Difference Between BPM and RPA (With Table)

When talking about digital transformation strategies, Business Process Management or BPM technologies have been an essential and integral part. But to advance the business processes, companies have adopted the RPA or the Robotic Process Automation technology, which can take care of more complex business tasks with the greatest efficiency.

BPM vs RPA

The main difference between BPM and RPA is that BPM provides a holistic approach for optimization and automation of business processes, whereas RPA only deals with repetitive tasks which are not changed frequently. RPA plays a good role at the beginning of a process. It is a part of the BPM approach.

BPM is a process to make businesses more efficient digitally. It is more than just an automated workflow. It is disciplinary operation management that can perform functions like automation, control, execution, and optimization with great efficiency. It is useful in building model business rules at a business level.

RPA is a technology or software that can create software robots in no time known as the “bots,” which can mimic human activities such as logging into IT systems or even copy-pasting enormous amounts of data. These bots are used to reduce or replace human efforts to complete business tasks. RPA is mainly an automation tool.

Comparison Table Between BPM and RPA

Parameters of Comparison

BPM

RPA

Full form

BPM stands for Business Process Management.

RPA stands for Robotic Process Automation.

Definition

BPM is mainly a discipline in operations management which is helpful in business organizations via processes like automation, control, execution, and optimization.

RPA is basically a software technology that is best for performing repetitive tasks and tasks that humans previously performed.

Business Aim

The main business aim of BPM is to reengineer underlying processes and drive the central tools.

The main business goal of RPA is to reduce cost and headcount through the usage of software robots.

Time and Impact

It is a complex and multi-month implementation. BPM has extensive testing and business impacts.

It is a quick process that is done in very little time.

Efforts

BPM is a method that takes high effort in implementing.

RPA is the technology that usually requires low effort in implementing compared to BPM.

Duration and cost

BPM is a long-term process that requires higher cost-efficiency.

RPA is a quick and immediate process that also reduces the cost.

What is BPM?

There has been a lot of conflict over the definition of BPM or Business Process Management. BPM or Business Process Management can be defined as a discipline that involves any combination of modeling, automation, execution, control, measurement, and optimization of business activity flows. BPM can include a variety of methods to improve the business management of a company. The processes are either structured and repeatable or unstructured and variable. BPM is a process management that is much different from program management.

BPM considers processes to be an important part of an organization that needs to be understood, managed, and improved to meet the client’s or the customer’s needs. In short, BPM is a practice or a discipline that needs constant monitoring. While trying to evaluate a specific process, it is very necessary for the BPM practitioner to practice to keep into consideration the metrics of the entire system. A BPM is either an activity or a set of activities which when followed properly, can help to achieve the business objectives. It is not a technology.

Tasks of BPM:-

· Fulfil a product order.

· Updation of the associated accounts.

· Updation of the relevant databases

· To onboard a new employee.

What is RPA?

RPA or Robotic Process Automation is a type of business process automation technology that is based on software robots, also known as bots. RPA tools are technically similar to Graphical User Interface tools, which are also capable of automating interactions with the GUI and are generally done by repeating a set of demonstrations or instructions. Unlike BPM, RPA is a technology. RPA is used to automate our everyday practices which were once practiced manually. It uses this technology to boost the efficiency of various organizations.

It usually automates all the monotonous and tedious tasks which take a lot of time to perform manually. Although for an RPA to work properly, it must be a voluminous task based on a particular rule. The process should have specific inputs and outputs and should be a repetitive one with certain time intervals and triggers. The productivity potential and rate of RPA are quite high, which gains so much popularity in today’s world, but it can never replace BPM.

Tasks of RPA:-

· Supply chain management.

· Updation of employee information.

· Automation of HR tasks.

· Onboarding and offboarding.

Main Differences Between BPM and RPA

  1. BPM stands for Business Process Management, while RPA stands for Robotic Process Automation.
  2. BPM is mainly a discipline in operations management which is useful in Business organizations through processes like automation, control, execution, and optimization, whereas RPA is software technology that is used to perform repetitive tasks or manual tasks which were performed by humans earlier.
  3. BPM is a methodology while RPA is a technology.
  4. BPM takes higher efforts in implementing compared to RPA.
  5. The main business aim of BPM is to re-engineer and modify business processes that are used to increase the efficiency and productivity, whereas RPA aims at reducing the amount of manual and repetitive tasks.
  6. BPM methodology is a much complex and a long time taking process, while RPA is a less complex technology.

Conclusion

Both BPM and RPA are used in business organizations that have a huge amount of data in their systems. BPM can help multiple processes, which reduces the chances of manual errors, while RPA can only automate one method at a time. RPA is a promising technology when processes not going through frequent changes need automation whereas BPM is best used for processes that require third party integration. Together BPM and RPA can help build up a powerful, reliable, and useful platform that can be of great digital support to any organization. But when compared to their strengths, BPM is more powerful as it can automate a business process entirely.

References

  1. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-30429-4_19
  2. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-29821-0_8