RPA for Free

Does that sound too good to be true?

RPA, Robotic Process Automation, has had a lot of hype and press coverage over the last few years. The software vendors such as UiPath have become Unicorns, companies with valuation of over $1 Billion, so how could RPA be free?

Ether Solutions will provide you with RPA for free. No Ether Solutions staff have not gone mad and the company has not suddenly become backed by a philanthropist who sees other businesses as charity cases. RPA is free to anyone?

RPA has been implement by Governments and big global corporations as they have had the message from the leading management consultants like Deloitte, PWC and McKinsey & Co, that RPA is free. Although it has not been reported like that in the press.

Let me explain.

RPA provides software robots to automate existing activity undertaken by staff working on existing computer systems. An RPA implementation will deliver both productivity benefits and quality benefits. Software robots work faster than people (circa 10 times), can work longer than people (24 hours x 7 days) increasing the capacity to complete work and make less errors as people typically make about 4% errors when doing repetitive work. The “Hard” and “Soft” benefits will have some value to any business making the change.

To implement RPA, there will be a cost from the software robot licences and the cost of the analysts, robot developers, project managers, etc. These costs are all incurred before any of the benefits start to be realised. They are the variations from the “Do Nothing” scenario.

Once RPA is operating, the benefits will continue to flow. There may be some additional costs, such as software upgrades to the robots and renewal of the RPA software licences.

A standard business case looking at an RPA implementation will consider the costs involved and the benefits that will be delivered. In most situations unless there is going to be a reasonable ROI (Return on Investment), a project to proceed with an RPA implementation will not get authorised.

This decision process on the business case ensures that RPA is available for free! Well OK, not on day one with a traditional approach but the benefits will pay for the costs over time.

How can Ether Solutions offer RPA for free?

Ether Solutions has discussed RPA implementations with financial specialists, such as Shire Leasing. By taking a standard finance arrangement, a client can get RPA for free by agreeing to provide Ether Solutions with a share of the benefits from RPA for an agreed period. Ether Solutions uses these payments to pay the finance provider, e.g. Shire Leasing. Everybody is happy.

Ether Solutions clients do not have to take RPA implementations for free, they could choose to finance the project themselves with their own finance company or simply follow the traditional route of paying for the project and taking 100% of the benefits as they start to flow.

Please contact us to discuss RPA for free or how you would like to pay for it – 0845 643 4410