What are the most cost-effective process automation solutions?

We should treat any RPA as a new hire “Fresher” resource. At first the RPA will not be perfect and can have its limitations, but with time multiple executions and training similar to a physical resource performing BAU, we can perfect the RPA to reduce its limitations.

As per me , RPA is not yielding outcomes what world expected. I believe Low code no code platforms like Microsoft Power Platform, Service Now builds are cost effective because they reduce the cost for expensive developers and low maintainence cost.

RPA is very good at performing repetitive tasks with a major amount of data. The bot is both faster, incapable of human errors, and won’t get bored. This frees time from personnel to focus on more complex and varied tasks that are more stimulating. However, RPA can be given great power in terms of access and information as it can also be used for sign in on locked accounts. Gaining access to RPA software pretty much provides access to user accounts. Therefore supervision of the tool is necessary to avoid both computing errors, and provide the bots with accurate updates, as well as supervision of accounts and logs to avoid malicious use.

RPA is one of the most versatile tools to augment processes with automation. It can build a solid backbone for executing repetitive tasks based on structured data and rules and act as a connector for other applications and foundation for end-to-end intelligent automation.

RPA was a hot topic and valuable for a time, as that was all that was available, but now it is a thing of the past. I’ve implemented several bots that were great at what we needed during that time. But a BOT is a BOT. It will do only what you have told it to do. Now with the use of machine learning, we can feed the same requirements and not only does the “machine” learn, we do as well and have opportunity to give it more information and make continuous improvements.

Implementing a BPM process comes with a difficult trade off to be made: - Keeping a birds eye view on your total architecture and protecting it vs - Ensuring speedy and agile development cycles of completely new ideas and updates to existing software. The best teams combine both :)

BPM, o Gestión de Procesos de Negocio, es esencial para manejar procesos complejos de extremo a extremo que abarcan múltiples sistemas y departamentos. A través de BPM, las empresas pueden orquestar y optimizar estos procesos de manera integral, asegurando una mayor coherencia y eficiencia operativa.

Low Code / No Code solutions have been evolving for a long time and enabling both professional and citizen developers with a cost-effective and rapid development of applications. Low Code / No Code solutions used well and following standards and governance have the ability to bridge the capacity gap of professional developers and free them up from simple coding to focus on more complex solutions.

Based on my professional experience, I have found that low-code platforms are particularly advantageous for smaller projects characterized by low complexity and limited IT budgets. However, as projects become more intricate and budgets expand, low-code solutions tend to accumulate inefficiencies through workarounds and may even approach their operational thresholds. In such cases, I advocate for embracing a pro-code methodology to transcend these inherent limitations. Given the availability of both adequate financial resources and proficient technical skills, leveraging the capabilities of pro-code solutions becomes a viable strategy.

While low-code platforms offer convenience and speed in application development, it's important not to overlook essential aspects like security, operational logging and alerting, and ongoing support. It's essential to strike a balance between the efficiency of low-code development and the critical responsibilities of security, operational robustness, and long-term support.

Actually my expertise lies in manufacturing process automation. However the issues involved are similar. I opine the most expensive or the most powerful solution need not be the best solution always. We need to consider the one with least TCO. So map the entire process first then work on small sub units that provide maximum ROI. It is less expensive gives time to do course correction and hence most likely to be supported by management than an one shot expensive solution.

One important consideration should be to choose a solution that is open, flexible and that allows best of breed plug n play design at lowest TCO.

Automation is often a costly investment, but ROI can easily be calculated by looking at costs of man-hours, cost of errors, need for timing, and need to invest peoples’ hours in other activities and projects.

The best solution for your Process is the one which addresses the pain points in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. A starting point is to review the process on optimisation and standardisation potential or maximising the configuration of existing applications to check if these address the problem or prework is needed before resorting to other solutions. The choice of the Process Automation approach and technologies will require to be considered in light of the end-to-end process, data structures & performance requirements and the stability of the process.

Para elegir la mejor solución de automatización de procesos, primero analicen sus procesos actuales para identificar áreas clave de mejora. Evaluar las opciones según su caso de negocio es crucial para asegurar la relevancia y efectividad de la solución. En mi experiencia, una combinación de tecnologías adaptadas a cada proceso y alineadas con la estrategia general es esencial. Además, no subestimen la importancia del cambio cultural requerido para adoptar nuevas herramientas y métodos, comenzando con un piloto enfocado para validar resultados y ajustar según sea necesario.

No te olvides de establecer KPIs para rastrear el desempe?o pre y post automatización. Revisa métricas regularmente para identificar mejoras. Por último fomenta el aprendizaje continuo y faculta a tu fuerza laboral.