Can you implement a free process automation solution? An absolutely free process automation solution is hard to achieve. Aim at a solid implementation with minimal spending on existing resources. Reuse your resources to reach ROI faster. Read on to see what kind of automation you can setup for minimizing cost.
Planning for a near-free process automation solution is easy as long as you know what to plan for. Choose the right tools so you guarantee a successful start of the project. Know where to find resources in order to get started faster.
BlueKatana can help you complete each of these steps. Contact us for guidance and professional services on one, a few or all of these steps. Let’s discuss your options.
Let’s start with the basics.
Learn the free process automation tools
All the major process automation platforms have eLearning sites. Take advantage of them so you avoid spending in paid trainings. Learn the platforms as we help you deploy your automations. All vendors offer free basic courses, but some vendors offer advanced courses and learning paths. Look for the ones offering certification exams so you can maximize your time investment. You will want to weigh in the quality of learning tools available because those will help you perform better.
Here are the eLearning sites for the top platforms:
- Automation Anywhere: University.AutomationAnywhere.com
- Blue Prism: www.blueprism.com/university
- Microsoft: powerapps.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/microsoft-powerapps-learning-resources
- UI Path: academy.Uipath.com/landing
Get the right starter tools
The top platforms offer a version of their solution for free. Some solutions are included as part of a productivity suite you may already have, like Office 365.
- Automation Anywhere:
- Click on the link automationanywhere.com/lp/rpa-editions-comparison
- Fill out the form for the Community Edition.
- Submit.
- Start using it. The Community Edition is a free license for use with their Cloud service.
- Blue Prism:
- Click on the link digitalexchange.blueprism.com/dx/entry/3439/solution/blue-prism-learning-edition
- Click on Get License.
- Register.
- Download.
- Start using it.
- Microsoft:
- Microsoft’s Power Apps is integrated with MS Office 365.
- Access a free version included with your E3, E5 subscription (or higher).
- Ask your Office 365 admin to provide you with access to the Power Apps platform.
- Use Power Apps from your Office 365 Portal.
- UI Path:
- Click on the link uipath.com/start-trial
- Click on the button “Try it” under Community Cloud.
- Register.
- Download.
- Install it.
- Start using it. The Community Cloud is a free license.
Discover your candidate processes
Process discovery is a critical step in your automation journey because it has a direct effect in the development process. Choosing the right process can show your organization the potential benefits. Automating the right process will showcase how positive ROI can win the successful evaluation of the project.
BlueKatana can help you complete the process discovery tasks faster because we bring our certified experts to this critical phase of the project.
Implement your free process automation
Selecting the right platform will result in faster automations because that platform will adapt better to your needs. Some platforms are easier to maintain because they are less taxing on your existing resources. Setup the platform correctly so you can simplify your implementation. Having learned the platform will lead to the faster automation development.
You can have your own business users become citizen developers so you can take advantage of existing resources. Your citizen developers can now focus on more creative tasks because they spend less time executing repetitive tasks. For some platforms, citizen developers don’t have to be professional programmers because the platforms are easy to learn. They just need to be logically inclined.
You can have your own citizen developers create your automations. Automations can be turned to the specialist developers because they can apply best practices and meet compliance requirements.
You can redistribute your human resources so they complete more fulfilling tasks. Take the robot out of the human so the human can do more creative work. Resources can be more productive because they feel better about their assignments.
Report on your automations and confirm ROI
Plan on calculating ROI so you can prove the effectiveness of process automation. Compare the cost of manual processes against the cost of running automations so you establish the cost-benefit. Process automation is more efficient because it can run continuously. Reducing the manual work is better because with automation you produce less or no errors at all.
For this comparison, you will create two groups. The first group will include the cost of implementation, platform costs, and infrastructure to maintain resources tied to the manual process. The second group will include the cost of the automated solution so you show the benefits of automation.
Once you have those two groups, you can estimate time to break-even and to achieve positive ROI.
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