During the past two decades, the number of robots used in the workplace has increased threefold worldwide, bringing the total up to 2.25 million. Moreover, according to an Oxford study, AI will confiscate more than 20 million manufacturing jobs around the world by the year 2030. The study also found that in China, robots could replace 14 million human workers within the next 11 years.
People everywhere are panicking, as they fear their jobs will soon be lost to robots as well. However, this is not something that suddenly popped up unexpectedly.
We knew for years that this was coming as new technology is innovated faster than we can keep up with it. While some experts say new jobs are expected to spawn out of all this, the fact remains that tens of millions of people will lose their job to a robot soon. These are not college degree earners we are talking about; most are lower-skilled factory workers who live in poor local economies.
However, it is also quite possible that the shift will add an extra $4.9 trillion to the global economy annually, which could bring prices down substantially. This will be due in part to robots now being much cheaper to run. At the same time, it is also many times more productive than a human is as a robot can work continuously without taking a break, along with more rapidly and repetitively, and you don’t have to pay it by the hour.
Improve Processes with RPA Technology
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a new way of doing business by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) for automation processes. Some experts claim that automating your business processes with RPA; can lead to a 30 to 200 percent Return on Investment (ROI) within the first year alone.
What kind of work can these sophisticated robots perform in the workplace? The following are just some of the duties RPA technology can fulfill:
- Automatically pull data from multiple tools,
- Complete accounting spreadsheets,
- Perform complex calculations,
- Keep books, organize, and distribute payroll,
- Track and order inventory,
- Store client databases by categorizing various phases,
- Pick and pack items,
- Lift heavy and multiple objects at once,
- And much more.
Let Robots Do the Heavy Lifting
When it comes to big jobs, let robots do it. Of course, AI will have a limited capacity of what it can hold just as most everything does, but its capabilities and limits will be much more than a human can bear. Another thing is loading and unloading cargo from commercial vehicles. This is a tough job, especially when the semi is carrying a heavy load. Again, let the robots do it; this is a job for a machine.
Thus, RPA is excellent at performing office duties beyond the traditional phone automation purposes it served for many years that we all have grown so frustrated by. Fortunately, it does do an excellent job of recognizes what we are calling about and then transferring us to the right agent for assistance. Moreover, it allows us to gain the information we seek much faster than having to wait for someone first to take our call and then our information so they could pull up our account.
But You Can Still Step in When Needed
Wouldn’t it be nice to have an assistant that literally knows-it-all? RPA is not going to put us out of the game entirely; it will still require our assistance for numerous things. Robots need our help to:
- Turn it on,
- Keep it clean by dusting it off regularly,
- Check it for maintenance issues, and
- Updating and upgrading if a newer version becomes available.
Moreover, let’s not forget the main thing that AI depends on humans for, programming it or instructing it on what to do.
Get Started Today
If you are considering joining the many other smart business owners and implementing RPA into your business, you are wise. The first thing you must do is figure out what you will use it for. This may require a staff meeting to help gain other points of views and ideas.
Next is picking out the right RPA software package to create and program your robots.
This can be the hardest part as there are so many different programs to choose from. What you want is an advanced tool that allows you to visually design automation processes through diagrams, for which you can create, deploy, and manage your robots.
Life After Implementing RPA Into Your Business
Once you have been working with RPA for a while, you will see how easy it is to control and how much more productive your business will be. What people today have to understand is that the robots are coming no matter what, so they may as well embrace it and use it to their advantage.