Of Late many organisations have committed to Robotic Process Automation as an essential part of their Digital Transformation Strategy. Many organisation are now familiar with the bouquet of benefits which RPA offers and ready to take advantage of it. But, the most important question is how to make this journey successful. Let us understand 3 important things to consider before starting your RPA journey.

1.Evaluate the risks involved

• Wrong Process Selection

RPA is gradually gaining momentum day by day. However, when it comes to selecting and identifying the right processes for RPA, organizations are at risk because some operations are more suited for automation whereas some are not. Introducing a new technology and selecting the right process for the exercise requires a lot of thinking prior to implementation. However, as a thumb rule, processes that are rule-based, repetitive, and manual are more suited for RPA implementation.

• High dependency on RPA vendor

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is gaining acceptance especially in the finance and telecom organizations which are now highly dependent on RPA vendors, however there are plenty RPA failure stories too. A recent survey showed that more than 40% of RPA projects by vendors fail to deliver expectations.
Extensive evaluation of vendors and making the right vendor assessment can be a time-consuming effort. To choose an RPA software vendor, you must understand the RPA vendor landscape and compare it with other vendors to choose the most suitable vendor for your business.

• Incorrect approach/Lack of strategy

No wonder many organizations are accelerating the process of putting programs in place for implementing an RPA strategy and Intelligent Automation. However, organizations often lack a structured path to success. Some organizations have looked at their RPA strategy from a task-based perspective, rather than a process-centric and outcome-driven approach. In this scenario, automating a few tiresome tasks may not have any impact on your organization. However, automating a process goes a long way in making top-line and bottom-line impact.

2.Processes which are not a right fit for RPA

RPA is not suitable for a process which requires constant human supervision and involves decisionmaking at every step. As we know RPA is for those organizations which deals with high volume of data, data entry, payroll processing, accounts payable, KYC validation, etc. and most importantly which operates on a set of rules. RPA cannot help, if your process is not repetitive and does not work on fixed rules, as RPA mimics the humans to complete the tasks at a faster pace and without any error, it does not help in reengineering the process. So RPA is not well suited for a process which changes quite frequently and a process which has very low business impact in market and minimal benefits.

3.Build a CoE

Developing an RPA CoE is an essential step in establishing a foundation for automation in your business organization. Regardless of its task, a robot’s core job is to make the company’s vision come true. To realize this vision, a business organization should establish an internal and scalable RPA expertise to build, run and maintain the robots.Businesses must treat RPA as an enterprise capability setting, and must resist temptation to make quick wins by implementing automation silos that only bring short-term benefits. Main purpose of setting up a CoE should be implementing a robotic process which enhances the productivity and bring long-term benefits.