The omnipresence of automation and robotics across countless industries and our lives tends to imply that these technologies can serve as the panacea for all needs. But can they really?
I often wonder if it is our need for convenience that is driving this change? Or is it the new-age ambition to operate even faster and more efficiently than before? Or is it a bigger purpose, like dedicating our time to building more value? The answer could be one, and all.
RPA (Robotic Process Automation), is a technology that can automate business processes that are rules-based, structured and repetitive. Because of its ability to address nearly all of the above needs, RPA is being perceived as the Wizard of Oz for the modern-day enterprise. But is this just the typical hype that grips every new technology intervention in business?
Beyond the magic-wand connotation of RPA, is there real hope for businesses to transition into engines of efficient success?
I believe RPA has matured beyond the hype surrounding it as a solve-all aid for human workers, sometimes even capable of replacing human intervention. It has evolved into a technology that holds real promise to support the transition of human resources to more value-added activities. It’s also because RPA has now become more of a Customer Experience (CX) decision than a purely IT one.
In this age of digital transformation, it’s apparent that the more time a company can invest in improving its customer interactions, ensuring seamless customer journeys, the better its chances of success. Customer service black holes or impersonal chatbots are no longer an acceptable outcome of automation. Customers demand real-time, intuitive and nuanced interactions.
Research underscores the importance of establishing CX as a strategic function to drive business success. Today more than ever before, this function has become the key influencer of customer choices.
Against this landscape, RPA offers the hope of automating time-consuming mundane tasks, and further adding AI-aided insights, to support and enhance human interactions and relationships.