Learn in the textbookBusiness Modeling and Business Improvement / Automation
DefinitionRPA (robotic process automation) is technology that automates the routine operations people perform on a PC by having a software robot carry them out instead.
ExplanationOnce the robot is set up with steps such as screen clicks and keystrokes, it repeats them as often as needed through the same screen operations a person would use. It suits work whose steps can be written down as rules, and it is used to make office departments more efficient and to cut input errors. It runs on the screens of existing systems without rebuilding them, which also makes it easy to introduce.
AnalogyIt is like handing the daily morning chore of opening a spreadsheet and pasting in numbers to an invisible clerk who follows the instruction sheet to the letter.
Memory hookIt says Robotic, but there is no mechanical arm: the robot works as software.