Firms are more likely to control their robotic process automation (RPA) costs and maintain their bots if they have effective software test automation strategies, according to research from Forrester.
Vienna-based software test automation company Tricentis commissioned Forrester to ask 271 US enterprise decision-makers with existing RPA systems about the challenges their firms face when scaling RPA programmes. The study says companies are 1.4 times more likely to control their RPA costs, and 1.3 times more likely to keep their bots running successfully if they are effective at software test automation.
The report, with 12% of the respondents working in the finance or banking industry, explained the benefits of a centralised automation centre. Firms with a centralised automation centre of excellence will automate 3.5 times more tasks compared to firms without it. Two-thirds of respondents found the lack of a centralised automation resource ‘very challenging’, as they try to achieve more RPA scalability.
It is predicted that by 2023 the RPA market will grow to reach a value of US $12 billion, as more companies look to improve their employee productivity and customer experience. Wayne Ariola, general manager of Tricentis RPA, said in a statement: “RPA has enabled organisations to reimagine how people and applications can work together, delivering a fast return on investment.”
However, firms are finding it difficult to scale their RPA capabilities not only because of a lack of centralised automation, but also because of broken bots. Forty-five percent of respondents said they deal with broken bots on a weekly basis or more often, and broken bots usually take a day to fix. This impacts employees as they have to take on additional manual tasks, which impacts costs and revenues for a company.
The study found that two-thirds of all RPA work is done outside of centralised IT resources. Contractors often deal with development, while technical resources in other lines of business usually deal with maintenance of the company’s RPA programme. But, most firms said their RPA programmes require ‘advanced programming skills’, which can sometimes be in short supply.
The report recommends companies to mitigate against application changes and system issues, which are recognised as leading causes of bots breaking, by identifying pending application upgrades and implementing the latest self-healing technology.
Forrester also suggested that firms should build operating models focused on automation, not just solely RPA, to help their workforce in the future.
