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FEATURE: RPA
A lot of CIOs are now turning
to Robotic Process Automation
(RPA) to eliminate the tasks
of workers and ensure that
executives can focus on
other tasks. Fanie Botha, the
COO of FIRTech Holdings,
a South African company
that specialises in RPA, tells
Intelligent CIO how it is
changing the landscape.
T
here is a technology that is
disrupting the workplace,
it’s called Robotic Process
Automation (RPA). Using
software ‘robots’ to mimic
repetitive human interactions with
computers, this technology can do these
tasks much faster, without any rest and no
errors that human are prone to making.
Although this technology is not brand
new, the last two years have seen an
unprecedented adoption by many
companies where repetitive tasks are now
being automated and performed by robots.
Many consider this a threat, but companies
see it as a great opportunity to create
new high-quality jobs that require human
intelligence and creativity.
The tail-end of the third industrial
revolution saw the introduction of mass
industrial automation and robotics. The
microprocessor revolutionised manufacturing
and countries that embraced and adopted
this revolutionary technology were the
beneficiaries of sustainable manufacturing
industries. They still maintain a competitive
advantage in the 21st century.
Similarly, in this industrial revolution,
businesses and countries that embrace and
adopt 4IR technologies (including RPA)
are going to be the global beneficiaries of
agility, efficiency and cost.
RPA has specifically been designed to
streamline repetitive business tasks, increase
accuracy, save time and reduce costs. These
are the tedious manual repetitive tasks that
don’t add any value to employee knowledge.
It’s not about removing people, but rather
about using them for vital processes and
tasks that require intelligence, imagination,
contextualisation and creativity.
These new jobs will also bring new
opportunities for learning and allow
employees to develop themselves with more
creative work elsewhere.
According to Gartner, finance departments
can save thousands of hours of avoidable
repetitive tasks and rework caused by human
errors – simply by deploying RPA in their
financial reporting processes.
The survey found that the average amount
of repetition and avoidable rework in
accounting departments can take up to
30% of a full-time employee’s overall
time. Examples of these ‘time-wasting
tasks’ include:
• Navigating through accounting/
ERP system screens between value
adding activities
• Tediously finding the correct codes to use
and to prepare financial journals
Disrupting
the workplace
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