The Same Ol' Change | New Tools, Innovative Ideas, Consistent Delivery
JAYME BURDIEK | Lecturer | Brenneman School of Business | Washburn University
The adage “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is one that can accurately be applied to the technological evolution of business processes. The phrase is attributed to French novelist Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849, and yet is applicable today as a metaphor for the rapid expansion of digital tools available to complete stable work requirements.
Striving for efficiency and effectiveness continues to be a primary means to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. However, the tools used to define, measure, analyze, implement and control processes often update faster than they can be adopted. No matter what the industry may be, there is a business element that is affected by or processed today with a digital tool.
Accounting technology has experienced a dramatic shift over the last century.
Management at its core is the process by which work is done through others; namely people, processes and systems. The perspective of management has also seen profound changes in the last century. No longer are people seen as parts of the production machine, but as the creative catalyst behind innovation and adaptation.
Technology is once again causing seismic shifts in who, how and where the work gets done. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are the latest tools to have incredible influence on and are vastly capable of improving the delivery of stable and consistent desired business outcomes of profitability, sustainability and market share.
ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION
Robots have long been used in industrial settings to complement the work of, assist with or replace the human altogether. Automobile manufacturers, still using the “ole assembly line” process, have increased efficiency and effectiveness with robots for decades. For this reason, the image that often comes to mind when robots are mentioned are physical, three-dimensional, automated machines. However, when robotics are applied to soft business processes, the robot is software, not hardware.
According to Adnan Masood writing in Medium, “Robotic Process Automation (RPA) traditionally denotes software “bots” that mimic rule-based human interactions with digital systems (e.g., clicking, typing) at the user interface level. These RPA bots excel at repetitive, rules-driven tasks such as data entry, form processing or moving files and they operate without altering underlying applications.”
By completing standard repeatable tasks, RPA enables human beings to better serve the organization and achieve stretch goals. People are then focusing on innovating, problem-solving and making judgment-based decisions with reclaimed time.
RPA and AI technologies already benefit adopting businesses today with future expectations of continued process improvements and return on investment from the implementation of these tools.
The top ten benefits of RPA in business practice today, according to Rishika Patel as published in CIO Influence online, are cost efficiency, improved analytics, increased accuracy, amplified data security, enhanced communication, enhanced productivity, improved customer experience, quicker service, non-disruptive automation (seamless replacement or upgrade of legacy systems), and automated responses and triggers.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Machine learning, large language models, natural language processing and computer vision are some of the amazing developments in AI tools being deployed by businesses to, once again, deliver on stable desired outcomes such as efficiency and enhanced customer service.
Business Intelligence systems and cybersecurity are areas that use AI to predict and prepare for threats or stay ahead of trends in data analysis, governance and other means to prevent loss. Executive dashboards are being enhanced and produced with AI capabilities.
Good decision making has always been based on accurate, timely information. AI can compile, scrub and format data 24/7 in milliseconds, providing a steady stream of excellent reporting. The next phase of AI, agentic AI, incorporates large language models with the capability to interpret complex instructions and execute them in a remarkably human manner. This next phase of AI agentic development will enable more flexibility in utilizing digital resources in areas not restricted to repetitive scripts for automation to occur.
ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION + ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE = DIGITAL POWERHOUSE PARTNERSHIP
When OpenAI dropped ChatGPT on the world stage with little warning or fanfare, uncertainty regarding the future of RPA’s continued viability was seen in the capital markets via stock prices and earnings projections. Some RPA companies saw notable declines in stock value. The markets seemed to be asking: Would AI replace RPA technology? And would RPA developers find themselves out of work? Fear and speculation were tinged with caution regarding the potential for disruption and yet there was hope for amazing synergies bringing more capacity for automation throughout organizations.
Information technology will continue to develop and deploy automation capabilities for business and multi-industry uses. AI will not replace RPA but enhance it by adding AI attributes such as the ability to read PDF documents or sort and store emails. These upgrades belong to the Intelligent/Cognitive Automation category. They are a middle ground or steppingstone between traditional RPA and agentic AI.
Several RPA software companies have already integrated intelligent and agentic capabilities into their platforms and offerings. Blue Prism is a multinational software corporation that builds RPA software.
According to Blue Prism’s Anton Veenendaal, their prediction for RPA and AI’s partnership in 2025 answers the question of whether RPA is still relevant in 2025: “The short answer? Yes! RPA is still a useful automation tool. It deploys software robots (RPA bots) to perform front and back-office tasks. Of course, a lot of enterprises are taking RPA to the next level and finding new ways to achieve total digital transformation.
“RPA is well-suited for handling a lot of repetitive tasks like you’d see in administration. But by sweeping RPA together with AI and making it more accessible to citizen developers, businesses will get a lot more out of it — and that’s what we’re seeing in future automation trends ... RPA, within an AI-powered automation and orchestration platform, can function as a guardrail toward secure and practical AI usage.
UiPath is a leading agentic automation company whose platform and resources play a part of the future of Washburn’s change to deliver consistency story.
In the spring of 2023, Washburn School of Business, in conjunction with Security Benefit’s RPA team, held a Build-a-Bot Workshop to introduce students, faculty and staff to the UiPath automation software used at Security Benefit. Participants developed a “bot” or software robot that would search the internet and return movie listings of a specified date, time and location.
The piqued interest and excellent turnout prompted fundraising in the following year’s Day of Giving campaign for RPA at Washburn. Faculty training, access to class materials and resources, and initial software acquisition were the purpose of the campaign.
Planning and faculty team leader development have been the next stage in preparations to include work process automation exposure and skill building into the curriculum with possible deployment of RPA tools within the school’s own processes.
UIPATH ACADEMIC ALLIANCE
The cooperative effort with Security Benefit provided more than the movie listing software bot development case at the workshop. The SB team’s introduction of programs and contacts at UiPath has been an ongoing benefit for Washburn.
The UiPath Academic Alliance partnership exists to provide higher education entities with access to timely and relevant resources, advanced automation technologies and certification pathways to equip students. The automation leadership team is working with UiPath to determine best-fit courses and experiences for business students who have an interest in workplace automation regardless of their major area of concentration. Plans are being made to offer RPA and agentic learning opportunities in both undergraduate and graduate programs.
Training and certification programs assure learners that faculty are prepared to teach top-tier automation skills and best practice implementations. The academic alliance framework is built for students to earn certification as well, enhancing their marketability and competitive advantage. The academic alliance also provides a platform for promoting the school’s participation in and successes in the workplace automation industry. Students who choose to participate in the UiPath Talent Connection have additional resources to connect with employers who utilize automation technologies.
The work to make these opportunities a part of the Brenneman School of Business curriculum at Washburn University has begun.
Thanks to the unwavering support of alumni, friends and the Topeka business community, Washburn students once again have access to resources and programming that will enable them to demonstrate exceptional skills and abilities. Faculty will lead students to be agents of change, using new and innovative tools to bring about the time-tested, stable, desired, productive and profitable outcomes that have been the mainstay of business models through the ages.
These tools will instigate changes in processes that enable businesses to stay the course in a dynamic environment while adapting to meet the dynamic nature of people. People, processes and systems: the more things change, the more they stay the same.
