| Gürcan YÜCEL – CTO |
As someone who looks at the world with an engineer's mind, I have always been a little scared of robots. The first robot movie I remember is “The Terminator”, which I am sure you have seen. I first watched it in English in 1984, when it had just come out. Since I was still a prep-year student, I did not understand most of the dialogue and tried to make sense of what I could from the visuals. Imagine a mechanical robot sent from the year 2029. Set aside the idea of time travel: the robot named T-800 is a problem in itself. Who knows how many models there were for it to be called T-800. Add Arnold Schwarzeneger's (trust me, I spelled it right) cold face on top of all that, and it is truly terrifying for a child.
Then we started calling every mechanical device we made a “Robot”. First came kitchen robots. The gadget that chops onions became a robot. Over time they grew a bit bigger, and kitchen ornaments that perform lots of functions at the same time appeared. Then robots got a bit smarter. They started cleaning homes, wandering across the floor with the air of performing a very difficult task. Most of them ended up as toys for cats.😊
Recently I watched a video of Atlas, one of the Boston Dynamics robots. To show the stability of the electrically powered robot, covered in sensors, they were knocking it over with a stick and pushing it around. This time I genuinely felt sorry for it. The Terminator came to mind. If we push them around and mistreat them this much, would they rise up one day?
For those who have not seen the video, here it is here.
There is another robot concept we have been hearing more and more about lately: RPA, Robotic Process Automation. Although the concept is still very new, local vendors have also started working on it. The most successful of these products is Robusta. When I talked to people, I saw that the concepts of RPA and BPM are often confused. Although the two actually emerged from very different disciplines, when they work together they are the strongest soldiers of digital transformation.
What Is RPA?
RPA is a software technology that helps employees focus better on high-priority tasks by getting help from small, self-running applets to do routine, monotonous work. These applets mimic the actions of a person interacting with digital systems, using user interfaces to capture data and perform transactions in applications just like people do. In other words, these robots can work directly in application user interfaces, enter data automatically and trigger actions across multiple systems. Depending on the work involved, RPA requires no programming and is an easy-to-use, business-friendly tool with many features that let non-technical professionals solve their own automation needs. Just like other robots, they do not sleep, do not make mistakes and are low-cost.
What Is BPM?
BPM is a strategic approach focused on reshaping an organization's existing business processes to achieve optimal efficiency and productivity. BPM software is the core backbone that provides various tools to help facilitate, improve and organize the completion of an organization's projects. BPM software components include business analysis, a workflow engine, business rules, web forms and reporting tools. BPM process improvement efforts affect an organization's technology, employees and customers and deliver significant transformation returns.
What Are the Differences?
| RPA | BPM | |
| Technology | Software Technology“Bots” configured to complete routine, monotonous work an employee would otherwise have to do | Holistic TechnologyA platform including components such as a workflow engine, business analytics, a rule engine and electronic forms to optimize business processes for maximum value and efficiency. |
| Automation Point | Manual tasksManual, repetitive, rule-based work that does not require complex decision-making. | End-to-end processesRe-engineering to connect systems, remove bottlenecks and increase efficiency across the business. |
| Deployment Effort | LowCan run seamlessly on an organization's existing processes and applications without coding skills or extensive training. | HighA longer-term effort that may require dedicated technical resources depending on process complexity and integration depth. |
| Business impact | Fast and ImmediateReturns can be achieved quickly and at low cost, but it does not address inefficient architectures across the organization | Significant and transformation-drivingDelivers broad gains in overall efficiency, agility, cost reduction and business compliance |
A joint approach of BPM and RPA
Given their similar goals of increasing efficiency, BPM and RPA are not competing approaches; they work together in harmony. RPA is a valuable tool for increasing the gains achieved with a traditional BPM system.
In many cases, an organization may not have the resources and time needed to fully implement a completely integrated and automated process, or it may have a process that requires no human involvement at all. Implementing BPM and RPA together delivers a level of automation and efficiency that cannot be reached by implementing either one alone.
Just as the Terminator tries to destroy our world and make it harder, the RPA&BPM duo tries just as hard to make our lives easier and better. Work, RPA, work…
Sources
https://hbr.org/2024/09/embracing-gen-ai-at-work
https://hbr.org/insight-center/how-generative-ai-is-changing-work
https://www.microsoft.com/insidetrack/blog/powering-agentic-ai-adoption-at-microsoft-our-customer-zero-story/
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