How can SMBs Implement RPA with Existing Workflow?

Small and medium-sized businesses play a profound role in the economic development of many countries. While an array of critical problems can slow down the growth of these companies, technology like Robotic Process Automation can lift overall productivity.

“46% of medium-sized businesses in the US said they have implemented RPA or utilized it at scale across multiple departments of their organization. “

Others are considering and researching more about RPA. By now, businesses are interested in RPA and they are talking about their growth. RPA is not just for large conglomerates; it comes with the opportunity to automate different parts of the work process.

Automation is workable for small and medium companies. RPA can be implemented even more efficiently in small & mid-sized businesses than a large organization. In SMBs employees’ familiarity with the process are higher compared to large enterprise. Hence, the results of RPA implementation are usually better.

Day-to-day problems & possible solutions 

Here is the list of top 4 day-to-day problems and possible solutions that RPA can provide to small and mid-size businesses.

• Your legacy work system is not cooperating with the new applications.

We understand you spend a lot on experimenting with new technologies to boost the existing workflow, yet you see no desired results. But with Robotic Process Automation, you can combine it with your existing processes across your enterprise for one or all solutions. Businesses today have a complex environment with a wide range of applications. As a business grows, the complexity increases. Companies adopt new technologies, mergers happen, the acquisition occurs and other changes continue. Therefore, to make this process run equally, RPA can help.

• Transferring even a small file takes a longer time.

Small or mid-size businesses (SMBs) move hundreds of files daily. Manual completion of tasks can take a lot of time and also, it does not always error free. RPA software supports all the small & mid-sized businesses’ advance requirements such as big data manipulation, complex file names, error handling and secure transfers.

• Giving minimal importance to data protection and security regulations.

Most often at the start, businesses are reluctant about database protection or the security regulations they need to ensure while working. You can streamline the process using RPA. It allows the automation of database queries and encryption at every level of the workflow. This makes business compatible with data protection and security norms.

• Manual compilation and report distribution.

Every day it takes a lot of time to compile spreadsheets or manually create the reports in your ERP system & distribute it. It’s tedious and also leaves space for human error. RPA can automatically write reports in a variety of formats. You can integrate reporting with other related actions, for example, scraping the data from email attachments, writing the data into an Excel sheet or email the documents to clients or employees. 

Market Prediction

“The global market for RPA Software and Services reached $271 million in 2016 and is expected to grow to $1.2 billion by 2021 at a compound annual growth rate of 36%.”

Positive takeaways

Both RPA and BPM are vital weapons for small and medium businesses. Check the positive takeaways that small and medium business leverage from Robotic Process Automation.

• Flexibility: The market demands changes continuously. RPA provides flexibility to enhance the adaptability of SMBs and helps the business perform better according to market trends.

For example:

There is a small company with 10 full-time employees processing up to 400 invoices every day. The company needs to spend $150,000 per month on these employees to process up to 17600 amount of invoices per month. For a small company, this is costly. Here, the company can take RPA as a service to save over 35% of costs and increase processing time by 50%.

• Data Management: RPA can offer improved data management and intelligent insights. It stores every minute data that can be useful for gaining valuable insights while planning business strategy. RPA helps small and mid-size businesses to scale up and be on the competition.

• Recurring Task: RPA takes care of repetitive tasks and process it automatically. Here, it enhances the efficiency of the output, increasing customer satisfaction.

• Accuracy: The chances of error during rigorous calculations are negligible when the company adopts RPA.

• Cost: As RPA automates tasks, it saves manpower costs. Also, SMBs can repurpose the RPA tools once a process is no longer active. This turnaround time saves developer integration costs and effort.

Considering RPA adoption?

While RPA adoption and implementation seem like a daunting task, automation technology is a stepping stone for your business. RPA is a boom for SMBs. Externally, it will increase efficiency and productivity, ensuring improved service levels and internally boosting employee engagement, efficiency and reducing TAT.  

Where to seek help for RPA implementation?

RPA for small business and mid-size enterprises provides a functional equivalent of the great number of IT staff that large organizations have. All this, with much lower costs. You can talk to the RPA service provider and discuss your business goals, problem area, and costs required for an end-to-end solution. If required, you can ask the team to combine RPA with other automation tools to gain the most out of them. 

This article was originally published here.