Empowering Automation in the Digital Era

In this highly digitally connected world, companies are always looking for new and creative ways to improve efficiency, simplify procedures, and provide better customer service. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has become a game-changing technology that helps businesses accelerate up operations, cut down on human error, and automate repetitive activities. One of the leading RPA platforms, Blue Prism, provides an extensive set of tools and features to automate Various business processes. A good example of this is the online-based Extension, a potent element that allows online applications the ability to be automated, providing up new avenues of opportunities for businesses.

Utilizing the Web-Based Extension for Blue Prism

The main objective of Blue Prism’s Web-based Extension is to enable seamless interaction between web-based apps and Blue Prism robots. With the help of this extension, robots can communicate with websites in the same manner as people do—they can provide data, extract information, and initiate activities. By leveraging this capability, businesses can automate complex processes that require interaction with web interfaces, boosting operational accuracy and efficiency. It acts as a link between the web browsers and the Blue Prism platform, enabling robots to communicate with web content, retrieve data, and take actions within web applications in the same manner as human beings do.

Key Features and Capabilities

Using Blue Prism browser extensions, Blue Prism offers native support for automating websites and apps in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, a Chromium-based web browser. Blue Prism can interact with websites and apps that appear in these browsers because of to the extensions, which makes it simple to model business processes that depend on these websites and apps.

The Blue Prism extensions create a connection between Blue Prism and the web page in Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. This connection enables data interchange and element manipulation.

Type of Extensions in Blue Prism:

• Chrome: Used to automate websites and apps in Edge and Chrome versions that are based on Chromium.
• Firefox: Used to automate Firefox web sites and applications.

Chrome Extension for Blue Prism

Created with the goal to simplify online automation simpler within the Google Chrome browser environment, the Blue Prism Chrome Extension—also commonly known as the Blue Prism Browser—is an insignificant extension. It offers a simplified user interface for Chrome users to interact with web elements and automated tasks.

Important Characteristics:

• Integration with Chrome: This extension works in combination with the Google Chrome web browser to take advantage of its features and offer an automated task environment that is comfortable and recognizable.
• Point-and-Click Interface: By enabling users to interact with site items directly from the Chrome browser window, a point-and-click interface makes task automation simpler.
• Lightweight and User-Friendly: Users with various levels of technical proficiency can utilize the Chrome Extension because it is both lightweight and user-friendly.
• Basic Automation Capabilities: It provides basic automation features like data entry, form filling, and element selection on web sites.

Firefox Extension for Blue Prism

The objective of the Blue Prism Firefox Extension is to provide web automation in the Mozilla Firefox browser environment. It is a browser extension. This Firefox plugin lets users interact with web elements and automate tasks right within Firefox, much like the Chrome extension does.

Important Characteristics:

• Efficient Integration with Firefox: By leveraging Firefox’s features and offering a comfortable environment for online automation activities, the extension smoothly integrates with the Mozilla Firefox browser.
• Point-and-Click Interface: This function allows users to automate operations by allowing them to interact with web items directly within the Firefox browser window utilizing a point-and-click interface. Blue Prism’s cross-browser compatibility is ensured via its support for Firefox, which enables users to automate tasks in both Chrome and Firefox settings.
• Key Automation Features: such the Chrome Extension, this addon provides key automation features such element selection, data entry, and form completion on websites.

Benefits and Use Cases

• Web-Based Form Filling and Data Entry

Robots can automate data input operations which include submitting requests, filling up online forms, and updating data in web-based apps because of to the Web-based Extension. This function accelerates up data processing cycles, reduces manual error rates, and streamlines company processes.

• Data extraction and web scraping

Organizations may deploy the extension to monitor market trends, acquire competitive intelligence, generate data from websites, and add pertinent information to databases. This enhances strategic initiatives, enhances the organization insights, and makes more straightforward to make well-informed decisions.

• Automation in E-commerce

Web-based extensions can automate a wide range of operations within the e-commerce industry, including inventory management, order processing, and customer service. Businesses can improve order accuracy, maximize customer satisfaction, and optimize operational efficiency by automating repetitive processes.

• Automation in Customer Service

Robots that have been outfitted with the Web-based Extension have the capacity to automate customer service processes through their interactions with web-based chatbots, account information retrieval, and service request processing. The result makes it possible for businesses to provide individualized customer experiences, speed up response times, and increase client retention.

• Automation in Financial Services

The extension can automate operations in the financial services sector, including compliance reporting, transaction monitoring, and account reconciliation. Financial institutions can minimize operational risks, guarantee regulatory compliance, as well as enhance audit trails by automating repetitive processes.

Conclusion

Blue Prism’s Web-based Extension empowers organizations to extend automation capabilities to web-based applications enabling efficient and scalable process automation across a range of sectors and business operations. Organizations in the digital age may accomplish unprecedented levels of productivity, agility, and innovation by utilizing this feature to its full potential and following the suggested processes.

To sum up, Blue Prism’s Web-based Extension is an essential component of its goal to promote automation excellence and enable organizations to achieve success in an extremely competitive marketplace.

In the world of robotic process automation (RPA), Blue Prism stands out as a leading platform that empowers organizations to automate their business processes. While designing and developing automated solutions using Blue Prism is essential, debugging plays a crucial role in ensuring smooth operation and efficient execution. This blog will explore some invaluable debugging techniques in Blue Prism that can help you identify and resolve issues, ultimately optimizing your automation workflows.

1. Enable Logging

Blue Prism provides comprehensive logging capabilities to track the execution of processes and identify potential errors. By enabling logging, you gain valuable insights into the system’s behavior, allowing you to trace the flow of execution and pinpoint the exact location of issues. Depending on the granularity required, you can enable logging at various levels, such as object, process, or business object. Analyzing logs can provide crucial information for troubleshooting and improving your automation solutions.

2. Use Breakpoints

Break allows you to pause the debugging process at any given moment. Once this happens, you can choose to Step, Step Into, Step Over, or Stop the debugging process.

3. Step

This is used to step inside any particular stage at a time, so if you have a page stage, an action stage, or a process stage and if you press ‘Step’ then the flow would go inside the reference workflow. For example, if you are calling an action from a Process Studio and press step, the control would simply go to that action in the Object Studio. (Shortcut F11)

4. Step Over

This is used to step over any particular stage at a time, so if you have a page stage, an action stage, or a process stage and if you press ‘Step Over’, the flow will proceed to the next stage on that page, executing all the workflows that the stage is referencing in the reference workflow, but not allowing you to enter it. For example, if you are calling an action from a Process Studio and you press step over, then the control would simply go to the next action on that page of the Process Studio while all the workflow inside the action will be executed at the backend without you ever going inside the Object Studio. (Shortcut F10)

5. Step Out

This is used to step out of the currently visible page executing all the particular stages called within the workflow at that point of time, so if you have a page stage, an action stage, or a process stage and if you press ‘Step Out’ then the entire workflow in that page is executed taking the control back to the parent page, process or action from where it is called.

For example, if you are calling an action from a Process Studio and press step out, the entire workflow on that page would be executed, including the action and whatever stage you have called after it in the specific workflow. In case you press step out from a Main Page, then the workflow would simply be completed as there is no parent page in this case, but if you press step out inside a subpage, action, or sub-process, then the workflow would be executed, and the control would be back to the parent page or process. (Shortcut Shift+F11)

6. Exception Handling

Exception handling plays a vital role in robust automation design. Blue Prism provides exceptional handling capabilities to gracefully handle errors and exceptions during process execution. By implementing proper exception-handling techniques, you can catch and log errors, perform specific actions or retries, and gracefully recover from failures. Effective exception handling minimizes the impact of errors on the overall automation solution and enhances its reliability.

7. Utilize the Blue Prism Developer Tools

Blue Prism offers a set of developer tools that can greatly assist in debugging and troubleshooting. The Application Modeler allows you to inspect and interact with target applications, verifying selectors and ensuring the correct identification of elements. The Object Viewer provides a detailed view of the application’s hierarchy and properties, aiding in object configuration and validation. Leveraging these developer tools can help identify object recognition and interaction issues.

8. Collaboration and Documentation

Debugging complex automation solutions often requires collaboration with other team members, such as business analysts or subject matter experts. Maintaining clear and concise documentation regarding the automation process, including inputs, expected outputs, and known issues, fosters effective communication and problem-solving. Collaborative efforts ensure a holistic approach to debugging, harnessing collective expertise, and reducing the time taken to identify and resolve issues.

These debugging techniques are used in various situations depending on circumstances so that you can quickly debug a very complex workflow no matter how long it is.

Conclusion

Debugging is an integral part of the automation development lifecycle and employing effective debugging techniques is crucial for successful Blue Prism implementations. By enabling logging, using breakpoints, inspecting data and variables, implementing proper exception handling, leveraging developer tools, and fostering collaboration, you can efficiently troubleshoot and resolve issues within your Blue Prism automation. With these techniques at your disposal, you’ll be well-equipped to tackle challenges and ensure the smooth functioning of your automation solutions.

2023 Banking Automation Trends

Perficient is looking forward to bringing our unique combination of automation technical know-how, along with industry expertise in Financial Services and Payments to the Bank Automation Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 2-3. The Summit brings together experts in the field, including bank executives, technology vendors, and consultants, to discuss the latest advancements in automation and their impact on the banking industry. I want to take this opportunity to share the latest Intelligent Automation trends from my observations in working with clients in the banking industry.

Artificial Intelligence and Automation

One of the key topics I expect to be discussed at the Summit is the heightened use of artificial intelligence (AI). AI is increasingly being used to automate a variety of tasks in financial services institutions, including customer service, fraud detection, and loan applications. Banks are using AI to analyze large amounts of data, make predictions, and automate complex processes. It helps to improve the accuracy and speed of decision-making, while also reducing costs and increasing efficiency. We helped one of our clients archive over $2 million in annual savings by adopting AI to automate 70% of their loan applications.

The next offering for adoption within Automation is self-driving more human-like self-sufficient advanced artificial intelligence, which is being referred to as Autonomous Enterprise. An autonomous business process is automation achieved by eliminating a human-in-the-loop thought configuration to monitor system environments, make decisions, learn, and manage itself while taking actions using contextual awareness. An example is the KYC process in which intelligent agents can sense an event using Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning (ML), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Digital Process Automation (DPA), and query data in order to proactively make a decision and act without approval while also continuing to learn and improve.

RPA Increase and Blockchain

Another trend our team has observed in banking is the increasing use of RPA in the banking sector. RPA is a form of automation that uses software robots to automate repetitive, mundane tasks, freeing up employees to focus more on strategic, knowledge-based, value-adding tasks. In the banking industry, RPA is being used to automate a wide range of processes, from loan origination and account opening to back-office processes, such as compliance and accounting. Institutions are looking to accomplish more with less, and RPA is the fastest way to build a business case for scale digital capabilities over manual processes. To offer an example, we used RPA to help a client automate 100% of data transfer from its Point of Sale (POS) to its back-office banking systems, reducing new customer onboarding time by 99%.

Perficient will also bring insight surrounding the banking industry’s growing use of blockchain to the Summit. Blockchain technology is being used to create secure, decentralized ledger systems that can be used to store and transfer data transparently and securely. In the banking industry, blockchain can help improve the speed and efficiency of cross-border payments and remittances and enhance the security of financial transactions. As a global consulting firm operating in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, the topic of cross-border payments using Blockchain technology is one in which we are investing through innovative initiatives.

The Customer Experience and Cultural Change

Next, we’re observing a continuously increased focus on customer experience. Banks are realizing that providing a seamless, personalized customer experience is critical to retaining customers and attracting new ones. Automation technologies continue to provide capabilities such as personalization engines, chatbots, and virtual assistants that enhance the customer experience by providing fast, accurate, and personalized support that also enables orchestration across multiple channels.

Finally, I am looking forward to hearing from banking executives about the importance of cultural change in the adoption of automation in the banking industry. Banks must embrace a culture of innovation and change if they are to successfully adopt new technologies such as RPA, AI, Blockchain, and others. This requires a commitment from senior leaders to embrace change and invest in the technology, skills, and processes needed to make automation a success within their institutions. As banks look to forward growth, Perficient has been supporting the adoption of digital capabilities with effective organizational change management.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Bank Automation Summit will provide valuable insights into the latest trends and advancements in automation in the banking industry. From the increasing use of RPA and AI to the focus on customer experience and cultural change, it is clear that automation is transforming the banking industry and creating new opportunities for growth and innovation. As an automation consultant, I am excited to continue helping banks and other organizations adopt these technologies and drive digital transformation.

***

No matter where you are in your bank’s automation journey, we can help you strategize and execute cutting-edge experiences.

Interested in learning more? Contact one of our financial services industry and automation experts here, or connect with us at the Bank Automation Summit coming up in Charlotte, North Carolina on March 2, 2023. 

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the method through which a software bot automates repetitive, high-volume, rule-based, and trigger-driven processes using a combination of automation, computer vision, and machine learning. 

Organizations should assess their readiness to employ RPA technologies by looking at their data management procedures and architecture before implementing them. For RPA to succeed, high-quality data and effective data governance are essential. Without the proper safeguards (such as a center of excellence, governance boards, and written guidelines), it won’t meet the business’s demands. 

Business Advantages of RPA

Workflows are streamlined by robotic process automation, which helps businesses become more profitable, adaptable, and responsive. Removing day-to-day tasks from their workdays also boosts employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity. 

RPA Tools

The RPA industry comprises brand-new (specially designed solutions) and older technologies that have been updated with fresh capabilities to facilitate automation. Some of these were initially tools for Business Process Management (BPM). The terms “workflow automation” and “work process management” are used by some vendors to describe their products. 

The global market for RPA software is anticipated to increase from $2.4 billion in 2021 to $6.5 billion by 2025.  

10 Standards for Selecting RPA Tools 

When selecting RPA tools, we need to keep these 10 things in mind: 

1. Easy setup of a bot 
2. Observed v/s Unobserved 
3. Capabilities of machine learning 
4. Low-code potential 
5. Administration and coordination 
6. Handling of exceptions and human evaluation 
7. Adaptation to business applications 
8. Cloud robots 
9. Mining for process and task discovery 
10. Scalability 

10 Suggestions for Efficient RPA Utilization

Here are some pointers for using robotic process automation effectively. 

1. Know What Needs to Be Automated 
2. Organize and Control Expectations 
3. Concentrate on Specific Goals 
4. Start by Using Premade Solutions 
5. Automate in Stages 
6. Conduct a Cost-benefit Analysis. 
7. Include IT Department 
8. Think Long Term 
9. Prepare in Advance  
10. Start with Established Procedures 

Using RPA to Fill Integration Gaps 

One of its initial advantages is robotic Process Automation’s capacity to integrate systems where gaps previously existed. Enterprises that need to integrate legacy systems or external sites for daily operations but do not now have the resources or tools to do so can use bots. Fast deployment and simple updating allow for automated data and process synchronization. By swiftly deploying integrations that sync data and processes without requiring human intervention, bots help enterprises create more comprehensive, end-to-end automation solutions. 

RPA for Digital Transformation 

RPA can be a useful tool for overcoming automation difficulties and encouraging businesses to develop into digital workplaces. RPA is a potent addition to any business process automation platform, whether optimizing end-to-end automation campaigns or helping staff manage projects more effectively. 

If you are targeting RPA consulting or RPA solutions, contact Perficient, who are ready to help you in every possible way.  

Marketing Automation: Top 8 Use Cases in Marketing that will Lift your Business to New Heights 

The keywords that catch business leaders’ attention in the fast-moving world are Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). According to Forrester, “The RPA market will grow to $22 billion by 2025”.  

Research carried out by Gartner finds that around 80% of finance leaders have implemented or are planning to implement RPA. At the same time, a separate study by Forrester reveals that 57% of workers say RPA reduces manual errors.  

When most people think of marketing, they often think of clever strategic campaigns and compelling ad copies; there is more to the job than just coming up with innovative and memorable marketing strategies. Technology has been especially advantageous to marketing teams since it allows them to avoid the heavy lifting of repetitive tasks and achieve more with less. 

You can automate email campaigns, generate reports, and manage multi-channel communications. Then, create reports, gather statistics, examine your analytics, and see how they align with information from other departments to identify opportunities to improve the efficacy of marketing strategies. 

What is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)? 

Straight from Gartner’s Glossary, “Robotic process automation (RPA) is a productivity tool that allows a user to configure one or more scripts (which some vendors refer to as “bots”) to activate specific keystrokes in an automated fashion. The bots can be used to mimic or emulate selected tasks (transaction steps) within an overall business or IT process. These may include manipulating, passing data to and from different applications, triggering responses, or executing transactions. RPA uses a combination of user interface interaction and descriptor technologies. The scripts can overlay on one or more software applications.” 

Let’s look at the top 8 RPA use cases in marketing:  

#1 Data management

Capturing data from several touchpoints and in various formats is a major challenge for marketers when managing multiple portfolios of things, and manual processing might fail. 

What happens when data collection is hindered by employee fatigue or boredom? Duplicate (Excel) files and data loss are two examples – since they can be saved in many locations. That’s why data management is one of the essential RPA use cases in marketing. 

#2 Automating Bid Adjustments in PPC Campaigns

 You may use RPA to show ads more or less frequently based on customer preferences. RPA can help you schedule the right ads and alter bids based on how well they work, ensuring you receive the most return on your ad expenditure and achieve high marketing ROI. 

In Google Ads, you can schedule ads at specific times and optimise bids to increase when your target audience’s purchase intent is highest. For example, plan bigger bids if your conversions are highest on weekends. 

#3 SEO reporting

Although SEO reporting is critical for increasing the exposure of your website and assets, it can be tremendously stressful for the marketing team, especially when reports must be manually prepared, audited, and shared. 

By automating the work of SEO reporting, you can ensure that data is automatically integrated from several sources, reports are prepared appropriately, and faults are identified immediately.  RPA can also enrich reports with personally identifiable information, upload reports to various channels, and continuously audit them for the best outcomes. 

#4 Lead Nurturing

As the buyer decision process gets more complex and time-consuming, RPA enables organisations to identify, and nurture leads without investing significant resources and time. By automating as much of the lead nurturing process as possible, teams can focus their efforts on pivotal interactions that convert prospects into loyal buyers.  

For instance, marketers can use RPA to set criteria for leads worth pursuing, automate lead scoring, and focus targeted efforts toward high-value prospects. They can also use automated campaigns to boost accuracy and quality, target the most relevant audience, and provide them with a hyper-personalised experience that adds more value to your business.  

#5 Pricing and Competition Monitoring 

Successful marketers invest critical time and money to determine what their competitors are up to. You can use RPA technologies to monitor what your rivals are doing, from their behaviour, product prices, and marketing strategies and techniques. RPA can help you obtain competition knowledge, fine-tune your marketing strategy, alter prices properly, and boost profitability when competitive behaviour changes. 

#6 Social media monitoring 

Nobody can deny the importance of closely monitoring trends and discovering valuable information on social media. It can increase the impact of your business’s content and encourage action on relevant real-time events while avoiding missed chances. 

However, the ever-increasing information glut on social media makes these jobs much more difficult for marketers. Robotic process automation in marketing decreases the strain of these tedious procedures while increasing efficiency. 

#7 RPA-Powered Chatbots 

Conversational marketing is becoming increasingly crucial in B2B and B2C marketing funnels. Artificial intelligence-based chatbots powered by RPA can be an intriguing combo for converting website visitors. For example, a website visitor may seek specific information to help them decide. Since the RPA Bot is already integrated with multiple back-end systems and databases, it can swiftly retrieve the information requested and make it available to the visitor. 

Deploying RPA bots can give you more time to expand your funnel and engage with your customers. You can focus on nurturing prospects as you automate tedious tasks. 

#8 Facilitating the transition from legacy systems to the latest technologies

Consider manually entering data from a CRM solution (a paradigmatic case of a legacy system) into a newer system. Recognising the amount of time required and the potential for errors has made you sigh and ready to discover a more practical option. That is precisely what RPA solutions are for. Software robots can effortlessly (i.e., quickly and with no business impact) migrate data from old to new systems, allowing you to be confident in the accuracy of the findings. 

What are the Benefits of Marketing Automation?

Here is a small list of what marketing automation can accomplish for you when it’s coupled with a proficient team using this powerful technology. 

Every business is unique and has its own marketing needs. Automation is also highly adaptable; you can create customised dashboards, email templates, and more.  

Introducing RPA Bots: Bridging the Existing Manual Marketing Gaps 

RPA bots can play a significant role in automating reporting processes because they can: 

• Collect data from different business resources 
• Generate and send reports based on the collected data 
• Update data in other systems (e.g., CRM) based on reports 
• Paid marketing reporting identifying top-performing channels 
• SEO organic marketing reporting 
• Social media reporting 

These reports can help teams understand their business better and use data-driven forecasts to make better decisions. 

While the RPA platform provides the ability to build operational dashboards, the strategy business dashboard and the optimisation and predictive analytics dashboards require additional software, knowledge about designing dashboards and the foresight to build a sustainable system. Global brands quickly understand this reality and are taking advantage of RPA bots.  

To know more about how we implemented RPA for our top client and demonstrate the true value of RPA while offering scalability and high-quality consistency of their reports. STAY TUNED FOR PART 2! 

 ^{Notes and Sources} 

• ^{https://www.invespcro.com/blog/marketing-automation/}   
• ^{https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/04/12/how-companies-can-effectively-implement-rpa-in-their-marketing-processes/?sh=3720fe0233ce}  
• ^{https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2021/05/21/how-use-robotic-process-automation-improve-marketing-efficiency}  

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Robotics is nothing but computers that imitate human actions. They introduce automation, which means tasks are done without human intervention. Some common RPA examples and use cases we encounter include automation of data entry, data extraction, and invoice processing. There are additional examples of RPA use cases automating tasks in different business departments (Sales, HR, Operations, etc.) and industries (banking, retail, manufacturing, etc.).

To do RPA, we have tools from technology partners such as Blue Prism, UiPath, Automation Anywhere, etc. Blue Prism helps us to automate business processes in a better manner. Blue Prism’s tools provide a visual designer that is used for drag-and-drop functionalities that you can observe once you open the Blue Prism dashboard. This tool is based on the Java programming language. There is a great benefit for you if know the Java programming language already.

“We’re fascinated with robots because they are reflections of ourselves.”

  — Ken Goldberg

Blue Prism

Blue Prism enables companies to automate rule-based, manual, and repetitive processes utilizing software robots so that human errors are eliminated in implementing business processes. The RPA tools allow business analysts and developers to easily create software robots using business objects and processes because of drag-and-drop functionalities. Development in Blue Prism requires less technical knowledge so that even business people can easily develop software robots.

Components of Blue Prism

There are five major components of Blue Prism:

• Process Studio
• Process Flow
• Object Studio
• Application Modeller
• Control Room

Let’s take a look at each of these components one by one.

Process Studio

Blue Prism processes are flow diagrams that are graphical representations of the process the computer follows. These processes manipulate data, interact with external applications, and perform decisions and calculations. These processes are created in the Process Studio. On the left-hand side, there is a Stages toolbar used to create stages in a process.

Process Flow

Process flow is the logical, structural flow of the various stages defined to automate a repetitive task.

Object Studio

Now, there is a need for communication with external applications in all businesses. This communication cannot happen in Process Studio, hence another component called the Object Studio is used for this purpose. It is the area where objects known as Visual Business Objects (VBOs) are created. These objects are used for communicating with external applications. One VBO can provide an interface with exactly one external application.

Application Modeller

Using Application Modeller, we can create application models with Object Studio. The UI elements of a target application can be exposed to the Blue Prism program using Application Modeller.

Control Room

Processes created in Process Studio do not run on the version of Blue Prism local to the desktop – they run on an external resource known as a digital worker. The processes that run from the Control Room are known as a Session. With the help of the Control Room, processes are performed in an efficient manner.

Blue Prism Installation

Since the installation steps are quite long, I will not be covering this in this blog. Instead, you can refer to the Blue Prism installation guide, where they have shown step-by-step how to configure, activate, and install Blue Prism.

Most Common Use Cases of Blue Prism RPA

1. Excel Automation

• • The task is to automate the process of assigning employee performance based on their assigned ratings. In order to accomplish this, we need to perform Excel automation in order to read the data from the Excel file.

Fig. 1 Excel file with some records

Fig. 2 Process Studio

Fig. 3 Output

2. Using Blue Prism to Automate Web Applications
   • In order to accomplish this, we use a ServiceNow instance and automate the creation of new users in the users’ table. We then enter information into each field on the form, save the changes, and then collect the password.

Fig. 4 User table in ServiceNow instance

Fig. 6 Excel file with user records

Fig. 7 Process Studio

Benefits of Blue Prism RPA

Quality Service: As a result of end-to-end auditing being performed by the digital workforce, Blue Prism ensures superior service quality.

Higher Accuracy: One of the main goals of automation is high accuracy and Blue Prism delivers that.

Scalability: Blue Prism provides a scalable approach to automation as it based on an intelligent digital workforce performing tasks.

Quick Deployment of Services: Service deployment has been made easier and faster because the application’s controls can be automated irrespective of the onscreen position.

Flexible Workforce: The digital workforce can work 24×7 and provide accurate results efficiently.

Statistics: Analysis of the data has become very easy due to the readily available dashboard tools and analytics.

More about RPA

Gartner predicts that by 2024, the RPA market will be worth $8.75B. This is an exponential growth from just three years ago when RPA was valued at only $443M. RPA is growing rapidly in the healthcare, financial services, retail, and pharmaceutical industries where the technology is being leveraged for medical records, loan processing, and inventory management.

RPA enables you to configure computer software or a digital worker to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses, and communicating with other digital systems.

RPA emulates a person by executing manual, repetitive tasks; makes decisions based on set rules; and seamlessly integrates with your existing applications.

Leading Perficient use cases with RPA include:

• Finance: document compliance
• Healthcare: clinical data entry
• Customer service: update contact information

Our automation experts are ready to help you integrate Blue Prism’s RPA technology into your workflows to realize your organization’s goals.

You can learn more about RPA and its capabilities by downloading our clinical trials RPA guide or The Executive’s Guide to Automation.

Digital process automation (DPA), also called process orchestration, leverages digital technology to perform a task in order to accomplish a workflow or function, such as the loan process at a bank. With DPA, you can define event-driven business rules that provide a streamlined next step for all processes within your enterprise.

As enterprises continue to invest in automation, selecting the vendor with the right platform to meet your business’ demands is paramount.

The Forrester Wave: Digital Process Automation Software, Q4 2021

In The Forrester Wave: Digital Process Automation Software, Q4 2021, Forrester identified fourteen of the most significant providers that offer DPA software solutions for application development professionals. Forrester evaluated the top vendors in the market against twenty-three different criteria, covering current offering, strategy, and market presence. The report also provides analysis and comparisons of each provider to help companies find the right DPA solution for their needs.

In the report, Forrester recommends that application development professionals work with DPA software outfitted with a suite of features for robotic process automation (RPA), embedded task managed, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), content intelligence, scalability, low-code development, and more. Using a general-use low-code solution is also recommended unless your organization has a particularly sophisticated use case.

Learn More About Perficient

Perficient is proud to partner with Pega, IBM, Appian, Microsoft, and ServiceNow, all of whom were Leaders in The Forrester Wave report, to address the key elements of intelligent automation with their best-in-class product offerings. Each enterprise’s needs differ, but we can help you determine the product or system for your particular use case. We also provide readiness evaluations, business case development, implementation and migration services, and rapid development and pilots.

Visit our Intelligent Automation page to learn about our partnerships and solutions.

Get the Report

To find out more, the report is available to Forrester subscribers and for purchase. You will learn which business challenges leaders are looking to solve with DPA, understand the capabilities critical for DPA vendors, and get detailed analyses of the top DPA vendors in the marketplace.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the use of software to automate high volume and repetitive tasks that previously required a human to perform. RPA enables the configuration of a “bot” or “digital workers” to capture and interpret tasks on existing applications such as processing transactions, transforming or manipulating data, triggering responses, and integrating with other digital systems. The most common use is leveraging RPA to enable employees to focus on higher value work by offloading routine work to digital workers.

As enterprises continue to invest in automation, experienced consulting partners play a key role in integrating RPA and supporting development of the automation fabric.

RPA consultancies help enterprises:

• Accelerate value realization
• Help scale your digital workforce
• Link automation to broader transformation goals

Forrester defines RPA services as:

“Services that enable the robotic process automation (RPA) lifecycle, including consulting, solution architecture, governance and enablement services, bot design and development, bot management, and bots as a service, rendered either on-premises or as a service.”

Forrester Now Tech: RPA Services, Q4 2021 Report

Identifying the right RPA consultancy to partner with can help improve RPA’s impact on your business and drive value by helping you see its potential and avoid pitfalls.

In the report, Forrester segmented vendors based on annual RPA services revenue into three categories: large, midsize, and small. Each vendor was asked a number of detailed questions about their services, including geographic presence and industry expertise. Based on the responses, Forrester supplies information about these consulting partners to help you determine the best vendor for your RPA needs based on size and functionality.

Perficient’s Primary Functionality Lies in System Integration Services

Forrester listed Perficient as a small provider (less than $22M in annual revenue) in the integrated service provider functionality segment. According to the report, “Integrated service providers support the automation lifecycle. These providers offer RPA services throughout the automation lifecycle, from process selection to implementation to managed services. They partner with a vast ecosystem of ISVs that provide platforms like business process management, case management, and cognitive products and platforms. Some have also invested in building intelligent automation accelerators and platforms. “

Perficient’s listing in this Now Tech includes our geographic presence (90% NA, 10% LATAM), and vertical market focus areas (healthcare, financial services, and automotive).

Perficient’s Approach to RPA as an Integrated Service Provider

Perficient is elevating the automation conversation and is dedicated to bringing hyper automation to our customers. Our automation practice includes experts across the three core pillars of automation: process orchestration, RPA, and AI. This breadth of expertise enables us to help our customers realize the value of RPA across their entire enterprise and automate more than just a handful of processes.

Consider RPA for your organization if you experience the presence of high manual workloads, highly skilled workers doing repetitive tasks, a lack of end-to-end automation capabilities, legacy systems without APIs, a lack of governance, an inability to manage exceptions, and stalled RPA programs.

Learn More About Perficient

The digital world is constantly evolving, and you have an important choice to make when it comes to selecting your RPA consulting partner. To find out more, the report is available to Forrester subscribers and for purchase, and you can also explore our Intelligent Automation page.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots that emulate human actions interacting with digital systems and software. Just like people, software robots can do things like understanding what’s on a screen, complete the right keystrokes, navigate systems, identify and extract data, and perform a wide range of defined actions.

RPA processes are widely used for the configuration of task automation. This technology is essential for the automation of repetitive back-office processes. There are numerous RPA tools available in the market and choosing one could be a challenge. In this blog, we will learn how to create a chatbot web application using different RPA tools.

Why We Need RPA Tools

RPA tools aren’t replacements for the underlying business applications, they simply automate the manual tasks of human workers. They essentially look at the screens that regular workers look at to fill in and update the same boxes and fields within the user interface (UI) by pulling the right data from the relevant location. This serves a couple of purposes:

• It frees humans from monotonous, low-value-add tasks like data entry and makes them available for higher-value tasks that require human creativity, ingenuity, and decision making
• It helps to ensure that outputs are complete, correct, and consistent between tasks and between human workers
• It helps to ensure that tasks can be completed more quickly because the robotic process automation tool can find and retrieve any necessary data in the background

Different RPA Tools

OutSystems

OutSystems is the most complete full-stack application development platform. It quickly creates mobile and web applications, chatbots, and reactive web apps for any device. You can build your data models, workflows, logic, pixel-perfect UI, and interactions, and allows you to add your custom code.

This tool makes it very easy to create a mobile or web application.

The implementation requires an Integration Development Environment (IDE), which is used to develop the application known as a service portal. You can get the service portal by creating a free account from OutSystem portal. The IDE will look like this:

First, click on “install application.” It will prompt you to another window that will ask you to choose if you have a reactive web application, tablet application, or mobile application. Then, there will be an additional window that informs and allows you to choose if you’re creating a responsive web application, tablet application, or mobile application.

Then we select the “reactive web application.” It will prompt you to provide a unique name to your application. Then click the “create button” option.

Next, you have to name your RPA module. Creating your module helps develop your web app. Click “create module,” and it’ll redirect you to your main explorer.

In the main menu, you’ll find files of required modules. You can then add in any page or custom module from this menu in the screenshot below:

As we create the chatbot web application, we also will need to include a home screen. We’ll create the home screen for our app, then specify the script module by right-clicking on the “main view” module.

Select “empty” in the dialog box, then click on it. You will find the basic workflow of your application below. It’s important to note that to run our chatbot application, we will need an event to occur. We would select the “OnReady” event in the home screen module.

Once we add our custom JavaScript language, we’ll click on the green icon located in the middle corner of the ide to save and publish. Once the app is published, it will direct you to the browser to have the first look at our simple chatbot application.

Pega

Pega is a tool for managing business processes. It’s suitable for use on desktop servers and solely offers cloud-based services or solutions. It’s compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac. This program is ideal for medium and big companies.

It has an event-driven approach, which works based on a user-defined event so that it works faster. It’s a robust and reliable tool, which has been used by many organizations having the need for an RPA.

We’ll also try to create a simple chatbot using Pega:

To create the chatbot using the Pega RPA tool, we need to install the Pega Dev studio to create the chatbot application. The dev studio will look like this:

We will try to create a “case creation” chatbot, which creates the case, or service ticket, when chatting with an end-user, meaning, you would need to specify the case details in the request and response architecture.

Click on the “web chatbot” button. It will prompt you to the next dialogue box, which allows us to specify the name of our chatbot channel as well as the request and response command.

In the above screenshot, we have specified the name of the chatbot channel and request command, which will then request the entity to provide basic information, which we need to create the case.

In the “response view,” you’ll find two commands that were already created like “hi” and “cancel,” which are considered as default commands for our chatbot. For our chatbot to work properly, work we need to create the workflow of our chatbot and specify the workflow which can be configured inside the chatbot tab in the dev studio.

We can provide the basic rule sets with automation with the help of flowcharts.

Now our chatbot is ready to test. We can find the runtime scenario of our chatbot in the preview tab in the right corner of the dev studio inside our channel explorer.

IBM Watson

IBM Watson RPA provides all core capabilities. IBM Watson can easily be used as your web application automation tool. It can work on any platform with any application. You need to have programming skills to use this tool, but it is user-friendly for developers. This tool is perfect for medium and large organizations.

Some of its features include:

• Supports a multi-environment deployment model
• Security provided for network and software credentials
• It can be used on any platform
• Can work for any application
• It’s provided by IBM Cloud

We’ll also try to create a simple chatbot using IBM Watson.

First, log in to IBM Cloud. Search for Watson Assistance. Then, add your workspace and provide the name for our workspace, such as how the chatbot looks like below.

Now, we need to train Watson for our chatbox customization. Once we created the workspace, we’ll be redirected to a window that will say, “add intents.” We’ll now see the chatbot in the left corner of the window, which will help us configure our request and the corresponding response. In the screenshot below, we’ll configure hello as the request and hello as the corresponding response. Our IBM Watson chatbot will implement in a few short minutes. This specific technique saves time and is very resourceful to use.

RPA Tools Are Easy to Use

RPA tools are popular in today’s market and are incredibly helpful when building additional application integrations into our typical web apps. For more information on how you can utilize these tools, contact our experts today.

References Link:

https://www.visualcron.com/robotic-process-automation.aspx

It is relatively easy to create an AI or machine learning proof of concept, and eventually you will have multiple teams creating their own models to perform similar tasks. Beware, however, that this can result in duplicative training and tuning efforts, different outcomes and predictions, and variances in accuracy. The goal of automation is to create, train, tune, and task one model so that all efforts to curate, label, and define data are put into a common engine.

Building a Center of Excellence

Data is the foundation of intelligent automation, and a combination of different technologies – such as DPA, RPA, and AI – will act on the data. It is equally important that there are individuals overseeing human elements, such as the change management process that occurs during intelligent automation adoption.

To holistically fuel intelligent automation, consider the people contributing to workflows, processes, and technologies that are built from the data.

Start by creating purpose-driven architectures and leverage each technology platform for what it was inherently designed to do: optimize your overall solution by creating repeatable patterns and scalable components across the enterprise.

3 Tips for Success

1. Enable holistic, enterprise-wide efficiencies: Create purpose-driven architectures by leveraging your technology platforms for what they are inherently designed to do. The goal is to create a center of excellence (CoE) that encompasses a holistic intelligent automation approach (rather than individual initiatives that fight for budget). This approach optimizes your overall solution and allows you to create repeatable solution patterns and reusable components across your enterprise.
2. Automate in phases, starting with reliable data: Automation introduces complexities that must be continually monitored for efficiency and compliance. When determining how to govern data automation, it’s vital that you first identify a single source of truth so you can assess potential automation opportunities that fully utilize your data. Then, you’re ready to build a roadmap and identify ways to bring in additional capabilities. Rolling out automation in phases enables you to achieve ROI and create a more sustainable environment.
3. Ensure successful adoption: Importantly, you must communicate with other teams in your organization and address any concerns. This helps create a sense of ownership and treats automation as a shared service.

Rolling out automation in phases enables you to achieve ROI and create a more sustainable environment.

Enabling Your Organization for Automation

Automation is a driving force in digital transformation. Today, there are few business processes that are not touched by automation. Healthcare organizations are pursuing automation for various reasons, including:

• Increase consumer satisfaction and engagement
• Focus employee attention on other business-critical tasks rather than on repetitive ones
• Increase capacity
• Improve efficiency

Humans remain a vital contributor in the mix. As automation’s adoption grows, people will still work alongside the technologies and discover new ways to improve processes. Leadership must remain open to new ideas and invest in new technologies to set their business up for future success.

Over time, the process for completing tasks typically changes. The advent of new technology does not mean that people will never perform a certain task again – it means they will do it differently. Technology does not replace human efforts, rather it augments them to make systems and processes more efficient.

For example, when ATMs were introduced, financial institutions were concerned that tellers would become obsolete and the profession would be eliminated from the workforce. ATMs have eliminated the need for certain transactions, such as face-to-face cash withdrawals, which means there are now fewer tellers at each branch. However, as more ATMs have been installed, more tellers are employed because of the growth of and need for regional and local bank branches.

Our new guide The Healthcare Executive’s Guide to Intelligent Automation explores how to combine leading automations technologies, insights, and governance to heighten efficiencies and increase value within healthcare organizations. In the guide, we examine:

• How automation drives efficiency and value in healthcare
• Key automation trends and drivers of adoption
• Core elements of a successful automation strategy
• Best practices and steps to get started

Why Perficient

We blend healthcare and automation expertise to help you build stronger teams and establish optimal processes. Our experts will help you identify how work is performed today and how you can optimize for tomorrow.

We work with partners that address the key elements of intelligent automation with their best-in-class product offerings. Your needs are unique, and we can help you determine the product or system for your particular use case. We also provide readiness evaluations, business case development, implementation and migration services, and rapid development and pilots.

We are recognized by Modern Healthcare as a key healthcare consulting leader. Additionally, Perficient was cited as a “Contender” in The Forrester Wave: Digital Process Automation Service Providers, Q3 2020 report.

It is common for enterprises to approach automation through a technology lens like robotic process automation (RPA) and then report they are “fully automated.” These organizations sought a specific solution and, in most cases, are stretching the technology beyond its intended purpose.

Intelligent automation is not accomplished by a single technology working independently, but rather through a combination of insights and technologies acting in concert. While partial automation can be achieved through traditional digital process automation (DPA) platforms or process orchestration, intelligent automation occurs at the intersection of process mining, DPA, RPA, and AI. Without all components, processes will not be fully optimized or achieve maximum automation efficiencies.

What Is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?

RPA utilizes software layered with AI and ML capabilities to handle high-volume, repeatable tasks previously performed by humans.

Five core tenants of RPA drive human-system interactions:

• optical character recognition (OCR),
• legacy application integration,
• web scraping,
• desktop recording,
• and API connectors.

These tenants provide robotic solutions for repetitive daily tasks. You can integrate your legacy applications with RPA, which adds value to your organization by providing cost savings and quicker time to market.

While healthcare organizations are bullish on RPA’s potential, many struggle internally to scale programs beyond pilot projects. For that reason, a growing number of healthcare leaders are partnering with intelligent automation experts like Perficient that also offer deep healthcare expertise.

4 Use Cases for RPA in Healthcare

1. Optimize the digital data landscape. Patient data is being digitized across multiple systems. As new systems of record are introduced, this data needs to be accurately migrated. Patient data must also be accurately recorded and often duplicated across applications. RPA can ensure records are always correct and up to date.
2. Streamline the revenue cycle (U.S. providers). Inefficient claims management from data issues, like missing patient information, costs hospitals millions of dollars a year in the U.S. in denial write-offs. RPA can minimize that risk through improved data management and accurate, proactive account updates.
3. Improve decision-making with accurate utilization management. Effective utilization management helps manage healthcare costs, so streamlined patient care decision-making is critical. Intelligent automation can increase the accuracy and speed of case assessment and decision-making.
4. Streamline patient screening and diagnostics for improved outcomes. Hospital test facilities can utilize RPA to increase accuracy, efficiency, and productivity to help improve patient outcomes and mitigate risk.

Our new guide The Healthcare Executive’s Guide to Intelligent Automation explores the following topics:

• How RPA intersects with other automation and intelligence technologies
• Ways that automation drives efficiency and value in healthcare
• Key automation trends and drivers of adoption
• Core elements of a successful automation strategy
• Best practices and steps to get started

Why Perficient

We blend healthcare and automation expertise to help you build stronger teams and establish optimal processes. Our experts will help you identify how work is performed today and how you can optimize for tomorrow.

We work with partners that address the key elements of intelligent automation with their best-in-class product offerings. Your needs are unique, and we can help you determine the product or system for your particular use case. We also provide readiness evaluations, business case development, implementation and migration services, and rapid development and pilots.

We are recognized by Modern Healthcare as a key healthcare consulting leader. Additionally, Perficient was cited as a “Contender” in The Forrester Wave: Digital Process Automation Service Providers, Q3 2020 report.

Consider this eye-opener: TechCrunch reports that the U.S. Healthcare system loses approximately $140 billion each year due to inefficient management of basic internal operations.

As the world becomes more digitized, automation is increasingly important to healthcare enterprises looking to keep pace with consumer expectations and competition. Companies of all sizes and across industries are leveraging automation to improve organizational efficiencies and optimize time-consuming processes.

You’ve likely found that the pressure to drive digital transformation, streamline processes, and improve team effectiveness has reached new heights.

How Automation Can Enhance Efficiency and Value in Healthcare

Today, about 75% of global data and analytics decision makers say their firms are investing in automation at some level, while more than half report that their firms use artificial intelligence (AI) or plan to soon.

Within healthcare specifically, automation plays a significant role in promoting efficiencies while increasing ROI. For instance, it can:

• Quicken the revenue cycle,
• Reduce claims denials,
• Optimize supply chain planning and execution, and
• Improve consumer interactions with your contact center.

The Elements of Automation

It is common for enterprises to approach automation through a technology lens like robotic process automation (RPA) and then report they are “fully automated.” These organizations sought a specific solution and, in most cases, are stretching the technology beyond its intended purpose.

Intelligent automation is not accomplished by a single technology working independently, but rather through a combination of insights and technologies acting in concert. While partial automation can be achieved through traditional digital process automation (DPA) platforms or process orchestration, intelligent automation occurs at the intersection of process mining, DPA, RPA, and AI. Without all components, processes will not be fully optimized or achieve maximum automation efficiencies.

Our new guide, The Healthcare Executive’s Guide to Intelligent Automation explores each of these technologies along with the following topics:

• How automation drives efficiency and value in healthcare
• Key automation trends and drivers of adoption
• Core elements of a successful automation strategy
• Best practices and steps to get started

Why Perficient

We blend healthcare and automation expertise to help you build stronger teams and establish optimal processes. Our experts will help you identify how work is performed today and how you can optimize for tomorrow.

We work with partners that address the key elements of intelligent automation with their best-in-class product offerings. Your needs are unique, and we can help you determine the product or system for your particular use case. We also provide readiness evaluations, business case development, implementation and migration services, and rapid development and pilots.

We are recognized by Modern Healthcare as a key healthcare consulting leader. Additionally, Perficient was cited as a “Contender” in The Forrester Wave: Digital Process Automation Service Providers, Q3 2020 report.