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RPA SCALABILITY CHALLENGES: WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW WE CAN SOLVE THEM

Oct 1, 2021 | 3 min read

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Roboyo

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Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is transforming how the workforce allocates its time. Automating repetitive, mechanical tasks while minimizing errors, frees workers from monotonous drudgery and improves process efficiency.  

The ability of RPA to execute repetitive tasks means that employees can devote greater energy to more creative, higher-value work. Gartner reported it as being the fastest-growing enterprise software category but scaling still seems to be an issue. Why is this? 

In this article, we will uncover the common challenges to scaling RPA and how you can solve them.  

CHALLENGE 1: NO ENTERPRISE-WIDE STRATEGY 

Because of time or cost pressures, many organizations deal with challenges reactively. RPA is often seen as a quick-fix solution, in many instances, with a bot deployed to solve a problem with no overarching strategy or reason. Over time, this leads to broken processes, disorganization, and disillusionment with the technology itself.  

SOLUTION:  

If there is one key activity that leads to RPA success, it is adopting a strategic approach to its deployment. Creating a strong vision for RPA, and defining what you want to achieve, ensures its use is clearly aligned to business objectives. For example, setting a goal of ‘improved customer service times’, with RPA as a lead tool to achieve this, makes more sense to everybody, rather than using bots to haphazardly patch up bad processes.  

To speed up the process, we recommend creating an RPA Centre of Excellence (CoE), tasked with managing, and implementing your automation projects. With clearly defined roles and responsibilities, and visibility of the entire organization, RPA can be used and scaled for multiple objectives.  

CHALLENGE 2: UNOPTIMIZED PROCESSES  

As RPA evolved and became popular, there have been unjustified pressures on IT directors and managers to deploy it in some fashion. This rush to deploy automation without first analyzing and identifying key opportunities – and where issues may lie – can cause RPA to fail before it even has a chance to scale.  

SOLUTION:

Remember that RPA is not just an opportunity to automate repetitive processes but also to drive process improvement. Before deploying any automation tool, seek out the inefficiencies and waste in your existing processes.  

Using RPA on sub-optimal processes is just throwing good money after bad. We would recommend first identifying where they are problematic and solving the issues. Then, and only then, use RPA to reduce the manual component and scale.  

To do this effectively, we recommend combining Lean Six Sigma analytics techniques with a Lean consultancy approach which allows you to get to the crux of the issues and create change at a systemic level.  

Contact us to find out how our Lean Six Sigma Consultancy services can help define areas for improvement to optimize your business processes. 

CHALLENGE 3: NOT HAVING THE RIGHT TALENT

Siloed RPA ownership is one of the main reasons we see RPA projects fail and unable to scale. If IT owns RPA, its deployment can be disconnected from business needs. If the business side of the organization owns RPA, there can be bot errors and process fixes required. Furthermore, RPA is still a nascent technology in many ways, and notable talent can be difficult to find.  

Here at Roboyo, we recognize these challenges and offer a variety of Academy Training Courses to upskill your staff and optimize your investment. 

SOLUTION:

Ensure that both IT and the business side of your organization are aligned and share RPA ownership. Establish a CoE, where key stakeholders can pool their collective expertise, ensuring high-level business objectives are covered while taking care of the technical aspects. If you are short on talent, consider working with a technical partner like Roboyo.  

CHALLENGE 4:

When RPA is used as a bit-part problem solver it becomes difficult to quantify its value across the business. If you cannot prove ROI or some sort of improvement, it will be difficult to get owners or directors to buy into the concept, and the project will fall by the wayside.  

SOLUTION:

The impact of RPA can be measured in many ways, such as cost savings, productivity, and operational efficiency. The key to RPA measurement success is to make sure it is intricately linked to business objectives and goals. You must be able to see clearly how and why it contributes to their achievement. Without these solid figures, it will remain an intangible – and transient – solution.  

UNLOCKING THE TRUE POTENTIAL OF RPA

Many of the challenges that are blocking organizations from scaling RPA are easily surmountable. The majority simply require more strategic thinking and planning at the beginning of each project. We can help you define your strategy and help you build a solid foundation for RPA and other hyperautomation technologies. 

Contact us to book a meeting and take your digital transformation to the next level.