For #futurefridays let’s talk about RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and what will happen to it in 2020.
With all the rage about AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the Future of Work, people have been saying that RPA seems to have taken a back seat from all the action.
To the uninitiated, I’ll talk about the difference between RPA and AI.
So back to what will happen to RPA, in the recent past, people have been so afraid about RPA and that people would lose jobs because of it.
That was only for RPA. What more for AI? I guess people are, and were, just afraid of what they don’t know.
But now that people have become accustomed to having a “Digital Workforce” or software robots working alongside them, people’s thoughts have changed from fearing about job security, to scrutinizing where RPA falls short!
In my opinion, that’s a good thing, because we can now start doing innovations!
Here are some of the things I’ve heard people say about RPA lately:
- It’s becoming a band aid solution
- It can only do so much
- With AI coming in, let’s just set our sights on that
With that, I’d like to talk about each of those bullet points in detail.
I will share my thoughts based on my own experience, as well as where I think RPA will be going to next.
RPA is becoming a Band Aid Solution
Based on my experience, my short answer is Yes, and No. Let me explain.
RPA is considered a band aid solution because ideally the long term solution is for you to fix the systems and applications that RPA interacts with.
That is true IF the development of those tools and applications is within your control, meaning you have access to the source code, you have tech developers available, and you can customize it to suit your needs.
Usually if it’s a third-party application, if it’s not open source, there’s Intellectual Property involved so they will not give access to the source code for you to make changes to it.
In such scenarios, they can provide an API for you connect other systems and applications to their proprietary software.
If you can’t customize the source code, and there is no API available, you have no choice but to go through the User Interface, which is how human users do it.
And if everything you do on the User Interface is rules-based, with no human judgment required, that’s where RPA will shine, especially if the process involves touching more than one system or application for you to complete each task.
If you really want to do away with having BOTs, you might want to look at replacing your existing systems and applications with something that will suit your needs (and costs) better than having several applications and BOTs running at the same time.
RPA can only do so much
Ah, this is where I would have to agree, to a certain extent.
RPA, in its simplest form, is like an independent human user. Meaning it has its own computer (a server) and it can work independently on its own. So to be efficient at it, BOTs have typically been designed to operate in a “batch processing” fashion. Which means it cannot cater to the individual needs of every other human in your workforce.
So in 2020, it’s about time for people to embrace the innovations being done in RPA. And it’s not just AI.
Enter “Farm BOTs” and “Side BOTs.”
These things aren’t necessarily new innovations, but I don’t think companies have been taking advantage of them as much.
Farm BOTs: You know when there are seasonalities in your business, like volumes go up during Christmas season, or during summer, and you tend to hire temporary employees to help you manage the volume?
That’s the same concept behind Farm BOTs, but instead of for humans, it’s for your digital workforce.
That way, you save on costs, as you don’t need to have idle servers sitting around when volumes are low.
Side BOTs: You know how Iron Man talks to Jarvis and asks him to do certain computations to help Iron Man decide action to take do next?
That’s how Side BOTs operate, only they aren’t AI. They are still Robotic Process Automations that work on simple rules-based and calculations, but instead of sitting on a server, where you have to wait for the “batch processing,” they sit in your desktop, and you can call on them real time.
That way, you can simultaneously do rules-based tasks via the BOT, whole you do some thinking and/or work on human judgment based tasks.
With AI coming in, let’s just set our sights on that
If you’ve read this far, I guess you pretty much have an idea how RPA works, and how it will be improved further.
If you want my personal thoughts on this, I believe that RPA will not die. If anything, RPA and AI will actually compliment each other,where RPA will be foundational in automating routinary rules-based tasks, while AI will be used to manage some of the more complex work that are still being done by humans today, or even help humans achieve greater things that haven’t been done before.
Ending note
This post has been inspired by this article from Forbes.
If you want to read other articles I’ve shared about Automation, RPA, and AI, click here.
If you want to learn more about how to find automation opportunities, download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve your business process and take it to the next level.