How much Robotic Process Automation Actually Cost?

Robotic Process Automation is increasingly being used by businesses to automate their processes and reduce human effort at stages that can be automated. A robust RPA system can emulate human actions within digital systems and create interactions to make the operation of the system more streamlined.

Several kinds of cumbersome manual tasks are handled digitally with RPA, thus, saving costs at many levels. RPA solutions yield results that save your business both time and money while boosting the productivity of your business and shifting focus to critical tasks rather than mundane ones.

Despite its layered benefits for cost control for a business, the Robotic Process Automation cost at different stages is significant to consider. Different RPA stages such as design, development, testing, assessment, and deployment affect the cost incurred in various ways. You can explore RPA lifecycle management in detail to understand the effects of each stage and what they entail.

There are different types of costs associated with setting up RPA for your business. Listed below are the primary costs that will be incurred with Robotic Process Automation and the different stages of its implementation:

1. Development Cost

The cost of RPA development can be counted among the primary expenses of having an RPA system for your business. This refers to the cost that is typically accumulated since the initial stages of RPA development.

The development phase is prefaced by the planning, consultation, assessment, and design stages. To ensure a fully operational RPA integration, the cost of testing and deployment post-development is also added to the overall development cost.

2. Infrastructure and Maintenance Cost

Infrastructural costs include those for the licensing of software, the cost of RPA bots, and other storage and monitoring costs for your RPA system. Typically, this would depend on the exact infrastructural requirements as well as the duration for which you avail these services.

The cost of maintenance for the hardware, software, and integration requirements is another aspect that can add a significant cost to your total. Prompt maintenance and support are essential to ensure your RPA system runs as smoothly as intended.

Relevant Read: Different use cases of RPA

3. Recurring Costs

Unlike the planning, design, development, deployment, and testing processes, there are recurring costs that need to be paid multiple times throughout the process of operating an RPA system. These include the costs of production tools, bot licenses, RPA vendors, customization costs, and many others.

The cost of software or application integration and custom configurations that need to be made in the future can be considered under recurring costs at different stages. The cost of employees, advisors, and reporting tools for your business also adds to recurring costs.

4. RPA Consultancy and Tools

Investing in RPA consultancy services and premium RPA tools is an aspect that doesn't end even after the full deployment of the product. To keep your system robust and updated and upgrading to the best tools as advised by the best consultants seems mandatory.

While the cost of consultancy and RPA tools might be included in the overall fee during the initial development stage, these are observed at later stages too to ensure the system is repeatedly tested and improved for business operations.

5. Configuration and Training Cost

Even after full-fledged development, ongoing consultation, and integrations, the cost of configuring an existing system to work in tandem with the RPA solutions of your choice is something that cannot be overlooked. In most cases, there are additional costs to trigger the infrastructural setup, configure RPA bots, and install the service with all the applications in operation.

That is not all for configuring the workplace. Training costs are added to these costs to ensure the employees are efficient enough to utilize the RPA facilities as per enterprise standards. These costs are also to be considered while calculating RPA costs.

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Factors That Affect RPA Costs

Before you can carry out an RPA cost-benefit analysis, it becomes relevant to explore the different factors that can affect RPA costs in the first place. While a lot would depend on the specific business setup with which you are looking to integrate RPA, here are some key factors that affect RPA costs:

1. Storage and Maintenance Requirements

One of the main factors that sway RPA costs greatly is the scale of your operations. Your RPA bot monitoring system requires a certain amount of disk storage to perform all its functions adequately. The storage, monitoring, and IT infrastructure costs significantly define the overall RPA costs.

The maintenance of vendor provisions, management tools, and system health check costs are added maintenance requirements that affect the cost of RPA for your business in the long run.

2. Software Licensing and Pricing Models

The pricing for software licenses and the pricing models for deployment of the same as a cloud-based on in-house service is another significant aspect to consider for your RPA system. This varies depending on pricing options as made available by different vendors.

While the cost of cloud app development services comes to be lower when considered as a comprehensive range of services, the ROI on in-house RPA can be more if you can commit to it for a long period.

3. RPA Bot Services

RPA bot pricing is quite pivotal for an excellent RPA system for your business. The cost of bot hosting varies depending on the number of servers required, which in turn defines the overall cost of robotic process automation for your system.

Premium hosting services with advanced features can cost more, while standard features are suitable for specific business requirements and can help you save some bucks. Any upgrades to your existing bot infrastructure can also significantly affect the RPA cost.

Relevant Read:

• Key benefits of automation testing

• Measuring the ROI of automation testing the right way

4. Altered Business Operations

Another aspect that can greatly affect RPA installation's cost for your business is how much you need to change your current business operations across all departments within the business.

These can include the change in fundamental business processes, training employees, integrating multiple departments for data relay, and other significant changes in the management of business processes.

5. Add-ons

Last but not least, there will be additional costs for any add-ons that you opt for. These could be aspects like AI-based system monitoring, advanced reporting and analytics, smart document processing, real-time updates and integrations, and much more.

With such add-ons to your RPA system, you might need to pay additional costs for developing, installing, and deploying the advanced features. The maintenance and upgrade costs of these services can also affect the cost in the long run.

RPA Costs Compared to Labor Costs

With all said and done, the real question is whether or not RPA costs are worth the trouble as compared to traditional labor costs for the same work. If you're a business that has seen the benefits of RPA firsthand, the answer to the cost of automation vs cost of labor battle is a simple one!

Robotic Process Automation is less costly and yields higher ROI in comparison to labor costs. You can not only cut down on high costs for daily operations but also enhance productivity at the workplace with mundane, repetitive, or frequent tasks handled digitally without human intervention. Thus, the ROI is excellent with both cost-saving and business-boosting factors!

Sofyrus' RPA services are custom-fit to enhance your business operations depending on your requirements. With our premium RPA services, you can eliminate labor costs, integrate automation, and trigger business growth at many levels.

Final Words

Thus, when weighed on the balance of profitability and affordability, robust RPA integration for your business wins both times. The right set of RPA services for your business can mean a shift from slugging through everyday cumbersome inputs made to the system by your employees to their time being used in more essential business processes.

Sofyrus is your RPA partner for services that will benefit your business at all levels. Looking to expand your profitability and streamline business processes through premium RPA tools?

Contact our team of experts and get robotic process automation services for your business.