*Per Laercio Ávila
Much has been said about the growing use of robots in organizations and, when we analyze the numbers and facts, they demonstrate that this is a path of no return. According to Gartner, global Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software revenue is projected to reach US$ 2.9 billion in 2022, confirming that it is a market that has been growing in average double digits in recent years.
As organizations advance, each at their own pace and in the compulsory process of Digital Transformation, the diverse use of applications, systems, portals and ERPs, among other solutions, increases in an almost uncontrolled way. This scenario ends up generating a challenging dichotomy for executives, which is to deliver increasingly agile and digital processes, while operating an infinite range of different technologies, which exponentially increases the complexity of governance, consuming a large part of people's time in tasks such as “copy and paste” between applications.
In other words, we have a dilemma installed. Faced with the structural premise that the use of technology is always a “means” to achieve something, when evaluating this context more broadly, some questions arise. Discussions such as 'what is really behind the increasing use of robotic technology?' and 'what kind of problems are organizations trying to solve?' These are questions with several possible answers. Here, we can list aspects such as lack of productivity, high operating costs, difficulties in ensuring compliance, stability of the operation or integration of systems, operational errors and rework, loss of competitiveness and knowledge, slowness in processes and excessive bureaucracy, among others.
Finding a way to overcome these problems has been a major challenge in the daily routine of executives and managers, both in the IT area and in the business areas. However, developing a model for understanding pain and needs, as well as process problems and proposing digital or technological solutions is not something trivial.
In the midst of all this, tempting proposals and offers of possible paths arise. A very common approach and market discourse is the well-known Low-Code, which carries an air of simplicity, with a mixture of speed and agility. However, it must be said: reality is very harsh!
Developing and maintaining a process robotization project requires a lot of planning, organization, requirements research, process documentation, structured architecture, specialized development and ongoing governance. Therefore, new questions arise, such as 'what is all this for?', 'is it really worth it?' and 'what is the end point of all this effort?' The answers already pointed out above give the connotation that we are in a repetitive reasoning, but, in fact, no.
Ending wasted human potential, that's the point!
Given this approach, it is clear that automation technologies, despite requiring considerable effort for their implementation, have their advantages. Freeing people from boring activities with little added value is not just a challenge of organizational competitiveness, but of social transformation with all its benefits and contradictions. Facing these challenges head on is truly seeking to solve real problems to unlock the potential of people and organizations.
*Laercio Ávila is Regional Manager of Digital Automation at SONDA, a regional leader in Digital Transformation services
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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