What is RPA and what is industrial automation used for?
Industrial and technological development in recent years has been exponential and has led to many changes in people’s daily lives, but also in the way businesses operate. One of the consequences of this evolution has been the automation of a multitude of technological processes that previously required human intervention.
The concept of automation, from a general perspective, has evolved considerably since its inception. It first emerged during the Industrial Revolution, with the aim of streamlining production processes.
There are many differences between the origins of the original industrial automation and the current concept of Automation and Industrial Robotics, which can be explored in the Online Advanced Technical Training Course in Automation and Industrial Robotics , but the ultimate aim remains the same: to automate procedures that previously required human intervention, in order to improve their efficiency and free up human effort and skills for other tasks.
Nowadays, automation is everywhere, from bots that assist with customer service to the artificial intelligence we have in the palm of our hands, which we can access via mobile devices.
What is RPA?
It is a software tool that enables the implementation of coded commands which emulate the actions of humans interacting with digital systems, with the aim of reducing effort and costs.
The main advance of RPA software is that it communicates with systems and applications autonomously, whereas traditional automation merely executes predefined instructions. In this regard, it is predicted that RPA, combined with robotic technology, will be capable of learning existing processes and detecting and resolving problems in real time as they arise.
What is automation used for?
Many companies have increased their use of RPA (robotic process automation) technology during the COVID-19 crisis in order to continue their operations or to improve their users’ experience. This technology enables the automation of processes that previously required human interaction.
This enables companies, on the one hand, to streamline processes and, on the other, to allow employees to continue carrying out their duties remotely or to redeploy staff to other tasks within the organisation. Ultimately, it helps to improve business productivity.
Consequently, many of the tasks that were repetitive and could hinder staff productivity have been replaced by RPA technology, which automates these procedures by simulating human interaction. Thanks to this advancement, teams can focus on those functions that cannot be emulated by robotic technology, thereby generating what really matters: added value for companies’ customers and/or users.
How does RPA work?
Integrating RPA into a business requires adaptation at both a technological and an organisational level.
- Firstly, the processes and tasks to be handled by RPA must be identified.
- A system known as a robot manager assigns and monitors these tasks.
- The technological applications are the platforms through which the RPA software programmes interact.
- Users interact with the applications, and the RPA software resolves issues via these platforms by emulating human interaction.
In short, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is experiencing exponential growth, suggesting that an increasing number of companies and sectors will implement this type of robotic software within their organisations. In this regard, the surge in demand for professionals and experts in Artificial Intelligence and Computing and also in Big Data is now a reality.
