Artificial Intelligence 5 INDUSTRIES OPTIMIZING PROFITABILITY WITH ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION (RPA) TECHNOLOGY
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been emerging in top industries during the last few years, with an increasing amount of reliance on the technology to improve work efficiency and profitability. With its utilization on the rise, its potential impact could be a whopping $6.7 trillion by 2025, giving it enough of a boost to become the second largest economic impact of technologies. RPA's three predecessors - screen scraping, workflow automation and management tools, and artificial intelligence (AI) – have paved the way for it be a major contributor to business efficiency.
Industries Want More
As innovation in technology evolves, industry leaders have been seeking to streamline their daily processes, allowing their employees to do more "human-based" duties (face to face interaction with customers). That leaves technology like RPA to do the more repetitive, long-running and high volume tasks, and it requires no human intervention. This is rules-based, and the cost comparison between a full-time employee and RPA shows a stark difference – the technology is approximately 65 percent less expensive when implemented. That makes these industries want to incorporate RPA software into the workforce.
Insurance
Insurance companies have a balance to maintain: they have to create a vital and highly profitable business while controlling risks and reducing costs. With today's customers wanting faster and savvier service, old systems have to be updated in order to meet those expectations. No matter the type of insurance company, there is an overwhelming amount of repetitive processes. That's why the industry has fallen on process automation software that provides added support in automating a vast number of workflows and operational activities. These activities include manual data input, legacy applications and disparate systems, and regulation and compliance maintenance.
Banking
With a massive number of account documents – deposits, withdrawals, and other transactional files – the banking industry needed to find a way to effectively and securely manage the day to day processes. Slower processing times are significantly cut short when RPA software is integrated, eliminating human error, and easy accessibility to information promotes a more transparent environment.
One of the most important processes that RPA streamlines, though, is regulatory compliance. The banking industry constantly sees changes in compliance. Usually, employees would have to manually check information, making sure it is in agreement with industry and government regulations. With the process automation software, all documents can be easily handled, making audits less inconvenient.
Healthcare
One of the most demanding industries, healthcare benefits from RPA technology with tasks such as patient scheduling, claims processing, data entry and billing. While those processes are at the core of the administrative side of things, there are other aspects of the health industry that help it to run smoothly with RPA software.
- Fewer cancelled appointments: Profitability decreases when there are last minute cancellations and no-shows. The software automates scheduling, sending reminders to patients, giving way for doctors to see more patients every day.
- Positive patient experience: With the automation of repetitive processes, patients can get more value-based care. There will also be shorter wait times for appointments.
Telecommunications
There are some aspects of the telecommunications industry that would never be able to be automated by RPA. A prime example is customer service. But while customer service has to remain "human-based", the industry's other parts are taking full advantage of RPA. Automation improves data communication, while improving operational efficiency and, of course, cuts costs and improves data communication and transmission.
Manufacturing
Unlike the physical robots that can be found in the manufacturing industry, the software based RPA system helps it in a different way. The implementation helps to strengthen their supply chain procedures, bridging the gap with day-to-day activities such as quoting and invoicing for certain suppliers, as well as accounts receivable/payable and general ledger operations.
Moving into the Future
At some point, the use of RPA may spread well into other processes other than the mundane and data-based. There may be some way to invent that technology that will efficiently give customers the one-on-one attention they need. For now, robotic process automation software will continue to make every day business easier, faster, and more reliable, with an increasing number of other industries heavily relying on that technology.