JUNE 2022CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM8obotic Process Automation (RPA) is an excellent way to drive costs out and improve the bottom line. Every organization has processes that are repeated, manual, or routine tasks, that must be performed to run the business. Examples are abundant: from copying data from one report into another, to entering data from a paper transaction into a system, to downloading and analyzing data only to enter the results into another application. These manual processes, that once could only be done with fingers, eyes, and some common sense can be automated via RPA technology to improve employee productivity and reduce waste, thereby improving bottom line. The latest releases of RPA technology are much easier to use and are very powerful. They can drive far more business value than ever before, and they will keep getting better. RPA is not new, but the capabilities of the tools are far superior than ever before. Ten years ago, automation was limited to Perl scripted bots that opened a spreadsheet and loaded data into a webpage. These scripts provided great business value by automating the manual loading of data into web apps. This technology, however, was only available to skilled developers, as the learning curve on Perl was steep. The rapidly evolving RPA technology has enabled those outside of development teams to leverage the tools. There are several great tools from vendors such as Automation Anywhere, UIPath, Microsoft and others. These RPA tools provide a means to mimic human processing using easy-to-use software interfaces. Business analysts, developers, and tech savvy business users can create RPA bots. Anyone that wants to learn can easily get started via YouTube, RPA vendor websites, and cheap courses on Udemy. The mystery of how to replicate what users are doing daily has been demystified. RPA tools are structured with building blocks that have all the basic office worker computer functions covered. The drag and drop interface allow a bot creator to build automation that can cross any application an office worker has open on their computer screen. The tools are intelligent enough to follow a user's actions across hundreds of steps/scenarios to logically perform them. AI and ML are being incorporated to automate user decision-making processes. RPA vendors provide dozens or even hundreds of prebuild automations that can be copied and edited, for fast adoption and deployment. Investments in RPA technology has helped ease the pain of workforce reductions during COVID and will continue to drive workforce efficiencies in tight labor markets. Here are a few examples of how RPA technology has demonstrated this in my organization. CIO InsightsCXO InsightsIn My ViewBRAD WAREZAK, DIVISIONAL CIO / IT DIRECTOR, HOWMET AEROSPACE RLEVERAGE RPA TO DRIVE COSTS OUTBrad Warezak
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