Robotic Process Automation: Hype or Hope?

Abstract

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a fast-emerging process automation technology suited for high-volume, repetitive, and rule-based tasks. The promises of rising RPA vendors and the lack of documented track records leave researchers and practitioners with the challenge of positioning the term and assessing RPA's true potential. To objectively discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this technology, we conduct a literature review, a practical implementation of an RPA solution, and an interview with an industry expert. We reveal that the current literature primarily focuses on economic factors. This paper, therefore, adds various social and technical aspects to the discussion. Most importantly, robustness and stability pose technical challenges for successfully implementing RPA. Further research directed at error handling and maintenance of software robots is required to support the successful implementation of RPA.

Seven Guidelines for Designing the User Interface in Robotic Process Automation

“…In a second step, the efforts for correcting bot errors need to be minimized (2), i.e., the users should be able to solve errors and problems without being an RPA expert. Note that this aspect is rarely addressed in literature, only [18] suggests creating novel solutions for error handling.…”

“…The bot should not only send an e-mail to the users upon completion, but also inform them if any error occurs. So far, literature has focused on communicating task completion to the users by e-mail [2], [14], [18], [40]. No other types of communication are reported.…”

“…In existing RPA implementations, the users often interact with the bot via e-mail, by storing documents in the filesystem of the bot and assigning the task to the bot in the respective system. The bot, in turn, interacts with the users via e-mail or by storing documents in a pre-defined filesystem [2], [14], [18], [40].…”

Towards Quantifying the Effects of Robotic Process Automation

“…• Speed: Automated processes shall run faster and the average case duration (i.e., the time needed for processing the business case) shall become shorter. Accordingly, it is expected that more work can be accomplished with the same resources or full time equivalents (FTE) can be saved [1], [5], [7], [10], [13], [14], [17], [23], [26], [27], [30], [32]. • Availability: Most RPA bots are available 24/7 and instant access is granted.…”

“…Negative effects or limitations of RPA are seldomly reported in literature, e.g., [11] characterizes RPA solutions as workarounds and [2] and [10] emphasize that RPA constitutes a temporary solution. According to [3], there are software suites (e.g., special forensic software) not being compatible with current RPA solutions.…”