The Adoption of Robotic Process Automation Technology to Ensure Business Processes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Julia Siderska

doi:10.3390/su13148020

Abstract

The study provides knowledge on the adoption of the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology during the COVID-19 pandemic in 110 Polish service companies. As this research was the first of its kind in Poland, the objectives of the CAWI survey were to identify the technology features of the RPA technology and the related determinants and barriers influencing the adoption of the RPA as well as to determine correlations between them. Moreover, the statistical analyses involved considering whether there were differences in the evaluation of individual RPA technology features, mainly in terms of perceived usefulness, ease of use, security and functionality. The results of the study show that almost 60% of the respondents indicated that robotization tools allowed maintaining continuity of business processes during the pandemic. The highest rated were features related to usefulness of the RPA technology. Furthermore, the analysis pointed to the most frequently indicated barriers to technology implementation that were related to nonoptimized, nonstandardized and non-digitized processes with a large number of exceptions. The study contributes to scientific knowledge and has practical implications for process automation decision-makers concerned with the adoption of the Robotic Process Automation technology. The obtained results can help them to understand the potential drivers of and barriers to the adoption of software robots by enterprises and may be an important determinant for companies’ managers in the field of implementing such solutions.

Highlights

IntroductionThe global COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the way all organizations currently operate
The results show that half of the surveyed companies implemented new solutions in the field of robotization of business processes
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the processes of digital transformation have significantly accelerated and have become the undisputed leaders of all the initiatives undertaken by enterprises, both those that have for a long time been implementing initiatives related to digitization and those that only transformed their activities in the areas of internal operations and work transformation as a result of the pandemic

Summary

Introduction

The global COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the way all organizations currently operate. They have been forced to roll out their disaster recovery programs to stabilize and ensure their processes and operations. The coronavirus has shifted all industries to remote-first, as business processes have been replaced by online business operations [1], with sustainable business continuity becoming the most important priority. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic persisting globally since early 2020, enterprises and institutions have found themselves in a completely new reality and have experienced the need to face new management, organizational, technological and financial challenges. The necessity for remote work, pandemic shortages and the need to reduce operating costs have made innovative IT technologies supporting the maintenance of operational processes especially important and useful. It is vital to react forthwith in order to mitigate impacts and other risks [2,3,4,5,6,7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion