RPA success remains a non-trivial endeavor

Abstract

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is becoming an integral part of today’s businesses that compete in more dynamic business environments. RPA is a technology that enables organisations to automate rule-based and repetitive tasks in processes through the use of software robots. Instead of requiring time consuming process reengineering that leads to heavy investment on IT system transformations, RPA is able to perform such routine processes by running across systems. For an example, customer orders of a third-party logistics service providing company can be easily entered into internal warehouse management system using RPA. Therefore, RPA can be interpreted as a strategic tool which gives benefits such as improved productivity, improved data accuracy, improved compliance levels, reduced process execution time and costs. However, Nitin Bhatt [1] mentions that, nearly 30% to 50% RPA projects are failures. Accordingly, there are some other factors organisations must consider apart from technological know-how when taking RPA initiatives. This article intends to reveal such factors identified through an industry survey and interview sessions conducted with 12 industry experts who have at least three years of experiences in supply chain and RPA disciplines. Overall, fourteen factors were identified under three categories namely: Strategy; Process; and Organisation.