And why it's a good thing. Let's talk Robotic Process Automation (RPA)!
Overview
RPA is software where bots are programmed to mimic human actions to complete tasks. The core objective of RPA is to automate voluminous, repetitive digital work.
The Problem
Organizations of all types are digitizing physical operations. This new digital world is much less constrained than the physical one. Operating scale plays by a different and more expansive set of rules.
Information Growth
From 2010 to 2020, the amount of data generated and consumed globally grew nearly 5000% - only 10% is net new data, 90% is replication.
By 2025, the amount of data generated is expected to increase by 10.5 times.
The computational power of humans cannot keep pace with the growing information corpus. After all, we’re only human.
Economic Impact
The onslaught of information is a python wrapped around organizations and employees.
Labor productivity has been in decline as digital technology has proliferated.
Productivity growth compared to 10 years earlier was 31% on average in the 2000s and dropped to 18% in the 2010s.
Work Impact
Why has productivity dropped? Many reasons are hotly debated by economists and arm chair CEOs alike. But there’s one thing every 'office' worker can agree on.... repetitive, low value tasks are one root cause. The typical office worker spends:
~60% of their time on work about work.
~20% of their time searching for and gathering information.
~10% of their time on duplication tasks.
The python is slowly squeezing the creativity, morale, motivation, and (sometimes) dignity out of the workplace. If you’ve ever had a meeting about a meeting, you know what I’m talking about.
Employee Impact
This type of work leads to lower employee satisfaction and engagement. This in turn leads to lower productivity, to the tune of around 18% lower. Repetitive tasks have been shown to increase tiredness, which in turn increases errors, lowers performance and compliance.
Around 2/3 employees believe their company’s broken processes prevent them from achieving their potential.
86% of employees actively looking for a new job cite broken processes as a major factor.
58% of office workers said they spend too much time on repetitive tasks.
64% of office workers wish they had more time for creative work and time with customers.
So where do we turn when software is actually eating the world?
Fighting Fire with Fire
For those battling to keep their head above water, there's a life raft. Organizations are turning to RPA to automate the drudgery. When the drudgery disappears, the human work becomes, well more human. RPA augments, enhances, and extends human intelligence far beyond our physical limitations.
Market Segment Overview
Customers from all industries with computer based work are gravitating towards automation solutions. The market segment is already $1.9B, growing at an estimated 37.6% CAGR. 82% of enterprises plan to implement RPA in the next 24 months.
Reaping the Rewards
For those already on their journey into the future of work, the benefits are substantial. Investment payback is reported at less than 12 months with an average of 20% FTE capacity equivalent provided by RPA.
- 95% report productivity gains.
- 93% report improved compliance.
- 81% report a lower cost structure.
- 77% report better info management.
Technology Overview
Past
RPA imitated structured, rule-based, predefined tasks - inflexible, point and shoot.
Present
Today, the robots are getting smarter. Advancements in machine learning, optical character recognition (OCR), and computing are the catalysts. Industry specific use cases are being matched with purpose built robots, leading to better outcomes.
Future
In the future, RPA will imitate human decision making in simple and complex scenarios. Multi-modal robotic processing will usher in a new era of digital intelligence. The quality trade-off will dissipate across more use cases.
RPA, Meet Customers
The acquisition of customers will trend towards industry and use case specific. As RPA software gets more capability and the barrier to entry lowers, the training data and deployment experience will become the key differentiators - if it’s not already.
To win in this market, the solution must verticalize. Ideally targeting SMEs (small to medium enterprises). SMEs are less capitalized, move faster, and are in greater need of maintaining a competitive position - making them an ideal segment to market RPA to.
Two broader company strategies that fit nicely within this market segment and software vertical are: category creation and PLG. Tactics to utilize include customer referral programs, social media, conferences/industry workshops, podcast appearances, industry referral programs, outbound sales, and audience building content.
Crossing the 'T's and dotting the 'I's
The RPA party for office workers is just getting started. The promise of the technology is encouraging. As the old skiing adage goes, 'don't fight the mountain'. Instead, work with it to achieve something greater than one can alone.
Let's end with the Socratic method, undoubtedly the most annoying style of transferring information - albeit still effective:
Where could you use a digital co-worker?
Imagine you had one today, what would you never do again?
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