Is Robotic Process Automation the End of Society As We Know It?

Image Credit: iStock

Author: Cesar Mojica

Back in the 1950’s, people predicted a lot of amazing inventions that would happen in the future.

Flying cars, mailmen with jetpacks, glass-domed houses, the “Jetscalator” and of course, robots. Everything becoming automated. Robots in the home, robots at work, robots everywhere, doing everything.

Ever wonder what our world would be like if robots really took over?

Would our human body evolve to better suit the “good life” of sitting on the couch and watching the new season of The Mandalorian while snacking on Takis Intense Nacho Rolls? Will we have no better purpose than to make sure our robots are functioning properly?

The real question everyone wants to know is: will we lose our jobs entirely?

According to an article by McKinsey, “as many as 45 percent of the activities individuals are paid to perform can be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies.”

Does this mean automation is going to replace everything we do and think?

Not yet.

But automation is a great tool to streamline the mundane, repetitive and annoying day-to-day tasks we’ve been dealing with for a long time.

In other words, don’t fear Robotic Process Automation!

At Eicoff, we have begun using the RPA-based program Microsoft Power Automate to create workflows that help the Analytics department automate some of their work processes.

One way our media analysts use Power Automate is by having it download data reports from a third-party source with the click of a few buttons. Power Automate allows users to build workflows with specific, individual steps by coding and arranging them in a sequential manner – almost exactly how a user would manually do their task – which then can be run to repeat those tasks without ever having to do anything more.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Microsoft Power Automate can do things even Robby the Robot couldn’t have imagined: save people the time and repetitiveness of doing some of the same tasks repeatedly.

That means more time to take on projects you’ve been putting off because you’ve been busy downloading or updating data, building out new dashboards, or cleaning up Alteryx workflows.

More time for analyzing KPIs and performance data and providing insightful solutions to client problems.

But most importantly, more time for teamwork, collaboration and critical thinking, to make decisions that require actual humans.

Automation, no matter how basic, turns time lost performing mundane daily tasks into opportunities to help our clients grow their businesses.

So don’t get too comfortable on the couch and expect Rosie the Robot (your basic XB-500) to do everything for you.

For now, we still have work to do to create value for our clients.

Even better? We have more time to do it.