What CIOs need to know about RPA in IT operations

CIOs have varying levels of opportunities to use RPA in their own department operations based on where they are in their digital transformation journey, said Cathy Tornbohm, an analyst at Gartner.

While some may already be using automation technologies included in modern applications to support help desk operations, those with older help desk systems have more places to use a dedicated RPA tool.

That’s the case throughout IT operations, Tornbohm said, adding that CIOs are most likely to deploy RPA only where legacy systems are still in use and, thus, where embedded automation or APIs aren’t available.

A fair number of CIOs are in that situation, according to IT advisors, whether it’s because they’re still in the early or middle stages of digital transformation or they work in established companies with legacy systems that are harder to replace due to the size and complexity of operations.

Karthik Ranganathan, chief enterprise architect at NTT DATA Services, an IT service management company, listed a range of areas where CIOs could benefit from automation, including:

• password resets
• user onboarding and offboarding, notifications, changes and similar user-focused activities
• software installation
• software entitlement validation
• self-provisioning, decommissioning and changes
• UX monitoring
• backup and patch management

RPA technology provides the same list of benefits when deployed in IT operations that is typically found when automating manual, repetitive tasks on the business side. Protiviti’s 2019 Global RPA Survey found that organizations across various industries reported increased productivity, better quality, greater speed, improved compliance, fewer errors and lower costs among the typical benefits seen in RPA deployments.

“For an IT organization with matured processes, RPA can yield time and costs benefits immediately,” said Salil Godika, chief operating officer at Synoptek, an IT consulting and managed service provider.