Robotic Process Automation
Technology is changing at a rapid pace. We’re already living in the era of robotics and automation. Companies are coming up with new and improved technology to make work less-monotonous, faster, and more reliable.
One such tech is robotic process automation, a technique that can be very useful in data migration.
In this article, we’ll talk about robotic process automation and its many benefits.
Let’s get started:
What is Robotic Process Automation?
Robotic process automation, more commonly written as RPA, refers to tools designed to fully or partially automate repetitive, manual, and rule-based human activities.
These tools replicate actual human actions and interact with other apps to perform duties and complete tasks. RPA tools can process standard transactions, complete data entry jobs, and even respond to basic customer queries.
A very good example of RPA tools is the ‘chatbot’ found on a number of websites. When you send a message to the chatbot, it is processed by a computer. No human interaction is needed to complete the process and the system is able to identify the question and give a relevant answer.
The system can handle simple queries such as ‘how to perform this task’ or ‘what is ABC’. It cannot handle very complicated queries and can be programmed to ask the user to speak to a human in case the question is too complex.
We must mention that RPA tools are only meant to automate already-existing manual tasks that are performed by human workers. These are not meant to replace underlying applications.
How do Robotic Process Automation Tools Work?
Think about RPA tools as a worker. They do the same job as a human employee but in a more productive and affordable manner. They look at the same screen that workers do and fill in the required fields and boxes using a pre-defined algorithm.
It can be quite complicated to understand how these tools work. We’re used to following a traditional system where it’s the job of a developer to create a list of actions required to fully or partially automate a task. These actions are linked to the system with the help of a suitable scripting language or internal APIs.
While such methods are still applicable, these are not very reliable. RPA systems bring a much-needed technological upgrade.
These systems are smarter and do not require heavy work on the part of the programmer. These can develop the action list just by observing the user perform a specific task in the application’s graphical user interface.
They can ‘see and learn’ to perform the given task directly in the GUI. This technology makes adaption very easy and lowers barriers.
You will find a lot of technical similarities between RPA tools and graphical user interface testing tools.
We know that automation isn’t a newly-introduced concept. It has been in existence for a very long time. We’ve been using technologies like screen scraping and tracking for a while, however, RPA is more extensible and useful than other similar technologies, which is why it is being used by data mining companies.
Why Use Robotic Process Automation?
The technology is meant to provide several benefits. Here are some:
- It improves productivity by freeing humans from having to perform low-value-added and monotonous tasks. Humans can concentrate on more important tasks that require human intervention.
- Reduces the risk of errors and ensures that outputs are correct, consistent, and complete.
- Helps save time since the system can quickly get access to data it needs.
Some experts believe that “automation enhances human skills and takes the robot out of the human.”
This is not the first automation tool out there but it can be easily used in data mining and matching because it doesn’t alter existing infrastructure or systems. Hence, there’s no risk of data manipulation or damage.
You will get reliable data in your hand in less time. This is very important because some process automation tools are known to interact with systems and end up writing new codes or editing existing codes, which results in quality issues.
But There Are Some Limitations
RPA tools are not very commonly used in this field yet and they’re known to have some limitations.
The system has to be programmed or scripted to copy and perform a specific task. You cannot do it on your own without the assistance of a subject matter expert who understands how the system works. Moreover, the person must be aware of the industry as well.
For example, if you’re preparing an RPA tool for data matching then the expert must understand how data matching works and what needs to be done to sort data out. It can be difficult to find experts in this field.
WinPure, however, have experts who understand both robotic process automation and data management. We know how the work is done and can prepare a system to automate it without any trouble. This is why we’re among the very first data quality companies to offer RPA as a service.
We already have a reliable system in place that works like a charm. We feed data into our software, it gets profiled, cleansed and matched, and is extracted for use.
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