The philosophies in the business oriented environment forces organizations to be more competitive. Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which facilitates the automation of the work of the employees, has been identified as one of the premier segments in the field of technology.
Lowering the cost, increasing the speed of the process, reducing the errors, and improving productivity are considered to be the central benefits of the RPA. RPA is a process automation technology.
It mimics human behavior by interacting with software robots. Software robots are designed to perform rule-based tasks, i.e., opening attachments, sending an email, moving files or folders, logging into the application, extracting data from pdf or images, scraping data from a webpage and filling the form.
These tasks are done by software robots by interacting with information systems through the prevailing user interfaces. Achieving speed, accuracy, and reduction in headcounts are the primary objectives of organizations.
Organizations find that the application of automation is a cheap and fast method of achieving the above objectives. About 85% of the above objectives in organizations could be achieved with the implementation of some form of automation in their business operations in the coming years.
RPA is considered as a software robot which is able to imitate human actions while AI does the simulation of human intelligence by means of machines. Any organization considers AI and RPA as the most outstanding technologies which can increase the customer satisfaction and the morale of the employees simultaneously by bringing down the operational cost.
More cognitive capabilities are required as the organizations take initiatives to automate their more complex business processes with data, gathered from the sources such as e-mails, natural speeches, scanned documents and letters, and that is the reason where RPA combine and merge itself with a vast of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as speech recognition, chatbots, machine learning and Optical Character Recognition.
The use of software with AI and machine learning capabilities in order to manage repeatable tasks and high volumes which were previously needed to be performed only by humans could be introduced as RPA. RPA is a technology which is currently quite popular as a tool which enables its users to analyze, manage, automate and update existing databases with efficiency without error.
Costs
In this digitalized world, every organization not only needs to bring down their costs but also to automate their entire business process. RPA is not only able to automate, but also able to diversify the business processes.
RPA is seen as a software based solution for the purpose of rules based business processes which are involved with structured data, routine tasks and deterministic outcomes. The benefits of the application of RPA with regard to the reduction of error, speed, cost and productivity have been reported by recent studies. Back office business processes in which there is no direct involvement of the customer was the basis in carrying out most of those applications. The researchers have noticed that RPA can be considered as an automation tool which is required to harmonize with other tools such as Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) as well as with cognitive automation tools in the future.
The researchers emphasize the need of having future studies which evaluate how these technologies are combined. RPA technology is used to automate structured processes by executing repetitive, manual, rule-based, and high-volume routine tasks. A software robot is not human-like in the physical sense, rather its focus is on imitating human actions when working with information systems.
Hence, software robots are computer programs with functions that imitates human actions on computer interfaces. Due to the technical advances of RPA, the use of RPA is expected to generate IT-related capabilities in public organizations. So far, judged by available research concerning RPA in public organizations, RPA is considered as an IT resource primarily used for reducing repetitive and manual tasks based on structured data. By combining RPA with artificial intelligence for cognitive computing, the software robot increases its ability to capture and process information.
Apart from that, cognitive RPA is the most sophisticated form of RPA. It is able to process semi-structured and unstructured data; including images, videos, audios, instant messages, emails and word-processing documents. In managing the unstructured datasets, software robots with cognitive capabilities initially create structured data.
Cognitive abilities
This is done by using advanced AI capabilities like Natural Language Processing (NLP), Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Data Mining. Software robots with cognitive abilities can perform long and complex tasks through intelligent end-to-end processes.
A cognitive software robot is an autonomous robot. It is capable of inferring, having perception and learning. They are based on the three-level computational intelligence called the imperative, autonomic, and cognitive intelligence. These software robots with cognitive capabilities are able to perform as much as humans do.
Cognitive RPA has self-learning capabilities. Self-learning abilities help them to act and learn. It is done with their own experience and the experience taken from humans. It enhances their ability to interact with their own environment. RPA’s combination with cognitive capabilities gives a broader strategic perspective.
It is involved with the power and potential of bringing out business results in organizations, i.e., increased revenues by going above and beyond basic RPA and greater customer satisfaction. Cognitive RPA is able to facilitate the transforming of business functions in organizations, i.e., sales and customer service, underwriting and risk management, fraud handling, customer engagement, claims management, marketing, regulatory reporting and product management.