Why Opt for Automated RPA Process Discovery and How it Impacts Business Success

Today, organizations worldwide are looking to make their internal processes agile, responsive, and distinctive from their competitors. To fulfill these objectives, implementing Robotic Process Automation is the right choice. Process automation helps in freeing up the internal workforce from repetitive tasks and digitizing operations at scale. However, a key question that arises in the minds of entrepreneurs and business leaders is: Which processes to automate and how to identify the optimal processes for automation?

The answer to the question lies in ‘Process Discovery’ as it is the first step towards RPA implementation. When organizations perform traditional process discovery through their in-house process improvement teams, they might largely risk losing their time and resources. It’s because in the traditional approach, teams need to organize a range of interviews, observation sessions, and workshops. Besides, the traditional discovery approach doesn’t help professionals grasp the complete granularity or scope of processes, thereby impacting the automation success.

Employing Skilled Consultants for Automated RPA Process Discovery

To overcome these complexities, businesses should consider hiring dedicated consultants from an RPA services provider. These consultants use automated RPA process discovery tools to identify, evaluate, and improve processes. The consultants use event log data from enterprise systems (ERP, CRM, and SCM) and user interaction data as inputs for process discovery tools. With intuitive analytics support, these tools assess event/user data and generate insights related to process performance, hindrances, and inefficiencies.

By using these insights, consultants prioritize processes for automation based on aspects like ease of implementation, ROI, and productivity impact. With the help of process discovery tools, consultants can:

• Map out rule-based and repetitive processes optimal for automation.
• Optimize processes before applying automation, guaranteeing that automation does not spin out prevailing inefficiencies.
• Design accurate process automation solutions by inputting the appropriate rules and logic.

4 Reasons Why Consultants Use Automated Process Discovery Tools

1. Reduced Errors

Manual process discovery is vulnerable to human errors. Collaborating with a range of stakeholders and manually analyzing processes’ footprint may lead to imprecise documentation and mistakes. Contrarily, the intelligent algorithms in Automated Process Discovery (APD) tools analyze system logs, footprints, and user interactions with greater precision. This lessens chances for consultants to misinterpret process flows or disregard crucial phases.

By instantly analyzing system log data and interactions in real-time, APD tools reduce time to find processes optimal for automation. This helps RPA consultants to rapidly discover various automation opportunities for organizations and scale automation initiatives effectively.

2. Extensive Process Insights

The use of process discovery tools enables RPA consultants to obtain a wider perspective of an organization’s processes and data from diverse sources. This perspective is crucial for understanding end-to-end business process environment, along with variations and interdependencies. The documentation of process variants and dependencies enables consultants to design adaptable automation solutions for any real-world scenario.

Apart from analyzing the business process environment, automated discovery tools also deliver quantifiable performance indicators and metrics. Some of the standard metrics offered by APD tools include the amount of resource utilization, process cycle times, and error rates. With these metrics, RPA process evaluation consultants can easily spot process hindrances and areas for optimization. Consequently, experts can apply appropriate optimization measures and make the processes ideal for automation.

3. Faster Automation Implementation

Process discovery tools help in automation of process documentation, including step-by-step workflow instructions and process maps. This documentation acts as a roadmap for the implementation of RPA solutions. With documentation support, consultants can also minimize the risk of delays or reworks and speed up the deployment of RPA solutions.

Moreover, the visual documentation generated by APD tools makes it easier for process stakeholders to assess and validate the practicality of automation. This approach guarantees greater buy-in and adoption of RPA solutions among professionals across the organization.

4. Effective Risk Management and Compliance

Several sectors are bound by rigorous regulatory requirements that necessitate maintaining extensive compliance and traceability of automated processes. Process discovery tools help RPA experts maintain process automation compliance through detailed and auditable documentation. This documentation can be helpful in executing easy audits and demonstrating the RPA solution’s compliance with regulatory conditions.

Automated process discovery tools also help RPA professionals detect potential security risks and vulnerabilities within business processes. This identification enables RPA experts to implement risk mitigation techniques for vulnerable processes and secure them before initiating automation.

Key Sectors that can Benefit from Automated Process Discovery

1. Healthcare

RPA consultants utilize automated process discovery tools to perform a meticulous analysis of healthcare process workflows. From billing and patient registration to claims processing and record management, these tools provide insights into how processes are executed, this enables them to categorize rule-based and time-intensive tasks that are automation-ready. The all-inclusive analysis offered by process discovery tools ensures that no healthcare automation opportunity is disregarded by consultants. The intelligent insights offered by process discovery tools enable RPA experts to build and implement automated healthcare workflows.

In addition, RPA-powered healthcare processes or workflows need to maintain strict compliance with regulatory standards. In such a scenario, consultants use process discovery tools to consistently monitor automated processes and ensure compliance with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA. These tools also help consultants identify deviations in automated healthcare processes from pre-determined rules and mitigate regulatory forfeits and risks.

2. Manufacturing

Low technology maturity is a key aspect that deters many manufacturing firms from adopting RPA. The reason behind the low maturity is the lack of knowledge regarding the applications of RPA in the manufacturing lifecycle. By hiring skilled RPA maturity assessment consultants from a reputable services provider, manufacturers can improve the technology maturity and accelerate adoption.

The process discovery tools objectively analyze manufacturing workflows and offer reliable data insights on where and how automation can improve operations. These data-driven insights also make it easier for consultants to explain the need for change and advantages of RPA implementation to stakeholders. Consultants can create a strategic roadmap using process discovery tools and simplify the transition of legacy workflows to automated ones.

3. Retail

The lack of standardized processes offers a huge challenge for retail firms. When retail firms work with a range of unstructured workflows and processes, standardization becomes difficult. RPA consultants use automated process discovery tools to visualize retail process flows and dependencies. This way, consultants obtain insights into opportunities for process standardization and implement appropriate measures. With these tools, RPA experts simulate various automation scenarios, develop a roadmap for implementation, and accelerate digitization for retailers.

Wrapping Up

Process discovery is the foundation of successful automation initiatives. By hiring skilled RPA consultants, organizations can drive transformations through meticulous evaluation. The consultants use automated process discovery tools to strategically evaluate internal processes, determine RPA feasibility precisely, and avoid costly mistakes.