Why RPA Pilot is an important step before rolling out enterprise-wide automation initiative
RPA is a buzz word and there is an apparent urgency amongst many enterprises to board the wagon. However many are missing the point that there are various hurdles in implementing RPA. It is important for every enterprise to understand these hurdles and further address those in their own context before planning for a large scale implementation.
From my experience of implementing RPA; I have seen primarily three sets of hurdles.
- Lack of understanding of RPA operating model (RPA corporate governance, control framework, BOT security policies, HR & communication, training etc.) in an enterprise.
- Buy-in from various stakeholders within an enterprise on RPA initiative & its business benefits
- Anxiety over realization of projected business value.
In order to address these hurdles, the best approach I had seen working is;
- Setup up the RPA CoE creating a best suited RPA Operating Model
- In parallel; identify initial set of processes (3 to 5) for pilot automation implementation.
Pilot implementation not only gives a chance to test the operating model in the organizational context but also addresses the anxiety over the business value of RPA. Most importantly the realized business benefits from the pilot implementation helps you get a buy-in from various stakeholders.
In essence basic principles for enterprise wide RPA implementation program are;
- Start slow -> Stabilize Operating Model -> Accelerate
- Benefits from initial waves to fund subsequent waves of automation
Note: The views reflected in this article are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect the views of employer.
Chief Executive Officer at Compensation Scheme of Last Resort
7 年As a user of RPA I absolutely agree. There is always a lot of excitement for the cost or service improvements but insufficient time for reflection on the up and down stream impacts to your value chain. Piloting provided us the time to understand quickly and make rapid adjustments
Business Transformation Specialist | Intelligent Automation | Risk | Leader
7 年Hi Suhas, I like your reference to Pilot rather than Proof of Concept. I think most of the technologies in the RPA arena are proven from a technical perspective and what you are piloting is how to be leverage and deploy the capability into your organisation to achieved the desired benefits. Pilot also implies the program will continue and grow - which is what you want when you enter into RPA !!
Volunteering: Civil Air Patrol; Public Affairs & IT Officer, City Advisory Boards. Retired, MBA, IBM Business/Technology Analyst, IBM Mobile Thought Leader
7 年Good points! Any new initiative project or program needs to be fully vetted, tested for reliability and scale in an enterprise. This is especially true for RPA. Many things have to be right for RPA to be successful. It may only take one issue to put the project on its heels. The project is hopefully automating an extremely well known, defined and stable business process with the robot replication human actions. If the designer misses an action, intuitively taken by the human the Bot can break. Sandbox testing of live data and pilots are a great way to validate prior to deployment. Depending on the complexity and potential impact I might even extend the thought of Pilots to a staged rollout to the enterprise.
Segment Head | Smart Building Technology | Elevator & Escalator at L&T Technology Services Limited
7 年very good points
Client Partner at Virtusa
7 年Also many would be customers think that RPA involves a lot of Screen scrapping and hence Pilots help in putting these doubts to rest