For a startup business, streamlining various processes is a must. It helps ensure that you can deliver the goods or services your customer wants. On the other hand, it aids your team perform its duties more effectively.
One of the newest strategies for this purpose is robotic process automation. But how does it work exactly? And how can you get more from it with Virtua Solutions’ help? Let’s dive in and find out.
Understanding Robotic Process Automation
Despite its fancy-sounding name, you won’t work with physical robots in robotic process automation (RPA). Instead, it is a type of business process automation focusing on creating instructions for automated tools (bots) to perform. That is different from other process automation tools where the instructions are already pre-built off the shelf.
Image from Nikoyo.
The automation works by using rules-based software to define its actions. Your team can alter these rules to adapt the software to different tasks. Additionally, you can adjust the tool to handle large volumes of the same tasks better.
RPA mainly handles simple but repetitive tasks, such as copying files onto directories or ordering database entries. They also work well when dealing with everyday tasks that your team has to perform with a high degree of regularity. With these in place, your team can shift to other tasks that require their attention.
The Benefits Of Robotic Process Automation
With so many automation options available, you might wonder if RPA will indeed be the best option. For that, you need to know the different benefits that it offers. These benefits can significantly help your startup business when harnessed the right way.
Accelerating Productivity
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The first significant benefit of RPA is that it can significantly boost the productivity of your business. As mentioned earlier, the various repetitive tasks can sometimes take a large chunk of work time. By delegating these to automation, you can accelerate other processes and boost productivity levels.
Increased Accuracy
Another crucial factor with these repeating tasks is the precision they require. You might not notice it, but even a small human error can drastically affect the whole process. When implemented correctly, RPAs can lessen these errors and ensure that each iteration of the process is correct.
Tighten Data Security
As a consequence of the above, RPAs can also help you tighten your data security. It works by letting you control the security rules in these processes. You can specify the people who can access and use the data. This ensures that no bad actors can tamper with the process.
Extending The Life Cycle Of Legacy Systems
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Depending on the nature of your business, you might still be relying on older systems for some of your processes. RPAs can be handy for automating these systems, freeing your team. Additionally, you can use such tools to facilitate the transition from these older systems to new ones.
Determining When Your Startup Business Should Use RPAs
While RPAs are indeed great for improving your overall business workflow., it can only do so if you use it correctly. Here, the first step is determining which processes should be using it. For that, you need to consider the following four points.
- Is the process rules-based?
- Does it happen at regular intervals, or has a pre-defined trigger?
- Does the process have a defined input and output?
- Does it have sufficient volume?
These considerations will help you narrow down the tasks that would use an RPA. The first three determine whether the automation can run the given task. On the other hand, the fourth consideration determines whether it would be viable. Too low a volume and it might be more cost-effective to let human agents handle the work.
The Challenges RPAs Present For Your Startup Business
While they offer great benefits, robotic process automation also presents several challenges. These can affect how well your business integrates and implements such solutions within your workflow.
Difficulty Of Scaling
While RPAs are great for handling large volumes of repetitive tasks, they can be hard to scale. That is due to regulatory issues. For instance, regulations require a company have at least 100 bots running to qualify as an advanced program. However, depending on your processes, you might be running fewer than that.
Image from Spiceworks.
Another concern here is internal changes. If the team handling the bots is changed, you will often need to retrain the incoming team so that they can take over the work. On the other hand, such internal changes might also dissolve the RPA program itself.
Organization Culture
Another concern when implementing robotic process automation is how it will impact your organization. Here, you will likely see a shift in the roles your employees play. There might even be some roles that get cut out entirely.
Here, you should be ready to deal with such shifts. For instance, you need to create a program that helps team members fit into these new roles. That includes training them and providing tools to assist in fulfilling these roles.
Getting Help For Your Startup Business
While robotic process automation can do wonders for your startup business, you might need help getting it off the ground. Here, you can turn to Virtua Solutions for that assistance.
We can provide you with experts who will handle the different RPA-related roles. Most notable of these would be the people who will oversee the rules used by these automated tools. Our agents will ensure the rules are correct to ensure consistent output.
We will also help you bring in and implement new tools as needed. We will help with the initial setup and continued management of these tools. Our agents can also devise new strategies for better implementation.
When used correctly, RPA’s can give a lot of boost to your startup business. Virtua Solutions is ready to help you make this fast-growing technology an integral part of your business processes. Contact us today and let’s get started heading towards the future.