Everyone has been talking about Robotic Process Automation, and how automation will

change the world! But, have you ever thought what could be the probable answer to your
questions such as above. Well, this blog on Robotic Process Automation will debunk all
the myths around RPA and will give you a deep dive understanding of this technology.

So. let me first introduce to all the key areas for this blog:

 The Forefathers of RPA

 Screen Scraping Technology
 Automation & Management Tools
 Artificial Intelligence
 Emergence of RPA
 Automation vs RPA
 The Trend of RPA in Market
 Myths about RPA: What RPA is not?
 Introduction To RPA
 Factors to look for in RPA
 How to Get Started with RPA?
 Benefits of RPA
 Applications of RPA
 Industries Using RPA
 Top use-cases of RPA
 RPA Tools
 Checklist while selecting RPA Tools
 List of Top RPA Tools
 Comparison Between Top Tools
 RPA Developer
 Roles & Responsibilities
 Salary Trend
 Job Description
 Sample resume

According to the prediction of Mckinsey & Company, Robotic Process Automation(RPA),

will showcase an economic impact of $6.7 trillion by 2025. With such a rise in this
technology, for the last few years, it pounders us to think about: Where did RPA come
from?, What is the origin of RPA? What made this technology take the market by storm?
Is RPA the successor of similar automation tech?

The Forefathers of RPA

As the above saying quotes, the automation used in a business should magnify the
efficiency of business operations. It is a known fact that Business & Operations have been
there though ages, and so has automation. Traditional automation has been used in
almost all kinds of operations, but, no one actually knows how RPA plays the role with the
other technologies.

Almost all of us google on What is the history behind RPA? How did RPA emerge? How
does RPA magnify our business?

So, here is your one-stop solution to get an idea of the history of RPA, let us start tracing
its history and get into the origins of this technology.

There were mainly 3 technologies, or you can predecessors before RPA came into the
picture.

 Screen Scraping Technology

 Automation & Management Tools
 Artificial Intelligence

Screen scraping Technology

Screen Scraping Technology was the start of Automation. This technology emerged in the
beginning days of the Internet, helping to extract data from the web. While there were
benefits of screen scraping, yet it was completely dependent on the software’s
compatibility with the systems present in that generation. This limitation resulted in the
loss of business since it was quite tough for a mediocre level business user to understand

the software dependencies.

Now, the organizations needed a software which was more adaptable!

This resulted in the existence of our next tech, which is the Automation & Management
tools.

Automation & Management Tools

This tech emerged in the early 1920s, but only gained popularity in the early 1990s during
the emergence of manufacturing. As the name suggests, this software provided
assistance in capturing customer information, processing invoices, getting the list of items
ordered and so on. With workflow automation & management tools, the manual workforce
was reduced to perform data entry.
Well, this technology definitely increased speed, efficiency, and accuracy, but yet it could
not be used in all kinds of software for large-scale automation.

Then came into existence Artificial Intelligence. Though it was coined in 1956, at
Dartmouth College, it emerged as one of the leaders in the market in the late 1990s.

Artificial intelligence(AI)

Artificial Intelligence is understood as the capability of computer systems to perform

tasks that normally require human intervention and intelligence. So, those kinds of tasks
which can be performed based on the previous judgments of humans were taken over by
the Artificial Intelligence machines. The world has been benefited with AI by enhancing the
accuracy and precision in tasks, and by reducing the manual workforce.

Each of the above technologies has their own part to play in the emergence of RPA. But,
what makes RPA a prominent technology, is its ability to amalgamate various aspects of
the above technologies, according to the user need.

With the note, of this, let us look into the Emergence of Robotic Process Automation.

Emergence of RPA
With the mixture of artificial intelligence, screen scraping, and workflow automation,
Robotic Process Automation came into emergence in early 2000. This technology uplifted
the capabilities of each of the three technologies, by making an impact in the market.

Since RPA came into existence because of its predecessors, it was highly dependent on
both screen scraping and workflow automation. It provided drag and drop functionalities
and uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to capture data from changing
websites.

Now, if you are wondering how RPA and AI are related, then let me tell you that, RPA lets
you configure the robot to collect the data, recognize patterns and then be adaptable as
per the requirement. The collaboration between RPA and AI, lets you perform a complex
decision – making.

Automation vs RPA
Before I tell you the difference between these two terms, let me define them for you.

Automation: This term refers to the invention of new technology to solve an existing
manual problem. But, yes, it definitely needs human intervention.

RPA: The RPA software uses existing technology’s interface to automate the human
element in the process. So, basically, there is no need for human intervention.

You can refer to the following table, to get a few differences RPA and Automation based
on some parameters.

Automation Parameters RPA

 Reduces execution time What does it reduce? Reduces manual workforce
Need for programming Mostly not needed as it is
Required to create test scripts
knowledge wizard-driven
Repetitive business process i
Repetitive test cases i.e a product What does it automate?
product as well as business
Works on a wide range of
Limited working environments Working environments
environments
Used for QA, Production, Usually used in production
Usage
Performance, UAT environments environments
So, in layman terms what differentiates automation from RPA is the ability of RPA to adapt
to various situations. Once it is being trained to capture and interpret the actions of
processes in existing applications, it can further perform actions such as manipulation,
triggering responses, and also simultaneously communicate with various other systems.

The Trend of RPA in the Market

As you can see in the above image, the trend for RPA in the market is increasing day to
day. With such a rise in the market, it has proven itself to be the hot cake in the market, by
providing a potential to increase productivity for enterprises.
RPA is said to contribute to the market growth of Big Data & Internet of Things. Software
robots will be able to generate a humongous amount of data on business operations, as
they record and monitor the steps to execute workflows. Not only this, but RPA also has
the capability to analyze Big Data and reveal the business insights.

Apart from these, RPA is also believed to collaborate with other software to enhance
customer experience. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Cyber
Security, Cloud Computing, Virtual Reality are believed to the collaborate with RPA for
automation.

Looking at these trends in the market obviously makes believe that RPA is the new
generation technology involved in each and every business. Whether a small enterprise or
a large organization, the need for Automation will never be replaced by anything.

So, before I tell you what RPA is, let me first tell you What RPA is Not?

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Myths About RPA: What RPA Is Not?

Robotic Process Automation has been in the market for a while now, but yet, everyone
thinks this technology has suddenly emerged in the market. You can consider the
following examples to understand the difference between RPA and other processes.

Example 1: If you are using a chatbot as a help for customers to fill a form automatically,
then it is a Chat-Bot which has ML algorithms included with AI. Though, you can always
use RPA tools to achieve this.

Example 2: If you want to span around web pages and extract data, then you use RPA
with the help of any of its vendors.

Example 3: If you want to scan the invoices and store the data somewhere, then you can
use RPA. But, if you want to scan voices and store the said words to a text file, then you
need AI.
Now, coming to the most popular myths of RPA. You can consider the following list to
know them and learn the truths about it.

1. Robots will replace humans.

All of you must be thinking that will RPA replace humans someday or the other?

But, let me tell you that RPA is not entirely independent as of now. There are various
instances where humans are needed for high-level thinking. At the same time, RPA allows
employees to increase their efficiency and productivity.

The manual workforce will be definitely reduced, but it will never replace the complete
manual workforce.

2. RPA software robots are 100% accurate.

As all of us know that robots have no common sense. They will do as you make them do.
So, if there is a flaw in the robot’s framework, then it will allow an obvious error to crawl
into the instructions provided to the robots. They will replicate mistakes that are present in
a workflow unless someone stops it.

Just to avoid this kind of blunders, we should ensure that the processes are optimized and
the bots should be monitored at initial stages of automation.

3. RPA will not work in small industries.

A common misconception is that RPA is used only by large scaling productive industries.
However, RPA can be applied to almost any repetitive, rules-based, and high-volume
business activity in any type of industry.

Now, that you know the history behind RPA and What RPA is not? Let me now tell you
what is RPA?

Introduction To RPA: What Is Robotic Process

Automation?
The Process of automating the workflows with help of robots/software to reduce the
involvement of humans is said to be Robotic Process Automation.

Over here there are mainly three terms that you need to understand: Robotic,
Process and Automation. Let me explain you each of these terms one by one.

 Robotic: Entities which mimic human actions are called Robots.

 Process: Sequence of steps which lead to a meaningful activity. For example, the
process of making tea or your favorite dish etc.
 Automation: Any process which is done by a robot without human intervention.

If we summarize all the terms together then, mimicking human actions to perform a
sequence of steps that lead to a meaningful activity, without any human intervention is
known as Robotic Process Automation.
You can go through the following video to get a better understanding on Robotic Process
Automation with a hands-on.

Now, if you what RPA is then the next thing that should come on your mind should be
What are the Factors to look in RPA software?

Factors to look in RPA software

 Simple: Enterprises should make sure that their products are simple and are easy
to learn and implement.
 Speed: The software should be able to design and test new processes to optimize
the bots to work quickly.
 Scalability: The chosen RPA software should be able to scale rapidly and also be
centrally managed.
 Intelligence: Software should be able to support simple task-based activities, to
perform data manipulations.
 Reliable: Tool should have built-in monitoring and support systems to monitor the
health of systems.
 Enterprise – Class: The software should satisfy the company’s need, by providing
scalability, reliability also.

Now, that you know the factors to look in RPA, let me tell you How you can get started
with RPA?

How To Get Started With RPA?

As you can see in the below image, to get started with RPA, you need to follow the below
steps.

 Step 1: Before you actually start using RPA, you need to know the history behind
RPA. That is, learning all about the Traditional ways of Automation.
 Step 2: Once you know the history behind RPA, you should understand What is
RPA and learn in which sectors it can be used.
 Step 3: Once, you get through all the basics of Robotic Process Automation, you
can start automating your tasks. To automate tasks you have to first understand its
workflow and know which repetitive task can be automated.
 Step 4: Lastly, you need to gain an extensive expertise in RPA Tools such as
UiPath, Blue Prism & Automation Anywhere.

Alright!! So, now let me answer a few questions that people generally ask for.

1. What are the benefits of RPA?

2. What are the Applications of RPA?
3. What are the best practices for RPA?
So let us get started with each of this one by one.

Benefits of Robotic Process Automation

Robotic process automation helps enterprises to automate tasks by providing the following
benefits. Refer to the below image.

 Accurate: RPA software are generally less prone to errors and function with high
uniformity and precision
 Consistent: This software is built in such a way that, all the repetitive tasks are
performed in the same manner, even if it is 1000th time.
 Cost Cutting Technology: RPA definitely reduces the manual workforce and
hence reduces the cost used to perform any task.
 Productivity Rate: The execution time to perform any task is much faster when
compared to the manual approach.
 Reduce Burden on IT: RPA software does not disturb the underlying legacy
systems.
 Offers Compliance: RPA follows rules to prove audit free trial so that you do not
have to worry about the security of your automation.
 Reliable Software: This software is reliable, as bots can work 24*7 without a
break, with the same efficiency.
 No/Less Coding Required: RPA software require a mediocre level of
programming knowledge. You can consider that, even if you are from a non-IT
background, you can definitely start using Robotic Process Automation to automate
the task.

Applications of Robotic Process Automation

Most of the companies are now using RPA for testing. They are scraping their old testing
tools, such as Selenium, which was/is used for web testing. But RPA provides much more
than testing.

Industries Using RPA

The industries in which RPA can be used are:

 Customer Service
 Accounting
 Financial Service
 Healthcare
 Human Resources
 Supply Chain Management

Looking at the above industries, let me show you, folks, few use-cases where Robotic
Process Automation can be applied.

Have you heard of the saying “Mind The Gaps, else you may fall into a hazard“?

Well, this saying clearly indicates that we may find gaps in automated processes such as
copy-and-paste, data-gathering and consolidation and data entry from one application to
another.

Top Use-Cases of RPA

Below are few gaps which have the highest-value opportunities to automate with robotics.

Data extraction: All enterprises need to record their transactions in journals so

that they can be used for future processes. Over her instead of the manual workforce and
having a question always in mind whether the transaction is stored correctly or not, a robot
can be used to gather and consolidate transactions.

Data management: Aggregating humongous amount of data for the manual workforce
would be a tedious task. So, a robot can do this job for employees, so that employees can
utilize their brains in something more important.

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Maintaining customer data: In an enterprise, many customers may get

connected to the business on a daily basis. Now, every company needs to maintain the
data of each and every customer. If a person does it, then it may take longer than a robot.
But, if a robot does this task, then data can be periodically validated and updated.

Performing Financial Close & Reporting: The tedious process of posting data
from various sources to sub-ledgers of a company to create and deliver financial filings
can be easily handled through RPA.

Invoice Processing: Almost all the companies have invoices which need to be
processed. So, if a customer asks for an invoice, the company should be able to process
it. Doing it manually for 100’s of customers is a time taking the task. Instead of it, if a robot
is made to do, the productivity rate would be much higher.

Processing portal queries & Prices: It is often observed that enterprises work
on portals and have to keep an eye on the fluctuating prices. Rather than staff logging and
logging out again and again, copy-pasting the login information, and keeping a note of
fluctuating prices. A robot can take over this task to connect to all portals, gather
information about fluctuating prices and reporting/ storing them.

Getting reports about Market: Organizations may need to get the report of the
market situation on some parameters on daily basis, to compete with their competitors. A
robot can be put into this job, to deliver a full report of the market on time.

Supplier Pricing Comparisons: While you prepare a customer quote, you need to

compare suppliers’ prices, which is a time taking process. Instead, if we let a

software gather the data for us and deliver it in the format that we want, we could save our
time, energy and money.

Processing of Exception Orders: It is often observed that sales orders hold the
price for a number of days. In such situations, a robot can do a price check of that

particular product and verify the current price with the held price.

Delivery reconciliation: When we order something online, the orders need to be

validated against shipments. Well, we can make a robot do that for us, instead of we do it
manually. So, a robot will check and approve all matching orders and notify us whenever
there is an exception.
Now, as you have reached to this section of the blog, let me tell you that when I say that a
robot will make your work easy. It is not a physical robot, but it is any RPA tool in which
you can make an automation workflow and perform tasks.

In the next section of the blog, I will clarify all your doubts on What are the criteria
considered while choosing an RPA Tool? Which RPA Tool to choose? And What are the
top RPA tools?

RPA Tools
RPA Tools/Vendors are the tools available in the market which help you to perform
automation workflows.

Now, any RPA tool that you choose must perform the following three functionalities:

 It should be able to interact with various systems either through screen scraping /
API integrations
 It should be able to make decisions and determine its actions based on inputs
gathered from other systems
 It should have an interface to program the bot

The Checklist while Selecting RPA Tools

The following are a few parameters that you need to consider while selecting an RPA tool.
  Platform Independent: Many organizations perform their day to day tasks outside
the local desktop using Citrix or Virtual machines. So the tool must be platform
independent and should support any type of application.
 Ease of Use & Control: RPA tool that you choose must be user-friendly, to
increase efficiency and user satisfaction. Also, the tool that you choose should
need less training and have better control.
 Secure: Any automation workflow that you make should be secure to protect your
data. So, you need to make sure that your tool is secure enough to protect your
data.
 Scalability: While selecting the RPA tool, you must consider how quickly and easily
the tool can respond to business requirements, changes, exceptions or increasing
operations.
 Total Cost of Ownership: The total cost for RPA includes the initial setup cost of
the RPA system, ongoing vendor license fees, and maintenance cost. All these
costs must be considered when you wish to select a tool for your job to be done.
 Vendor Experience: You should choose a vendor that serves a company similar to
yours both in terms of size and industry. Such kind of experience drastically
improves the speed of implementation by reducing the work required to implement
RPA software.
 Maintenance & Support: The RPA tool that you choose must provide good
maintenance and 24*7 support forums so that you can solve any query that you
get.
 Quick Deployment: The tool should be able to help like a real end-user by
interacting with applications at the presentation layer, using the screens, validation,
and business rules as they are presented via a virtual desktop.
 Reliability: The tool must be able to perform any kind of automation that you wish
to, and should be able to satisfy your company’s need.

Now, that you know the various parameters that you need to consider while choosing RPA
Tools, let me show you the list of top RPA tools.

List of Top RPA Tools

Availability of Free
Tool Name Pricing Usability
Version
Another Monday – – –
Ant Works – – –
Arago – – –
Automation Drag & Drop, Macro
– per bot
Anywhere Recording
Blue Prism – per process Drag & Drop
Contextor – – –
Jidoka – – –
Kofax – – –
Kryon Systems – – –
NICE Systems – – –
Pega – – –
 Redwood Software – – –
Drag & Drop, Macro
UiPath UiPath Community Edition per bot
Recording
Visual Cron 45-day free trial per server Drag & Drop
Drag & Drop, Macro
WorkFusion WorkFusion RPA Express per process
Recording
As you can see in the above table, each tool has its own benefits and losses. But, if you
see the market trend, then the market leaders are the trio(Blue
Prism, UiPath & Automation Anywhere)

Let us compare these top tools one by one.

Comparison Between Top Tools

Features UiPath Blue Prism Automation Anywher

Is trial version Community Edition is The trial version is
No trial version is available
available? available available for 30 days
Has a user-friendly visual Developers friendly but
Is it user- Has a user-friendly visual
designer, easier than requires high programmin
friendly? designer
Automation Anywhere skills
Google Trends More popular than The least popular tool in
Most Popular Tool
Popularity Automation Anywhere the trio
If you look at the features mentioned in the above table. It is clear that UiPath wins
between the trio as if offers a trial version and has a user-friendly visual designer. So, if
you are new to RPA, and you want to learn how to automate tasks, then you can choose
UiPath to practice well. Once you practice well, you can choose the Enterprise edition to
automate large tasks at a business level.

If you wish to learn more about UiPath, then you can click here.

Now, that you know so much about RPA, let me quickly make you go through the job roles
in RPA.

RPA Developer: Roles, Responsibilities, Salary &

Resume
Once you gain expertise in Robotic Process Automation, you can become an RPA
Developer. So, let me quickly discuss the roles and responsibilities of this role.
RPA Developer Roles & Responsibilities

An RPA Developer mainly has 3 roles:

1. Process Designer
2. Automation Architect
3. Production Manager

Process Designer: Roles & Responsibilities

The person with this job role is responsible for understanding the process which needs to
be automated. He/she needs to make sure that the people working as a team on an RPA
project are in sync, and monitor the changes that happen after implementing the feedback
during development or testing phase.

Automation Architect: Roles & Responsibilities

The person holding the position of Automation Architect builds the RPA project using the
RPA tooling.He/she is the member of the core automation team and may or may not have
the developer level expertise depending on the RPA tool the organization is using.

Production Manager: Roles & Responsibilities

Once a project or an automation workflow is ready, it is tested and rolled into the
production. Now, at this stage comes the role of production manager. The production
manager is responsible for the following tasks:

 To ensure the processes are successfully done as per the project plan
 To handle process and exceptions and report the bugs to the Automation Architect
 To review the process and provide inputs to the Process Designer for
improvements.

All of these three roles play their own part, in the RPA industry. Well, if you are new to the
RPA world and want to become an RPA Developer. Then your first step in climbing the
ladder is to gain an extensive hands-on expertise in RPA tools and become a Process
Designer. Once you have an industry-level based experience in automating tasks, you can
jump to the next step of your career to become an Automation Architect and a Production

Manager.

So, now let me just quickly cover the salaries for each of these roles and give you an
example of sample RPA Developer resume.

RPA Developer Salary

 Process Designer Salary – Average Salary Ranges from 84,000 USD to 132,000
USD annually
 Automation Architect Salary – Average Salary Ranges from 128,000 USD –
170,000 USD annually
 Production Manager Salary – Average Salary ranges from 68,000 USD to 125,000
USD per year

Also, according to the Indeed.com, salary estimated from 41,166 employees, users, and
past and present job advertisements in the past 36 months range from
around $104,637 per year for Architect to $140,390 per year for an RPA Developer
Architect. You can refer to the below image, to know the Architect Jobs offered by various
companies in the USA.
Robotic Process Automation Training using UiPath

Weekday / Weekend BatchesSee Batch Details

Now, that you know the average salary for an RPA, it will only be fair if I show you an RPA
Developer job description before I explain how an RPA Developer resume looks like.

RPA Developer Job Description

You can refer to the following video to enhance your knowledge about an RPA Developer.

Now, let me show you a sample RPA Developer resume, which you can alter based on
your experience and the job requirement.

RPA Developer Sample Resume

Summary:

RPA Developer with n+ years of hands-on experience in automating processes using the
banking RPA technology to drive process improvements for the Customer Experience and
Analytics team.

Education:

Mention your qualifications(Masters Degree, Bachelors Degree, 10 th and 12th)

Experience:

 Develop end to end project plans with the execution team

 Proven track record of evaluating current processes and visualize ways to re-
engineer the process in order to create significant efficiencies and enhance controls
 Be part of technical discussions and design technology solutions
 Working closely with individual project team to gather project status, establish
dashboard to track project progress
 Work with the key partners to troubleshoot and prioritize problems

Skills:

 Good hands-on knowledge of programming principles and technologies

 Ability to design the application and its functionalities based on the business
requirement
  Proficient analytical skills to analyze business problems properly to
develop technology solutions
 Experience in Agile Methodologies
 Experience with automation technologies (Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere,
Fusion, Jacada, etc)
 Good interpersonal and teamwork skills with strong communication skills

So, folks, that’s an to this blog on Robotic Process Automation. I hope you enjoyed
reading this blog and got a deep understanding of RPA. If you wish to further learn about
Robotic Process Automation, then you can check out our course on Robotic Process
Automation Using UiPath. This course will let you enhance your knowledge on RPA and
will give you an extensive hands-on experience in UiPath.