Many believe that process mining and RPA, the two emerging technologies, are likely to compete with each other and may not work well together. However, the opposite is true. Intelligent automation is all about starting with the correct processes, being aware of their exceptions, and regularly monitoring and simplifying them with the right tools to get the most out of your automation investment.
Experts in the field have now come to believe that to construct a durable and efficient end-to-end intelligent automation, it calls for the integration of RPA with process mining.
This blog explores the different ways process mining can aid RPA in producing a truly reliable and robust intelligent automation that can add value to your business.
Difference between RPA and Process Mining
RPA (Robotic Process Automation)
RPA is a software technology that helps create, deploy, and manage software robots that mimic human actions using digital systems and software. Software robots can interpret what’s on a screen, type the correct keystrokes, traverse systems, locate and extract data, and do a wide range of predetermined operations, just like people do.
Process Mining
Process mining is an analytical discipline used to discover, analyze, and enhance processes as they are, rather than how you imagine them to be. Process Mining visualizes business processes — and their variations — as they run by extracting knowledge from event logs easily available in today’s information systems.
How RPA and Processing Mining can work in tandem to add value
1. Allows immersive process visualization
The first step in any automation project is to figure out how your processes work in practice, including all of their variations and deviations. However, understanding what’s going on in your organization’s operations isn’t always enough. You must also enlist the help of essential stakeholders and ensure that everyone is on the same page as far as the starting point is concerned. After that, you’ll need to decide what to prioritize and automate.
Process mining assists you in accomplishing this by visualizing your comprehensive and unbiased processes in interactive flowcharts, allowing you to delve into as much depth as you like while learning about them. It helps make data-driven decisions with an expected ROI.
2. It helps identify ideal processes to automate
One of the most common reasons RPA projects fail is that the wrong processes are chosen for automation. Even an RPA proof of concept can take multiple months instead of multiple weeks. Most of the time, this occurs because the process being automated is far too complex and unsuitable for RPA implementation.
Process mining helps identify bottlenecks, discrepancies, and their causes. Through this, you can quickly, easily, and accurately identify processes that don’t require automation and speed up your overall RPA implementation initiative.
3. Helps find the source of process and automation problems.
More advanced process mining software may contain a Root Cause Analysis, which highlights the causes of problems (such as bottlenecks, rework, and automation concerns) in your processes in flowcharts and ranks them based on how they contribute to business outcomes with a single click. When you wish to improve your operations, this helps you prioritize actions.
4. Controls automation possibilities
RPA is frequently promoted as the solution for all inefficiencies in the workplace. However, the bitter truth is that as RPA matures, businesses will be saddled with high maintenance expenses, broken bots, and little idea of what has changed in their processes.
Process mining allows you to keep control of automation and avoid building new bots for tiny tasks where the business benefits aren’t immediately apparent. The automation opportunity scout generates a prioritized list of your company’s finest automation opportunities.
5. Helps monitor and measure automation results
Measuring and monitoring automation results is always a challenging task. After successfully implementing RPA, firms can utilize process mining tools to track the amount of automation that has increased due to RPA and calculate ROI. This gives an accurate evaluation of RPA performance, which can be used to help guide future RPA investments.
Another feature is that all processes evolve and regenerate throughout time. When things change, RPA solutions may need to be updated as well. Business leaders can use process mining to discover when these changes can have an impact on RPA performance. As said in the first phase, understanding processes can lead to faster RPA upgrades and lower RPA maintenance costs.
6. Assists in calculating automation ROI
Process mining aids in the justification of automation initiatives. When you’re looking at new automation possibilities, you can easily test out the impact of your plans before adopting them and estimate the ROI. This function, in conjunction with the automation opportunity scout, assists you in ensuring that your automation is successful.
Endnote
Process mining can also be used to track the impact of improvements on an end-to-end process, ensuring that your investment in change is protected by identifying and resolving inefficient work practices in real-time.
Netlabs Global is a leader in providing Robotics Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning solutions to help organizations successfully and effortlessly implement intelligent automation to their business processes. Talk to us today to learn more about how our solutions and services can help transform your business.
