What is Bot Automation?
Within RPA (Robotic Process Automation), software robots, commonly referred to as bots, automate repetitive tasks that employees perform each day. Bot automation relies on software robots to interact with applications, systems, and workflows, streamlining a wide-range of business processes without human intervention. Bots do not replace human workers, but handle tedious processes, so your employees can focus on more strategic, value-added initiatives.
Learn more about bot automation and where you can use software robots to work alongside your human workforce.
What Is an RPA Bot?
An RPA bot is an agent that interprets and executes tasks on your behalf. RPA software robots can handle time-consuming tasks that human workers typically perform, including:
- Data scraping and extraction
- Report distribution
- Web browser task automation
- And countless other business processes
Think of bots as an extension of your human workforce—with a slightly different anatomy. Some bots run based on triggers, some are scheduled, and some work around the clock.
Types of Automation Bots
There are two types of bots—attended and unattended. Attended bots work alongside human employees to make everyday tasks easier and go into action when a user commands them to run. Attended automation streamlines processes like screen scraping or GUI automation. Unattended bots work behind the scenes and are triggered by an action—like a file being added to a folder—to manage high volumes of data and information. Unattended automation streamlines processes like file transfers or database processing.
How Many Bots Do You Need?
What Can One Bot Do?
One bot is typically referred to as robotic desktop automation. It assists one person with tasks that they would typically perform on a desktop. This is usually a low-cost method of automation, but the benefits for single user automation are significant. Desktop automation often tackles Excel, website interaction, or report generation for one person.
What Can Multiple Bots Do?
Enterprise bot automation involves using multiple bots to automate processes between people, departments, and applications that touch different areas of the business. Leveraging multiple bots provides flexibility and scalability to automate across processes and teams, enabling you to streamline manual tasks and centrally manage assets—from workflows and users to servers and agents.
What Can Unlimited Bots Do?
In organizations where manual work weighs down virtually every area of the business, unlimited bots can spark an amazing transformation. Think of the power of a bot on every desktop, tackling all the mundane tasks that keep employees from more meaningful work. Unlimited bot automation has the power to transform the way your organization operates to unlock full enterprise automation potential.
What Types of Processes Can Bot Software Automate?
One key benefit of using bots is flexibility. If you have a repeated process—even if it spans multiple systems—your digital workforce of software bots can easily take care of it. Below are a few examples of the most critical bots for your organization. Take time to learn more about the best bots for your business.
Website Interaction Bot
The Internet is supposed to make lives easier, but it often creates a lot of work. If you have human employees, or risky custom scripts, handling repeated web tasks like logging into a website to upload files or collecting daily data from multiple sites, you can get help from a robot.
A website interaction bot can log into a website, navigate through several pages, enter credentials, download files, and notify the human employee that they are ready.
Data Management Bot
Data is critical in business, but most organizations still struggle with the manual work involved in managing the data they collect.
A data management robot can extract, manipulate, and utilize data from a variety of sources. Get assistance from a data bot for tasks like entering data into multiple reports or scraping PDF information.
Accounts Payable Bot
Almost all businesses deal with sending and receiving invoices. Software robots can be configured to automatically process invoices upon arrival, whether they arrive electronically or on paper. The robots will never lose track of a form or make a calculation error.
When an invoice arrives from a vendor, the accounts payable bot uses OCR to read the invoice, match it to the purchase order, and route it to the proper queue for processing.
See What Else Bot Software Can Do in Your Business
Take a look at 200+ pre-built connectors available for download on the Automation Connector Hub.
Where Can You Put Bot Automation to Work?
By empowering human employees with a digital workforce of software bots, you can boost productivity, improve accuracy, and help your organization grow. Here are a few examples of how and where you can put bot automation to work across your organization.
Use Cases by Department
Finance
IT
HR
Accounting
Sales/Marketing
Customer Service
Integrate Bot Automation with Your Human Workforce
One of the biggest misconceptions of software bots in RPA is they replace and eliminate jobs for human employees. The truth is, bots take away repetitive, mundane tasks from employees and enable them to focus on more creative and strategic work. Understanding the top ways to collaborate with software robots is key to putting humans first and finding the right automation approach that works for your business.
Focus First on Human Workers
Take a look at your existing workflows and processes. What can be changed to help employees do their jobs better? These are ideal areas to start building a digital workforce—places where your human employees are being forced to perform redundant, non-value adding tasks.
Discover Where Automation Bots Excel
As great as bots are, humans are still better at critical thinking, strategizing, and creative problem-solving. RPA bots should be used to assist employees to work more efficiently at their jobs.
Understand the Benefits of RPA Bots
Make sure to share and communicate the benefits of working with software robots to your employees. This helps them better understand why they should not fear the introduction of bots, but embrace them in the workforce.
Use Collaborative Bots for Each Employee
A great enterprise RPA solution provides unlimited bots so every employee can have a digital worker. Not only can RPA bots give employees more time, they can also help improve their work-life balance.
Remember, Bots Make Great Co-Workers
RPA bots make great coworkers—they work late, take on boring tasks, and never need a break. Software bots are highly efficient and accurate. They can work 24/7, giving your employees freedom from worry about keeping up with tedious demands.
Why Teams Need IT Automation
The realm of automation and cybersecurity is always changing, and we’re evolving right alongside it. Say hello to Fortra, the new face of HelpSystems. We’re bringing you the same people-first support you’ve come to expect from HelpSystems, only now we’ve been Fortra-fied with the purpose of providing you with exceptional protection and peace of mind along every step of your journey.
Businesses everywhere are reaching a tipping point when it comes to how they deal with data and batch processes. Automation has emerged as the key to success. Fortra has your back across all aspects of automation–regardless of operating system–so you can reduce overhead and costs. It’s a core element of our cybersecurity allyship.
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