It’s no secret that companies are turning to robotic process automation (RPA) to increase accuracy and efficiency. But did you know that RPA is also a huge cost saver? Experts estimate that using RPA saves between 25 and 80% on current operational costs.
Can Robotic Process Automation Cut Costs?
Here are 6 practical ways companies can see cost savings by using RPA:
1. RPA Eliminates Rework
Human resources are, well, human. And humans simply make mistakes. Bots don’t have the capacity to space out or just get tired, so they almost never make true “mistakes.”
Occasionally, bots will run into something that throws an exception, but it’s always showing something in the process that needs to be fixed. For example, if a bot is adding new clients to a customer relationship management (CRM) system when the client doesn’t have a last name (and that’s a required step), the bot can drop the process owner an email explaining why it skipped it.
Using bots eliminates rework, and rework costs money.
2. RPA Lowers the Cost of Scaling
When human resources are the ones running business processes, scaling can be costly. Consider a staffing company that finds leads on LinkedIn, then contacts those leads and adds their names to a CRM software. Say that it takes 10 minutes for the person to find that lead, then another 10 minutes for them to send the lead a quick email and add them to the CRM.
A bot can easily cut that time in half, eliminating the need for the human to send an email or add the lead to the CRM. The company can scale up to twice the number of contacts just by increasing resources to their bot (which is MUCH less expensive than hiring a second person).
Scaling is as easy as pushing a button. If a company is suddenly doing 10x the work in a month than expected, they can push a couple of buttons and have a team of bots process that 10x work in the same time it used to process 1.
It’s also true the other way. If a company suddenly has only half the work expected, they can scale back the bot and save on the cost of running it. So team fluctuations are more cost-effective.
3. RPA Gets Companies to Cash Faster
Just because a process is monotonous doesn’t mean that it isn’t vital to the company. In fact, monotonous processes often lead directly to revenue. For example, consider a company that invoices hundreds of clients monthly for work performed. A human resource might take 3 days per month to send those invoices, but a bot could send them all in an hour or two. The bot brings cash into the company up to two days sooner than if the human resource was sending the invoices.
4. RPA Reduces Management Costs
Though occasional maintenance might be needed on software bots, they do NOT need managers. Hire a team to complete data entry, and you’ll also need to hire a manager to keep the team running efficiently. But hire a bot to send the invoices, and the bot will just keep entering data … and entering data … and entering data. No PTO discussions, no sick time, no need to think about career planning. Thus, no management is needed.
5. RPA Eliminates Retraining Costs
Do you have a human resource that runs monthly payroll? When that resource decides to move on, you’ll be training the new person from scratch all over again. And in today’s job market, you could be doing it yet again in less than a year. According to a Software Advice analyst, in 2019, 1 out of 3 new employees quit within a year of starting a new job. And we know those numbers are much larger in a post-pandemic world. The cost of training even an entry-level employee is estimated at 30-40% of the trainee’s annual salary. When this happens multiple times for the same position, the dollars add up quickly.
What’s the cost of training software robots? It depends on the process, but it’s a one-time cost. No retraining, no worries about someone leaving. And what about all of the knowledge that you’ve gained through running the process so many times? It stays with you, rather than leaving when an employee gets a better offer.
6. RPA Produces Data, Helping Companies Identify Spots to Save
Because RPA bots work entirely digitally, data is always available on what they’ve been doing. Rather than having humans informally watch for opportunities to improve processes and business operations, companies can use “intelligent” automation to scientifically watch for patterns and ways to improve them. Automation companies use data mining to analyze existing processes for efficiency improvements.
Contact RoboSource to Implement Robotic Process Automation
On top of all of these is the fact that you might not have to hire for a new position in the first place once you’re using RPA, saving your company on labor costs! Ready to talk to someone about how to implement robotic process automation? Sign up today for a free consultation.
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