As the popularity of RPA continues to increase, academic treatments of the subject are becoming more common. Various university programs have been established globally and some of those programs are beginning to yield research papers. One such paper was recently published in the International Journal of Science and Research.
Authored by S.W. Puranik, a faculty member in the department of computer engineering at K.J. College of Engineering Management & Research in Pune, India, A Review Paper on Business Process Automation Using RPA is an introductory treatment of the topic. It treats RPA as a base technology for a variety of intelligent automation technologies, outlines benefits to businesses and highlights other research that has contributed to the RPA knowledge base.
Puranik notes the advantages businesses can enjoy using RPA including increased reliability in task completion, the freeing up of IT resources for use in other areas, improved employee satisfaction and the empowerment of business users. He notes some common drawbacks as well, including it can sometimes be too costly for small businesses, challenges choosing implementation partners and changes that result in breakage requiring extensive resources to fix and maintain.