Posted by Shardul

Not all RPA implementation projects are a success. There are a high number of RPA failures in every industry. While RPA technology is a boon for digital transformation, companies are facing challenges in their successful implementation. What are these problems?

For one - the top management still doesn’t trust its effectiveness. So, instead of enterprise-wide RPA deployment, their RPA implementation methodology is focused only on a niche process. Sometimes, it’s the one that won’t directly impact the output. 

When talking about the benefits and challenges of RPA implementation, employee resistance is a significant contributor. People who cannot work together with RPA and constantly worry about their jobs are more likely to put a hold on successful RPA implementation. 

However, there needs to be an RPA implementation roadmap. It must include the benefits, challenges, strategy, and most importantly - rules for the RPA implementation process. Without a standard structure, even the best RPA tools won’t help an organization take advantage of the technology.

This article will highlight the few rules that are critical RPA implementation steps. We will combine the best practices for RPA implementation with it to provide a comprehensive overview of how RPA should take place in an organization. 

RPA Implementation: The Best Practices

The success of any RPA project depends on the acceptability of the members of the organization. Even though RPA deployment takes little time, there must be utmost care during implementation.

Here are a few best practices that companies should follow for successful RPA implementation:  

• Identify relevant processes
  The RPA implementation project plan must include processes that can actually benefit from the technology. Not all of them require automation. Determine processes that are high volume, use up a significant amount of resources, error-prone, and are processing slower than they should. These are the perfect activities to consider implementing an RPA solution.

• Convince the management
  Making an excellent case for the RPA implementation process to the management is important. The ROI needs to be clearly showcased to convince the management. After that, take the management support and persuade the team of RPA’s effectiveness. There will be initial resistance, but when the top executives are in, the teams will follow their lead.

• Select RPA tools
  There are multiple RPA tools for successful implementation. Automation Anywhere, BluePrism and UiPath are the three most popular RPA tools. While all of them offer RPA Automation for various activities, you must identify the one that best meets your requirements. There are free versions available for different RPA tools if you want to test the waters without paying heavily.

• Develop RPA bots
  Building the right RPA bots is critical for RPA success. Determine the processes that you want to automate and create a process for triggering bots to achieve the desired results. RPA bots ensure timely and accurate completion of mundane activities without increasing the costs. RPA bots are a one-time investment, and they work just like a virtual employee.

• Test and maintain
  Releasing and going live is the easy part - what’s difficult is testing for accuracy and maintaining the RPA bot. It is one of the key best practices of RPA implementation to test the bot before launch. It helps to identify whether the bot will trigger the desired response to complete a process or not. After that, release and maintain the RPA system to ensure issues are quickly addressed. 

RPA Implementation: The Primary Rules 

Now that we understand the best practices for RPA implementation let’s have a look at the primary rules for successful RPA implementation. 

• Determine your RPA goal
  The first and foremost rule of RPA implementation is identifying where you are going. Before asking how RPA is implemented, ask, “why should RPA be implemented?” Businesses must outline the problems that RPA will solve and how the technology will impact the end customer.
  
  Having a clear goal will also help to identify the average cost of RPA implementation. When there’s a clear agenda about why RPA should be implemented, cost-benefit analysis becomes easier.

• Start small
  While the best practice is to bring an enterprise-wide RPAimplementation, the primary rule is to start small. Always start implementing automation in stages. Since RPA technology is new, it makes sense to implement processes one at a time.
  
  Always be environment-focused. If there’s heavy resistance, the priority should be to convince the users of RPA. It could be done by automating processes that are mundane but do not require taking drastic RPA implementation steps.

• Focus on long-term
  Most companies are aware of the benefits and challenges of RPA implementation in the short term. They start seeing immediate results and believe that the technology is a one-stop solution for all their automation needs. However, the focus should always be on a long-term strategy.
  
  When time and effort investment become apparent, companies often sidestep on RPA. But make sure that implementation is in for the long haul. The long-term benefits of RPA widely outweigh the short-term problems.

• Measure RPA performance
  A critical component of RPA servicesis measuring their performance. Identify the key metrics from the beginning to determine how well RPA efforts have been. It is necessary because a comparison of the before and after RPA implementation is required to identify the discrepancies.
  
  If the RPA implementation process, the success will be clearly visible in better metrics. However, if they are a failure, there won’t be any change in the output delivery, maybe a negative trend will be visible.

• Prioritize people
  The unwritten official rule of the RPA implementation process is to focus on the people and culture. RPA brings with it a huge amount of resistance from people who think automation will lead to job losses. The priority should be to align both the two in such a manner that one doesn’t hinder the performance of the other.
  
  It will involve training people to adapt to RPA and working alongside the virtual workforce. It would also mean aligning people to newer activities that require creativity, decision-making, and productivity enhancement. Only then, successful RPA implementation will take place.  

Bottom Line

RPA will only yield results when there are clear rules about its implementation. The best practices and rules ensure that the company knows what they want to achieve with RPA, how they want to achieve it, and how they will improve upon it.

Successful RPA implementation is the result of a comprehensive RPA implementation project plan and roadmap that outlines a structure for RPA deployment.