What Is RPA? Everything You Need to Know
<section class="section main-article-chapter" data-menu-title="What is robotic process automation (RPA) technology, and how is it used RPA software automates repetitive, rules-based work tasks that rely on digital data. These tasks include queries, calculations, creating and updating records, filling out forms, producing reports, cutting and pasting and performing other high-volume transactional tasks that require moving data within and between applications.
Broadly defined as software scripts that automate other software, RPA “robots” work at the surface and user-interface level, mimicking the keystrokes and mouse clicks made RPA software is used Although still a relatively small slice of the enterprise software market, RPA revenue has grown rapidly, increasing 63% in 2018 to $850 million over the prior year and on track to do $1.3 billion in revenue in 2019, according to Gartner. Forrester Research forecast that RPA software platform revenue will reach $2.9 billion Interest in this emerging technology is not surprising. RPA aims to improve efficiency, boost productivity and save money As important, RPA offers traditional companies a pathway to digital transformation. That’s because Moreover, as RPA tools are combined with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as natural language generation, optical character recognition, intelligent character recognition and machine learning, RPA’s virtual agents are poised to take on higher-level and longer tasks, including whole job roles, becoming what some envision as a 21st century self-improving digital workforce. (See the section below, “The evolution of RPA: What is RPA 2.0?”)