Implementing modern automation technologies is a requirement in many industries, determining a company’s potential for growth, market share retention, and in many cases, the achievement of a competitive advantage. ERP systems and process automation via RPA technology are the most important representatives of the concept of continuous company development based on modern technology. But how can you synthetically check whether implementing both technologies will positively impact your company’s situation? To do this, let’s use the ROI indicator. What are the benefits of using RPA and ERP together?
Before we get into the specifics—that is, verifying the factors necessary to calculate the return on investment for ERP and
RPA, let’s take a closer look at the benefits of implementing these two systems in your company. The weight of individual advantages is not constant for every company; to a large extent, which benefit is most significant for your business depends directly on variables such as the nature of operations, market competitiveness, industry, or the number of business processes. However, there is no doubt that every company, regardless of the market, recognizes the specific advantages of automation and ERP systems.
First and foremost, which is crucial for manufacturing and industrial companies, ERP systems ensure the optimization of company resource management—whether human, current, or fixed assets. It is precisely mismanagement, or rather the lack of appropriate optimization tools, that generates the highest costs, and a well-functioning ERP system will guarantee the improvement of this element of operations and ensure constant access to the most necessary resources exactly when we expect them. Based on our operations and historical data, the system can forecast future demand for materials, semi-finished products, or production capacity, taking into account the seasonality of our business and other external factors.
Modern technologies such as RPA and ERP provide huge time savings. On one hand, the entire company working on a single system, and on the other, a uniform flow of data, combined with software replacing employees performing the most tedious work—all this adds up to huge volumes of time that we can free up and delegate to other, more important, and developmental tasks.
We also cannot forget about the issue of control and reporting, which in modern companies are the key to making optimal business decisions. Combining such powerful technologies as ERP and RPA into one advanced ecosystem will provide comprehensive data and information about every business process, their flow, efficiency, and areas that we need to work on. This, in turn, allows for real improvement of what is currently not functioning in line with our goals in the company.
What data is needed to calculate ROI from RPA and ERP?
When analyzing the benefits, we deliberately did not mention the advantage of saving money. Although historical data and the experience of companies from virtually every industry clearly point to saving money as one of the most important goals, to be able to operate with this benefit without a shadow of a doubt, one would need to calculate the ROI of the investment in RPA and ERP. So, what exactly is ROI?
Return on Investment is a key indicator that, at the investment and planning stage, will indicate whether the costs incurred will pay off if the full potential of the tool is utilized. Data on expected, and later actual, returns on investment in modern technologies will guarantee invaluable knowledge that will result in even better business decisions in the future.
Analyzing the return on investment indicator will provide the company with an answer to the question of whether the investment will actually be profitable. This is especially important when a company decides on broad technological improvements and invests not only in ERP but also in RPA. In such a scenario, the investment costs will include not only the purchase of specific systems but also implementation and training costs. One must also take into account costs associated with downtime in process execution caused by implementation processes and employee training time. Therefore, both actual costs and hidden costs are among the most important elements for calculating ROI. And how do you calculate the potential benefits resulting from the implementation of ERP and RPA in a company? Here, you must primarily include all kinds of savings that will form the foundation of the return on investment. Proper modeling and forecasting of the return on investment should include hard data on efficiency growth. A process that previously took 4 hours will be shortened to 1 hour. The revenue from the implementation of such a project will therefore provide 400% of the previous norm, which will allow for a rough estimate of whether and when a return on investment will actually be possible.
RPA combined with ERP is not just about increasing efficiency by shortening the time it takes to perform certain actions. It is also the possibility of continuous, uninterrupted execution of given processes, which will ensure even greater financial benefits.
Analysis of results and conclusions – Is it worth investing in RPA and ERP at the same time?
The analysis of the results can only be one: if at the stage of deciding to implement ERP and RPA systems we set measurable goals, and the implementing company confirmed the possibility of achieving them using the technology, then in the long term, the return on investment will be visible—both in the reduction of costs associated with ERP functionalities that optimize resource levels, and in the increase in actual profit due to the acceleration of many tasks.
Hard financial data is for many companies a sufficient reason to decide on such an investment. However, we must remember other, secondary, equally important elements that stem from the implementation of ERP and RPA technology, which will be noticeable in our company. First,
higher quality – both in the area of task execution, service provision, and goods production, but also higher quality in customer service and relationship management. Many companies focused on profit maximization treat such an important area as customer relations as a secondary concern. ERP, thanks to its CRM module, will ensure proper organization of contacts and guarantees the improvement of relationships, both with existing and potential customers.
Employees themselves can gain a lot through the introduction of ERP and RPA systems in the company. Tedious,
repetitive tasks will be a thing of the past—all employees who have previously performed such tasks will now be able to be delegated to other, much more forward-looking and engaging challenges. This will certainly increase their loyalty to the employer and overall job satisfaction.
