Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is one of the most exciting developments in business process automation in recent history. Some industry experts believe it may be even more transformational than cloud computing. However, is this revolutionary technology really new? The answer is No. RPA’s roots can be easily traced back to screen scraping and business process management tools. However, RPA is considered to be a significant technological evolution of these technologies in the sense that it is sufficiently mature, intelligent, resilient, scalable and reliable to use in highly complex tasks.
Types of RPA
RPA is a versatile and flexible tool that can be used in a business of all sizes, from startups to big organizations. Below is the list of three categories in which these tools can be classified.
- Programmable RPA bots
These are the first generation RPA tools in which programmers have to write the codes governing how the bot will function and provide specific input. - Self-learning solutions
These tools watch hours of employees activity, understand the process and then take over the platform and start performing the same task without any further assistance. - Cognitive/intelligent automation bots
Cognitive automation bots are self-learning bots with advanced functionalities (like Natural Language Processing, image recognition, and machine learning) which can learn and deal with both structured and unstructured data.
Checklists for selecting RPA tools
- Technology
The tool should be able to support all the applications that are involved in the process that you want to automate. - Scalability
The tool should be able to support all the applications that are involved in the process that you want to automate. - Security
These tools usually store sensitive information such as passwords and enjoy the admin access to critical systems, therefore it should have high-security standards to avoid hacking and misuse - Total Cost of Ownership
This includes the initial setup cost of the RPA system, ongoing vendor license fees, and maintenance cost. All these costs must be considered before selecting the tool for the job. - Ease of Use & Control
The RPA tool that you select must be user-friendly to increase efficiency and employee satisfaction. Moreover, an easy solution requires minimum training and provides better control to its users. - Maintenance & Support
The vendor should have an excellent technical support team to ensure you meet the required Service Level Agreement.
Market Presence
Forrester Research, a reputed research, and consultancy firm recently released The Forrester Wave: Robotic Process Automation, Q2 2018. In this report, Forrester has identified and evaluated 15 RPA software providers based on their offering strengths, strategy strength, and market presence.
Top 5 RPA tools
Now that you have the checklists that you should go through while selecting the best tool for you, let me briefly discuss the top five RPA players currently leading the market which will help you streamline the selection steps.
UiPath
UiPath is a free, fully-featured, and extensible Robotic Process Automation(RPA) tool for automating any web or desktop application. As you might have noticed in the Forrester Report, UiPath has been recognized as a leader and has scored the highest score among all vendors in the current offering category. It has a very user-friendly drag-and-drop workflow which allows even a non-technical person to use it though it may require little knowledge of .Net for a few complex scenarios.
Automate
Automate platform is a scalable enterprise automation solution designed to meet the needs of any organization. Automate software robots are quick to configure and easily scale alongside your business. It is powerful and flexible, with the ability to automate almost any business or IT process. It comes with an enormous set of functions and has a clear and intuitive interface.
Blue Prism
Blue Prism is built on the established and proven Microsoft .NET Framework. It automates almost every application and supports any platform (mainframe, windows, WPF, Java, web, etc.) presented in a variety of ways (terminal emulator, web browser, Citrix and web services). It can work in a multi-environment deployment model (Development, Test, Staging, and Production) with both physical and logical access controls.
Automate Anywhere
Automate Anywhere is a pioneer of the intelligent digital workforce. Over 1100 of the world’s leading enterprises deploy Automation Anywhere’s 650,000+ bots to automate their business processes in banking, finance, insurance, technology, telecommunication, logistics, and many other domains. Whether it is cloud, datacenter or desktop, automation anywhere can be deployed in any environment. It uses Microsoft as the base technology.
NICE
Neptune Intelligence Computer Engineering, commonly known as NICE is both a cloud and on-premises enterprise software solutions provider that empowers organizations to make smarter decisions based on advanced analytics of structured and unstructured data. It’s solutions for analytics, workforce optimization, and case management integrate RPA by implementing NICE Robotic Automation. It can easily automate cross-application processes by combining with any third-party or home system, including CRM, billing, MS Office, virtualization, and networking.Each RPA tool comes with a unique set of features and always has some pros and cons associated with it. Therefore, it is always wise to do a thorough analysis of your requirement to decide which tool will be best suited for your business automation.
What do you think about Robotic Process Automation? If you are planning to implement it in your business and want to know which tool will be best for you, feel free to reach out to us at solutions@anant.us.
Photo by Alex Knight on Unsplash
