RPA

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is a technology built for automating business processes in general.

The “robotic” term here does not represent human-like robots. It actually represents the automated software that can handle tasks that humans do.

There two types of RPA robots in general. They are classified as “attended” and “unattended” based on their need for human intervention. Attended robots assist humans with business activities, especially with “front-desk tasks”. For example, a call center worker can automate his robot while taking a call from a customer. He can let the robot fetch and store the data while he focuses on the customer’s expectations and needs more. In this way, we can say that attended RPA helps humans be more productive and attentive. It also cuts down the time spent on manual tasks such as data gathering. However, it can be said that with attended RPAs, the process is not fully automated.

On the other hand, unattended RPAs enable a full automation process. They can handle especially back-office tasks, which are repetitive and boring most of the time. They can monitor systems and report automatically. In particular, when combined with IoT, they provide a fully autonomous living system for your business. They can start automatically at a pre-set time and do not require human intervention. In this way, it becomes possible to have an end-to-end optimized process.

With the full automation and faster app trend increasing day by day, now RPAs have options such as code and no-code. With user-friendly interfaces, it is possible for non-technical people to use no-code RPAs and automatize their business flow. However, despite all the advantages, there is some negative buzz about RPAs such as “Robots will take our jobs and make people idle”. This argument is a buzz one yet not so true. It is true that software robots can replace humans in some specific areas though they are augmenting and assisting more than replacing. Also, with the time and energy saved, humans can focus on more creative works and come up with better ideas for business. Not all “idleness” is bad after all, especially the ones that give you more free time to create.