What business leaders look for in evaluating the best RPA-as-a-Service providers

Many business leaders already know the benefits of Robotic Process Automation (RPA); appreciating the advantages of automating repetitive tasks, reduced costs & accelerated growth. RPA delivers a scalable digital workforce, re-enabling your business growth by uncovering new efficiencies, and it is now the priority for many business leaders.

So, all that remains is the crucial question: how to choose the right RPA-as-a-Service provider? Here is your Ultimate Checklist for evaluating RPA-as-a-Service providers.

What is RPA as a Service

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a software technology that is easy to build, deploy, & manage. Software robots emulate human actions - interacting with all applications, websites and systems. It is the smart way to holistically manage business processes. Key benefits:

• Automation of repetitive tasks re-enables your staff to valued human engagements.
• Rules-based automation mitigates human error, quality concerns and task duplication. Your processes are completed correctly, and securely without information ‘going home’ with staff.
• RPA is more cost-effective than employees acting like robots, which reduces costs.
• Your digital workforce scales easily for business growth and contraction. This ensures your valued employees aren’t stressed or bored.
• Employees focus on providing expertise in their engaging tasks. This increases employee engagement & job satisfaction and lowers attrition. By mitigating attrition, you avoid IP losses too.
• RPA delivers automation agnostically across any of your inherent Windows & Web-based platforms, meaning user change management is minimised, and migration adoption & training is avoided.
• RPA includes packages from other software capabilities, like Document Understanding (via OCR): so processes like Accounts Payable requiring accurate data capture are ripe for automation.
• Processes are done faster, more accurate, and backed by happier humans. This vastly improves customer experience and spend.

The current trend of automation shows businesses are looking to these emerging technologies in response to pandemic-induced business pressures. In fact, Gartner reports worldwide robotic process automation software revenue is set to reach nearly $2 billion in 2021 -an increase of 19.5% from 2020.

What business leaders should look for in an RPA service provider

So now you need a provider that actually knows all the ins and outs of RPA, who offer the right plan for your business, and ensure you get the best from your RPA set-up. Here are your 8 key must-haves:

Consumption-based pricing

A consumption-based pricing model allows flexibility to pay only for the number of services/amounts of time you need. It is a sustainable pricing model within computing and IT vendor services. This is a key element of RPA-as-a-Service as it ensures flexibility to quickly respond to changing needs your business requires, whilst maintaining an affordable investment for your business at any given time.

Industry-Specific Experience

Only consider providers with industry-specific experience, and who offer RPAaaS as a core part of their business offering.
At The Missing Link, we help businesses every day with RPAaaS solutions. We continue to monitor and learn on leading technology updates to make sure we grow our knowledge of the latest technologies, and you do too.

Our industry-specific experience means you can be rest assured we take the time to learn your unique needs, delivering the best result for your business.

Immediate Return on Investment

As RPA is implemented quickly, ROI is obtained quicker than traditional workflow applications. Therefore, it is critical your RPA-as-a-Service provider implements your RPA in a timely manner, so you enjoy immediate ROI and enjoy the benefits of your investment.

Delivery process

An experienced RPA service provider offers a comprehensive plan, in an easy-to-understand approach. A process that is delivered in a short period of time is great, delivering incremental benefits, that build to larger benefits over time.

Look for clear delivery processes aligned with your business needs, and make sure you understand the steps involved for an easy rollout.

Service plans that scale as you need

Most providers will offer an entry-level plan that allows you to perform basic automation. Ensure the platform enables you to grow into more comprehensive solutions as you need them.

Consider future requirements for automation across all applications internally and external – like web portals, or perhaps a requirement for enhanced AI, or Document Understanding?

The ideal RPA service plans are ones able to evolve, scale quickly & easily, whilst still maintaining your essential functions.

Cyber security

Look for RPA-as-a-Service providers who are able to show essential certifications provided by thorough third-party industry-recognised auditors, including ISO 27001 and SOC 1 and 2 certifications. ISO 27001 certifies full compliance in information management and provides assurance that you can automate processes knowing that your sensitive data is being protected.

SOC 1 and SOC 2 certifications show a provider's internal controls meet financial regulatory compliance and security compliance across several different audit requirements. These demonstrate the provider's reliability in their practices to deliver core services, such as RPA as a service in this case.

Support

To ensure your automated and business-critical processes can run smoothly 24/7 you’ll need a provider that can proactively identify any adverse scenarios and provide a quick fix to any issues that come up. If there are any system or network errors and updates, they must be managed accordingly.

Future-proof

You need to know your business competes no matter the future. As technology adapts, does your RPA set-up have the flexibility to access the latest technologies? Have you ensured your platform and partner is capable of managing changing needs? Essentially, can you ensure you’ll be future proof enough for tomorrow?

Automate your business processes. When you’re ready to implement RPA and need a provider who can guarantee results, you can get in touch. Our team at The Missing Link provide expertise and support to manage your RPA program, from start to finish and build your internal capability along the way. Through your RPAaaS, you access tailored services that maximise your return from RPA.

What are you waiting for? Contact us. 

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