Why do I need RPA Robots working in my organization?

This question popped up in my messenger a few days ago. I thought I'll answer this question sans' the regular RPA marketing jargon. Better, I'll explain this by taking John, the baker as an example. (The same guy in my other article "Putting Data-Driven Business Decisions in a simple way")

Growth of John's Bakery Business

By using the latest tools and analytics, John has grown his business from a single bakery to a multi-chain spread across the city. What started with him and two assistants has now 100+ people working in it. He has digitized his Business operations with the help of a multitude of systems such as CRM, ERP, Payroll suites, and all the communications to the employees, customers, vendors that happen through emails.

The multitude of Back-office operations

To take care of the systems, he employed a Tech. assistant. Soon the number doubled and tripled and eventually grown to double digits, but so did the volume of operations and data flowing into the systems.

Whenever John went into his office, he could see the team frantically transferring data from one system to another. He also saw that there is a rise in data errors leading to his business taking a hit. The alternative is to make these systems talk to each other but he did not want to go down that path because much capital was already spent by putting these systems in place.

The operations team also faced people leaving the team due to a huge load of mundane work and time pressure. Finding new people for the team is also a concern because of the rise in operation costs hitting the bottom line.

Enter the Robot workforce

John took help from the same friend who introduced him to the world of analytics. The friend advised him to implement Robotic Process Automation also known as "RPA" in his firm. John followed him up and took the help of an RPA vendor and went ahead to implement the Digital workforce in his organization.

Results of RPA

Within weeks of RPA implementation, John could see the returns on his investment. The bots are working 24x7 and handle the huge amount of transactions effortlessly. The vendors get payments on-time for their invoices, warehouses never run out of stock, payrolls are processed automatically, etc. All this happens on-time, every time with no errors. His employees who were released from the mundane tasks are now working on other value-adding activities.

John finally heaved a relief and went back to focus on what was important, growing his business to greater heights.

EndNote

Although this seems to be a simple story, RPA application can reap benefits in organizations of all sizes. I feel that all mundane work could / should be done with a digital workforce and humans should be left to do much higher-order work.

What's your view on Robotic Automation? Please share your views in the comments section.