Part V: Where to deploy RPA

For an RPA deployment to give value, it needs to be plugged into processes that require efficiency and automation most. Typical candidates for RPA are basically any processes within the organization that depict the characteristics we earlier discussed in the article “Part III: What Processes to Automate to get a high ROI “

When discussing where to deploy RPA, I look at this from two angles:

1.      Sector Perspective:

 According to Grand View Research on RPA Market Analysis 2016 - 2027, Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI), Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare and Retail and Consumer goods were the leading industries accounting for the largest share of RPA revenue in 2019. Other sectors contributing to RPA Revenue in 2019 include IT & Telecom, Communication & Media, Education, Manufacturing, Logistics, Energy & Utilities among others. 

Despite not being on the list of the highest contributors, I believe other sectors like Hospitality as well as Government and Public Sector related services would be a key beneficiary of RPA. From Regulatory Authorities, to Institutions of higher learning among many others because of the massive amounts of data that is processed in these agencies.

1.      Functional Perspective:

Within the organization, despite the industry, there are functions that would be big consumers of RPA due to the nature of their operations and the amount of data and processes involved. These include Finance, Human Resource, Business Administration, Supply Chain, Information Technology Support, Customer Service including Call Centers. The construct of these functions may be different from one organization to another depending on the size and the organizations’ core businesses.

Now that we have seen where i.e. Industries and functional areas where RPA has been and can be deployed, it is important to put this into context for your organization. The overall concept is that RPA can be deployed to automate any process in any area of the organization; as long as the process meets the criteria discussed in the earlier articles.

If you may be wondering about the specific use cases in each of the afore mentioned areas, we shall be discussing these in detail. It is also worth noting that RPA adoption in Africa is just taking off and in subsequent years we are likely to see growth in adoption of this technology.