Robotic Process Automation - How do we take the robot out of the human?

How much of your operational workload is completed by humans and how much is delivered by automation? If you are in the financial services industry, my guess is that humans cover most of your workflows. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been something of a hot topic in terms of IT and digitalisation over the last number of years. However, progress hasn't been as swift as many adherants had envisioned. And yet, there is still so much work to be done in this embrionic space especially in areas such as financial services, which have not seen the productivity gains delivered in other industries such as manufacturing and logistics. I presume the situation isn't helped by press articles that spread fear with sensational headlines like 'robots will take our jobs'. However, I believe this overly simplistic analysis misses the point and opportunities somewhat. Innovation is a continuous facet of human development and once one problem is solved, resources are quickly directed to new innovation points. Just think about how many shovels became redundant after Joseph Cyril Bamford invented the JCB digger in the 1950’s. The amount of manual labour required in the constructuion industry was radically diminished, however, the economy found other productive uses for the surplus human capital.

And this prompts an interesting question regarding the role of automation and human interaction. Based on the early theoretical work of scientific management practitioners such as F.W. Taylor, huge consulting resources were spent on ensuring that humans perform their tasks in the most 'productive' manner possible. Gone was the craftsmanship of an earlier age and standardising tasks with a stopwatch became all the rage. In effect, we tried to turn the human into a robot. I think we would all agree that this is a pitiful use of human capacity. Anyone who has worked on data entry, master data management or draining repetitive tasks that require a high level of accuracy will agree that this is a soul destroying waste of their human potential. So in essence to quote the seminal work of LSE Professor Leslie Willcocks we need to 'take the robot out of the human'. And RPA offers us the digital toolset to do just this by freeing humans to focus on value added tasks that utilise the best of our human capabilities such as empathy, logical reasoning and creativity.

Functioning RPA systems reduce the number of errors and support high precision and consistency in repetitive operational tasks. In effect this means building a 'digital workforce' of bots to supplement rather than replace your existing workforce. More recent improvements in computing mean that an RPA strategy is now a key component of the CIO's digital toolset. Admitidly, the notion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) being built on top of RPA has been somewhat oversold; however, there are certainly improving Machine Learning Algorithims (MLA) that can perform a sort of self correction that has further emboldened RPA systems. Nonetheless, AI is certainly an area to watch as bots learn to spot trends that allow them to understand and react to consumer behaviour. Moreover, the fact that most RPA applications allow the business users to configure the workflows without having any programming knowledge builds a bridge between business and IT which allows the business stakeholders to react quickly to changes in daily operational procedures and workflows brought by regulatory change etc.

As consumers, we are happy to use automation to cut our grass or wash our dishes. The reason being that automation removes banal tasks that allow us to spend time on more meaningful and hopefully fullfilling tasks. So why should we be nervous when such solutions are applied to our working environment if they reduce cost and friction while improving the customer experience? Part of the reason why the update of RPA in service industries has been slow is that managers have often regarded it as faster to change existing human processes rather than wait for a technical update that might solve an operational issue. Resistance to change in organisational settings is legendary and the challenge of delivering technical change is well documented. The latest RPA applications have become increasingly fast and seamless to implement, so the question is now how we find a balance to get the most out of our human and digital workforce? Managers need to continually question their way of working and decide if a process is better fullfilled by automation or by human capabilities. The marriage of an automation strategy with strong people and talent management will drive competitive advantage in those financial services firms brave enough to adopt RPA strategies. If your organisation doesn't have expertise in-house, they should consider partnering to kickstart their RPA journey.

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