evaluation criteria to consider when selecting an rpa tool · cates that an rpa vendor should be...

Evaluation criteria toconsider when selectingan RPA tool

AutomationEdge

CIO’s Guidefor RPA Evaluation

Evaluation criteria to consider when selecting an RPA tool

However, since an RPA’s features are profuse and varied there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ product available. Consequently, it becomes important to choose the correct tool after assessing your business needs and matching them to the results you perceive.

This guide explains and defines a tried and tested mode which will help you select the requisite RPA crucial for your business automation process.

When you are out in the market to choose the perfect RPA solution, what are the essential areas you should look at? The general rule of thumb indi-cates that an RPA vendor should be chosen on the basis of two essential evaluation areas – product and company. The product is the logical starting point for vendor selection. Any software bot should be able to execute repetitive, rule-based processes with minimum fuss. This is essential to create a competitive digital workforce which is the prime reason for any business to go software bot hunting. An effective RPA solution will also be able to exe-cute processes at a fraction of historical costs and smoothly integrate with current systems and appli-cations. This will keep technological disruption of the existing processes to a minimum.

Automation has permeated our lives, across all segments – a self-driving car or even performing complicated tasks at the touch of a screen. Busi-nesses who are looking to reduce costs by employ-ing a smaller, productive workforce and improve efficiency are constantly in search of tools which help them to up their productivity stakes. The design and structure of such a tool determines its optimal usage. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is one such field where the design and features have long reaching implications; whether an RPA is doing assisted (desktop) work or non-assisted (back-office server) work. Simply put, RPA is a soft-ware that creates software robots. And, they are everywhere, navigating different digital landscapes and including complex features that prompt fast work.

In the recent years, there has been a lot of interest in RPA leading many organizations to seriously look at RPA as part of their broader digital transformation process. The market is ripe with vendors promising the best product possible, presumably more than the current market can absorb.

Ease of Use

While selecting an RPA solutionfor your business

you should look at -

Ease of use is one of the fundamental characteristics for any software. As the RPA solution is being deployed for accelerating the internal processes of your business, it should be simple enough to be understood by your employees.

Some automation tools come with a variety of enhanced features, are more inclined towards sophi- sticated use and may seem more attractive. But handling such tools can prove to be challenging. It could also mean more incurred costs for learning support from the vendor and frustration on partof the employee who needs to work these tools. Choose an RPA platform which provides you with an automation tool that will result in more efficient administration outputs for the people who handle the key processes in your organisation. A flexible tool which can incorporate basic automation with built-in commands and one which can accommodate more complex functions as and when instructed is an ideal tool for any business. Further, easy usage and adaptability can result in a quicker growth and higher levels of productivity with greater benefits.

63%RPA industry is expected to

grow to $1.2 billionby 2021 at a compound annual

growth rate of 36%.

Interface DesignThe interface design is one of the most important features of usability of an RPA tool. A good RPA solution provides a clear, user-friendly and workable interface that allows for easy func-tionality and

The best software provides a visual interface that allows users to easily perform activities without any major learning process. Programmers can also easily access such bots so that you are not limited by time and availability of your in-house developers or external IT development resources. This serves to reduce your operational costs.



This is where scalability comes into the picture. You do not want to be encumbered by a tool which does not allow you to scale up/down your operations as per your requirements. Any good RPA solution should allow you to choose a software bot which is perfectly adaptable to your assessments.

The execution capabilities of the software robots also need to be taken into consideration. Any bot which can work on-de-mand, with multiple executions and can be adjusted to your operating systems, browsers or devices can scale up your production in a healthy way. There are bots available in the market which can perform a variety of processes and will help you to scale up operations as and when required without accruing additional costs to your business.


ScalabilityAs mentioned earlier, the design and structure of a tool has far reaching implications. The design will dictate how the tool is put to use. Vendors promise to provide organizations the ability to effectively adapt to the operational demands of a business. However, many are not equipped to handle theseclaims.




ReliabilityOnce your automation journey is in process, you will be expect-ing hundreds of bots to work in your favour, giving results you expected. The last thing you will want is to be saddled with soft-ware bots that are unreliable and create undue disruptions. What you would want is a solution that has in-built applications and specific features designed to monitor deficiencies and at the same time accelerate the internal capabilities in the system.

While searching for a requisite RPA solution conduct a thor-ough research on various points. Start by evaluating the tool’s potential to cater to multiple users. Any errors during automa-tion also have to be easily detected and automatically resolved without human intervention. In case of any system default which does require human intervention, manual interaction with the software should be possible. Each RPA product should have its own set of configuration tools tailored to address different challenges.



Technological IntegrationsAn effective RPA solution needs to integrate with different sys-tems and technologies. This is the core capability of any digital workforce. When the RPA solution has strong integration capa-bilities it can result in more healthy, quicker and effectiveautomations.

You should be able to find a tool for yourself which is able to diversify its operations according to requirements. Most tools specialize in certain areas of operation only. In such cases you also need to consider the possibility of adding features to the existing tool as and when needed. Each tool has different strengths and weaknesses, so in selecting a tool think about its potential usage.

of the work has thepotential for

workplace automation63%



FlexibilityWithout flexibility, no RPA solution will be able to withstand the test of time. There is every possibility that you may never find a software which will fulfil all your automation requirements. In such cases, you need to work with the vendor in designing a tool which fits your size. Work building flexibility in the tool by creating the requisite customizations. Preferably opt for solu-tions which support a number of operating systems rather than a single one. This will save you a lot of extra costs you might otherwise incur paying for additional customizations at a later stage.



Support and ProfessionalServicesAs with any product purchase, you should consider the vendor’s ability to support your needs in times of distress. A strong sup-port organization can minimize delays in deployment and strengthen maintenance procedures. Ideally, the product should come with a broad choice of training options, including computer-based training (e.g. webinars), classroom and online documentation (e.g. tutorials). While some vendors do provide dedicated support teams and contractual support SLA’s, most provide only the standard tool related support. You may have to build a fully trained team for the tool or hire some professional services to help with your RPA implementation. In such cases, it proves helpful to have a training cost estimate form the vendor.

DON’T HESITATE TO ASKQUESTIONS TO RPA VENDOR

1. Complexity of the tool to use forbusiness analyst and developers

2. Feasibility of coding complexautomation scripts

3. Compatible with the environment wherethe tool has to run

4. Type of service provided by vendorduring and after implementation.

5. Cost involved in support and services

You should clarify

whatever queries you

have before purchasing

the tool with your

vendor.

The selection of an RPA tool that closely matches the automation requirements of your business is important. Since there is no single RPA tool that is ideally suited for every process and organization, it requires careful consideration. Prepare a vendor checklist and evaluate vendor based on that. You want a solution that offers scalability, speed, reliability, Ease of use, intelligence, flexibility, great design, enterprise-class capabilities and expandability. When choosing your RPA solution, fully examine its features and ensure it provides all of the capabilities on your vendor checklist.

Insummary

Why Organizations ChooseAutomationEdge for Automation?

Fastest RPA product with lightening spreadsheet processingOne of the largest banks benefited with processing time reduction from 3 hrs. to 3 min

RPA, ETL, Machine Learning, Rapid API integration capabilities in one platformOne of the largest insurence major generates policy quotation through chatbot

Largr global companies are using it for complex and large scale deployment of botsOne of the largest insurance major process payouts worth $1.5 bn using AutomationEdge

Extensible RPA productEasier to build extensions or custom business logic or complex integration

Smart Technology Platform United Platform for business operations and IT operations Process automated range from salarytransfer, loan processing, account closures, fraud detection, reconciliation, ERP automation etc.

AutomationEdge – Intelligent RPA ensures that all operations across front office, middle office, back office and IT operations are done at faster speed and at reduced cost which can help increase top line and bottom line of the company significantly.

What Our CustomersAre Saying…

Goutam Datta, Vice President, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd.

AutomationEdge RPA bots are handling one of our critical business processfor issuing New insurance policies after underwriting. This one process isbeing handled by 150+ AutomationEdge bots. The solution is highly scalableto handle high volume and complex processes

Pankaj Pandey , Sr. VP & Head of IT, IDBI Federal Life Insurance Co. Ltd.

We are very happy with AutomationEdge. It has helped us improve turnaroundtime (TAT) by 90% and above for many IT and HR requests. We have currentlyautomated around 13% of our service desk tickets. We are going to automate100+ new use cases in next 6 to 9 months.”

Venkatesha Murthy, VP- Technology, Mashreq Bank

Congratulations AutomationEdge team. Happy for AutomationEdge and itdeserved this Gartner recognition. We are super satisfied with the RPAproduct.

To learn more about how AutomationEdgecan help you improve your operations, request apersonalized demo.

www.automationedge.com [email protected]

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evaluation criteria to consider when selecting an rpa tool · cates that an rpa vendor should be...

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