Although BPM and RPA complement each other and help company-wide digital transformations run smoothly, there are important differences between them. BPM simplifies and restructures core business processes to increase efficiency, while RPA is a technology that deals with smaller, repetitive routine activities carried out by bots as part of business processes.
Organizations around the world feel compelled to move their operations to digital and envision a future in which routine tasks are fully automated.
Digital transformation is not something that happens overnight. It is a long journey full of obstacles. But with today's modern technology, it is possible to speed up and complete this journey.
BPM solutions have long been an important part of many companies' digital transformation strategies. They are used to digitize operations with the goal of reducing costs and increasing productivity while achieving maximum efficiency.
As technology advances, new methods are emerging that help automate the repetitive, routine daily tasks that take up much of employees' time, and carry them out much faster and more accurately. As companies pursue such innovative technologies to improve their operations, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has become increasingly preferred as the latest automation technology.
In this article, we explain the differences between BPM and RPA and how both can contribute to a broader digital process automation strategy.
What Is RPA?
RPA is the use of software robots, made up of computer programs with sophisticated capabilities such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to automate repetitive human activities in line with a company's rules.
RPA technology is used to record the actions employees take while performing manual, time-consuming tasks on various digital platforms. Automated bots then mimic these recorded behaviors by interacting with these digital platforms just as a person would, but far more efficiently and consistently.
Common RPA examples and use cases include data entry, data collection and invoice processing automation.
By automating employees' manual, routine work with robotic process automation tools, employees can focus more on their more critical daily activities. This results in notable gains in productivity, morale and skill development.
What Is BPM?
Business Process Management (BPM) is a discipline that involves any combination of modeling, automation, execution, control, measurement and optimization of business activities to support business goals, other systems in the company, employees, customers and partners inside and outside the organization's boundaries.
Organizations use Business Process Management (BPM) to set up, manage and optimize business processes. BPM requires each process to be evaluated on its own while also considering its role across the organization.
One of the key features of BPM is regularly fine-tuning processes to optimize as many activities as possible. These adjustments can be as simple as deleting a single step in a process or as complex as rebuilding the entire process from start to finish.
In short, Business Process Management (BPM) solutions are used to define, monitor and measure business processes.
Key Differences Between BPM and RPA
Every organization has a series of activities and decisions carried out within process-driven workflows to get the required work done.
In the field of workflow automation, BPM is a comprehensive strategy that optimizes and automates business processes from start to finish. RPA, on the other hand, is a technology that deals with smaller, repetitive activities carried out by bots as part of business processes.
RPA is a specialized area under the umbrella of automation technologies. At one end of the automation technology spectrum are macros and screen recorders, and at the other end are business process management solutions.
Many people think RPA automates tasks from start to finish just like advanced BPM software, but this is not true.
RPA applications have extensive tools. In addition to features of BPM tools such as workflow and a decision engine, RPA also has integration tools that let you integrate with any application, not only through application programming interfaces (APIs) and data layers, but also through user interfaces.
Because these activities are usually carried out at the very start of a process, RPA can play a big role in automating these processes, but it cannot replace them.
BPM, meanwhile, simplifies and restructures core business processes to increase efficiency. It takes business processes a step further by evaluating how they perform under various conditions, making changes, monitoring the improved processes and improving them regularly.
Organizations large and small are always looking to improve their processes, but now they are also interested in automation procedures. As a result, the interaction between BPM and RPA is evolving as well.
To sum up, RPA and BPM are not interchangeable concepts. Although both are used as process improvement tools, their areas of impact differ, and each scenario calls for one or the other to play a bigger role in the process. In fact, in most cases, applying both together is the optimal approach.
| BPM | RPA | |
| 1- Technology | BPM identifies bottlenecks in business processes and streamlines them to achieve shorter cycle times. | RPA is used to create bots that can perform time-consuming, repetitive simple tasks. |
| 2- Goals | Creates a stable foundation for the processes that make up an organization's business structure | Automates repetitive activities usually performed by people. |
| 3- Human Interaction | Human tasks are integrated with automated processes. | Reduces or completely eliminates the need for intervention in automated processes. |
| 4- Function | Works at the structural level. | Works with high-level visuals and user interfaces. |
| 5- ROI | BPM is a long-term approach that delivers efficiency gains, cost savings, agility, productivity and compliance over a longer period. | Benefits can be achieved quickly. |
| 6- Implementation | Implementation takes longer, but has the potential to revolutionize the entire business and increase efficiency. | Because the solutions can run smoothly in the organization's existing technical ecosystem, RPA implementation does not require significant effort. |
Use BPM and RPA Together
By using BPM and RPA together, companies can manage process automation end to end in their digital transformation efforts.
BPM is responsible for defining processes, running and improving them digitally, monitoring, reporting, managing exceptions and complex decision-making.
RPA is responsible for handling the tasks defined within processes with complete accuracy, using a digital workforce of software robots.
Sources
https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/rpa
https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/rpa-types
https://www.ibm.com/think/insights/the-future-of-robotic-process-automation
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