Ansh Jain, B. Tech (Integrated) Computer Science, SVKM’s, NMIMS, MPSTME.
Nishita Panchal, B. Tech (Integrated) Computer Science, SVKM’s, NMIMS, MPSTME.
Dhaivat Naik, B. Tech (Integrated) Computer Science, SVKM’s, NMIMS, MPSTME.
Devanshi Desai, B. Tech (Integrated) Computer Science, SVKM’s, NMIMS, MPSTME.
Under Guidance of Prof. Dattatray Sawant
I. RPA Tools Background
· Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a result from the use of multiple technologies to solve business problems.
· It started by using the humble legacy technologies like screen scraping combined with the Automation workflow software.
· With the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the cognitive aspects also have started showing up in RPA tools.
· Different RPA providers have taken different paths technologically and have evolved into AI unicorns that we see today.
· All companies have worked with early customers to improve their Digital workforce or bot offerings.
II. Blue Prism
· Blue Prism started off to create an “outsourced workforce” for BPOs.
· They claim to have coined the term “robotic process automation”.
· As per Bathgate, “We were doing robotic process automation before it was called robotic process automation…”
· Blue Prism was focussed on creating a Digital workforce from the beginning — they were thinking towards solving the problem of doing things an outsourced robot would do including doing the work and scheduling them.
· Blue Prism is therefore built around that. They have a Microsoft Visio like interface to configure the tasks to be performed by the Bot. These Bots can then be deployed and scheduled using an admin console.
· Blue Prism is morphing into a technology platform. They have been calling it “Connected RPA”.
· The aim of the platform is to provide access and foundation for intelligent automation — across multiple industries, companies of all sizes and across every geography.
III. UiPath
· UiPath (then DeskOver) started off by building automation libraries and software development kits.
· These automation libraries were quite popular and used by companies such as IBM, Google, and Microsoft. These libraries are still embedded in some of their products.
· It appears that UiPath then set out Productizing these libraries. Initially, their product was not finding much traction.
· An Indian BPO company that was doing a pilot project to find the best provider of RPA technology discovered them.
· Through this opportunity, they discovered the BPO world and the repetitive work that can be solved through their product — a product-market fit was finally realized.
· Around 2012, UiPath (DeskOver) launched the first UiPath Desktop Automation product line that specifically targeted the RPA market.
· They had just realized the market fit with RPA and started putting its resources into building a platform for training and orchestrating software robots.
· Their Platform — the UiPath Enterprise RPA Platform — thus has UiPath Robots which are designed in a UiPath Studio and can are centrally managed from UiPath Orchestrator.
IV. Automation Anywhere
· Automation Anywhere started off as Tethys Solutions and was founded in 2003. The name “Tethys” comes from the Greek goddess of water.
· Their vision was to make business process automation be as ubiquitous as water. Quite a great vision and they seem to be succeeding to a good extent on that.
· Mihir and team were aiming to replace the scripting applications that were manually done within organizations.
· Their product, Automation Anywhere allowed for the creation of business process automation designed by the user.
· They focussed on supporting all aspect of end-to-end business processes.
· As per Mihir, they created the product (Automation Anywhere), launched it and went out for a coffee break. When they came back, they were surprised to find that someone from Australia had already bought it!
· Automation Anywhere still looks quite like the product they released around 2009! The vision is remarkable. They documented the process and also had a built-in ROI calculator!
· Automation Anywhere has also started calling it a platform — “Automation Anywhere Enterprise — The RPA platform for the future of business process automation”.
· Their core product works like other RPA with a studio to configure workflows and a “Control Center” to deploy and manage the bots.
· They also have a product called IQ Bot — which is RPA plus AI.
PEGA:
· “Robotic process automation (RPA) can be a fast, low-risk starting point for automating processes that rely on outdated legacy systems.
· Bots can pull data from manual systems without APIs into digital processes, ensuring faster and more efficient outcomes.
· “Now, let’s be honest about what RPA doesn’t do.
· It doesn’t transform your organization all by itself, and it’s not a fix for enterprise-wide broken processes and systems. For that, you’ll need end-to-end intelligent automation.
Kryon Systems:
· Robotic Process Automation enables enterprises to create true virtual workforces that drive business agility and efficiency.
· A virtual workforce, comprised of software robots that can execute business tasks on enterprise applications.
V. References
[1] https://nandan.info/history-of-robotic-process-automation-rpa/
