What are Software Bots?

Increased Productivity

Software bots allow individuals to be more effective in almost any area of business. Since they're able to automate the various steps required to perform the mundane tasks like invoice processing, for example, human workers are free to do more complex tasks. This increases the productivity of a single worker exponentially.

Better Accuracy

While software bots are only as good as their programming, they're very good at what they do once programmed. In fact, their accuracy is one of the many reasons you'll find them in the business processes of well known social media platforms like Facebook Messenger and business communication platforms like Slack.

Decreased Costs

Increased productivity and better accuracy have a direct correlation to decreased costs. Employees are able to get more done, reducing the cost of overtime. Business processes are more accurate, which reduces costly errors in payroll and client accounts, among others.

Ease of Use

Although basic training in automation is suggested in order to understand how to build them, RPA software applications provide an intuitive user interface. For many business processes, it's simply a matter of recording the end user's keystrokes so the software bot can mimic the actions. It's then is able to efficiently fulfill the task on demand.

Increased Employee Satisfaction

Bots eliminate hours of mind-numbing, repetitive, stress-inducing activities. Since humans can automate the simpler, more mundane functions of their jobs, they’re free to work on more meaningful jobs requiring decision-making, creativity and judgment. This vital difference increases worker satisfaction.

Better Flexibility

Software bots are created in such a way that they can work across multiple platforms and systems. -So you don’t have to have all the information you’re trying to collect on a single computer, or a single system, for example. This allows companies large and small the ability to operate with a business as usual attitude, while still implementing, managing and upgrading bots for stronger performance.

Data Mining

Google is one of the first companies to take the use of software bots to the limit and expand on it. The search engine uses bots as data miners to index and catalogue the billions of websites that have been created.

Web crawlers scan web pages using a mix of machine learning, artificial intelligence and automation. They look for keywords to discern the information on the page based on language processing and contextual clues. That information is then compared to proprietary algorithms to give you the results you get today when you search for a term.

While a business certainly doesn't need that level of complexity, that data mining functionality can be brought to business applications. For example, bots can be created to scan for specific keywords and pull document packets together, or deliver specific information based on a designated keystroke.

Customer Service

Ranging from the simple to the complex, chatbots are changing the face of the customer service sector. At one end of the spectrum, they're able to provide simple answers to simple questions as a pre-qualifying tool. At the other end, these AI-powered software bots can competently talk with multiple customers at the same time.

With the potential customer as the end-user, bots can provide answers, in real-time, to any questions the user may have about a product or service. With the customer service representative as the end user, the bots can provide robust information about the customers for a stronger customer experience.

eCommerce

A retail store may have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of products. Software bots can be created to organize and catalogue products, keep track of inventory and build datasheets. They can be built to make pricing updates and manage orders.

They can also be used to scan for a break in patterns, such as those employed by credit card companies to flag potential account fraud. If you've ever been called by your credit card company to ask about a recent purchase, chances are that a software bot flagged your account for review. Something you purchased was out of the normal pattern for your buyer behavior.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry is aggressively using software bots, and in several ways. Not only can they track patient care and provide digital prescriptions, but also help with patient engagement and alert medical teams of patient emergencies. They can be used to streamline administrative tasks, such as creating new patient charts or updating old ones.

Legal

Many law firms are well versed in using software bots to reduce the man hours spent on mundane tasks. Acting as virtual paralegals, they can be built to generate any number of legal documents with the click of a button. Contracts, NDAs, and privacy policies are just a few examples. Rather than replace their human counterpart, the software bots free them up to do work that involves higher thinking, such as conduction legal and factual research.

Supply Chain

Supply chain and logistics uses software bots and automation to keep track of load data and data analysis. Bots help reduce shipping cost via automated data entry. They can produce barcodes and keep track of warehouse inventory. All of this can be done in the fraction of the time that a human worker would be able to do, with a much smaller margin of error.