What is RPA (robotic process automation)?

In practice

Treat RPA as a bridge with an expected end date. It is genuinely valuable where a vendor will not open an interface and replacement is years away. It becomes a liability when it is used as the default integration method, because every robot is a dependency on a screen layout somebody else controls.

Where it fits in a build

Good fit: a mainframe or an old line-of-business application that must be fed daily. Poor fit: two modern systems that both have APIs, where a direct integration is cheaper to build and far cheaper to keep running.

Common mistakes

• Using RPA where an API exists, then maintaining it forever.
• No alerting when a robot silently fails, so the first sign of trouble is a missing day of data.
• Running robots under a shared login, which destroys the audit trail.

Related terms

• API
• System integration
• Workflow automation

Working on something that involves this?

ASTACKRA designs and builds AI systems, automation and custom software for businesses that need technology shaped around their own workflow. If this term turned up in a proposal and you want a straight answer about whether it applies to your situation, ask us — no obligation, and we will tell you if the answer is no.