What is Robotic Process Automation? and how does Robotic Process Automation work?

From self-driving cars to possibly an AI apocalypse, we saw a lot of potential in robots taking over our day-to-day processes. While much of that has turned into reality, the threat of robot invasion is still a fantasy. From smart homes to robot-assisted surgery, robotic automation has taken over many industries, especially healthcare, as it aims to transform the mundane and repetitive processes into automated ones.  

Such a technology is Robotic Process Automation. Contrary to what the name suggests, RPA does not involve real robots, but it is as efficient as them. It is an automation software that aims to reduce administrative burden by automating repetitive tasks in healthcare practice.  

What is Robotic Process Automation? 

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) refers to the use of automation technologies to complete mundane office tasks, such as form filling, moving files, extraction of data, re-entering data, copying and pasting etc. It is software that eases the task of building, deploying, and managing software robots that mimic human actions such as interacting with systems and software. It is an efficient workforce that helps utilize time and costs spent on recurring tasks. 

It combines APIs and user interface (UI) interactions to integrate and execute repetitive tasks between enterprise and productivity applications. By deploying scripts that simulate human activities, RPA technologies execute a variety of jobs and transactions autonomously across unrelated software systems. 

By performing business process activities at a high-volume using rule-based software, this type of automation frees up human resources to focus on more difficult jobs. RPA enables CIOs and other decision-makers to accelerate the digital transformation of their personnel and boost return on investment. 

How Does RPA work? 

RPA gains access to data from your current IT systems. RPA tools have the ability to integrate with your applications in a variety of ways. You can use it through connections to a database and an enterprise web service.  Another way is through desktop or front-end connections. As a result, the automation platform can carry out common operations like logging in and copying and pasting information between systems like a real worker would. 

Which method is ideal? It depends upon your business and the needs the solution will meet. Your automation can connect to systems and services that are managed by a process automation server by using backend connectivity. Unattended automation, which involves your software robots processing insurance claims at a scale with little to no employee intervention, is the most common use of RPA.  

Benefits of RPA 

There are multiple benefits of using a Robotic Process Automation software: 

Unparalleled Security:  

RPA system prioritizes data security including regular risk assessment, implementation of encryption etc. It also complies with HIPAA regulations in order to ensure easy and secure practice.  

Automation: 

RPA’s ability to provide automatable labor frees human workers from repetitive clerical tasks like data entry and data processing. This is one of technology’s main benefits. It enables human employees to concentrate on difficult, value-adding tasks that advance a business  

Non-Invasive: 

RPA only requires training to utilize; it may coexist with existing IT architecture. This has significant advantages for businesses with outdated systems. The same graphic user interface (GUI) that human workers would use to complete a task is interfaced with front-end infrastructure, preventing the need to update the IT environment and lowering expenses. 

Cost Savings:  

RPA helps decrease workload, which gives workers the leverage to be transferred to other important tasks that still require human input, increasing productivity and ROI.

Higher Customer Satisfaction:  

As bots and chatbots are available 24/7, they can shorten customer wait times, increasing customer satisfaction. 

Employee Satisfaction:  

RPA enables workers to concentrate on more deliberate and strategic decision-making by relieving your team of repetitive, high-volume labor. Employee happiness is enhanced by this change in the work environment.  

Better Accuracy:  

In particular when it comes to work that must be correct and in compliance with rules, human error can be reduced or even completely eliminated by using RPA robots that can be programmed to follow precise processes and procedures. RPA can also provide an audit trail, which makes it easy to monitor progress and solve issues faster. 

Existing Systems:  

Because bots only affect the display layer of already-existing applications, robotic process automation software doesn’t interfere with underlying systems. Therefore, you can still employ bots even if you don’t have an API or the ability to build sophisticated integrations. 

RPA And AI: What’s the Difference? 

While Ai is not the same as RPA, the power of both of them combined is undeniable. It offers tremendous new potential for organizations.  

For starters, RPA technology today enables the integration of sophisticated AI capabilities into RPA robots, including machine learning models, natural language processing (NLP), character and picture recognition, and more. By endowing robots with certain AI capabilities, their capacity to manage cognitive processes requiring things like understanding documents, understanding speech and carrying chats and conversations and visualizing screens.  

Conclusion 

Using good RPA software enables an organization to generate cost efficiencies by streamlining operations and boosting accuracy. Importantly, it frees up human attention from mundane tasks so that it can be directed toward tasks that call for judgment, creativity, and interpersonal skills. CareCloud offers Robotic Process Automation software that automates all mundane, repetitive, error-prone RCM tasks.