Measuring the Impact of Robotic Process Automation on the Case Company’s Task Processing Time and Analysing the Impact of RPA on Employees’ Value-Added Activities

Abstract

The study provides information on measuring the impact of Robotic Process Automation on the case company’s task processing time and analysing the impact of RPA on employees’ value-added activities. Generally, there is a lack of awareness of the specific time companies are saving due to RPAs. Additionally, it raises the question of whether employees believe that, by implementing RPAs they are saving time and this time saved can be contributed to more worthwhile and productive work. Aligning with the study’s objectives, the questionnaire was distributed to the employees from four departments of the financial control centre of the case company. It was sent to 60 employees, of which 24 responded to the questionnaire. The data collected from these respondents was then analysed using descriptive statistics. After measuring the efficiency, the average number of time hours saved by employees increased with the implementation of more RPAs. There is an increasing trend in monthly average employee time hours saved and an increase in efficiency percentage over eighteen months which indicates that performance is getting better. The successful integration of RPAs into operational processes can contribute to this improvement. However, based on the data collected, if the automation team keeps on developing more RPAs and more employees begin utilising them, the organisation should soon experience more benefits. The number of hours that employees saved on the tasks following the introduction of RPA indicates that there is a task-technology fit in the case organisation. Based on the current data findings, there might be a rise in the task-technology fit and performance as time goes on, more RPAs are built, and more major users of RPAs become involved. The beneficial impacts reach beyond task processing time and provide employees some free time which they can utilise for some value-added activities like problem-solving, decision-making, improving interpersonal relationships etc. Overall, while analysing the impact of RPA, it resulted that, according to most of the respondents, RPA impacts are positive on the company’s task processing time and also on employees' value-added activities.