Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a trend in business office software tools. Like assembly line robots, RPAs automate an organization’s routine tasks and standard decision-making based on real-time data and full implementation and execution of process business rules.
In some enterprises, RPAs can significantly automate routine tasks, improving performance, throughput and delivery while reducing costs and enhancing profitability. If properly integrated, an RPA system can automate an appropriate process and automatically complete its required steps. An excellent example of where this works is generating invoices.
These software automation tools are implemented within private enterprise, but what about the government space? Is RPA a fit for government organizations and their operations?
Government agencies and organizations are seriously concerned with performance and efficiency but what about profitability? Unlike the private sector, in most cases government organizations are not concerned with profitability; they have no incoming revenue, per se. Moreover, in the private sector, revenue may increase as a result of increased efficiency. This is not the case for government entities where budgets are often fixed.
When it comes to automating routine business processes government and private enterprises feature very different approaches to how they conduct their operations. In the private sector, a process could be a very standardized; in the government space, the same process could be significantly more complex due to several factors: multiple vendor types, vehicle types, and changing business rules and regulations. This becomes more cumbersome when considering the political nature of any government and how budgets, election cycles, business rules and regulations constantly change.
RPA relies on standard data for analysis, business rule definition and process execution. In government, the less-reliable environment may not be suited for automation. This is not to say, that Government entities are not looking to improve their efficiency. They are as fervent as the private sector in seeking to maximize their output and reduce waste. The implementation of process efficiency techniques such as Lean and the deployment of workflow tools has consistently proved that government processes can be analyzed and standardized to generate improved efficiency, performance and cost effectiveness.