Misconceptions about RPA in Shared Services

Manual tasks can be quite repetitive and tedious; therefore, corporations often find them inconvenient and a real burden on their employees. Robotic process automation (RPA) can highly automate procedures, allowing early adopters of Shared Services to save money while becoming more agile and competitive. Quality improves at the same time, allowing staff to focus on higher-level activities and analysis. There are some misconceptions about RPA though that we aim to clarify.

Where should all organizations begin in the shared service industry and what to expect from RPA?

Shared services companies should consider collaborating cross-functionally to establish a route ahead that benefits the business and its people. It is essential to define the journey both when they are considering RPA or launching a trial to assess its usefulness. Early on, developing a complete stakeholder management program may assist in securing buy-in, particularly from top management and IT stakeholders. Leaders of shared services should also double-check if RPA is being used on the correct processes and activities.

For RPA to be effective, these processes must have easily established rules and utilize digital data. Before bringing these robots into production, decisions on testing and monitoring them over huge data sets should be made. In reality, most companies introduce RPA into production one step at a time to ensure quality and user experience before expanding adoption.

With all that being said, there is still some fiction regarding RPA. Hence, misconceptions can prevent businesses from implementing RPA. 

•           RPA is a brand-new idea.

In fact, the notion of automation is not new. It has been used in shared services for decades. Cloud computing and other technological improvements, on the other hand, have allowed RPA to grow. While there is some benefit here, businesses should be conscious of the hype.

•           RPA is a once-and-done solution.

In fact, organizations must assist employees in adjusting to changes as they occur. It is the same thing with automation. You must assist the automation in adapting to changes in its surroundings over time.

•           RPA is a plug-and-play technology, according to fiction.

In reality, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a business-driven solution that necessitates high-level cooperation. The question of how to coordinate RPA between business and IT should be addressed right away.

•           Humans and robots are not always quick.

It could be quite the opposite. A robot can typically complete a sequence of activities at a fraction of the time it takes a person to do them, although this is not always the case. To get the most out of RPA, you need to know how to use it appropriately and how to manage expectations. Humans can swiftly make judgments on procedures and their exceptions, but robots may need to consider a wide range of criteria and circumstances before deciding on the best course of action. Furthermore, once organizations realize firsthand the potential of RPA, they tend to broaden the breadth and completeness of the work well beyond what people have previously been capable of. While the automation, in this case, is slower than a person, the original robot’s output is multiple times faster than the human’s results.

Most importantly, RPA is more than just a productivity booster and cost reduction. 

RPA’s real value comes when it is combined with cognitive approaches that mimic human decision-making. Predictive analytics, machine learning, and other models used for RPA are expected to have the most impact, providing the most value in terms of both managing back-office work and delivering higher-level insights. The next level of value is appropriately implementing and regulating RPA, as well as integrating the results with the expertise of skilled data scientists.

Nevertheless, before you start the RPA journey in shared services, there are some talent considerations.

While businesses can invest substantial time and money in RPA, its influence will be limited unless the culture is changed in ways that encourage business users to embrace it and truly grasp how to work with it. One of the most essential things shared services executives can do to assure success is to match business users and their expectations with the benefits of RPA. All in all, RPA automation is a crucial tool in shared service and it could be applied in many different ways which we are going to reveal in our next article.

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