RPA vs. API: Differences and Use Cases

Robotic process automation—also known as RPA—is a technology that uses software robots to streamline repetitive tasks for humans. These digital workers interact on the user level with applications and systems the way a human would. Bots can click buttons, type login credentials, read words off a PDF, and other GUI interactions. By taking over these front-end tasks, the human workforce is freed to focus on more strategic work. 

 

Once you get started with an RPA solution, the possibilities are endless. No matter your industry or department, there are many unique RPA use cases to consider. Here are just a few real-world examples: 

• Employee Onboarding 
  There are many manual tasks involved with the employee onboarding process. From provisioning Active Directory, to setting up payroll, these tasks can easily be handed over to RPA bots. See how one credit union started their RPA journey with onboarding and expanded to achieve a 3,800% ROI. Learn More > 

• Verifying and Closing Malicious Incidents 
  Using GUI and web browser automation, RPA bots for the security operations team at PhishLabs help verify and close incidents in their system. When a website is requested to be taken down, the bots visit the website to verify, then close out the incident in their system. This frees their analysts to focus on protecting clients from cyber criminals. Learn More >  

• Data Extraction and Transformation 
  With automated data extraction and transformation, the team at Top Bakkers can better support customer service by processing data faster. RPA bots work with the data involved in the order and invoice processes, as well as write data to a central database, to keep everything flowing so the team can focus on providing their customers with delicious baked goods. Learn More > 

• File Conversions
  Manually converting new policies for over 200 school districts from a WordPerfect file to Microsoft Word would have taken the Oregon School Boards Association up to 8,000 hours. But with RPA bots, they created a process to automatically convert each policy file that takes only 60 hours. Learn More > 

• Website Validation 
  As part of their service offering, PSCU Financial Services checks member credit unions’ online applications to ensure they’re up and running. They couldn’t continue manually checking every 30 minutes, so they turned to RPA to do the website validation automatically. Learn More > 

   

Third-party software APIs—application programming interfaces—provide simplified communication between applications and systems. Unlike graphical interfaces, this form of integration takes place in the background. It’s typically regarded as a stronger form of automation over GUI automation, as an API is less likely to change than an interface. Connecting directly with applications builds a stronger connection for automation that is less likely to break. 

When you enable automation through APIs, you achieve another level of automated workflows. Take a look at these examples of API automation in action: 

• Centralized Application Integration 
  With many disparate applications needed for key workflows, ALD Automotive used API integrations to enable end-to-end automated workflows. API capabilities brought together their ERP software with SQL and Oracle databases, as well as connecting with various webservices. Learn More >  

• Mortgage Processing 
  Using APIs, Summit Credit Union closed the gap between application to close to achieve automated mortgage processing. By connecting Blend to Mortgage Cadence, they automated loan transfers, credit orders, e-consents, and more. Learn More > 

• Employee Scheduling 
  By connecting their employee mobile app and scheduling system through APIs, Variant Schoonmaak can provide immediate availability of employees to build a robust schedule to ensure full coverage. And they’re also able to have employees check in and out of job sites to keep an accurate count of their hours that is automatically input in their system. Learn More > 

• Report Generation 
  Before turning to automation, employees at Hopkins Canada had to manually pull together 24 daily ERP reports at two company sites. But by connecting their VISUAL ERP with their reporting application via APIs, they were able to automatically run their reports without manual intervention. Learn More > 

• Call Center Management 
  As workloads grew, Ricoh Italia’s staff was feeling the pressure to keep up with customer demands in their call center. But connecting their various applications—like email, forms solution, CRM, and order fulfillment—through APIs, it streamlined their processes so call center agents could fill customer requests more quickly. Learn More >   

Connecting applications to your RPA tool with code or GUI automation can get messy and complicated. First off, if you don’t have code-writing skills, you need to get a developer involved. And from there, it needs to be coded from scratch, and if there are changes to any applications, you could be met with errors until you update your code. GUI automation simplifies these connections, especially if your RPA tool has a screen recorder, but like with code, a GUI is prone to change without notice. 

Using native API integration ensures you’ll be able to connect to applications without writing code. The connection is made behind the scenes, so you don’t have to key anything into a graphical interface. And if there’s a change to how an application looks, the API integration isn’t affected. You can just set it and forget it. 

APIs allow you to connect your critical business applications with your RPA solution directly within the automation script. Like most businesses, you probably use many different applications and systems throughout the day. RPA takes out the time-consuming and often error-prone work of getting data back and forth between these systems. And while you can achieve automated application integration through coding, GUI automation, or other means, using APIs makes it even easier.  

Application integration also extends beyond just your newer business software. Some companies still have legacy applications that are still working well for their needs but need a better way to get information from these systems into the modern applications. An RPA solution with API capabilities helps take your data from old to new so you don't have to change everything and replace things. API integration can act as middleware to bridge these gaps and keep everything working in sync.