Blog Post
Robotic Process Automation (RPA):
Introduction
A question that we hear frequently at indePenn is – “I worked in an IT Services company before my career break. I want to go back to the industry, but I don’t want to be a programmer. What can I do?” In the last few posts, we talked about non-coding careers in IT and technology and introduced you to the fascinating world of Digital Marketing. We talked about content writing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), to enable returning women to rebuild a career in the IT and Technology industry, but in a low/no-code role. This post dives into yet another career stream in IT and Technology, Robotic Process Automation or, in short, RPA.
RPA - a skill of the future
The Global Robotic Process Automation Market Size was USD 1.6 Billion in 2021 and is expected to touch USD 25.1 Billion by 2030. Studies show that 84% of the Indian organisations plan to scale up their RPA initiatives by 2025. However, 74% of the companies say that they face difficulty in finding automation skills and talent. This is a hot skill of the future!
RPA is everywhere
Just about every industry uses RPA – Banking & Financial Services, Insurance, Manufacturing, Retail, Healthcare and even Education. So, the opportunity in this space is exploding and will continue to grow.
And just about every function in every industry can use RPA. As a sample, here are some functions that already use RPA
Data Entry and Migration from paper forms into a digital database
Customer Service – checking account details, updating customer information, or processing simple customer requests
Finance and Accounting – creating vendors, customers in system, reconciling bank statements, and generating financial reports
Human Resources – onboarding new employees, updating employee records, and processing leave requests
IT Services: Automating routine IT tasks such as password resets, system monitoring, and regular maintenance tasks.
What exactly is RPA?
RPA is like a (robots or bots) that can handle repetitive computer tasks that do not involve decision making.
Just remember though, RPA is not the robot that you see in science-fiction movies. It is a set of instructions to a computer that runs like any other software.
RPA handles the boring, repetitive tasks that humans used to do, such as entering data into spreadsheets, moving files from one place to another, or filling out forms. The goal of RPA is to save time and reduce errors that can happen when humans do these tasks.
RPA bots follow specific rules and instructions that are set up by a person. Just like you might teach someone how to do a job by showing them step by step, you teach the RPA bot what to do and how to do it. Once it’s set up, the RPA system can do these tasks on its own without needing further guidance.
As it achieves task automation and process (a collection of tasks) automation, it becomes the Digital Workforce of a company – a workforce that does not need tea breaks or bio breaks and does not complain that the job is “not fulfilling”.
Where is RPA used?
Scenario – Vacation Cancelled– RPA makes it bearable!
Imagine this scenario – you’ve always wanted to visit Delhi. You plan a family vacation with a lot of care and attention to detail, so that it is a magical visit.
When should we go? How should we arrange the flight, hotel, etc? What should we see?
We’re off next week! All arrangements done by the same travel agent!
And then…, stuff comes up – the vacation has to be cancelled.
Well… Once you’ve gotten over your disappointment, you log into the travel agent’s website to cancel. You’re mentally cursing the run-around you’re sure to get.
But to your shock, when you visit the website of the travel agent and hit ‘Cancel My Trip’, all it asks for is your customer id and the booking reference number. It says,”Working…”.
A few minutes later a message pops up – “Please check your email for cancellation details. Your refunds will be credited to your bank account ending XXX1234 in 3 working days. Please click on the link in your email on Day 4 if the refund is not received”.
The email is waiting in your inbox with all the details. There is also a link “Click if refund not received by 25th October”
What just happened?
Your travel agent is an early adopter of Robotic Process Automation (RPA).
To cancel your vacation- one or more RPA bots would have swung into action the moment you hit ‘Confirm’ on the ‘Cancel My Trip’ request.
The bot initiates the cancellation workflow. It retrieves all booking details for airline tickets, hotels, and tourist attractions.
The bot logs into the airline’s booking system and processes the cancellation. Similarly, the bot accesses the hotel booking platform to cancel the room reservation. The bot cancels the tickets for Taj Mahal, Qutub Minar, Red Fort and Sansad Bhavan through the respective ticketing portals.
After processing each cancellation, the bot collects confirmation numbers or any relevant documentation.
The RPA bot calculates the refund amount. It interacts with the payment gateway to credit the refund to your account.
It then sends an email to you with details of the cancellations, including refunds and cancellation fees.
The RPA bot schedules a follow-up phone call by the customer service team, to confirm that the cancellation was completed to your satisfaction and to address any further assistance you may need.
Curious? Excited? This is just one example of what RPA can do.
Building these bots is what an RPA Developer does.
If you would like to know more about building a career in RPA, read our next post: Non-Coding Careers in IT and Technology in RPA – Part II – Learning RPA
Conclusion
Many returning women like to start with a non-coding career in IT Services and Technology. Every month, we will delve into one career track in the technology world that has virtually no coding required.
If you’re already a reader of our blog or follow us on social media, you know that indePenn coaches and prepares women on a career break to rebegin their professional journey and build a second career.
We bring women back to work!
Visit us at indePenn.com and Sign Up – we’ll handhold you through the process of returning to work.
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