What are the common challenges during RPA implementation and how can organizations address them

Robotic Process Automation or RPA bots help organizations automate labor-intensive and repetitive, simple tasks so their human resources are optimally utilized. And it can be considered a true harbinger of innovation because its success made enterprises look for different ways to scale automation and bring more intricate processes under its roof. Nevertheless, implementing Robotic Process Automation comes with its challenges. In this blog, we will study each of them and also discuss remedies to negate those bottlenecks.

And, to begin the journey, let’s first understand:

What exactly is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?

Robotic Process Automation or RPA, as commonly called, helps automate recurring rule-based tasks that require minimal human intervention. These monotonous labor and time-intensive workflows are integral to any business organization and help employees to focus on more value-added roles requiring their skills and expertise.

With Robotic Process Automation solutions, companies can:

Robotic Process Automation implementation challenges and remedies

Lack of understanding and acceptance

A lack of acceptance stems from a poor understanding of how RPA works and what it can do for your business. That non-acceptance mindset of the employees and the management together impairs the smooth deployment and implementation of RPA solutions.

Unavailability of required skills

RPA is currently booming because its requirements have increased since. However, the matching skillsets are falling short of fulfilling enterprises’ expectations to bring more workflows under the RPA umbrella. Procuring resources during the RPA implementation and backfilling a key resource in the event of attrition becomes a major hurdle. Also, RPA professionals are not exactly cost-efficient resources. Hence, a lack of necessary RPA experts is another challenge companies face today.

Poor IT infrastructure

Technical ambiguity and poor IT infrastructure make bringing everyone on board with the change one hell of a job. That leads to unnecessary complications and creates a disjointed culture in the organization. In the absence of proper infrastructure and a centralized team, speeding up the process of RPA implementation can be a cumbersome task with no guarantee of success.

Unclear expectations

Having high expectations from RPA projects before they are deployed leads to disappointments and disengagement from the project itself. The reason is that reality is always far away from expectations. Without a proper plan and a roadmap to follow, inadequate infrastructure and technical ambiguities can result in the total failure of the project, which was implemented without any specific objective in mind.

Choosing the wrong vendor

There is nothing like a one-size-fits-all solution when outsourcing the implementation of Robotic Process Automation tools. When RPA investment precedes expectations, it leaves the organization with no choice but to go with whatever tools they have or discard the whole process and consider the investment one of the poorest choices made in the history of bad choices.

Humongous implementation costs

RPA projects are usually not cost-effective. However, if one considers the return on investment relatively short, the upfront cost might look less significant than earlier.

Security and scalability issues

Security must be a major concern when deploying a new software solution or outsourcing RPA implementation to outside vendors. If RPA bots have to access sensitive company data, it is imperative to build a robust security infrastructure to prevent any future cyber threats.

When scaling RPA solutions as your business grows, you have to ensure that the tools can be scalable or that they are easily configurable to avoid future challenges.

Poor integration, monitoring, and support

Seamless integration can seriously challenge organizations attempting to sync the new tool with their existing systems and applications. Without a centralized team, monitoring RPA bots’ performance and timely maintenance remains a never-happening reality. And the owner has to bear the brunt of the RPA project failure with negative ROI. Also, a support tech team must constantly assist in resolving issues as and when they arise for businesses to optimize the asset fully.

Conclusion

In order for businesses to fully optimize their investments in Robotic Process Automation, they should consider the challenges mentioned above and take remedies for them accordingly. The RPA tools alone cannot fetch the desired outcome unless proper infrastructure and technical and skills support are not provided during deployment.