Usage of Robotic Process Automation during COVID-19

Introduction

Covid-19 has been impacting the lives of everyone since 2020. Masks, sanitizers, and hand wash have become essential products in life. From working at the office with face-to-face interactions to WFH with no personal interactions, the work-life has been affected. The Healthcare industry was no exception as it faced tremendous changes. They had to work superfluously and faced challenges in the screen-testing process for COVID-19. Manual testing could not help in testing more than a few thousand. The industries reached out for automation to produce a higher amount of testing. Apart from Healthcare, Banking & Finance industries have also adapted to RPA. RPA has become a boon to every business in this pandemic.

If you are an aspirant to adopt & leverage Robotic Process Automation in your organization, this blog would throw light on RPA’s assistance and success. This blog would focus on the benefits of implementing RPA in businesses like healthcare, banking & finance. At the end of the blog, you’ll learn about the effectiveness of RPA during COVID-19 tests, the increase of productivity in other business fields through RPA, and the enhancement of security with RPA in banks. Fabrizio Biscotti, research vice president at Gartner says,

“The key driver of RPA projects is their ability to improve process quality, speed and productivity, each of which is becoming more and more important as organizations try to meet the need to reduce costs during COVID-19.”-Fabrizio Biscotti, research vice president at Gartner

Robotic Process Automation In Screen Testing

“Robotic process automation (RPA) tools perform deterministic and pervasive actions like “if, then, else” statements on structured data, typically a combination of user interface (UI) interactions, or by connecting to APIs to target systems like Legacy systems to modern IT applications run on mainframes or HTML code. An RPA tool operates by mapping a process (task) in the RPA tool language for the software “robot” to follow, with runtime allocated to execute the script by a control dashboard”-Gartner.

Though RPA has been gaining the attention of every sector since 2013, the pandemic has increased the usage of RPA. Industries like banking, financial service, healthcare and insurance have started adopting automation as they provide effective results. In recent times, Covid cases have been increasing and the manual screen-testing process has not been successful. According to a survey by NHS (National Health Service), only a few thousands of samples were possible to collect per day. Whereas using Automation/ RPA increased the number of samples by around one lakh per day.

During COVID-19, antibody tests were done in ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) at laboratories. The steps involved in ELISA are manifold since many plates were required for the tests. The requirement for antibody testing and research increased along with the number of cases. The automated ELISA reader was created with the ability to test the antibodies reducing the manual work. The automated ELISA reader is systematized with accurate results. A completely automated ELISA machine can work on dozens of antibody samples at a time. The final process is cleaning the plates and preparing it for the next set of testing. In an automated machine, this process is instantly done. Same with the RT-PCR test results which range from 30 to 35 samples manually and when automated ranges from 95 to 100 samples per day.

Robotic Process Automation In Business

RPA has been effective in the business industry when it faced a huge drift at the time of COVID-19. Trivial tasks were handled through automation/RPA, assisting the employees to work on the essential tasks. The processes in business enriched the productivity, quality, and speed. RPA enhanced the business industry by automating the workflow analysis of the employees, hiring process, data collection and data entry, invoice processes, assistance to employees using bots, etc. Business industries dealt with less productivity and the efficiency of the employees increased with the assistance of automation services. RPA helps in the growth of the business by sorting out data entry, attachments, statistics, etc. Tasks involving complex processes were automated, benefiting the progress of the business.

“Reducing reliance on humans for day-to-day digital processes, it will be more attractive to end-users, not only to reduce costs but also to secure their business from future impacts such as this pandemic.”-Cathy Tornbohm, distinguished research vice president at Gartner

From small businesses to established businesses, RPA was incorporated to enhance the business’ productivity, security, accuracy, etc. Customer services are significant in the growth of businesses; to boost its efficiency, RPA is used. Bots were deployed for customer-related services and to develop the business operations and functions. Businesses that include manufacturing, retailing, and telecommunication have positive experiences in using RPA. In the manufacturing and retailing sectors, data monitoring, email automation for sales, and automated product information are done through RPA.

Robotic Process Automation In Finance and Banking

As the pandemic was taking a worse curve, Finance and Banking industries were put to trial too. In the loan processes, especially CARE Act’s PPP Loan, data collection for paper works can be completed through automation and expedite PPP Loan process efficiently for needy business to prevent business drift in this volatile and uncertain economic condition. This way, the manual errors on paper works would be avoided. In the marketing sector, email and other marketing campaigns can be automated, saving time. The major work of RPA in banking is to enhance the customer experience and increase the cost savings of the bank. Through RPA, the future of the banking industry can be saved from economic disaster. Mostly RPA highlights the operational work of the bank in this pandemic situation. According to a survey, RPA is more efficient in “cost optimization, operational efficiency, and business continuity.”

Our turnkey solution, “Check Verification and Validation Bot” exclusively focuses on the Banking and Financial Services (BFS) industry to extract the MICR, Date, Amount, Name, and Signature from handwritten checks. UiPath Document Understanding tool is used to extract the above data and store it in Excel. IDP and automation are executed to verify and validate checks in financial institutions.

Services related to creating new bank accounts, loan applications, and financial management were processed by RPA during COVID-19. In the pandemic, internet banking has also increased. Due to WFH and the remote work of bank employees, workspace-related processes were automated to ease their job. In this remote/ WFH workspace and digital transaction, there is a high chance of Cyber security risks. To avoid such risks, RPA with artificial intelligence identifies suspicious acts of customers. With the assistance of Artificial intelligence and Machine learning, the banking industries have improved their credibility and productivity. It is safe and secure for the banking industry to rely on RPA in this pandemic, if not they might face risks in the future. Chatbots/ conversational AI can be implemented on the bank’s websites to address the queries of the customers and respond instantly.

Conclusion

With the emergence of COVID-19, RPA has found its upsurge in industries like healthcare, business, banking, and finance. Pandemic has amplified the usage of RPA to provide efficient service to customers and employees. Leading finance industries like Ban Colombia have gained a larger amount of effectiveness through RPA. Recurring tasks are automated which makes the employees'work easier. However, choosing the right RPA provider becomes the priority. Get in touch with our experts to find the right solution for your organization

“You don't automate to get rid of the human. You automate to amplify the human.”
-Robert Mann

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