Getting started with robotic process automation

Imagine having an unlimited pool of office workers that you can train to do any task, across any function at your firm; that would be a valuable way to improve your productivity. Now envision that your resource pool is not human but software, delivered from the cloud to anywhere in the world, 24 hours, 7 days a week, without needing to take a break and never making a mistake. "It's a very futuristic image, but thanks to robotic process automation (RPA) and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies there's nothing visionary about it," said Terry Walby, Chief Executive of London-based Thoughtonomy. Thoughtonomy has created a Virtual Workforce platform that addresses the'productivity of office-based workers' not by replacing employees with virtual ones, but by'automating work' and weeding out inefficiencies in day-to-day workflow processes. Productivity in the UK has dramatically stalled since the financial crisis, growing at a mere average of 0.2 percent since.