There are a number of key things that help make RPA a success. But RPA best practice isn’t just limited to the quality of design of bot or process design. Instead, it’s a host of other, often non-technical factors, that contribute to how successful RPA deployment is in the long term.

Here are our five key RPA best practices that you need to know.

Put Humans On Top

The best RPA services out there recognize the importance of human beings. That means that bots are built to help people – not take away their oversight or overall involvement.

Automation should always help give people back their time, but those people still very much need to deal with outliers, maintain the bots, and look to where further improvements can be made.

Human beings should always be in control, so while it’s great to save them time, it’s important to make sure RPA is being used to add value – and users assert control over the automation that’s in place.

Create A Culture

Effective RPA needs a supportive culture. That culture starts at the top; so if you want RPA to be successful you need buy-in at the most senior level. You could consider starting an RPA committee that brings in stakeholders from each part of your organization.

This would involve a wide range of people and also demonstrate the importance of the technology to other staff. One simple, but very effective RPA best practice, is to name your bots. This is an easy way to make them more familiar and ensure people engage with them more easily.

Standardize Through Governance

Culture is hugely important; but you don’t want everyone in your business trying to develop automation on their own – that will get messy very quickly. Instead, you should establish a clear governance model for your organization’s RPA.

This model will demonstrate the core principles you want to employ, as well as give developers reusable components in their RPA builds – keeping up a level of standardization. Strong governance ensures quality, security, and compliance in all your RPA development.

Become Agile

Agile methodologies were built for tech, so they’re perfect for helping to build, test, and deploy bots. The agile approach is all about breaking down blocks of work into smaller components. By seeing tasks at a more granular level, you can more quickly develop bots to take on that work.

Deploying a bot isn’t the last step though, they need to be monitored for effectiveness and then adjusted to improve performance. Assessing success at a wider scale can be done by evaluating all bots deployed within a specific project or timeframe and this can help to inform further development.

Make Automation Everywhere

There’s no question that RPA can lead to dramatic reductions in costs – particularly stemming from time savings. But to make automation a key part of your business, it needs to be everywhere, and it needs to be seen by everyone.

Making bot development and deployment with low, or no-code tools is a great starting place because it will mean more people have access to the tools to put automation in place.

Want to make automation successful in your business? Contact PAteam today, we’re here to help.

Contact centers are often the main area of communication that a business has with its customers. Because of this, they’re a critical part of many organizations and because of this are pressurized environments often with a lot of manual data work. This work is time-consuming and prone to error. Contact Center RPA (or Attended RPA) is a great way to improve nearly every aspect of its operation and we’re going to show you exactly how.

Why Is Contact Center RPA So Powerful?

Contact center RPA can develop from a small application to eventually being involved in almost every manual process that is normally taken care of by people. When you think about how much data flows through a contact center, you realize that RPA is a pretty revolutionary technology if applied in the right way. After all, robots are brilliant at dealing with data.

Best Benefits of Using Contact Center RPA?

The typical benefits of RPA are just the same when it’s used in contact centers. That means there are big cost savings to be made, a reduction in errors, and an increase in data processing speed. But in that improvement of speed and accuracy, employee job satisfaction increases and customers can be provided with better experiences, this helps improve customer satisfaction and can lead to greater customer spending and business revenues.

Top 5 RPA Contact Center Use Cases

Tracking Feedback

Contact centers often take feedback following calls to understand customer satisfaction. RPA can transcribe spoken feedback and update a feedback database. Once it has done this it can even be used to bring together the data and show trends to internal teams so that they can understand what the contact center can do to improve customer experience.

Order Management

When placing or revising an order, a lot of information that the customer provides must be gathered and placed into numerous, separate, databases. A robot can do this at scale without any risk of error. Also, a robot can spot missing or incorrect information and flag it to a human agent so that they can contact the customer to resolve the issue – again improving customer satisfaction.

Maintenance and Upkeep

A robot can monitor the uptime of services the business provides to customers and book an engineer if problems are detected. A robot can then send out a communication to the customer alerting them to the issue and checking that the booked time is suitable and offer an alternative if not.

Checking Customer ID

When a client calls in, an operator has to check who they are and validate their ID. They do this by checking details in the system. This often involves putting a customer on hold. However, RPA can use voice recognition to check speech in real-time against the database and provide the operator with confirmation on who they’re speaking to in an instant.

Updating Records

When calls are complete, operators have to update customer records. Manually inputting data in different areas of a business’ IT system is crucial but also time-consuming. Mistakes can cause poor data quality in the system which can pose regulatory risks. RPA reduces the risk of mistakes by taking the initial operator entry and then replicating it in every area of the system that needs updating.

Why Wouldn’t You Use RPA?

RPA can be used in any number of ways within contact centers to help reduce cost, improve customer satisfaction, boost employee satisfaction and increase revenue so what’s stopping you from getting involved with RPA?

Want the benefits of RPA in your contact center? PAteam can help, so get in touch today.

Podcasting is a big deal – and with over $700 million in ad revenue kicking about it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. Because of podcasting’s popularity, we’re seeing more and more specialist shows that are built around educating audiences on niche topics.

We’re very thankful to say that this includes automation and so we’ve put together our top 5 automation podcasts that you should definitely check out. Let’s dive in!

Get Automated

Kelsey Bratcher, aptly nicknamed “The King” by some of his former colleagues at Infusionsoft, has worked on automation in almost every business type and has seen how much it can impact businesses in a really positive way.

His experience speaks for itself and he has built his podcast around 3 core concepts, Understand Automation, Apply Automation, and Automate Everything. His belief is that he can help educate on the fundamentals of automation, show how people can implement it, and then use that knowledge to spread it throughout their business.

Better Automation

Only a few months old, this automation podcast is produced by Procesio – which provides its own productivity tool to help teams manage processes. They’re experts in the space and their podcast brings other experts on to share the very best ideas for using automation to improve business processes.

Already on episode 27, at the time of writing, there’s already a wealth of information available and experts from every tech under the sun if you are looking for specific advice and guidance.

The Automation Mastery Podcast

Now in its second season, The Automation Mastery Podcast is presented by Justin Morgan and seeks to give direct business advice on implementing automation into every corner of your business. Justin takes on topics like outsourcing and hiring, while also looking at industry trends.

If you aren’t sure which episode to try first we recommend ‘Easiest Way To Send a Handwritten Note’ which features the founder of handwrytten.com – David Wachs.

Automators

Hosted by David Sparks and Rosemary Orchard, Automators is a podcast that brings a simple message – automation makes your life easier, everyone can do it, and we’ll show you how. With over 100 episodes now in the bag, the podcast features a wide variety of guest speakers and that means you’ll learn a lot about automation as well as new industries.

Behind the podcast is a forum where fans of the show can hang out and trade information about a host of different automation applications and it’s a valuable stock of information to go alongside the podcast.

Smart Buildings Academy Podcast

Formerly Buildings Automation Monthly, the Smart Buildings Academy Podcast has the biggest back catalog on our list with over 330 episodes to listen to. That means if you want to learn all about building automation then you’re in the right place.

Phil Zito is the founder and CEO of Smart Buildings Academy and he’s created the podcast as a way to help technicians, operators, salespeople, and engineers find out more about building automation.

Any More?

We only have so much time and space to cover great podcasts and while we picked some great ones we know we’ve only scratched the surface. Do you have a favorite that we’ve missed?

Got any other great automation podcasts we should know about? Get in touch today.

We’ve taken a left turn today and rather than talk about technology and themes in the industry, we wanted to put the spotlight on some of the automation influencers from the tech space. They’re all working on brilliant things in 2022 and genuinely inspiring new ideas and helping to educate people on what can be tough topics to get to grips with. So without further delay let’s take a look at who they are.

Julie Bort

Truly tuned in to all things tech, Julie Bort is the Deputy Editor at Insider in their startup/venture capital team and she’s always got her finger on the pulse of the industry. Julie has written some brilliant focus pieces on the people behind the biggest tech brands and always provides great insight into the behind-the-scenes that we often don’t get to see.

She talks here about key trends between competitors, Amazon and Target, in the retail space and how they’re using talented people to get a competitive edge using technology.

Adrían Bridgwater

A Senior Contributor at Forbes, Adrían Bridgwater has been writing for over 20 years and self describes as an analyst, technology advocate, and content consultant. As programming’s narrow scope has expanded over the past few years he’s begun to focus on open source, data analytics, and intelligence, cloud computing as well as mobile devices and data management.

This great piece on Forbes’ site talks about optimization within the business and gives some real insight into how much of a subject matter expert Adrían is.

Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is the Editor in Chief for Celonis, a company built on an advanced process mining solution that now employs over 2500 people and raised $1 billion in Series D Round funding. Suffice to say as a business they’re a true leader in the space and Larry, as the person responsible for every piece they publish, is truly in touch with automation and tech.

He helps put out some brilliant content including this guide to process mining, which if you’re happy to hand over your details, is a truly great piece of insight.

John Gallant

Another great automation influencer is a tech journalist and content strategist John Gallant. With experience working at Foundry, formerly IDG US Media, John now has a great eye for future tech trends.

John has recently turned his hand to cyber-security and a focus on data and it really shows, so check out some of his great work. This article roundups his work on CIO’s 5G roundtables.

Dana Gardner

In his own words, Dana Gardner is a content jockey and that doesn’t go far enough in describing just how much excellent work he produces. AI, cloud, and cybersecurity are hot topics that he does a fantastic job covering.

What Dana does a brilliant job of is linking great content from other producers so if you follow him you’ll get a depth of insight you’d struggle to find anywhere else. Here’s his own blog as well for an extra bonus.

Who Else?

We’ve covered just a few of the great automation influencers of today, are there other brilliant minds who cut their teeth on all things automation?

If you know some other great influencers get in touch and let us know who else to follow.

While automation isn’t new we have seen it shoot up in popularity. It seems a growing wave of intelligent automation is sweeping across industries all over the world. As a next step for the technology, hyper-automation will allow enterprises to automate processes from beginning to end without the need for any human intervention.

All this tech is set to improve efficiency and quality everywhere – but there’s always a new challenge around the corner and in this case, it’s the ethics of automation as the technology spreads to every corner of our lives.

Why Businesses Need An Ethical Approach to Intelligent Automation (IA)

Businesses should be motivated to ensure they have an ethical approach to IA because of two key reasons. An ethical approach is going to give companies a competitive advantage on top of the many advantages attached to automation – let us explain how.

Firstly, customers everywhere are becoming more discerning of the brands they spend money with. If you’re not acting ethically customers will find a more conscious and socially responsible organisation to work with.

On the other side of the coin, as an employer, you need to appeal to potential employees by having an honest image of your ethical approach to automation. In a competitive job market, this sort of behaviour goes a long way.

The Considerations

There are a few key things to consider when you look at the ethics of automation. Their ranking on your list of importance will vary by your application and what industry you’re in but they’ll all be important to some degree in almost any situation.

Re-skilling Employees

With big changes on the horizon for industry, the role of people is going to change. The current skills that are valued won’t be required at as much scale or frequency and so businesses have a responsibility to keep their current employees up to date with modern skills. That means training them on the skills bots can’t take care of, particularly in managing and maintaining the bots themselves.

Automation Transparency

When it comes to the ethics of automation, transparency and accountability are vital. Businesses must have a deep understanding of the bots that are deployed especially as they become more integrated into critical processes. Now, there isn’t a danger of losing control because, as we’ve said many times before, these bots will not act on their own. However, as bots become more ‘intelligent’ we’ll be giving them more control and ownership and we need to be aware of how quickly that spreads throughout businesses.

Data Usage – Control and Governance

As technology improves and connection speeds increase, the amount of data that is collected and transmitted is going to continue to skyrocket. Automation is going to help handle all of this new data but companies need to lay out clear usage policies and programs that account for the fact bots are going to do most of the heavy lifting. Without these measures in place, the scale of data breaches or misuse could be huge.

The ethics of automation isn’t just a checkbox exercise. It should be a part of a wider approach to responsible management of people, data, and processes. As intelligent automation grows and becomes more widespread we will all encounter its impact. Businesses are going to play a big part in defining how well people deal with the rise of machines.

Need help with automation implementation? PAteam is ready to help today.

In the past year, both businesses and individuals have seen that the world hasn’t just returned to normal. The fallout from the pandemic means that getting back to where we were isn’t going to be quick or easy; but it does present us all with the opportunity to make things better than they’ve been before – an actual New Normal.

Workplace transformation post-Covid has seen organizations look to automation as a way to save costs and increase efficiencies. This was a fundamental requirement with employees distributed and with businesses lacking easy access to people. Companies everywhere have needed tools that run behind the scenes to keep them afloat. Having seen the benefits of intelligent automation this trend is set to continue with growth in intelligent automation to a predicted market value of over $15 billion by 2025.

Intelligent Automation Helps Businesses Meet Demand

Automation is a crucial part of many organizations and has proven itself as an innovative solution to many problems companies face as a result of workplace transformation, post-Covid. As inflation rises, and shortages of raw materials continue, making good decisions becomes more important than ever.

All of this pressure impacts customer demand. The extra market pressures on your customers will mean they try to get what they need from you quicker than ever. The only way to keep up with this demand is to put bots in place to increase capacity and deal with that demand more efficiently and at a scale beyond that of a human team.

Intelligent Automation Isn’t Just For Today

A lot of organizations jumped at the chance to put automation quick fixes in place that would help them cope with their workplace transformation post-Covid. While this was a great use of the technology – because developing Minimum Value Products, MVPs, in automation can often be done very quickly – it’s important that your business doesn’t lose sight of what automation can really do.

Beyond the low-hanging fruit of the here and now, automation and a culture built around it can be a strategic tool for your business and form part of a larger transformation into a truly cutting-edge business. Those quick wins that automation can deliver today often help pave the way for the long-term culture that promotes further innovation going forward.

Reimagine Your Business With Intelligent Automation

Truly intelligent automation will give you the opportunity to find new ways to work. That’s not just saving time by letting a bot take care of the mundane tasks you hate – intelligent automation can do so much more.

Intelligent automation can be built to find connections in processes and data within your business that you didn’t even know existed. By using technology to understand more about the environment you work in, you give yourself the greatest chance to improve it. This means that in the future bots won’t just give you more time to focus on adding value, they’ll actually provide you insight into how to do it.

Need intelligent automation in your business? Get started today by speaking to PAteam.