May 15, 2024
Business process automation (BPA) transforms the way companies operate by automating routine day-to-day tasks, enhancing reliability and efficiency across various industries from finance to healthcare. With BPA, businesses can eliminate repetitive tasks and streamline their processes, leading to significant improvements in productivity and accuracy.
Traditionally, organizations have relied on disparate software applications for different processes, often facing challenges with accessing or reconciling legacy data across systems. Additionally, many businesses still manage manual processes, which complicates tracking costs, managing risks, and monitoring performance.
We are currently experiencing a revolution in process automation. While attempts to automate business tasks aren't new, the advent of more sophisticated robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) has enabled unprecedented changes. Business process automation now leverages cutting-edge technology to overhaul workflows that were once dependent on manual spreadsheet management. According to research firm MarketsandMarkets, the process automation market is expected to reach nearly $19 billion by 2024.
In this evolving landscape, companies can be broadly categorized into three types based on their approach to digital transformation.
The first type includes companies that have not yet started digitizing their businesses; they lack a digital strategy and have no framework for beginning the transformation.
The second type has initiated their digital transformation journey with significant investments in internal software development teams, product management, and roles supporting Business Process Automation (BPA) and digital strategy. However, they face challenges as they reach a certain level of maturity; their implementation and transformation speed are hindered by large backlogs of IT tickets, causing them to lose agility.
The third type adopts a hybrid approach to digital strategy, building on a strong foundation of existing software and databases within the company. These companies enhance their systems by integrating micro-services using no-code and low-code platforms, which enables them to maintain high transformational speed and flexibility in shifting focuses.
Low-code is a software development approach that adopts a language-agnostic methodology, allowing for scalable and cost-effective solutions that are not tied to specific business processes.
Using a low-code approach, organizations can develop reusable business process templates that can be utilized across multiple departments, reducing the need for numerous custom development projects. These templates can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each department.
While low-code is language-agnostic, definitions vary across organizations. Some view low-code as a specific language, while others see it as a broader process of development using low-code tools. Commonly agreed characteristics of low-code include being language-agnostic, scalable, and cost-effective, often featuring a human-automation interface that enables non-experts to automate tasks.
To fully grasp BPA, it's crucial to understand the underlying need. Most businesses face similar challenges as their customers – timely processing of requests, completion of tasks, and prompt finalization of inquiries. The entire company, not just individual employees, often struggles with these issues, which are exacerbated by reliance on manual processes or outdated technologies.
For instance, consider a business that relies on a CRM system to manage contacts. If the system frequently crashes, the fallback often involves resorting to spreadsheets, which are prone to human error. In such cases, when the CRM is down, manual data entry becomes necessary, highlighting the importance of having a robust backup system, such as a low-code automated process, ready to take over.
Understanding the advantages of BPA can help organizations identify prime use cases for low-code. Businesses can employ low-code to automate routine tasks such as reporting, billing, and customer interactions. It can also streamline time-consuming and monotonous processes, allowing companies to respond more swiftly and effectively.
Every business function stands to gain from low-code automation, from sales and finance to human resources and customer service. For example:
Business process automation, particularly through low-code platforms, is a transformative tool for many industries. To get started, it's essential to understand the distinctions between low-code and high-code technologies. Low-code is designed to be accessible to non-engineers and to maximize reuse of existing processes, while high-code is often more complex and costly, tailored for IT teams.
