Realizing the full potential of Robotic Process Automation through a combination with BPM

This is a pre-copyedited version of a contribution published in Bierwirth, C.; Kirschstein, T.; Sackmann, D.: Logistics Management Strategies and Instruments for digitalizing and decarbonizing supply chains - Proceedings of the German Academic Association for Business Research, Halle, 2019 published by Springer International Publishing. The definitive authenticated version is available online via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29821-0_8

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is currently a topic of interest for both research and industry. Many administrative tasks in operations consume a vast amount of time and create little value. The possibility that the responsible employees can quickly and easily automate these processes by themselves makes RPA a promising approach for many processes. However, RPA procedures are only able to automate a process in its present form. In this way, redundancies and excessive process steps are incorporated into RPA process flows. Combining RPA with the popular Business Process Management (BPM) approach poses a useful strategy as the as-is process is optimized first. The RPA procedure is then deployed on the optimized process to reach its full automation potential. This paper proposes a methodology to combine RPA and BPM and demonstrates the potential within a case study. Benefits, limitations, and further research opportunities are likewise addressed.