Bill Gates on Process Automation
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) will benefiit your organization, as long as the process being automated is efficient.
Computers assume that humans are perfect, so it is important to address all the exceptions within a certain process to get the maximum benefit of the automation, otherwise, you will be deceived of the outcome.
Assuming that Accounts Payable is the process to be automated, the expectation is that the invoice should include key information, including a reference to the PO number.
PO compliance must be paramount, not just for purposes of automating a process, but to ensure your internal control environment is strong. Quite often, organizations tend to request a service and issue POs afterwards.
Each time an invoice received from vendors lacks a PO number, it will require further investigation that will not allow the bots to do their part.
Processing an invoice involves a lot more. The reference to the PO is only to illustrate a portion of the overall process to automate. Each step in the process requires similar attention.
All the efforts invested on streamlining your processes will reap a great benefit of a process automation.