For a full RPA Process Example on Mortgage Customer Application Forms.
RPA improves efficiency by Faster Task Completion with greater accuracy and removed reworks which shortens the time to deliver to customer, providing greater customer satisfaction and increased chance of winning the customer when completing with a competitor.
RPA may also enable greater output per work case, as the human knowledge and critical thinking can be applied to more value adding tasks, leaving RPA to handle the basic non-value adding work. This provides a knock-on effect of improving organisational efficiency.
RPA may also provide the opportunity to improve output per case if the RPA is handling the routine part, and knowledge can be applied where it may not necessarily have the time under normal circumstances.
In summary RPA improves efficiency by Faster Task Completion, Reduced Errors and Higher Accuracy, Lower Operational Costs, Improved Compliance and Security, Scalability and Flexibility. Let’s expand on these topics with some real use case examples
RPA Improves Efficiency by Faster Task Completion
There is an argument that RPA bots execute repetitive tasks—like data entry, form submissions, and system updates—much faster than humans. This is true in the sense that once the robot has been trained or given the ideal process path, then it will follow the same process for each case/application etc.
However, there is one downside to be aware of on this topic in that the Robot may be limited to completing the task in the same time as a human on a case by case basis, for example if the human encounters systems issues such as delays in a system or screen loading the robot is going to encounter the same issues and therefore its speed will be limited.
However, over a day of processing, the robot is more likely to be efficient in that it can work the full working hours rather than requiring breaks, it can also run for extended hours, for example if the human can work 8-4, 9-5 or 10-6 as a choice, the robot can be set to run 8-6, without additional cost.
There is the scope for RPA robots to run for extended hours if required, though care must be taken process dependant, for example it is not effective practice for robots to be sending SMS messages throughout the night.
Organizations who have implemented RPA have reported 3x to 10x ROI within the first year and up to 30% cost reductions thanks to speed and automation.
RPA reduces Errors & increases accuracy.
As automated RPA Solutions follow predefined rules, this enables a perfect path to be identified and the solution follow this path, which means that each case will be processed error free.
RPA reduces Operational Costs
RPA should lower operating costs, automating manual tasks reduces labour costs and minimizes re-work caused by errors.
RPA is scalable & Flexible
Bots can be quickly scaled up during peak workloads without hiring additional staff. Ideal for industries with fluctuating demand (finance, logistics, healthcare).