Rise of the Robots: Robotic Process Automation and the Age of the Digital Workforce

By Paul Taylor, Director, Office of CIO Services, SDLC Partners

We hear every day how CIOs and tech leaders want to strengthen ITs contributions to organizational growth and innovation.

Robotic process automation technology uses artificial intelligence to execute repetitive, rules-based, and back-end tasking. And, according to a 2017 report by the Everest Group, is on the cusp of experiencing “explosive” growth. Their report indicates that, in 2016, the RPA market grew 64 percent to $200 million and is expected to grow another 70 to 90 percent by 2018.

Based on our clientele, we see a few key areas (by industry) where RPA is cutting costs and delivering positive returns:

Healthcare: Electronic Medical Records, Care Management, Claims Processing, Grievances and Appeals

Finance & Banking: Loan and Mortgage Processing

Retail: Inventory Management

Pharmaceutical: Computer Systems Validation for Clinical Research

Essentially, anywhere that there is repeatable, high-volume processing driven by timeliness and accuracy pressures, RPA should be seriously considered.

While process automation is not new, organizations want ways to drive operational efficiency and execution excellence – to improve customer experience or free up workforce to innovate in new areas.

Recent improvements in user and application programming interfaces, coupled with the power of cognitive and artificial intelligence (AI), provides a next generation opportunity to improve process automation. It’s something the industry is calling Robotic Process Automation 2.0 – automation that no longer requires expensive development skillsets or integration architects.

Bill Gates sums it up nicely here:

“The First Rule of any technology used in business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” 

We take a lean startup approach to RPA as shown in the diagram below.  As you consider the potential areas where RPA may bring efficiency and streamline tasks, you can dive deeper into the five areas of our approach by reading our Point of View found at www.sdlcpartners.com.