Businesses that follow robotic process automation best practices can avoid many of the common mistakes that can occur when using software robots and reap a variety of advantages that can reshape how they do business.
The most common robotic process automation best practices are define the business process, Identify the tasks within the process that are suitable for automation, select the right software platform, and train and onboard employees on the new system.
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technology that allows businesses to automate tasks that are typically performed by human employees. RPA can be used to automate tasks such as data entry, data mining, and low-level decision-making. It is typically used to complement, not replace, human workers.
To improve your initiative success rate, carefully examine and implement the RPA best practices described in this article. In addition, we recommend following the latest RPA trends.
10 Robotic Process Automation Best Practices
There are many reasons why robotic process automation best practices are important. First, they can help ensure that your robotic process automation implementation is successful. Second, they can help you avoid some of the common pitfalls that can occur when implementing robotic process automation. Third, they can help you maximize the benefits of robotic process automation. Finally, they can help you make your robotic process automation implementation more efficient and effective.
These are the most important RPA best practices are:
1- Define the process
Before automating a process, it’s important to first understand how the process works. This means identifying all of the steps involved in the process, as well as the inputs and outputs for each step. This, in turn, helps determine what data is needed to automate the process. That can be done by using business process modeling techniques.
You should also carefully investigate what manual activities employees perform inside the chosen processes and how RPA might be utilized to automate these jobs.
2- Conduct a feasibility study
Identifying bottlenecks for the selected process is one of the top robotic process automation best practices.
Once the process has been defined, it’s important to identify any bottlenecks that may exist. These bottlenecks can often be addressed through process improvements, which can then be automated. To identify process bottlenecks, we can use the following steps.
Determine what time there is in the process for each step and until when it takes place. Identify whether any steps are taking too much time or steps that do not need to take as much time. Determine potential changes to reduce any bottlenecks or make improvements
3- Engage concerned stakeholders
Engaging all important stakeholders in the design and implementation of robotic process automation is essential from the start.
These employees will assist you in defining the manual and repetitive operations that they typically perform in steps so that RPA robots may execute these jobs without human involvement.
4- Define clear governance structures and roles
To ensure the successful implementation of robotic process automation, you should define clear governance structures and roles that will create buy-in and understanding across the organization.
RPA strategy is an underpinning for the successful implementation, but it can only be effective when it takes into account all key factors of your process. This includes deciding on the type of automation you want to implement, who will manage and maintain the technology, how much time is needed for training new staff, how much time employees need for training and mobility, how often you will maintain the technology, and cost of management.
5- Select the right RPA software
There are several RPA software systems available, each with its own set of capabilities and tools. In order to maximize their success rate, organizations must carefully pick the best solution for their specific needs.
The improper solution for your organization might have a significant impact on the execution of robotic process automation projects and reduce your success rate.
I strongly recommend reading the below article for more information about the best tools available.
9 Best RPA Tools in 2022 (Free and Paid) (theecmconsultant.com)
6- Train and onboard employees
They are used for various tasks like customer service, data entry, replenishment, and so on.
However, these systems have a lot of potential for the workplace. They can increase efficiency and improve productivity by automating mundane tasks that employees otherwise have to do manually.
It is important to train your employees on these new systems as well as onboard them properly because they can significantly change the way your company does business.
This step is considered one of the most important robotic process automation best practices as it has a direct effect on the initiative.
7- Create a dedicated team of experts
Don’t make the same mistake that most businesses do by designating only one person as the expert in the robotic process automation solution. Rather, form a specialized team of professionals to design, develop, and execute robotic process automation systems.
This will allow these specialists to share their knowledge and skills, as well as assist one another, particularly during the early stages of technology deployment.
8- Monitor and evaluate the performance
Go live with one of the RPA-enabled processes and monitor how the robots are doing, how much time the process execution has saved, if all inputs and outputs are valid, and, most importantly, whether there is a need to grow the number of robots to execute the task quicker.
9- Incorporate feedback from users
Companies should be able to take advantage of the huge amount of data that robotic process automation solutions provide. They can use this data to identify patterns and improve the performance of their solutions over time.
There are many ways to incorporate feedback from users in order to continuously improve the performance of robotic process automation solutions. These include:
- Conducting feedback surveys
- Using chatbots
- Analyzing social media posts
- Using sentiment analysis tools
10- Plan for and manage risks
The risks associated with implementing RPA solutions can be reduced by planning for the risks and implementing safeguards. RPA best practices should include:
- Ensuring that the software robot is not allowed to make decisions on its own
- Having a backup plan in place if the software robot fails or malfunctions
- Testing the process before implementing it
- Documenting all changes made by the software robot
