Table of Contents
Robotic process automation (RPA) is transforming how modern enterprises operate by automating high volume, repetitive tasks efficiently. This detailed guide examines key considerations for business leaders exploring RPA software to improve productivity.
The Growth Trajectory of Business Process Automation
Once seen as a niche technology, RPA is now mainstreaming across industries as leaders seek new ways to digitally transform operations, cut costs and appease customers.
- IDC predicts RPA software revenue will reach $13.6 billion by 2026 as adoption accelerates across banking, telecom, healthcare and retail sectors
- By 2024, Gartner estimates 60% of medium to large enterprises will have adopted some form of RPA, up from less than 20% in 2020
- Per Forbes Insights, nearly 80% of organizations with revenue over $1 billion already use RPA, with another 16% planning to adopt
RPA helps companies keep pace with rising customer expectations around speed and service quality while controlling expenses. The COVID-19 pandemic further spotlighted the need for resilient operations and touchless processing.
Determining If RPA Is Right For Your Organization
While most businesses stand to benefit from RPA, ideal automation opportunities meet the following criteria:
✅ Repetitive, high volume tasks
✅ Rules-based processes with clear inputs/outputs
✅ Limited need for human judgment or discretion
✅ Data transfer across multiple systems
✅ Prone to manual errors and rework
Departments well suited for early RPA adoption include Finance, Accounting, IT, Customer Service and HR. Processes like report generation, data reconciliation, payroll processing, invoice creation and customer onboarding are prime automation targets.
Real-World Success Stories
Hundreds of global companies large and small have improved efficiency and costs through RPA:
- Orange Telecom automated 50,000 hours of back-office work to improve customer response times
- Hong Kong Hospital Authority uses 1,100 bots handling over 50 million transactions annually
- Magna saved $525,000 in the first year by deploying 85 bots for customer service
- Serco aimed to save £12 million over 6 years using Blue Prism for finance operations
These examples showcase the substantial productivity gains and cost savings achievable by automating manual business processes with RPA.
Comparison of Leading RPA Software Solutions
While there are over 150 RPA tools in the market, these 4 enterprise-ready platforms lead in market share. Here is an overview comparing their key capabilities.
Fortra – The Intuitive Platform Empowering Workforce Automation
Trusted by leading enterprises like TUI, Fortra‘s RPA solution combines ease of use with scalability to automate business critical functions.
Key Highlights
- Intuitive drag-and-drop design enables 80% faster bot building
- Embedded AI for document processing and analysis
- Unified platform automating across 4000+ apps – web, SaaS, desktop, Citrix, Java
- Granular administrative controls and enterprise-grade security
Fortra accelerates ROI by empowering citizen developers to build workflows 10X faster through low-code automation using building blocks and AI guidance.
UiPath – The Enterprise RPA Leader
With nearly 50% market share, UiPath leads RPA implementations for complex global deployment.
Key Strengths
- 8000+ enterprise customers across all industries
- Quarterly release cycles rapidly enhance platform capabilities
- Unmatched ecosystem of technology and SI partners
- Hyperautomation capabilities – RPA + AI/ML + analytics/rules engines
UiPath is the platform of choice for large enterprises standardizing RPA to drive efficiency across business units. Its open APIs easily integrate bots with other core systems.
Blue Prism – Compliant RPA Supporting Audit Requirements
Blue Prism delivers robust features for regulated industries like banking, insurance and healthcare.
Notable Capabilities
- Centralized administration portal for access governance
- Detailed logging for compliance requirements
- Integrated OCR, AI and machine learning skills
- Aligns to corporate standards like ITIL change management
Blue Prism provides enterprises the tools to secure RPA infrastructure, track detailed bot activity trails and prove compliance.
Automation Anywhere – Democratized Bot Development
Automation Anywhere focuses on empowering business users and developers to collaborate through RPA.
Key Advantages
- No-code web interface for business users to easily build bots
- Visual, code-based development environment for developers
- 2,500+ pre-built automations to accelerate ROI
- Embedded analytic dashboard to optimize bots
This RPA platform allows both low-code simplicity for beginners and advanced customization for experts within one platform.
Evaluation Criteria for Selecting the Right RPA Tool
With different RPA software products catering to diverse needs, here is a checklist to evaluate options apples-to-apples:
Core platform capabilities:
- Breadth of applications/systems supported
- Attended vs unattended bots
- Analytics and reporting
- Mobile administration and monitoring
Ease of use
- Low-code, drag-drop bot building
- Process documentation and sharing
- Skills training and support options
Enterprise considerations
- On-premise vs SaaS delivery methods
- IT security and access controls
- Scalability and resilience
- Roadmap for platform enhancements
Commercial model
- Pricing model – named users, transactions, process type
- Professional services needed – training, implementation
Vendor profile
- Company size, growth rate, profitability
- Analyst recognition like Gartner Magic Quadrant
- Customer base across industries
Using these criteria tailored to your specific environment will help determine the right long-term RPA investment matching your business objectives.
Download RPA Software Evaluation Scorecard here
Getting Started With Process Automation
Once leadership decides to pursue RPA, balanced governance is essential for success during planning, pilot and production phases.
Appoint leaders as automation sponsors and identify technical talent to develop expertise. Audit processes for automation suitability based on workflows with clear boundaries and rules.
Start small with a pilot targeting 5-10 bots automating high impact processes. Measure productivity improvements and user feedback to showcase wins and drive enterprise buy-in.
Allow organic bottom-up propagation of tools across business units while maintaining shared standards for skills, operating procedures and technology. Use centers of excellence to scale skills and knowledge.
Conclusion
RPA adoption enables future-ready operations in the new digital paradigm by intelligently augmenting enterprise productivity. As solutions advance, RPA will transition beyond task automation to true intelligence support with predictive analytics, conversational interfaces and self-healing processes.
This leadership guide covered everything decision-makers should consider in evaluating automation opportunities tailored to their environment. The playbook will equip you to build a pragmatic RPA roadmap delivering transformative business value.