Many companies achieve automation through a single source of technology, whether it’s business process management (BPM) or robotic process automation (RPA). While both of these technologies offer numerous benefits, digital transformation isn’t possible without combining both of them to achieve “hyper-automation.”
Hyper-automation is the next digital transformation stage, as many businesses fail to scale in their automation efforts completely. RPA and BPM software are foundational pieces of technology essential in allowing businesses to achieve digital transformation.
What is RPA?
RPA software is a tool that enables users to create one or more scripts for activating keystrokes automatically. These bots can emulate selected tasks in an IT or business process, as more companies are adopting RPA software to cope with the pandemic’s challenges. One of the main reasons RPA is such a popular tool is that it improves process quality, productivity, and speed while businesses look at ways to minimize costs. Gartner estimates that RPA software revenue will reach $1.89 billion in 2021, which is a 19.5% increase from last year.
What is BPM?
BPM is a practice used to find, analyze, design, improve, and automate various business processes. Many organizations use BPM software to simplify and streamline their business operations. BPM software’s common features include rule modeling capability, a repository for modeling metadata, and a process execution engine. As the most advanced, there are three different types of BPM platforms: predictive analytics, low-code tools, integration with third-party apps, and process intelligence. The global market for BPM continues to expand, as it’s projected to reach $ 4.7 billion in 2027 rapidly.
Advantages of RPA and BPM Individually
The benefits of robotic process automation include boosting employee productivity by focusing on other work-related tasks. RPA also increases accuracy and security while also improving customer service. On the other hand, business process management software offers numerous other benefits, such as risk reduction, workflow automation, improved collaboration, and better organizational control. However, combining RPA with BPM allows your business to experience the best of both worlds.
Advantages of RPA vs. BPM Together
Many businesses view BPM and RPA technology as mutually exclusive but combining them is a great option that offers numerous benefits. BPM and RPA combined can give your business an edge over other competitors while also improving your company’s bottom line.
Here are a few more of the top benefits of using RPA and BPM together.
1) Enhance Employee Productivity
One of the main advantages of combining RPA with BPM software is that it dramatically increases employee productivity. RPA technology can easily automate time-consuming tasks in the workplace. Employees can focus on doing higher-value tasks without spending a lot of time performing mundane tasks each day. Besides improving productivity, these technologies can also boost employee morale and increase job satisfaction by giving workers more freedom.
2) Increase Efficiency in Approval Process
Not every decision in the approval process can be automated. However, companies can use RPA and BPM to automate a few decisions while transferring critical ones to executives for review. RPA software eliminates the need for manual processing for more minor decisions. On the other hand, BPM automates the approval process while staying in compliance, which creates a more efficient approval process.
3) Handle Exceptions Better
Human intervention is required if an RPA bot finds a case that it isn’t programmed to handle. This intervention process happens through an exception path or with case management. However, BPM streamlines this entire process to define how each exception will be managed and monitored clearly. Ultimately, this improves efficiency by making sure the process continues to move ahead.
4) Integrate Legacy Applications
Many businesses encounter challenges in trying to integrate legacy applications. For example, an application may not support web services, or there might not be an API. Creating an integration is often costly and impractical in most situations. Combining BPM and RPA allows businesses to save money while quickly implementing an RPA-based integration.
5) Limit Bottlenecks
Manually entering data into numerous systems is an all too common problem for many organizations. These activities often create bottlenecks and lead to costly errors from employees. However, RPA can automate many of these repetitive tasks and allow employees to focus on other areas of work. RPM and BPM processes are always performed simultaneously, which creates an audit trail and enables a business to mitigate risk.
BPM and RPA Combined
BPM software creates a sturdy foundation for automation and orchestrating processes in the workplace. You will want to find a BPM software solution that provides low-code functionality while also making it simple to integrate with top RPA solutions. Combining these technologies allows your business to achieve hyper-automation and enables your company to reach its full potential.
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If you are looking to learn more about Robotic Process Automation, then join us on May 20th at 11am ET for our free RPA Expo digital event. This three-hour event will feature short-form, to-the-point discussions to set the standard in delivering an accelerated master class on the application of RPA to drive business, process, and customer value.
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