cards, helping people to close their accounts, and even improving customer service.
When Should Your Company Consider RPA?
All businesses, even relatively small companies, have the potential to benefit from the use of RPA. However, you will want to be sure that it makes sense for your company currently. Whether you are running a business in the finance field, or another kind of business, it’s important to weigh the benefits of choosing RPA at this time. Do you have enough processes in your company that could make use of the tool? Will it help you to save money and time, so you can make up for the cost of implementation? Make sure it will make good financial sense for you.
Additionally, you should try to get a better sense of what your competitors are automating currently. Have they started to scale up their automation? Are they larger than you? Are they smaller? Take your time to ensure that using RPA is the right solution for your business now.
You also need to consider whether the tasks that you are considering having automated can truly be done without the human touch. For many of the repetitive, relatively simple tasks, this is possible. It’s also a good idea to use the system for any processes that could be tainted by human error. However, there could be other processes where human interaction is still a better solution. Choose RPA software that can help with the specific processes you require.
How to Implement RPA
Once you have identified the processes that you want the RPA to handle, you will need to make sure that management and the rest of the team buy into the idea of implementing the system. Look at the options and opportunities available through the various vendors offering these tools today. Make sure that you are choosing a company that has a good reputation and a great product. Check the price of implementation to ensure that it’s in line with what your company can afford.
The vendor can then provide the RPA and implement it into your business. Make sure that everyone who has to use the system knows and understands how to use it properly. In some cases, the vendor might offer training.
Robotic process automation is changing the world, and in the coming years, more and more businesses will get on board. Whether you are in finance or another field, you will likely start using these systems more frequently before long. It may be a good idea to learn more about how you can implement a good solution for your business right now.