RPA – A Threat to Humans or a Blessing?
It was rightfully said by a notable philosopher that change is the only constant. And, thus, it is evident that technology will not just change but will help to improve the situation. In the course of initiating change and reducing human effort, robots play a vital role in the 21st Century. With Artificial Intelligence (AI), Deep Learning (DL), Machine Learning (ML) and other disruptive technologies showing massive growth, businesses are trying to adapt to the wave of change and leverage its potential. It is during this course of change that RPA is gaining importance.
Why is RPA being used?
RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is being adopted by businesses all over the world because of the efficiency it offers and the advantages it provides. RPA has the ability to carry out tasks much faster than human workers. This is why most of the manual or semi-manual processes are being assigned to RPA. RPA has the capability of carrying out a large number of tasks in a shorter span of time. As this is an automated process, human errors arising whimsically can be reduced. The concept of fatigue and rest does not matter to robots. This is why, using RPA, more work can be completed. Thus, this process is far more cost-efficient than employing humans to complete the same task.
How does it Work?
RPA is an advantageous tool because it can be used to execute the same task that humans were entrusted with doing without having to alter the time or the surrounding environment. RPA considers the same source and target. Thus, the input and output sources can be kept intact. RPA uses software that evaluates the steps and the repetitive processes involved. It then trains itself to perform the steps efficiently at the best time. Hence, in short, it can be said that the entire process of carrying out a particular task remains the same. The only thing that changes, in this case, is that the task is carried out by a robot instead of a human.
Is it a Reliable Process?
It is true that RPA has various advantages because of which more and more businesses are implementing the same in their working system. RPA has indeed given businesses the space they require by handling particular tasks. When the mundane tasks are taken care of with RPA, a business can concentrate more on the quality of its products and services and work harder to generate better leads. This way, a business can flourish with the help of RPA.
RPA has the ability to learn the steps and execute the tasks. It will carry out all the steps without errors as long as the user has instructed it to do so; but, what if the instructions provided are not accurate? The RPA does not boast the requisite level of intelligence to find out why the process is happening in the first place. Hence, as the robot does not have the power to differentiate between the right and the wrong process, it might cause a problem in the long run.
Can RPA Sustain Change?
RPA has the ability to increase the functional ability of the process and makes the system interdependent. This dependency causes problems as the system becomes comfortable with the existing environment. However, the practical scenario is different. The practical scenario has a changing environment. Due to this, the work can get altered from time to time. In this regard, a human employee who is responsible for handling the task will be able to try and figure out the change. Humans will try to find out what alterations in the existing process can help to restore the system and make it compatible with the current requirement. This understanding is not applicable to the RPA. As of now, RPA does not have the ability to extract the positive steps and integrate it with new ones by itself. As a result of this, the RPA will not be able to cope up with the change. Because of this, the business will not be able to achieve its full growth as planned. The blind and incorrect following of steps will make RPA an unreliable choice when it comes to the development of the system.
In short, without the monitoring of a human being, an RPA is not capable of carrying out a specific job role in a company. Alterations have to be implemented from time to time in order to cope up with the change. Thus, RPA is a blessing in ways that can increase the efficiency and reduce cost. However, in the changing environment, RPA carries out the processes monotonously with ease and can act as a threat to humans as business development can be hampered in the long run.