Robotic Process AutomationThe Emerging Technology

摘要

The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) market is fueled with fierce competition. Client organizations look for more accuracy, speed, reliable, and timely delivery of the tasks that are assigned. In this context, BPO companies are inclined to adopt automation with the use of robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to have technology edge and competitive edge to lead the competition. Although there are many merits for both the client organization and the BPO in terms of cost savings, speed performance, and time saving for the client company, there is psychological fear on the part of the employees in BPO because of the automation of the jobs. According to the survey conducted by Christian Kroll et al. (2016), most of the BPOs prefer RPA in finance and accounting, followed by customer service, sales and delivery, and human resource management functions. The employees who work in these functions are afraid of losing their jobs. Routine and monotonous jobs should be automated to avoid human error to maintain a high accuracy level. AI and RPA collaboration can produce genuine benefit in several ways. With little initial cost, these technologies can produce a favorable and substantial return on investment (ROI). As automation technology may help businesses reach their objectives, the majority of businesses are willing to adopt it, and many of them have already begun to reap the benefits. No organization, however, will be able to effectively decide and support investments in automation if the ROI of a project is not properly understood. The initiative team must concentrate on ROI when planning, executing, and governing AI and RPA to do so effectively. In the past, automation has not always been welcomed, and concerns related to its use and its detrimental effects on employment have persisted (Autor, 2015; Vagia et al., 2016). The same situation prevails in the industry because of significant advances in innovations and technological development, namely RPA, AI, machine learning, and natural language processing. McKinsey & Company (Venkat Atluri et al., 2019) viewed on new and disruptive technologies and projected that, by 2025, the potential economic impact of automation technologies such as RPA will be nearly $6.7 trillion. Jonas Uyttendaele (2018) published the study entitled “Artificial Intelligence in Corporate Banking–A Closer look at the Potential Impact on E-Business Processes,” conducted at the Department of Marketing in Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. This research aimed to evaluate how AI will affect a bank’s B2B customer relationship procedures. Nowadays, AI development has been accelerating, and this motivated our research group to study the effects of such rapid technological advances on e-business procedures. The main objective of the research was to identify the impact and its significance from the bank’s and/or customer’s perspective, thus making it important to get banks and their clients ready for the upcoming, unavoidable changes. This research study was qualitative, and the respondents belonged to three categories: banks, technology providers, and experts. The researcher observed that re-skilling the workforce would be necessary to adapt to the changing roles of banks. Banks are transforming themselves into technology banks owing to AI implementation, and the employees and the customers of the bank are also required to adopt these changes. Re-skilling and giving appropriate training to the employees definitely support the bank to yield well-satisfied experience to the customers. Markus Michael Renner (2018) conducted research on “Software Robot-Based Automation of Financial Administration’s Processes” as part of his master’s degree course at LUT School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland. The researcher explored the application of RPA in financial management. He noted that a Finnish city’s shared services center has robots integrated in