The Impact of RPA on Various Industries – 7 Best Use Cases 

Robot Process Automation or RPA is having a huge impact on various industries. It is being used to automate repetitive tasks that are usually done by humans. This includes tasks such as data entry, processing orders, and handling customer queries. RPA is also being used to create virtual assistants. These can be used to handle tasks such as scheduling appointments and sending emails.

RPA has had a profound impact on a number of industries. One of the most notable impacts has been in the area of customer service. RPA has enabled businesses to provide faster and more efficient customer service by automating tasks such as handling customer queries and processing customer orders. This has led to improved customer satisfaction levels and increased efficiency in customer service departments. RPA has also had a positive impact on the financial sector, with a number of banks and other financial institutions using RPA to automate tasks such as processing payments and reconciling accounts. This has resulted in reduced processing times and improved accuracy levels. One of the best use cases for RPA is in the healthcare industry. RPAs are being used to streamline the process of patient data entry. They are also being used to automate tasks such as scheduling appointments and follow-ups.

Let’s go through each industry and see how the implementation of RPA has transformed their common business practices using use cases. But first, let’s define RPA and why it’s so important.

About Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Its Importance 

Businesses around the world have increasingly automated their processes to respond to the ever-evolving digital economy. Robotic Process Automation or RPA is an automation technology built to automate repetitive rule-based tasks that are otherwise time-consuming. RPA’s implementation has set a new benchmark for improved efficiency in business operations. By utilizing RPA in the enterprise, more business and IT processes can be automated at scale with ease and speed. With a plethora of benefits offered by RPA, the technology is increasingly leveraged by organizations across various industry verticals. 

This claim is validated in a report by Forrester that RPA is set to be worth 22 billion by 2025. Further studies have revealed that over 20% of organizations globally have adopted RPA in 2021 alone, which is significant growth from the 13% adoption rate in 2020. 

Before we get into the use cases across industries, let’s take a step back and look at how RPA works.

How does RPA work? 

RPA deploys software bots that can complete tasks within less time and with increased efficiency. This software technology practically reduces human effort in labor-intensive areas. It communicates across various digital systems mimicking humans with automated scripts that imitate human processes. By automating entire processes with the adoption of an intelligent technology such as Robotic Process Automation it leaves little to no room for error, increased efficiency, and better productivity.    

Do you know which RPA tools are popular across industries? Now that we’ve discussed how RPA works, let’s take a look at the benefits it provides.

Benefits of RPA 

• Reduces human error 

Intelligent Automation technology reduces the chance of human errors for companies. Compared to the average productivity of humans, which is at 60% and with very few errors, the productivity of robots is 100% without any errors.  

• Streamlines information 

Effectively streamlines entire workflows by analyzing and validating data between different systems to provide compliance and auditing outputs.   

• Improves customer satisfaction 

RPA helps in smoothening the process that gives you more time to interact with your clients. An improved response level leads to customer satisfaction and higher quality work outputs   

• Saves time 

Automating repetitive tasks can help you save time. The system handles tedious, manual digital tasks and transfers the work of a human employee to a “digital worker”. RPA helps in streamlining entire processes which is a cost-effective solution for increased productivity.   

• Cost-Effective 

Integrating RPA into the existing business operations is much more cost-effective than hiring and training several employees.   

And now it’s time to talk about RPA use cases in various industries.

Impact of RPA on Various Industries- 7 Best Use Cases   

RPA in Retail 

With the growth of the digital economy and disturbances caused due to the pandemic in 2020, brands and organizations scrambled to look for better and newer alternatives to increase growth and productivity. It had become imperative for companies in the Retail industry to use RPA for accuracy and on-time results. Tasks such as sales analytics, which otherwise involve too much time, were easily automated as well as improved with RPA. Organizations have benefited on a long-term basis by automating entire operations starting from processing orders to managing inventory. 

RPA use cases in Retail

• Invoice Processing 

Processing invoice is a time consuming and laborious task. Employees are often tied up in unproductive paperwork and spend hours. But this can be changed with the implementation of RPA. Automation of the process makes segregating data and bill processing easier and faster with no errors.   

• Document Exchange 

RPA in retail make data transfer to relevant departments at a lightning-fast speed, which can otherwise result in a costly affair as it would require hiring additional resources. With automated systems, companies can validate documents of different formats accurately and efficiently.   

• New Product Update 

In the retail industry, new products are launched frequently. Updating prices and stock quantity is a constant process. Client and customer opinions are taken into account to make changes in product rates, inventory management, and adjust pricing using RPA.   

• Sales Analytics 

Sales analytics is crucial for making vital retail decisions, such as promoting trade, adjusting rates, and product introductions. RPA can provide real-time reports regarding a product and its features based on customer preferences and feedback.   

• Organizing and Inventory Management 

RPA in retail can help you organize your store based on customer preferences. Arranging products based on customer expectations can effectively result in faster sales, improved user experience, and better ROI.   

Additionally, using RPA saves you time on highly repetitive tasks in the Information Technology sector such as onboarding new employees, quality assurance, payroll processing, and CRM updating.   

As data gathered in the Forbes reports stated that by the end of 2019, RPA would enable companies to eliminate 20% of their service desk backend functions.    

RPA in Healthcare 

RPA services in the healthcare industry have significantly transformed their care delivery process. There is more than one example of how automation has benefitted the healthcare industry. It is estimated that automation in healthcare is likely to reach 78.50 billion US dollars by 2027 with a compound annual growth of 9.7%. 

RPA services have been successfully integrated to remove workload from processes like payments, insurance claims, and registration. 

RPA use cases in Healthcare

• Data Entry 

 Administrative data entry tasks are frequently encountered in healthcare.  The process does not necessarily require specialized skill but it is quite repetitive. Implementation of RPA can help extract data from various sources and then saved to be used by the organization. 

• Document Digitization 

RPA services often involve using IDP or Intelligent Data Processing to prepare data taken from health records and then archived. A useful function that comes in handy during insurance claims. 

• Managing and Scheduling Appointments 

Now management and scheduling appointments are made easy with RPA. With the involvement of RPA patients can easily book appointments without intervention from hospital staff thus resulting in prompt customer response and increased turnout in appointments. Managing, scheduling, updating, or canceling appointments as per requirement using RPA bots.   

• Billing and Processing 

Billing and Processing are time-bound and repetitive processes. The practice involves validating, analyzing, and evaluating the data manually. With the automation of the process, RPA bots handle managing inquiries and follow-ups. 

• Managing Records 

The healthcare industry takes great care in maintaining the health records of the patients. RPA enables regulatory compliance to maintain accuracy, security and archiving records. 

 Adopting RPA services can easily resolve time and labor-intensive tasks by automating the entire process. Not only does it save time on validating documents but also the tech’s efficient management system leaves less room for errors. Increasingly, healthcare providers prefer digitizing patient information so that it can be electronically stored and accessed online by other doctors and even patients.   

RPA in Banking and Finance 

Numerous financial institutions around the world use RPA to reduce errors and human efforts with the voluminous data they deal with every day. Process turnaround times have been reduced from days to hours and even minutes, and processing costs have been successfully reduced by 30% to 70%. According to a survey report by Forrester “The exponential growth of RPA in financial services can be estimated by the fact that the industry is going to be worth a whopping $2.9 billion by 2022, a sharp increase from $250 million in 2016.” 

Automation in the Banking and Financial sector assists in streamlining processes.

RPA use cases in Banking and Finance

• Customer Services 

Banks and financial institutions deal with a multitude of queries daily. Questions related to an account, loans, and so on are commonly faced by banking executives regularly. RPA services help in taking care of low-priority queries so that employees can invest time in more important matters that require human intelligence.  

• Compliance 

Adhering to so many compliance rules is a challenging task for banks but RPA makes compliance easier. In addition to increasing productivity, RPA improves compliance process quality and increases employee satisfaction by eliminating monotonous tasks and engaging employees in tasks that require human intelligence.  In a 2016 survey by Accenture, 73% of compliance officers believed that RPA could be a key enabler for compliance within three years.  

• Credit card processing 

Banks are now able to expedite the process of dispatching credit cards. A process that earlier took weeks for banks to validate and approve documents of a customer. Now by automating the entire process it only takes a few hours to gather documents, do background checks, and approve based on set parameters. 

• Loan Processing and Validation 

RPA simplifies loan processing by deploying data automation systems that enable companies to take the relevant data from the customer’s document and prepare the information to examine for loan approval. 

• Fraud detection 

RPA helps in identifying accounts to detect potential frauds. By flagging dubious accounts, it helps the bank to investigate fraud.    

RPA in Human Resources 

Human Resource Industry has the most people-centric environment. This also involves several time-bound tasks. A successful organization generates a huge amount of data that can be a challenging task to organize. With the help of RPA, the system can easily collect and organize required data. It further enables members of the HR team to easily automate daily tasks like sending out bulk emails, managing payrolls, updating data in the system, and employee onboarding. 

RPA use cases in Human Resources 

• Shortlisting Resumes 

RPA bots can go through a number of resumes and application forms received in minutes. The bots further compare the requirements of the job description to shortlist the most suitable candidate. This process is carried out based on pre-defined rules. 

• Enroll Offer letters  

Customized offer letters complying with several regulations are sent out to selected candidates. RPA bots make it easier to access and gather information, create offer letters as well as check documents for validation. The entire process takes up too much time and is quite labor-intensive work for HR professionals which can often lead to manual errors.  

• On-boarding new hires   

A tedious task since it requires time to gather data from different systems to create a new user account, email address, access rights, and so on. RPA bots enable a smooth onboarding process for new employees as their onboarding is active on a pre-described template. 

• Analyzing Company Reviews 

Reporting must be created with the right information and in the right format to help initiate well-informed decision making. Automation enables reports to be analyzed by HR. It can also be used to check for company reviews across several sources both internal and external  

Furthermore, RPA programs can automate the process of sending welcome emails, entering employee hire information, and adding the newly hired person to the payroll. Automating this process ensures new employees have the information they need about company priorities.   

RPA in IT  

Many IT departments have effectively upgraded their operations to RPA. Automating routine tasks that don’t necessarily require human attention but are otherwise time-consuming. The transition to automation has enabled professionals to invest more time in complex projects. IT departments have streamlined tasks such as password resets, user notifications, and software installation or updates by automating them. 

RPA use cases in IT 

• Faster Turnaround time 

RPA bots handling minor technical issues that doesn’t always require human intervention, it enables your IT team to invest time in more crucial tasks.   

• Enhanced Productivity 

RPA bots enable you to remove repetitive manual tasks that often leave employees feeling tired. Automating processes can help a team feel more focused on doing more productive tasks that add value.   

• Less Errors 

It is only human to make errors. Fortunately, it is not the case with RPA bots as they do not make similar mistakes to humans do 

• Cost Effective 

Implementing RPA in business operations helps in reducing overhead costs by 40-70% per business process. By handling repetitive tasks, it eliminates the need to hire additional resources. 

• 24/7 Operational 

RPA bots can continue to perform in full capacity 24/7. Unlike humans, it doesn’t get tired or require sleep, breaks, or vacations. 

RPA services have further helped in improving accuracy in standardized tasks like placing requests for customer assistance or for submitting reports on company expenditure.  

RPA in Customer Service 

For any organization customer service plays a key role. The interests of the company are affected adversely if the customer service department is not properly utilized. Since RPA responds to rule-based tasks and replicates human interactions, it helps in making routine tasks like collecting data, limiting errors, fast responses, 24/7 customer service, and so on easier for employees. Time saved on these tasks can be further invested in meaningful interactions with the customers. 

RPA use cases in Customer services 

• Provide data to customer representatives 

RPA handles the repository of customer data and proactively provides them to executives to aid them while responding to any service or product related queries. The RPA bot assists customer executives by accessing and providing relevant details about the customer that would help navigate and resolve any issue.    

• Customer Account 

Each customer has an account saved on the CRM database which contains information like name, contact details, customer Id, and purchase history. RPA automatically extracts data to fill out forms to validate payment data and notify the customer once the account is created. 

• Manage Refunds 

RPA bots can effectively initiate refund procedures without human intervention by extracting data through emails or texts. The bot can also send notifications to the customers once the process is initiated.   

• Handle Complaints 

RPA also enables handling customer complaints efficiently by taking relevant data regarding the complaint from emails and texts. The data is further used to generate reports on spreadsheets to be delivered to the concerned parties involved in resolving the issue. 

Moreover, Errors can happen when customer service representatives get overwhelmed. These occur frequently when handling customers who had to wait longer when in need of assistance. RPA-enabled chatbots provide real-time customer support. One of the case study from IBM reports that a sales call center, reduced back-office functions by 50%, sold 20,000 products per month, and produced client reports in one day as opposed to two or three days.   

RPA in Telecommunications 

The telecom industry works on many critical rule-based tasks where RPA can prove to be advantageous. In telecom industries, RPA can automate a variety of time-consuming tasks across multiple systems.  RPA implementation in telecommunications such as billing on time, payment processing, customer service, speeding up document verification, assigning SIM cards, data entry, and so on. 

RPA use cases in Telecommunications

• Efficient Data Flow 

RPA imitates human interactions and can easily communicate with the interface. In the telecom sector, automation can effectively access specific data that a customer or a staff member needs. Furthermore, RPA being non-invasive makes it easier to integrate with existing workflows. 

• Customer Satisfaction

RPA in telecom can automate several back-office processes. It reduces the workload of employees from time-consuming back-office tasks, and allows them to focus more on client-facing tasks to improve customer satisfaction.   

• Better Accuracy

RPA bots are programmed to follow specific manual routine processes. They are built to work 24*7 with 100% accuracy and consistency all the time.   

• Productivity  

RPA technology reduces time and effort of the employees and accomplishes repetitive tasks with better accuracy and speed. Automation enables employees to be more productive to concentrate on the tasks that need human intelligence.    

Complexity often arises due to increased traffic levels and widespread networks. It makes telecom management a difficult task for service providers as it involves recovering customer-related information and entering data manually. Telecom providers can automate repetitive tasks like incident, event, and diagnostics management so that network professionals can focus on more complex processes. 

Bottom Line 

The use cases of RPA across industries are sufficient to demonstrate how RPA is improving business operations in across various industry verticals. The ways in which implementing RPA can benefit organisations in running their businesses can be clearly seen. Automation has not only helped to reduce workload but has also improved accuracy and productivity.

Aside from the seven use cases discussed, RPA has a wide range of applications, one of which is in nonprofit. Webuters has also implemented RPA for a nonprofit, assisting it in easily adopting and making the most of this new technology.

Still having doubts? Contact RPA experts at Webuters. We help brands and organizations successfully transition their business processes to automation. Our services and products enable digital transformation in the most innovative way. Reach out to us for smart automation solutions for your business.