How do you implement RPA in your organization?

Roadmap

There are a few clear main steps to take to ensure that RPA is a success. In addition, there is also the consideration whether you want to tackle this process internally, work with outside help, or outsource it completely.

1. Define the goal

RPA is a means to an end, not an end in itself. What is the reason you want to get started with RPA? Which department (s) do you want to unburden with this? Do you want to save money, free certain people for other activities? Are there many human errors that need to be eliminated? It's important to think about this before you get started. This also partly determines the choices you will make in the process.

2. Assess processes

Once you have the goal clear, you can see which processes you would like to automate. Here, it is important to critically assess these processes and adjust them where necessary. Indeed, there are a few criteria that a process must meet in order to be suitable for RPA:

• The process must be mature enough. By this, we mean that the process does not change every week. This would mean that the RPA robot would also have to be adjusted every week.
• The process must follow a certain logic. You can build many scenarios into an RPA robot, but these must be devised and learned in advance. If you have a process that doesn't follow logic and requires a new action every time, RPA isn't suitable.
• The process must be profitable. If you perform a certain action for fifteen minutes once a month, there is no point in building an RPA robot for it. As a rule, the longer you spend on a certain process per week, the more it pays to automate it.

3. Select process and map

The advantage of automating with RPA is that you can build per robot and therefore quickly have an initial process automated. Although it seems logical to catch the most profitable process first, this is not always the most convenient. A good tip when starting with RPA for the first time is to start with a small, non-business-critical process. This gives you the chance to get used to the new technology without major problems. Then you can further roll it out step by step and the major improvements will be covered automatically.

A good tip when starting with RPA for the first time is to start with a small, non-business-critical process.

After that, it is important to map out the process properly and in detail so that the RPA robot can be built properly and it is easy to follow exactly what the robot does. Here, try to come up with and record scenarios that apply as much as possible.

4. Build the RPA robot

You are now ready to actually build the robot. You do this with RPA software. Here you have two choices, cloud solutions or a local solution. The advantage of cloud solutions is that you can often purchase them as a subscription and they are always up to date. The biggest disadvantage is that they are less suitable for accessing systems on local servers. The alternative is to work with a local solution. You must install it on your network. The advantage is that this form is easier to work with local systems. The disadvantage is that this often involves higher licensing costs and needs to be updated regularly.

Before you start using the RPA robot, it is of course important to test it properly. Go through all the scenarios you noted when mapping the process. It is also a good tip to create your own accounts for the RPA robot in the systems where it needs to log in. So you can find out what he did afterwards.

5. Let the robot work for you

The RPA robot is now ready to work for you! Finally, you don't have to do the boring chores yourself anymore. However, it is important to regularly check whether the robot is still working properly. This is because a disadvantage of RPA technology is that if something fundamentally changes in the systems in which the robot works, the robot must also be adapted to keep working.

Complete care

Implementing RPA takes a lot of time and also requires specific knowledge from your organization. On the one hand, process knowledge for properly assessing, mapping and improving the processes, and on the other hand, IT knowledge for programming and maintaining the RPA robots. A nice solution that now also exists are parties, such as VionA, that can take care of the entire process for you. VionA takes you step by step through the process and provides a monthly fee so that you don't have to worry about the RPA robots. An additional advantage is that this solution pays off from the first process because you pay per process.

VionA takes you step by step through the process and provides a monthly fee so that you don't have to worry about the RPA robots.

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