Hidden Benefits of RPA: Key Analytics

Editor's note: This article was published in 2014. For an updated look at the analytics capabilities UiPath provides check out UiPath Insights. Learn more about key RPA metrics in our up-to-date article Measuring RPA: 10 Performance Metrics for Assessing Robotic Process Automation Benefits.

It’s been said time and again that we’re living in the Information Age, where we are surrounded by and sometimes drowning in data.  And it’s hard to argue with the numbers: IBM recently estimated that humans create 2.4 quintillion bytes of data every single day.

That’s right – 2.4 quintillion!  There is so much data out there, and while you might not think your neighbor’s tweets are worthy of attention, marketing companies take data from social media seriously.

This is commonly referred to as big data, and it’s not limited to user-created content on the open web.  Any large collection of data can be big data, including a company’s customer information held in private databases.  Yet big data is really only useful when you can properly analyze it.

So, what’s the big data connection to Robotic Process Automation (RPA)? 

Well, when you release a software robot into your systems to automate a business process, that robot can also bring back all sorts of information on how it performed.  In this way, RPA is far more informative than a human full-time equivalent (FTE).  The robot records everything, and particularly when a whole fleet of RPA robots are deployed, it can add up to become useful “big data.”  Charles Sutherland of HfS Research stated that this data “can be used to identify previously undiscovered bottlenecks and create opportunities for further optimization.”  That’s where key analytics come in.

Related read: What is RPA?

Analytics turn the giant pile of data into understandable patterns.  It’s common that analytics are now built into software and presented through a pleasing interface, as in the popular extension Google Analytics.  They provide insight into the data for human decision-making.  UiPath is no different. Our robots report analytics for time durations of a few hours, a day, or a month on any of the following and more:

• Total number of completed transactions

• Average transaction time

• Total number of transactions that generated exceptions (business and application)

• Estimated time until task completion for processes still running

As is the case with all UiPath products, the key analytics interface is clean and easy to understand.  Delivering analytics is yet another benefit that comes along with the RPA movement.  It’s a built-in avenue for keeping an eye on your robots, so to speak, while potentially identifying problems and opportunities for providing better service to customers.