Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is process automation that is server-based and combines process steps with decision models or business rules with little to no human oversight. It is typically applied to high-volume transactional processes with limited variation and clearly outlined business rules or decision models.
Top 10 Best Practices for RPA
RPA provides huge benefits for some organizations; however, establishing governance, identifying key capabilities and skillsets, and measuring the effectiveness of RPA remain challenges for even the most advanced organizations. To help organizations overcome those challenges, APQC conducted research to identify trends and best practices in RPA.
Through the research, APQC identified 10 best practices for robotic process automation:
- Integrate process automation into your improvement team’s toolkit.
- Clearly establish roles and responsibilities between IT, process management, and the business from the outset.
- Partner RPA teams with HR to create a proactive plan for displaced employees or to reallocate full-time employee (FTE) hours.
- Use a senior-level steering committee to ensure equitable and strategic use of RPA.
- Use internal resources like risk management or legal early on to mitigate potential risks.
- Use a mix of process, technical feasibility, and value selection criteria to identify the best-fit processes for automation.
- Use process discovery and optimization to reduce rework on bots.
- Make the business responsible for ongoing management of bots once they are in production.
- Use training, success stories, and communications to demystify RPA and reduce organizational resistance.
- Do not rely solely on volume measures to track program success.
Picking the Right Criteria for Process Automation
Process automation has nearly limitless potential as a means of improving efficiency, reducing errors, and saving time and money. However, most organizations have neither the ability nor the need to automate themselves fully; instead, they must be selective about where they focus their automation efforts. This selection process should not be arbitrary.
Using selection criteria to determine which processes to automate is helpful in several ways. First, criteria help ensure that process automation aligns with organizational strategy. This is essential for the long-term sustainability of an automated effort. Second, criteria are useful for determining which processes offer the best combination of return on investment and feasibility, both of which are crucial for the continued success of automation.
Based on APQC research, not all organizations use criteria to determine which processes should be automated. Among organizations that report using criteria to determine which processes get automated (41% of organizations surveyed), here are the top 5 criteria:
- Number of repetitive manual tasks and activities
- Potential cost savings
- Categorical nature of the process
- Frequency of occurrence
- Efficiency or accuracy
RPA Trends in 2024
We recently concluded our Digital and Its Role in Process survey. With over 400 responses, I was able to dig into the data in the past couple weeks and discover how and where organizations are devoting their efforts in RPA:
- 37% of organizations are investing in or plan to invest in RPA in the next 18 months.
- Only 13% of organizations are currently operating with RPA, while 15% are currently implementing, and an additional 15% are piloting the use of RPA.
- Organizations primarily focus on increasing cost savings and customer satisfaction as criteria to determine which process should be automated.
To learn more, join me for an upcoming webinar, Digital and Its Role in Process, taking place April 11 at 11:00 a.m. CT.