RPA, as we explain in detail, is possibly the most flexible automation platform and as a result, rolling out RPA solutions require significant programming and customizations. Since RPA companies can not possibly build a custom solution for every process or task that will be automated, they rely on vendors to provide customized reusable solutions. Benefits of reusability include:
- Reduction in implementation time
- Reduction in RPA programming effort
- Process improvement: These plugins/bots are built for common, well optimized processes. Modifying your process to match these templates can simplify and increase the efficiency of your processes.
- Reduced maintenance cost: Though most bots do not offer this option, the future of bot stores will likely include maintained bots. Regulatory changes like GDPR impact all companies in similar ways and necessary changes could be rolled out to many companies automatically via bot updates. This would reduce maintenance costs and process disruptions. A single bot codebase would be prepared by an RPA implementation company in case of a regulatory change. This code base would be used by numerous other companies which report bugs, reducing programming errors for all.
These reusable solutions are provided in marketplaces built by leading RPA companies:
Short history of RPA marketplaces
Automation Anywhere rolled out the first bot store which included ~200 bots as of July/2018 covering business processes in major business functions such as finance & accounting, HR, IT, inventory management, manufacturing, sales, distribution, supply chain management, support, business applications by major tech vendors such as Adobe, Atlasssian, CyberArk, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, Twitter, Zendesk, Zoho, categories such as artificial intelligence, collaboration, insights, productivity, security and utility. Read more
