Top 10 robotic process automation 
benefits, barriers, and adoption trends

Top 10 robotic process automation benefits, barriers, and adoption trends

March 22, 2023

The state of the robotic process automation market

Scheme title: Top AI capabilities embedded in products or business processes (in %)

Data source: mckinsey.com — The state of AI in 2022—and a half decade in review

Robotic process automation, empowered by AI technologies, has remained the leading AI-enabled solution organizations implement, followed by computer vision, natural language processing, virtual agents, and deep learning, according to McKinsey.

Scheme title: Proximity to an ideal organization, transformed by intelligent automation

Data source: deloitte.com — Automation with intelligence, 2022 Note: N = 341

74% of the latest Deloitte survey respondents are already implementing RPA. This number is supported by McKinsey research, stating that 70% of respondents are at least piloting automation technologies, up from 66% in 2020. Have they reached their ‘ideal’ automation transformation? Not yet, but they passed the midpoint in 2022. The organizations’ self-assessment scores surged from 4.41 out of 10 in 2020 to 5.04 out of 10 in 2022.

Top 10 RPA benefits

Will RPA implementation bring businesses a competitive advantage and significant financial gains? First, let's delve into the top capabilities unlocked by RPA adoption.

Reduced costs

The need to lower operational costs is one of the main driving factors for the RPA market. Robotic process automation technology has already proven the ability to cut the cost of a full-time offshore employee by half, according to ResearchAndMarkets. In addition, it has created a shift from labor arbitrage to lower labor costs from 25 to 40% in IT environments and other business processes. The study also highlighted that an RPA bot could substitute two to five employees and take up their workload, improving operational efficiency and reducing costs.

For example, Gartner estimates that the average amount of rework caused by human mistakes in accounting departments can take up to 30% of employees' overall working time. By deploying bots with a zero-error rate, it's possible to save 25,000 hours per year, which results in an $878,000 cost cut for a company with 40 full-time accountants.

Increased productivity

A significant increase in productivity is one of the main business benefits seen by companies investing in robotic process automation solutions. According to Protiviti's study, the share of the surveyed companies reporting moderate, large, or very large productivity growth ranged from 23% in energy utilities to 50% in the tech-media-telecommunications industries.

Similar achievements can be found in some of the case studies by UiPath, our partner and leader in RPA implementation. For example, a Swiss HR service provider automated 90% of customers' payroll change request processing and data entry into corporate systems via software robots. This initiative reduced processing times by 85%, while manual effort dropped to 25%. UiPath also reported that a global IT company sped up their onboarding process by about 10 times: when handled manually, setting up new hires took half an hour, while RPA bots can do the same in 3 minutes.

Improved accuracy

Typical clerical activities can be repetitive and frustrating, mainly when performed manually on a large scale. This also makes them particularly error-prone if managed by humans. On the other hand, bots are accurate and tireless; they can handle the same task thousands of times. Therefore, they are considered highly diligent assistants.

An example of RPA bots' precision, particularly useful in delicate activities such as those related to accounting, can be found in the automation of P&L financial reporting. According to UiPath's experience, 100% accuracy can be easily achieved by letting robots merge multiple individual reports into the final P&L financial statement that summarizes the revenues and expenses incurred by a company over a given period.

Better compliance

A significant consequence of bots' superior accuracy over humans is the improved capability to handle audit and regulatory compliance, especially regarding data management and fiscal legislation. This is the most invaluable RPA benefit in the financial, insurance, and banking spheres. For example, the use of RPA in finance and accounting minimizes the risk of errors in tax reporting, invoicing, and payments, which could result in fines or even lawsuits from customers and public authorities. At the same time, RPA systems in logistics help harmonize procedures and documentation and thus streamline eSourcing.

That's why some top financial institutions have already deployed robots to streamline their business processes. In this regard, the Ernst & Young branch in Shanghai developed an RPA solution for one of its customers, intending to automate VAT reporting activities. After seeing the results achieved via robots, which shortened VAT reporting times from 1,400 hours to 280 hours per year and substantially eliminated human errors, the customer opted for further automation of many other fiscal functions.

Customer satisfaction

Streamlining business workflows with RPA tools is more than just cutting costs. For instance, employees can devote more attention to customer care and human relations by delegating the most tedious and time-consuming tasks to robots. Or they can offer much more timely support to customers in need while avoiding potential errors and delays that could compromise customer experience.

Many applications of RPA proved to have a positive effect on customer satisfaction. For example, AI-driven bots can gather sales data to offer the best promotions and products based on customer preferences. They can also speed up service desk ticket resolution by automating up to 40-80% of the entire workflow, based on McKinsey's findings. Not to mention call center times, which may be cut by 50% (from an average of six to three minutes), as in the case of PZU, Poland's major insurance company, as reported by UiPath in their case study.

Enhanced data security

One of the primary concerns about implementing RPA systems is data safety. Bots handle loads of sensitive data and transfer it across systems performing various processes. Naved Rashid, Associate Principal Analyst at Gartner, said: “There are two main risks associated with RPA — data leakage and fraud.” However, well-configured RPA solutions with proper security measures can contribute to greater data security.

Robotic automation reduces the number of human touches, therefore lowering the risk of human errors. In addition, the reduction of manual data processing and human interactions, in general, can prevent fraud and other illegal actions.

Improved analytics

Improved analytics is one of the most explicit gains of RPA implementation. Robotized systems gather and process vast amounts of data, which can help to make more data-driven and informed decisions. Therefore, enhanced analytics enables organizations to streamline their business processes and improve the quality of products or services.

On the way to its digital transformation, Xerox used UiPath’s RPA platform and deployed 600 robots to streamline numerous business processes. Robots gave the company advanced analytics capabilities, providing on-demand reports to account and service delivery managers about equipment in the field and enabling them to communicate effectively with customers about renewals, billing, and invoicing. In the long run, it helped to improve customer experience, loyalty, and engagement.

Low technical barrier and easy integration

RPA bots do not always need complicated configurations. A duly implemented robotic automaton solution is straightforward and user-friendly. It also does not require a lengthy employee education and training period before use.

Besides, robotic process automation technologies could seamlessly integrate into the organization’s existing digital environment. Therefore, the RPA technology can bring significant business value with no big infrastructure changes, usually without the need to adopt other platforms.

Employee morale

Business owners and customers aren't the only ones enjoying the benefits of robotic process automation. RPA can automate daily operations and a variety of dehumanizing tasks that previously made many workers feel more robot-like than robots themselves. The allocation of these tasks to RPA enables human employees to develop and leverage their cognitive skills, including strategy, problem-solving, and creativity.

According to Forrester Consulting's The Impact Of RPA On Employee Experience study, 66% of managers surveyed reported that RPA adoption allowed their employees to interact more with each other. Furthermore, 60% stated that robots helped workers focus on more meaningful and strategic tasks.

Digital transformation speed-up

Robotic process automation solutions – rule-based robots or intelligent process automation (IPA) systems where RPA bots are enhanced with AI (read more about the IPA vs. RPA) – are a potential first step towards corporate digitalization. This technology has proved particularly useful in opening the doors of digital transformation to numerous companies, including those without significant capital. After all, RPA robots are highly scalable and interact easily with legacy systems on the front-end side without altering or replacing previous settings. 

According to Pega's report, 63% of the 500 decision-makers surveyed said RPA is essential to their company's digital transformation. Moreover, 23% even declared that it's the most crucial component.

Looking to implement RPA in your business workflows?

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Successful RPA implementation examples

RPA bot for HRM system

Itransition developed an RPA bot that helps to automate HR processes. The solution implementation resulted in 4x faster candidate processing with 0% errors.

less human interaction

Video title: RPA for talent acquisition: automated CV processing

RPA for a logistics company

Using our RPA expertise, we automated three business processes for a logistics company offering worldwide shipping solutions to 5,000+ clients from 20 industries.

  • CRM notes automation
  • Data transfer automation
  • Brief checks automation
RPA process steps
Robot
Receives BI export via email
Goes to network folder
Gets CMR notes
Picks out numbers from CMR files’ names
Matches numbers with order numbers in AsstrA’s file
Goes to end client’s system
Searches order by number
Finds order
Doesn’t find order
Attaches CMR note to order
Notifes AsstrA’s employees of exception

RPA adoption results

The list of RPA use cases expands across various industries, including financial services, telecommunications, logistics, healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. According to Protiviti’s Global RPA Survey, the primary three benefits, regardless of the industry and the implementation stage, included increased productivity, better quality, and a stronger competitive position.

Scheme title: Top benefits of RPA by industry

Data source: protiviti.com — 2019 global RPA survey Protiviti. Taking RPA to the next level

Weighted average for importance of RPA benefits by industry. The average was derived by assigning a weight of 3 to the top benefit, 2 to the second most important benefit, and 1 to the third most important benefit, then dividing by the number of weights (6) and multiplying by 100

Meanwhile, in its 2022 survey, Deloitte highlights that organizations are adopting intelligent automation solutions mainly to benefit from cost reduction, increased productivity, improved accuracy, and better customer experience. By adopting automation solutions, organizations anticipate average cost savings of 31% over the next three years (up from 24% in 2020) and increased revenue of 24% (up from 15%).

Scheme title: Increased revenue, cost reduction, and payback period

Data source: deloitte.com — Automation with intelligence, 2022

Note: 2019: N = 302; 2020: N = 320; 2021-22: N = 341

Barriers to scaling intelligent automation

Organizations adopting automation solutions continuously face significant challenges, holding back their digital transformation. Although there is no band-aid to all the challenges, here are some practical steps companies can take.

Barrier

Solution

Process fragmentation

Barrier

Fragmented and immature processes that are difficult to manage

Barrier

Solution

Cut down process fragmentation, moving towards an end-to-end automation approach

Drive standardization across processes; consider using process mining and process monitoring

Clear vision

Barrier

Lack of enterprise-wide automation strategy and vision

Barrier

Solution

Work with C-suite to develop a clear vision and strategy; build a robust automation roadmap

Persuade stakeholders by quantifying all the automation opportunities

IT readiness

Barrier

Lack of IT readiness to adopt various automation technologies

Barrier

Solution

Attract IT representatives from the early automation stages, cutting the gap between business and IT needs

Adapt to the new technological landscape and automation initiatives

Resistance to change

Barrier

Employees do not always support RPA automation

Barrier

Solution

Engage and empower employees with low-code and citizen-led automation development

Communicate the changes and arrange training for all the affected employees

Enhance your digital transformation with an effective RPA solution

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Automation works: make it work for you

Almost all the organizations which tapped into the automation process consider it a key component of their digital transformation strategy. RPA benefits and results proved the solution’s viability in various economic sectors, highlighting the need for further scale, development, and transformation efforts. Whether a newbie or an experienced automation adopter, you need a professional RPA and intelligent automation partner. Itransition is ready to step up and come up with an ultimate automation solution suitable to your most deliberate business needs and objectives.

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