What is RPA and how can it help your customer service teams?
Alexander Wijninga
| 3 min
RPA is a very commonly used term today. Leveraging RPA means businesses can automate many manual tasks, and thus optimise business processes. But what does RPA entail? And how can it help further automate your customer service processes? This blog has all the details - read on!
What is RPA?
RPA stands for Robotic Process Automation. This doesn’t mean that robots are the solution to everything all the time. RPA is meant for automation of repetitive tasks using software. Repetitive tasks are “rule-based” processes. These are processes that (you guessed it) operate based on rules. These rules are paired with actions. Let’s say the phrase “job application” is part of a chat message (rule), then the chat message can be sent to HR (action). A process must always operate by a singular system of rules, otherwise the software won’t work. The software can’t think, but only fulfil what it’s been taught based on the system of rules.
Attended RPA versus Unattended RPA
Attended RPA
Attended RPA helps an individual customer service employee increase productivity. Think about software that provides the correct information in order for the employee to help the customer, such as order history or conversation history. Attended RPA thus decreases the response time of the customer service employee.
Unattended RPA
Unattended RPA takes it a step further. Unattended RPA robots can independently complete rules-based processes. The software is not only able to receive the correct information about the customer, but also able to answer the question being asked.
RPA for your service team?
Automating processes using software might be a solution for your customer service team! There’s a wide variety of tasks that are done manually in any given team, including tasks that require employees to switch between different systems. Think about the need to operate between a CRM system and a social media channel like Facebook or WhatsApp. This can often be very time consuming.
RPA is a fabulous solution for automating the answering of frequently asked questions. Once the content of the FAQ has been brought together, the system of questions and answers can be created. A chatbot is a great example of RPA in action for frequently asked questions. The chatbot recognises the question and takes an action; the bot can provide the answer, or connect the customer with the appropriate customer service team member.
Another great example of how RPA is used in customer service is a Mollie integration. By connecting to Mollie, a customer service software can automatically get information from Mollie (action) when for example a customer asks “What is my payment status?” (rule). Instead of a customer service employee manually clicking to Mollie and examining information, this information is directly available in the customer service software. This saves the employee a huge amount of manual work!
The advantages of RPA
Automating your customer service processes has a number of advantages:
1. Speed
Want to reduce your response time per inquiry? Automate your customer service. Robots work far more quickly than humans, and they’re at work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
2. Do what you’re good at
Some teams see RPA as a threat to current employees. This is entirely not the case. Software is incredibly useful in handling repetitive tasks - something an employee likely finds dull or trivial. What automation does is allow more time for the tasks or cases that require more time, thought and effort. Everybody’s doing what they’re good at!
3. Integrate RPA in your existing IT stack
One advantage of RPA is that it’s easy to integrate in your existing IT infrastructure. You’re automating existing processes, thus the infrastructure of your operations tech stack can stay the same. RPA is a complement to your current systems.
4. Quality
By automating processes, you reduce the margin for error. Robots work using rules and actions, and thus make fewer mistakes as compared to manual processes by a human agent. This means the quality of work overall will improve.
We’re here to help!
The team at Watermelon can help you automate your customer service processes. We can automate your customer service with help from an AI-powered chatbot. The chatbot can help your customer service team by answering frequently asked questions. The chatbot recognises the question and takes an action as a result. This can be providing an answer, or connecting the customer with the appropriate customer service team member. Experience how Watermelon works in a 1-on-1 demo!
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