Contextor

Robotic Process Automation

  • Contextor Solutions
    • RPA Use Cases
      • Agile Governance
        • Audit
        • Compliance & Agility
        • Prototyping
        • Dashboards
        • Digital Transformation
      • Customer Experience
        • One 2 One
        • 360° View
        • Push Product
        • Customer Recognition
      • Operational Excellence
        • Workflow Automation
        • Cross Channel
        • Cross Device Enabler
        • Inter-Applications
      • Workforce Enhancement
        • Dynamic Panel
        • Unified Desktop
        • Next Best Action
      • Optimization
        • Activity Monitoring
        • Data Management
        • Global Publishing
      • Quick Win
        • 3 to 9 Months Challenges
        • Unlocking the Future
    • What makes Contextor different?
    • KAPTAIN
  • Products
    • Contextor Interactive Assistant
    • Contextor Standalone Bot
    • Contextor Studio
    • Contextor Control Room
    • Contextor Galaxy
    • Support Services
  • Ecosystem
    • Clients
      • AG2R La Mondiale
      • Bouygues Telecom
      • BNP Paribas Cardif
      • Domofinance
      • EDF
      • Engie
      • GDF-Suez
      • HelloBank
      • Natixis
      • Orange
    • Partners
    • Partner & Client Portal
  • Expert Blog
  • About us
    • News
    • Team
    • Mission statement
    • Our Story
    • Recruitment

Robotic Process Automation: a sticking-plaster solution?

11 April 2017 by Pierre Col

This title will probably seem provocative, and it is deliberate. Indeed, when it comes to RPA, we often hear opinions like “The robotization of processes is there only because of the lack of interoperability between applications: when companies will have been advanced in their digital transformation, these tactical tools will disappear.”

This opinion is interesting, and we can even say that it is partly true. However, because we have heard it for a long time and the facts are stubborn, it is also partly false. Here’s why, in the light of 15 years of existence of Contextor.

In an ideal world

If we lived in an ideal world, there would be no need for robots automating tasks or processes by replicating user actions. In a dream life, CIOs in large companies would have no budget constraints, nor time constraints: they could redesign the existing system and build a homogeneous and properly architected information system, harmoniously combining naturally interoperable applications. These applications would expose all the data they manipulate through standardized APIs, allowing any new application to consume the information they need very simply.

As a result, the implementation of new business processes would be quick and agile by assembling in a few clicks the necessary bricks. The “time to market” of the company’s new businesses would be reduced to a minimum, and would be counted in weeks if not days. Business leaders would thus have unlimited capacity for innovation, and would lavish laurel wreaths every day to IT managers to thank them for their support.

But, unfortunately, we do not live in this ideal world…

In the real life of large enterprises

Because in 2017, large companies have to manage millions of customers spread across different countries and continents. Their history, over several decades, has led them to build an information system that now includes several strata: the 1970s and 1980s were those of transactional applications mainframes, the 1990s to 2000 saw the deployment of client-server Windows applications, and since we have entered the 21st century, the era of SaaS and cloud applications with web interface began. These heterogeneous technologies each have their strong point, and they cohabit, as best as they can, in an information system that is certainly not perfect. But this IT has an immense quality: it does the job. It manages tens of thousands of complex transactions, serving millions of customers every day. And so nobody can take the risk of rebuilding it at once and from scratch, without even talking about budget and time issues.

The price to pay for this diversity in the information system is often the complexity of the desktop:  users, whether in front-office or in back-office, must interact with dozens of applications to serve customers. And it is here, on the workstation of large companies, that process automation has appeared.

Contextor, who was one of the pioneers 15 years ago, is in a good position to talk about it. At the beginning, we were still talking about application wizards, but the basic functions of what is today called RPA were already there: copy and paste data from one window to another to avoid re-typing, launch a query in an application and retrieve the result, compare and verify information from two applications…

By automating to the maximum these tedious and non-value-added tasks, the RPA releases 15% to 30% of the user’s time, or even more for some back-office processes that can be fully automated. From then on, the human being can devote himself to actions leveraging his sense of the customer relation and improving the quality of the service, with a better respect of the procédures. The ROI of RPA is not in months or years, but in weeks. Another contribution of the RPA: it improves the working comfort of employees. Is this not an essential prerequisite if they are to be embarked in the strategy of digital transformation of the company?

How sustainable is RPA?

So, yes, we agree on this point: RPA is a tactical tool, which exists only because the information systems of large companies are complex. On the other hand, we are convinced that this complexity will not disappear with a magic wand. In any case, for 15 years that we exist, we have never witnessed such a miracle 🙂

From that, let us be humble and consider RPA for what it is, in its positive aspect: RPA is an effective solution to engage enterprises digital transformation, bringing real and measurable benefits with rapid and proven ROI.

Rendez-vous in 10 years to talk about that again?


PS : If you want to explore the benefits that RPA can bring to your business, feel free to contact us for more information, or even to launch a PoC!

Share :

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • More
  • Facebook

Related

Filed Under: Expert Blog Tagged With: agility, IT, robotic process automation, RPA

Recent Posts

  • Happy New Year! 1 January 2019
  • SAP Acquires Contextor to Augment Robotic Process Automation Capabilities 19 November 2018
  • Contextor is a “Hot Vendor™” in Robotic Process Automation 22 October 2018
  • Moonoia, Contextor and Shoot & Prove to showcase KAPTAIN at AI Convention Europe 2018 in Brussels 2 October 2018
  • Contextor together with Moonoia and Shoot and Prove to sponsor the AI Convention Europe 2018 24 September 2018

On Twitter

My Tweets

Contact Us

Would you like a demo or even a PoC?

On Twitter

My Tweets

FOLLOW US!

  •   Twitter
  •   LinkedIn
  •   YouTube
  •   Facebook

LATEST NEWS

Happy New Year!

Contextor wishes you a Happy New Year 2019!

SAP Acquires Contextor to Augment Robotic Process Automation Capabilities

SAP NEWSBYTE — November 19, 2018 — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that it has acquired Contextor SAS, a European leader in the design and integration of robotic process automation (RPA), to help SAP accelerate the development and expansion of its SAP® Leonardo Machine Learning portfolio. Contextor’s RPA technology relieves business software users from […]

Contextor is a “Hot Vendor™” in Robotic Process Automation

Contextor is featured by Aragon Research in “Hot Vendors™ in Robotic Process Automation, 2018: Making the Most of Process Automation“, a research by Jim Sinur. More info on Aragon Research website:  ▶ https://aragonresearch.com/hot-vendors-in-robotic-process-automation-2018/

Moonoia, Contextor and Shoot & Prove to showcase KAPTAIN at AI Convention Europe 2018 in Brussels

Brussels, Belgium & Orsay, France, October 2nd 2018 – Moonoia, Contextor and Shoot & Prove will showcase KAPTAIN, their end-to-end document processing solution, at AI Convention Europe 2018 in Brussels, October 4th. KAPTAIN is a joint initiative from Belgian and French startups: it combines uniquely powerful AI recognition, robotic process automation and mobile app development. About […]

Contextor together with Moonoia and Shoot and Prove to sponsor the AI Convention Europe 2018

Contextor – Moonoia – Shoot and Prove – together with the revolutionary end-to-end document processing KAPTAIN solution – are participating as a proud Platinum Sponsor at the first edition of AI Convention Europe 2018.  About the Event: This first edition that brings together professionals, vendors, thought leaders and enthusiasts will be an extraordinary occasion to discover latest AI innovations across a wide variety […]

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Facebook

© Copyright 2010-2018 · Contextor.eu · All rights reserved  · Legal Mentions

© We augment humans with bots · Robotic Process Automation expert