Robotic process automation (RPA) has brought a massive modification in the way businesses deal with repetitive routine tasks. Much like chatbots, artificial intelligence, and cognitive automation; RPA is allowing organizations to experience higher efficacy in human actions.
With RPA, software tools are programmed to imitate administrative operations that are otherwise performed by the human workforce. In layman terms, RPA provides the organizations with a virtual employee that takes care of repetitive and monotonous tasks such as data entry. Not just that, but these cyclic tasks are performed much faster and cost-efficiently than possible with any human employee.
It is not a sporadic trend either, for decades the competitive corporate world has been on the lookout for new technologies that will assist them with cumbersome, dreary, and lengthy processes and eliminate the chances of human error. Therefore, the use of RPA will become extremely commonplace in the near future and no longer remain optional.
While all of these possibilities with RPA fill entrepreneurs with giddy anticipation, the same isn’t the case with the regular workforce whose jobs are their sole livelihood.
By this point in time, many have begun to harbor a not-so-secret fear that the bots will soon end up taking their jobs. RPA is certifiably the death of data entry, but will it also be the death of financial means of so many?
Will RPA lead to job scarcity in the future
The smart RPA tools have been fueling fears of massive job scarcity in the future. The robotic tools have already begun to reduce the operational workload by huge numbers, so what is next in line, downsizing, and retrenchment?
Well, in a way it will and in a way, it won’t. RPA does pose a risk to people with jobs such as data entry and filing. If these people don’t have any other skills, they might find themselves without a job in the near future. To secure their jobs in the future, these people would need to start acquiring new skills.
However, RPA won’t lead to massive job scarcity in the future. Not on a grand level.
Here’s why:
RPA Is Making Tasks Easier
For now, we can put all of our fears aside because studies suggest that robotic process automation is taking over tasks and not jobs.
With the implementation of RPA tools into businesses, the enterprises are executing operations 5-10 times faster and using an average of 37% fewer resources, according to the research by Information Services Group (ISG).
The increase in productivity is undeniable as well as the higher value received by customers via RPA. Yet all that doesn’t necessarily mean mass layoff, it means the enterprises are redeploying their employees for tasks that require human cognitive thinking. The repetitive tasks were never worthy of a high-functioning human brain nor it gives higher job satisfaction. Thanks to RPA, employees are able to handle tasks of higher-value.
A smart employer is using robots for robotic tasks, and humans for intellectual tasks and both will result in productivity gain.
Creators Will Always Remain the Controllers
Humans would always be needed to fix the robots, to guide the robots, to instruct the robots and to command the robots. Yes, RPA will end repetitive jobs only to replace them with ones that requires leadership skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making etc.
It was the great minds of humans that leveraged technology. The same technology that has revolutionized the medical industry we have today. This industry–that has up till now faced the greatest AI and robotic tool intervention– is making history. The diagnosis is more accurate than over; the surgeries are much more precise.
Does that mean surgeons have lost their jobs? No!
They are just providing the best healthcare service ever with RPA tools by their side. And these robotic tools are regulated by doctors.
No Signs of Job Churning
Jobs do not just end like that, in fact economists detect it months ago by keeping an eye out for job churning. Job churning refers to the situation in which people hop from job to job, company to company, and industry to industry after losing their source of income. This happens at mass level when there are no jobs in the market.
Ironically, the job churn rate has seen an all-time low during 2010 to 2015 in the USA. This was also the exact time when AI and RPA has started to make its presence known.
New Employment Opportunities
While the RPA is taking many tasks off of the hands of the human workforce, it is also creating a number of new employment opportunities. These new roles would require newer skillsets so that we can continue to support technology.
These new roles would encourage the individuals to learn automation configuration, business digitization, programming, and writing scripts, fixing software glitches, change control, monitoring and planning automation strategy etc.
RPA will also divert the human workforce towards jobs and roles that require emotional capacity, something that robots are least likely to master even in the distant future. Occupations such as therapists, teachers, authors, filmmakers etc. will continue to thrive for they can’t be automated.
The Uptake
There is little that can be said about how far RPA can go with automating manual tasks, the possibilities are limitless though. Additionally, the benefits of automation are too great for the businesses to put a stop to its revolution. The solutions to lower overhead and higher ROI for businesses is in RPA.
As of now, take heart in the fact that robotic software tools are not taking humans out of the organizations but taking the robots out of the humans.
Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that if extreme automation and use of AI replace the human workforce, it will also cause inflation and economic collapse. And no business organization would ever want that.
Omnisys Solutions has a well-developed practice in RPA, which supports both data analytics initiatives as well as carry out automation driven initiatives. With a focus on business value, Omnisys leverages RPA to deliver tangible dollar benefits to its customers.