Deprecation of Basic authentication in Exchange Online

Continuous progress in software development shows there is a growing need for newer and more secure security features and standards. With it inevitably comes a time when the new standards supersede the old, which need to be deprecated so the new standard can become the norm.

We are on the verge of another such moment with Microsoft deprecating the Basic authentication feature of their Exchange Online messaging solution and requiring OAuth 2.0 token-based authentication as a more secure measure.

This process started in 2019 and since then millions of users moved away from Basic authentication. The process is still not done as the usage is still not zero:

Protocols that are in scope for disablement:
• MAPI
• RPC
• Offline Address Book (OAB)
• Exchange Web Services (EWS)
• POP
• IMAP
• Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
• Remote PowerShell

Not in scope for this disablement (won’t be changed):
• SMTP AUTH

This change will require users to upgrade their applications and scripts that still use Basic Authentication to use the new stronger authentication methods if they want to continue using Exchange Online past January 1st 2023.

Here at Robotiq.ai we are always taking steps to ensure our technology complies with software industry standards. We’ll be ready for the upcoming switch in functionality as well as work with our Clients and Partners to make the switch as easy as possible.

For further information on this topic please visit:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/clients-and-mobile-in-exchange-online/deprecation-of-basic-authentication-exchange-online


Robotiq.ai RPA Software - Manager's Point of View

How do Managers Choose the Best Process Candidates for RPA?

As a manager, you often struggle to choose the best processes for automation to increase your team’s efficiency. Usually, you don’t know where to start. You ask yourself questions such as:

  • Does this process fit?
  • Will the ROI be fast enough to make it worth it?
  • Is the process frequent enough for automation to pay off?
  • Will my team’s efficiency increase if we implement RPA software?

And many other questions that are holding you back from taking the next step in making your department more efficient.

Here, we’ll answer some of these questions and provide extensive input on what to look for when searching for the perfect process candidates for RPA.

Let’s go!

Where Should I Even Start?

Your team, without a doubt. They’re your first stop to hearing the first-hand experience and determine potential process candidates for automation. Also, you will pinpoint what exactly your team can gain from implementing an RPA-Powered Digital Teammate.

They know their processes the best, and if you wake them up in the middle of the night and ask: “What part of your work do you dread the most, and would thrive if someone took it over?” rest assured they’ll answer you straight away. And that’s your starting point. The next step is to determine if those processes are:

  • Rule-based
  • Repetitive
  • Manual
  • Time-consuming
  • Dull
  • Structured

Of course, the more requirements you meet, the faster the ROI is!

Robotiq.ai RPA Journey

"I Don’t Want to Fire Anyone!"

Firing anyone just because you started automating some of your business processes would be a step back from your goal. So far, no one has lost their jobs because “robots took them over.” On the contrary, employees often get promoted to better positions where they can flourish and finally use their creativity, intuition, and other skills they didn’t have time to use before hiring software robots.

In other words, software robots will take over mundane and time-consuming tasks, while your employees will bring more value to the company with skills they didn’t have time to use before.

Yes, you’re on point! That really means you can process even more work with less effort and time. The equation here equals more revenue, happier employees, etc. Perhaps even a bonus for increasing the company’s efficiency!

There Must Be More to Gain From RPA, Right?

Of course! As long as you know how to get the most from it! Reaping all the benefits of RPA implementation requires good preparation from the get-go. That includes choosing good process candidates, dissecting the process to the tiniest steps, optimization if needed, etc.

When you meet all the prerequisites, you can expect:

  • Increased efficiency and productivity of the entire team
  • More work done in a shorter amount of time
  • Happier employees (a happy employee is the best company ambassador!)
  • Foundations for scaling up and increasing the revenue
  • Possibility for promotions and professional growth
  • Opportunity for a bigger budget for more innovations
  • Increased creativity due to eliminating tedious tasks
  • Better overall accuracy & speed in process execution
  • Better customer experience and satisfaction

Often one thing leads to another, creating a chain event of opportunities that mainly depends on the process itself and the entire team structure. You can think of them as additional benefits on top of the guaranteed gains we mentioned above.

To Automate, or Not to Automate, That Is the Question?

The answer to this question depends solely on your company’s ambition to scale and grow further. Keep in mind that the process is painless and fast, requiring a minimum engagement of the employee executing the tasks you’re about to automate.

To wrap this up, now that we aligned the expectations RPA software brings, the only thing left for you is to see what the entire RPA journey looks like and prepare to be amazed!

Contact us to get a 1-on-1 short intro call!


Robotiq.ai RPA Software Robot

RPA Myth-Busting - Software Robots are Unreliable!

One of the biggest misconceptions about RPA technology is that software robots are unreliable, which can’t be further from the truth. However, many factors can influence the success of your RPA project, from choosing the wrong process for automation to the preparation needed to even start with the RPA journey.

Not to mention, we often meet clients that previously had a bad experience with RPA due to poor implementation caused by inexperienced RPA developers. Keep in mind that the product (even the best one) is as good as the person implementing it, so don’t write off the technology just because a developer lack experience.

Here, we’ll show you why the RPA is reliable and where exactly the myth originated from. Let’s dive into it!

What Processes Are the Best Candidates for RPA?

Not every business process is qualified for automation; the wrong ones will be doomed from the get-go, while the right ones will reap success from the moment they’re automated.

To achieve the latter, we have to take some parameters into account. The process candidates for RPA have to be:

  • Rule-based
  • Repetitive
  • Manual
  • Time-consuming
  • Dull
  • Structured

When we meet the mentioned requirements, the process you choose to automate will be reliable, execute faster, and error-free, allowing you to finally focus on what you do best.

If you’re new to RPA technology and still struggle to pinpoint the suitable process, here’s a hint – you can start automating almost every process in your finance department. It will inspire you to recognize the future candidates for automation right away, regardless of the industry.

How To Prepare for RPA Implementation?

After you have determined the processes you want to automate, it’s time to prepare for the RPA Journey. The best way to do that is to have a discovery call with RPA Consultant to check if the process is really fit for RPA.

When we start with the business analysis and workshop, we’ll dissect the process to the tiniest steps and optimize it if necessary. We can now start developing and setting it up for automation.

After testing before the production, and final fine-tuning, we’re ready to deliver you a fully automated and error-free process, which we’ll monitor for the next ten days, with complete support at your disposal at any moment of our collaboration.

So, RPA IS Reliable?

Yes, automating your business processes with RPA software is not only reliable but efficient as well. It will also allow your employees to focus on other activities that require more creativity and intuition.

However, make sure to have an experienced RPA Consultant automating your processes. You can find many RPA vendors on the market selling RPA platforms that are hard to use and, to make things even worse, they’re not providing adequate support. It all resulted in unskilled developers implementing a product that, in the end, doesn’t get the job done. No wonder we met many clients who lost faith in RPA just because they had a bad experience with other vendors.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here’s the first clue to decipher if your RPA vendor is legit. Ask them:

  • If they provide support and for how long
  • How long it takes to implement the process (if it’s more than 30 days, it can indicate that they’re working on an unnecessarily complicated platform. Or they simply lack skills.)
  • To see their license models and prices — 30-40 pages long? Give us a break. We managed to make a simple and straightforward one-pager with our license models.

Now That the Myth Is Busted...

Go ahead and check the real-life cases with real numbers — we mean business.

We didn’t invent the wheel here — we just recognized what other platforms needed but didn’t have, simplified it to be a real low-code/no-code platform, and provided you with a simple-to-use yet robust software robot/Digital Teammate ready to jump in no-time.

You can see for yourself on a 15-minute preview call, so contact us.


How to Start With Your RPA Journey?

Since you’re already here, reading this blog, you’re surely familiar with the concept of an RPA software, at least to some point. However, there are still some questions unanswered that are stopping you from enrolling on the RPA journey.

Here, we’ll address those questions and explain what’s ahead. You’ll learn:

  • What is RPA?
  • What can you gain from implementing an RPA software?
  • What process candidates are the best fit for software robots?
  • How to prepare for process automation?

At the end of this blog, you’ll get a better picture of what this journey is all about, how to start the process automation, and finally – you’ll be able to make an educated decision about implementing an RPA-Powered Digital Teammate into your own processes. So, let’s start!

To Begin With, Let’s Answer the Following: What is RPA Software?

You can find various names online for basically the same thing. RPA, or Robotic Process Automation, goes by different names, such as RPA Software, RPA Platform, Software Robots, etc.

Here at Robotiq.ai, we’re proud to have developed an RPA-Powered Digital Teammate, an addition to your team, that relieves your employees from manual, mundane, and time-consuming tasks performed on the computer.

Our RPA robot is a piece of software that can replicate the activities humans perform by hand and do it faster and error-free. With it, you’ll finally have more time to shift to the activities that fulfill you and that you actually enjoy doing!

What Do I Get With RPA Robots?

The most important benefit you’ll gain is your team’s motivation and enthusiasm when they’re relieved from the chains of dull activities. As one thing leads to another, their productivity will increase with it. And, at the same time, that process they used to perform manually — well, your Digital Teammate makes sure to deliver it on time.

Long story short, not only are we talking about the amount of work done once your team embraced their new roles but also the increased execution speed, accuracy, and the possibility to scale. In other words, you’re getting a new employee for a fraction of the salary you would pay for a human employee and at least twice the efficiency increase.

How Does the RPA Journey Looks Like, and What Do I Have to Do to Prepare For it?

When we say “journey”, that’s what we mean. RPA software implementation is an ongoing process that requires good preparation to make it work flawlessly. But, don’t fret – we’re here for you!

First, the best thing you can do is to research your company’s processes and determine which ones are:

  • Handling a large amount of structured data
  • Time-consuming
  • Highly-frequent
  • Error-prone
  • Repetitive
  • Dull

Next, we’ll schedule a discovery meeting, in which we’ll go through the processes you have chosen to automate and provide you with an offer for the work scope we agreed on.

Robotiq.ai RPA Analysis

After signing a contract, we’ll begin with the business analysis and a workshop to dissect the process to the tiniest steps and optimize it if necessary.

At this stage, the magic happens! Our RPA Consultants are taking over and beginning to teach a Digital Teammate what exactly he has to do. In other words, our consultants are developing the process for automation in our HQ (a central place for developing, editing, and monitoring both the process and the robot).

This stage can take 5-30 working days, depending on the process’s complexity and the information provided.

We’re almost there! You can think of this stage as a quick onboarding process, in which we test and fine-tune a Digital Teammate before we let him take over.

Now, we’re good to go! The process is ready for production, and your new team member awaits to jump in. Of course, we’ll monitor his performance for the next ten days to make sure the onboarding process is successful.

Remember, we’re always providing support at any stage of the automation journey.

Are You Ready to Take the First Step?

When starting your RPA journey, good preparation is half the battle won. That’s why we’re leading you through every step of the journey, making sure that a Digital Teammate implementation goes as smoothly as possible. After all, you want the work to get done, right?

Interested in learning more about an RPA-Powered Digital Teammate? Get in touch with us for a short 1-on-1 Introduction Call!


RPA Myth Busting - Robots Will Take Over Our Jobs!

Yes, they will, undoubtedly – the same way people in factories lost their jobs when the industrial revolution kicked in back in the 18th century. However, they got promoted to other positions – they didn’t get fired.

And what happened then? Machines took over the most tiresome and dangerous jobs people used to perform by hand. The same people got promoted to better positions in which they could provide more value. Well, at least most of them. Some were surely too wrecked from the labor they did their entire life and, consequently, had to retire.

Let’s see if the history lessons apply to the software robots too. Here, we’ll bust some myths surrounding this technology and set the facts straight.

First, let’s answer some basic questions regarding the RPA in general.

What is RPA?

RPA, or Robotic Process Automation, is a technology created to make our professional life easier. In other words, RPA software, commonly called software robots, is a piece of software that can replicate our manual, repetitive, and time-consuming actions on the PC, thus relieving us from tasks we dread the most.

Here, you can find out what business processes are the best candidates for an RPA-Powered Digital Teammate, and later on, we’ll explain what will happen with your jobs if you decide to hire one.

What Processes Can be Automated?

Luckily, RPA software is completely industry agnostic, which means that the opportunity for automation depends only on the process itself.

There are, however, some industries that have widely embraced software robots, such as:

  • Banking
  • Finances
  • Insurance
  • Healthcare
  • Hospitality
  • Manufacturing
  • Logistics, etc.

Since RPA software is relatively new, other industries are yet to embrace it and start utilizing all the benefits automation brings.

Following up on that thought, let’s check what rules the perfect processes have to follow so you can start automating them today. They have to be:

  • Rule-based
  • Manual
  • Highly repetitive
  • Time-consuming
  • Error-prone

Not to mention, the higher the frequency and time invested, the faster the ROI is!

Robotiq.ai RPA Software 4th Industrial Revolution

What’s in It for You?

It depends on your position in the story.

Managers will get a more efficient team and a bigger potential to scale up and increase their revenue.

As an employee executing the process, guess what! – you’ll finally have more time to focus on the activities you love, hone your creativity and intuition, and so much more.

And to answer the burning question…

Will People Lose Their Jobs?

Here, at Robotiq.ai, we understand your concern, and we can confidently say you have no reason to fret. The main reason RPA software exists is to make your life easier, not to take over your job.

The world started to recognize the true value employees bring to the company, and believe it or not – it’s not in executing manual, repetitive, and dull tasks. It’s something robots will never be able to take over – your creativity, intuition, decision making, and everything else that makes us humans.

Just go with the flow!

Now That All Concerns Are Gone, Let’s Wrap It Up!

Technology and innovations are here to improve our lives, not to sabotage us. Sometimes, we’ll have to adapt to changes, but hey, they’re happening all the time, and they’re often good.

The same applies here – isn’t your time too valuable to spend on activities you dreaded the most?

We believe it is, and to prove it, we’ll be happy to get in touch with you.

Contact us and pick your desired date and time for a short call!


Robotiq.ai Goes on JobFair to Present our RPA Software

Robotiq.ai on Job Fair

Robotiq.ai participated in this year’s Job Fair, organized by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, FER Career Centre, SSFER, and KSET.

It was a pleasure to be among 130 aspiring companies and meet more than 5000 bright future talents in this two-day event.

Surprisingly, even though RPA is still somewhat new, many students were familiar with the technology and wanted to learn more — especially about our R&D department, which constantly works on making our RPA platform more intuitive and easy to use.

We were pleased to see so many future talents interested in such a dynamic and innovative product, and even more so — to see their interest in joining our team and having first-hand experience in shaping the future of human work!

Check out how great it was below!

Robotiq.ai RPA Platform Team on JobFair

To all students, we didn’t have the opportunity to chat with, check out more about us, our product, and what RPA is in general, and feel free to send us your CV at jobs@robotiq.ai or just contact us to say “Hi!”


RPA Software in Shipping and Logistics

How to Cheat Inflation That Affects the Shipping and Logistics Industry With Your Digital Teammate

In the Shipping and Logistics industry, employees have to handle an enormous amount of data daily. Not only are they limited by the speed of performance, but they’re also prone to errors, resulting in costly delays, wrong deliveries, etc. All the activities mentioned above are mundane, manual, repetitive, and without a doubt, the most dreaded ones among your employees.

Here, we’ll share a few ideas to optimize and automate many of your daily routines, making the entire process faster and more accurate. With automation, you’re giving your employees more time to get their creative and intuitive skills into action.

How Inflation Affects the Entire Supply Chain?

After lockdown and events in the last few years, especially the recent ones that affected the entire world, economies faced growing, “vertical” inflation.

In the U.S. alone, the inflation rate accelerated to 8.5% in March of 2022, being the highest since December 1981. The annual inflation rate in the UK increased to 6.2% in February of 2022, which is the highest since March 1992. At the same time, the inflation rate in the EU in March 2022 was 7.8%, compared to 1.7% in March 2021.

Today, every industry (and its end-users) struggles to stay profitable, avoid increasing charges, and stay competitive.

The first response to inflation is often decreasing your employees’ salaries and firing people, thus shifting the workload and responsibilities to a current workforce.

That model is, undoubtedly, inefficient. Not only are you losing qualified and hard-working staff, but you’re also pissing off the ones you retained. Suddenly, their job description doubled or tripled, while their salary stayed the same. The burning question is — what can we do about it?

Software Robots Against Inflation

https://market-insights.upply.com/fr

Hiring an RPA-Powered Digital Teammate to Jump In

First, let’s answer the question, “What is RPA?“

RPA software, or software robot, stands for Robotic Process Automation. With it, we can automate mundane, repetitive, and time-consuming activities on your computer the same way your employee would perform — only faster, error-free, and more efficiently.

At the same time, while your RPA-powered Digital Teammate executes the process previously done by humans, your employees have time to focus on more value-adding and creative activities. By shifting them to positions that bring more value, you’ll notice a win-win situation in introducing your next digital teammate.

What Processes Are Perfect Candidates for Digital Teammates?

An RPA software is entirely industry agnostic, which means that every business has processes that are the perfect candidates for software robot automation. However, there are some rules to follow when deciding what business processes you want to automate. To define a few:

  • Is Rule-based
  • Is Highly repetitive
  • Has High frequency
  • Is Time-consuming
  • Handles Structured data

To get a more detailed idea, here are some examples of the best process candidates for automation:

  • Automated Data Entry
  • Maintenance Predictions
  • Logistics Management
  • Purchase Orders Initiation & Management

After getting a general idea of what you can automate with RPA software robots, let’s dive more into other benefits of your next Digital Teammate.

What Do I Get With It?

A Digital Teammate handles the entire process autonomously and is available 24/7, without sick leaves, holidays, etc. You’ll save time, relieve your employees from those tiresome activities, and have a process without human-made errors.

In the meantime, while your software robot works, you can focus on other valuable aspects of your daily workload without having to fire people or cut off their salaries. Instead, you’ll be able to manage more work and increase your revenue, regardless of the inflation.

Finally, Is It Worth It?

Considering that prices of everything skyrocketed and companies are trying to keep their head above the water without firing their employees or raising prices even further, not only is RPA worth it — it became inevitable.

With it, you’re relieving your employees from work overload and, at the same time, increasing the efficiency and the work scope you’re able to process.


A Happy Employee After Implementing an RPA-powered Digital Teammate

How to Get Up to 80% More Efficiency From Your Employees by Hiring a Digital Teammate

In the last few years, we faced many challenges that affected how we work. Lots of us moved to a home office or a hybrid model. Other than that, companies started striving to increase efficiency, which often means increasing the employees’ workload, especially with the recent Great Resignation and lack of workforce.

Additionally, many companies still got their mindset of “work as hard as you can” instead of “work smart.” If we learned anything in the last few years, it’s that the true strength of any company lies in its employees, making the mentioned model unsustainable. Nobody wants to work in these conditions anymore.

Here, we’ll focus on the “work smart” part.

Embracing the Innovations

With endless possibilities that help us with our everyday tasks, there’s no excuse to refuse positive changes. There’s no silver lining or magic wand that works for everyone. However, many of those innovations are applicable across various industries.

The perfect example is the revolution in the manufacturing industry that came with machines and robots. We all know how faster and more efficient the workers became and how much profit the companies gained when they embraced the innovations. And above all, how appreciated workers felt when they started working in better positions.

After that, we welcomed the 4th industrial revolution that included the IT sector. Today, we’re using many different digital tools that help us manage our workflow every day. However, changes and innovations continue to happen. You can even automate most of the daily tasks that took lots of your time and left you feeling numb.

What Can be Automated?

A general rule of thumb is to automate processes that are:

  • Time-consuming
  • Manual
  • Repetitive
  • Handling structured data
  • Rule-based

Here, we can also incorporate the Pareto Principle, in which 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes. In other words, we can refocus employees on that 20% of work that brings the most value, such as intuition, creativity, decision-making, etc., while leaving mundane tasks to your RPA-Powered Digital Teammate.

When Can I Expect the ROI?

Depending on the scope of automated processes, you can expect the ROI even after two months. Evidently, the higher the repetition and frequency, the faster the ROI. However, there are more benefits to count other than the financial ones:

  • Time – You’ll save the time you used to spend on that task and refocus it on something else
  • Speed – The process will execute faster than it used to when it was done manually
  • Accuracy – RPA-powered Digital Teammates don’t make errors, typos, etc.
  • Employee Satisfaction – They can finally work on more value-adding activities

What to Expect From an RPA-Powered Digital Teammate?

Robotic Process Automation is a technology that creates a complex ecosystem with strict, rule-based steps. Based on that, a software robot, or a Digital Teammate, executes the process. The implementation time can vary from two weeks to a couple of months, depending on the scope of the process. Accordingly, the support should be available 24/7.

An RPA-powered Digital Teammate is exactly that — an addition to your team. You’ll want it to handle the task autonomously, with more speed, accuracy, and reliability. The more value it gives to your employees and company, the more efficient you’ll become.

To Wrap it Up

The only way to stay competitive in the market is to embrace the changes. Those changes will directly impact your employees’ satisfaction, thus increasing their effort and value.

In return, you will notice better results, a more efficient team, and overall better business results – simply by relieving your employees from tiresome activities and allowing them to focus on more value-adding tasks.


Kruno - Robotiq.ai RPA Consultant & Support

Are Your RPA Vendors Letting You Down?

It’s a well-known fact that many reputable RPA (Robotic Process Automation) providers don’t offer quality support for a product they often market as low-code/no-code. In most cases, this is far from the truth. Whether you’re a client or partner, you will inevitably face challenges with the automation process. At which point, you will turn to your software robot provider for help.

You’ll send an email, issue a ticket, and contact your provider via chatbot, often only to hit a wall.

In the meantime, while you wait for a response, your process isn’t executing, you don’t have a return on investment, and you’re losing money.

Is This Really What You Signed Up For?

Absolutely. Some providers obviously don’t care for their clients/partners.

Was it your fault?

Absolutely not. There’s no way you could have known.

If your provider cared as they should have, they wouldn’t have their reputation challenged by failing to provide mandatory services such as support. A big name doesn’t necessarily represent quality, even though people are often misled by the implication. What’s worse, big companies usually get away with this misconception.

But, for how long?

New Shifts in the RPA Market

Fortunately, from first-hand experience, we’ve witnessed an increase in companies placing their trust where they’ll be better valued. This shift isn’t surprising – it’s a natural response to strive for better products, services, and support for the money you invest.

After all, as a technology that automates your business processes to make them more efficient and profitable, RPA requires available support around the clock. When something interferes with the process, such as a new unstable release from the provider, your primary concern is to avoid losing money and prolonging ROI.

And often, in such cases, changing your software robot vendor is necessary.

What Should You Look For From Your New RPA Provider?

Every RPA provider creates a product that achieves the same goal – automating your business process, making it more efficient and profitable.

However, the devil is in the details.

Here are a few things to look for in a new RPA provider to finally get your money’s worth:

⸻ RPA Licencing Models

You’re looking for a straightforward, easy-to-understand model. Forget complicated, 40-page long pricing lists – nobody has time for that.

RPA software doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

⸻ Support

An automated process is part of a sensitive environment, in which everything is rule-based and interconnected. Every change impacts the entire process and has the potential to mess things up. Once automated, leave things be.

RPA providers release product updates regularly. Sometimes, an update can intervene with other applications used in the process. Along with Exception Handling, available customer support is crucial — you want things resolved right away.

⸻ Easy to Use Yet Robust

You’re looking for an RPA software that doesn’t require both a developer and business analyst to implement – otherwise, it’s not a no-code/low-code technology as it should be.

You will need a dedicated person to take care of automation. However, if you need an entire team of developers, does your automation journey justify itself?

Probably not.

⸻ No Enrollment Barrier

RPA-powered software robots should be available to companies of all sizes, not only large corporations. Until recently, RPA was exclusively just that – an expensive tool, often unavailable to SME businesses.

A new generation of Robotic Process Automation vendors with fresh, revolutionary ideas finally made this technology available to companies of all sizes, enabling an easier start in automation.

Ready to Take the Next Step and Get the Value You Deserve?

Automating your business processes is a journey, not just a one-and-done product. If you already got on the wrong RPA bus, it’s never too late to change providers.

When selecting a new RPA provider, just make sure to choose wisely.

It’s time for you to find the right product with the right commodities. And great customer/partner support.

Don’t settle for less than your best.


RPA Developer and Business...

RPA developer and business analyst – do we need both?

Generally, in RPA team blueprints, you will find these two roles among others: RPA Developer and Business Analyst. In a nutshell, a business analyst should handle the business side and gather all the requirements and details about the process in question. After that, he/she creates a process definition document, hands it off to the developer, who implements it in the tool.
However, do we really need both?
The main idea behind the RPA technology is that it’s supposed to be a low-code or no-code approach technology. As such, it should be easy enough for a technical-savvy business analyst to master it. If we need a “developer” role involved, then why do the vendors market it as business user-friendly?
This separation of roles creates more problems than it brings benefits. Implementing the process automation, in our experience, is measured in weeks – the longest implementation we ever had was 2.5 months. So, we are talking about relatively short implementation cycles. By introducing two roles to the project, we are introducing several risks:

Expectations vs. Reality:

The developer doesn’t understand the context and the nuances of the process simply because he/she probably never saw the business stakeholders.
There is a risk that the final delivery will not be as the customer expected it to be. If the business analyst didn’t collect enough technical details for the developer, it could create problems in production and loss of enthusiasm from the business side.

Lower overall quality:

The business analyst’s job is to talk to the customers and determine how to design the automation, while the developers are often excluded from the brief. That way, we’re missing an opportunity to develop a more robust and scalable process for a client.

Prolonged implementation:

Because of unnecessary hand-offs, we are prolonging the implementation and opening a lot of space for misunderstandings.

In my opinion, we should have one single role -an Automation Consultant. He/she should be in charge of the entire process automation, from the initial customer workshops to production releases. I’m intentionally calling it Automation Consultant, as there’s a bigger picture than just an RPA. Automation Consultant uses RPA as a primary tool, but they can also apply other automation techniques and tools to achieve optimal automation.

Now, you might say that the person I described is impossible to find. From my experience, it’s challenging – but possible. That person should be able to talk both to the business sector and IT and write scripts and database queries. It might take time to find and onboard the candidate, but in the end, it’s worth it. After all, the customer will have a single point of contact, and the RPA journey will be much smoother.