Human-robot teamwork makes the dream work

Though, for the benefits of automation to be fully realised, business leaders must identify which automation solutions are best suited for their workforce and to help them succeed in their digital transformation journey. As with any trend or hype, often we fall victim into diving in headfirst with technology rather than starting with the business problem and figuring out how technology can solve it. Which leads us to the all-important question - how can businesses make the most of both the technology and their employees?  

Find the right bot 

RPA bots can be either “attended” or “unattended”. Attended bots operate on an employee’s desktop under their direction, allowing businesses to drive a variety of workforce processes. Attended bots can complete tasks such as processing tedious transactions or filling out forms faster, meaning employees will no longer have to worry about these repetitive tasks.

Unlike attended automation, unattended bots require no human intervention or as little possible and are self-triggered by the robots. This type of automation often found in the back-office, where there are large amounts of data which may need extensive admin work.

However, while an unattended robot can work independently to automate processes, it will typically be deployed in small scale, limiting the impact of RPA. The peer to peer interaction and teamwork required for attended bots encourages human decision making, which in turn enables seamless and scalable integration. For example, analysing the vast amount of customer data within seconds to identify insights or highlighting useful tips on the desktop such as whether that customer has already called about the same issue and the status of the current issue. This allows the employee to put all their focus and energy on proactively solving a problem in real-time, freeing them from monotonous tasks to undertake more exciting and rewarding assignments – clearly a match made in heaven. 

Both attended and unattended bots can provide advantages and work in tandem. While businesses can deploy either/or automation solution, it’s ultimately about selecting the best bot for the process or problem that needs solving and which supports employees in their daily jobs. Remember, RPA is there to unleash human creativity and enhance thinking as mundane tasks are taken care of, creating a harmonious augmented workforce that perfectly combines the future of robotics and humans. 

Deploy with ease

RPA adoption should not be propelled by choosing processes that can be automated quickly to get the ball rolling. Deployment requires design, thorough planning and governance for successful integration. This all helps to ensure an effective and stable RPA deployment that can grow over time by providing a framework for long-term success and actively engaging multiple stakeholders across the organisation. 

Many businesses will initially go for the processes that are the most procedural, or the most easily automated. These often sit in back-office areas, such as Finance or HR. There can be other areas, such as customer services where customer experience can be directly improved as a result of robotic automation. Fortunately, there are now tools available that can help with the identification of candidates for automation based on applying AI and machine learning to analyse data captured in the operations.

Businesses can gradually roll out RPA before scaling up their investment and moving on to more complex processes. It’s also vital that everyone across an organisation is involved in the transformation, understand the changes that will occur and can see the benefits both to themselves and the organisation.

Establishing an RPA Centre of Excellence (CoE) will help maximise the potential of automation, as well as scale and maintain it on an ongoing basis. A CoE offers many benefits, such as enabling businesses to identify best practices, tools and implementation methods, providing a shared knowledge repository and aligning with change management processes. This all helps to ensure an effective and stable RPA deployment that can grow over time by providing a framework for long-term success and actively engaging employees and multiple stakeholders across the organisation. 

The main takeaway for managing an effective RPA transition is about understanding how and where it will enhance the workforce. While the technology can easily take care of procedural and time-consuming tasks, it requires time, effort and planning with the goal of creating a team where one side fills in the gaps of the other.