The dawn of the digital era is accompanied by disruption in working habits of humans.  The job skills that gave permanent employment once are not available anymore. People need to learn new skills as per the digital era requirements.

By 2030, according to a recent McKinsey Global Institute report,  Workforce transitions in a time of automation, as many as 375 million workers—or roughly 14 percent of the global workforce—may need to switch occupational categories such as digitization, automation etc.

Global robotic process automation (RPA) software revenue is projected to reach $1.89 billion in 2021, an increase of 19.5% from 2020, according to the latest forecast from Gartner, Inc. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the RPA market is expected to pursue its double-digit growth rates through 2024. 

Any new technology making headlines globally is welcomed either as a marvel or by skepticism.  With the introduction of robotic automation as a digital worker at offices, many theories emerged. Therefore, it becomes necessary to address the myths through reality and misconceptions by facts. 

Myths and Misconceptions Surrounding RPA

Myth 1: RPA is removing job opportunities:

Robotic automation receives this criticism as threatening the livelihood of people. 

Reality:

• Opportunity - for both the employer and employee
• Employees - up-skilling / re-skilling is mandatory, not an opportunity. 
• Replaces - by automating highly repetitive, time consuming and mundane tasks
• Knowledge - of employee is invested in more creative and strategic work
• Helps - in achieving speed and efficiency. 
• Jobs - are created as analysts, solution architects etc.

In fact, the World Economic Forum Report predicts the ‘robot revolution’ will actually create 58 million net new jobs in the next five years, if employees are willing to re-skill and up-skill their capabilities.

Myth 2: RPA can be implemented without the involvement of the IT department.

Reality: RPA programs result in better outcomes when supported by IT departments. 

Role of IT in RPA implementation:

• Help in selecting, managing and integrating RPA technology
• Provide infrastructure and security support. 
• Standardize technology / tools
• Synchronize robotic automation with firms’ applications and controls.
• IT and Operations jointly support in implementing RPA

Myth 3: RPA is only about cost reduction

Reality: RPA’s benefits extend beyond cost savings.  It extends to improvement in 

• Operations - by reducing process time, increase in staff productivity and process accuracy.
• Compliance - by timely reporting, audits etc.
• Employee experience - by removing repetitive work and focusing on customer centric and creative tasks.
• Customer experience -  by providing timely and quality service.

Myth 4: RPA is just for simple and high volumes tasks 

Reality: Robotic automation with a combination of AI, machine learning, natural language processing, gives the flexibility to automate more complex tasks. 

• Capable - to automate any front or back-office functions
• Analytics - serves management with real time reporting for taking crucial decisions
• Data - structured and unstructured processed with accuracy
• Suitable - for a variety of activities, however impact is more for higher volume and rule based work.  

Myth 5: RPA is suitable only for Accounting and Finance industry

Reality: Repetitive, rules based, standard business activities happen in every industry.  Robotic automation helps 

• Insurance - through claims processing
• Healthcare - through patient appointment scheduling
• Banks - through reconciliation, review of transactions etc.
• Retail - through order processing 
• Payroll - through time sheets, attendance etc.

Myth 6: RPA deployment is expensive

Reality: Robotic automation deployment can be done quickly, with minimal costs. 

• Investment - initial set-up cost, maintenance and upgrade
• Deployment - phased out for particular business process and gradually scale
• Works 24/7 - obeys rules, likes non-stop functioning, enjoys speed, hates errors, and dislikes idle time.
• ROI - achieved in months rather than years

Robotic automation’s basic premise is that it is economic and viable for even small and mid- sized firms to adopt.

As the myth and misconception are demystified, all we need to understand is…

• The benefits of automation easily outweigh the investment
• Need to select the right process to start the automation journey
• Get the support from the senior management, IT department and concerned employees

Irrespective whether you are a small, medium, or large sized accounting firm, and interested to be a part of the early adoption of accounting automation or bookkeeping automation, we are the right accounting automation vendor to kickstart your automation journey.

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