Pandemic-driven changes have transformed how global companies work. Thankfully, business automation technologies like RPA and AI-powered automation tools have helped organizations thrive in challenging markets. 

These tools free up employees’ time from repetitive tasks and help them focus more on customer needs. From healthcare systems to tracking and logistics, RPA tools simplify all business areas and boost productivity.  

But here’s a catch﹘If you don’t work with the right RPA vendor, you won’t be able to reap the desired outcomes. 

To avoid this, we have prepared a 6-step checklist covering the best industry practices on how to choose the right RPA vendor for your enterprise. Let’s dig in!

1. Start With Strategic Intent

Often companies choose RPA capabilities that don’t meet their business objectives. And this is because they lack clarity. For clear communication with your RPA vendor, it is crucial to sketch out an automation journey map. Research shows that companies that map out their automation initiatives for long-term growth will achieve more success.  

With an automation journey map, you can identify your current automation maturity level and focus on investing your efforts in a particular business area. 

Here are some tips to help you create an automation journey map for your business. 

1. Identify automation opportunities in your business: You should spend time researching which business process needs automation. Understanding which business components should be automated can reduce wait times and increase cost savings.
2. Decide who will be involved: Once you have identified where you want to integrate RPA tools in your workflow, it’s time to decide who will lead the initiative. Your automation journey should also include people and talent development to ensure accountability.
3. Operate and track: Automation initiatives can go sideways if you don’t assign metrics and KPIs for proper tracking. Also, when working with an automation partner, ensure that you operate in a way that enables flexible scaling and deployment opportunities.

2. Study the RPA Vendor Market

Studies show that the RPA software market grew by 31% to $2.4 billion in 2021. But like every other technological innovation, the RPA vendor market is fragmented. Some specialize in enterprise-grade automation tools, while others offer intelligent automation tools. To find the right partner for your business, you need to communicate and understand what they have to offer. 

Let’s look at some factors you should consider when analyzing the RPA vendor market!

1. Ensure that you know the different RPA tools: Many IT leaders do not have sufficient knowledge on how to use RPA successfully. Research by Gartner shows that this often leads to frustration and a lack of trust. Study the types of RPA tools available in the market and understand their features and benefits. The two popular types of RPA bots are attended and unattended.
2. Check which vendors offer flexible deployment options: With companies exploring different cloud solutions, your RPA vendor must offer flexible deployment options to ensure that the RPA capabilities fit multiple interfaces. The solutions must be low-code, secure, and easy to deploy.
3. Segment potential vendors by their experience: Segmenting potential vendors by their experience, expertise, and customer use cases can help eliminate those who do not fit your requirements.

3. Compare And Analyze Things Realistically

After studying the market, you can ask for proposals from vendors on your list. From solution architecture to pricing structure and cognitive capabilities, you must compare all proposals to check what aligns with your business values. 

Most RPA vendors tend to overpromise and underperform. And this is why you need to analyze things realistically and establish appropriate expectations and timeframes. Besides proposals, it is also critical to look at their customer support and client testimonials for better insights. 

4. Ask How They Will Proceed With the Integration

Once you have narrowed down your RPA vendors list, it is time to sit with them and ask how they will proceed with integration. During this discussion, it is crucial to understand their vision, their expertise in the industry, and how they can help you help scale the technology across different business processes in the future. 

Choosing an automation partner who focuses on resolving your pain points and also helps you discover further automation opportunities will help you derive a better ROI. 

For instance, if an RPA vendor talks about designing a platform with complex control options and one which requires extensive training, it can cost your team time and money. A reliable automation partner will talk about providing a platform that requires minimal coding with no-fuss controls and a user-friendly interface to ensure that your team gets the hang of it fast. 

5. Look For Security And Collaboration Features

Research shows that out of 34 esteemed RPA vendors, only 25% offer real-time collaboration features between teams. Without proper collaboration between your IT team and your vendor, your team will find resolving bugs or operational issues difficult. So it is crucial to ask the vendors to integrate collaborative features with the RPA solution to enable cross-function communication.

Another concern you should discuss with your automation partner is security. While RPA helps increase efficiency, it also exposes your businesses to data leakages and fraud. To avoid this, ask them to include security measures and create a security governance framework to mitigate risks. 

6. Review the Analytical Capabilities

A robust RPA bot should have analytical capabilities to help you collect and organize data from the business process you have chosen to automate. It must help you to identify operational bottlenecks, make improvements, and update your automation workflow. The solution must also allow the workflow to be replicated so that you can reuse them across different processes. 

Many RPA vendors also offer intelligent automation solutions that fuse machine learning with RPA for better data analytical capabilities. So you can also explore that option for your business. 

Give Your Business the Speed it Needs With RPA!

Speed has been a winning factor for organizations in the digital world. With most repetitive tasks automated through RPA, you can make faster business decisions and launch your product into the market with more precision and speed. 

If you have ticked all the boxes from the above checklist, you may have determined the right RPA vendor for your business. 

But if you are still struggling, we can help. As an industry-leading RPA solutions provider, we can help you accelerate your automation journey by building custom RPA software for your business. 

ATC has helped many mid-sized enterprises from multiple industries achieve maximum efficiency and productivity. Our collaborative approach allows us to understand each business requirement and create a custom solution for maximum value. 

Automate more work seamlessly with our talented team today. Connect with us here to get started quickly. 

Also, if you are interested in learning more about how RPA transforms business operations, check out this quick guide on how RPA impacts key industries.