Digital Process Automation Software: Key Capabilities, Platforms, Investments and ROI
In IT since 1989, ScienceSoft provides consultancy and implementation of digital process automation software.
Digital Process Automation Software: the Gist
Digital process automation (DPA) tool enables quick automation of one-time and recurrent business processes (e.g., employee onboarding, invoice approval), without big customization efforts. IT teams and even business users can make DPA solutions meet their specific business needs by using low-code development capabilities. DPA software can be integrated with almost any software: enterprise systems (e.g., ERP, CRM, HRMS, CMS, ITSM), file management, collaboration, e-signature software, email services, and more.
The DPA market is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 13% as compared to 2019 and reach $16.12 billion by 2025.
DPA Tool Use Cases
Industry-specific
Healthcare
- Appointments scheduling.
- Patient admission.
- Patient records management.
- Regulatory compliance audit.
Banking
- Customer onboarding.
- Bank account opening.
- Credit approval.
Manufacturing
- New product approval.
- Equipment maintenance request processing.
Legal services
- New matter intake.
- Claims creation and approval.
- Client billing.
- Legal discovery.
Department-specific
HR
- Applicant tracking.
- Employee onboarding.
- Employee training and development
- Employee request management.
- Employee performance review.
Finance
- Payroll management.
- AP review and processing.
- Expense management.
Procurement
- Vendor onboarding.
- Purchase request approval.
- Ordering goods or services.
- Invoice approval.
Sales
- Lead conversion.
- Claims processing.
- Pricing calculation.
- Quote approval.
Marketing
- Lead nurturing (e.g., from social media).
- Customer journey mapping.
Digital Process Automation Software: Key Features
Based on ScienceSoft's experience in software development, ScienceSoft's consultants can define key features of DPA software.
Workflow creation
- Process mapping (graphical representation of the workflow, the steps and participants involved in a business process).
- Drag-and-drop workflow editor for codeless creation of automated business workflows.
- Pre-built templates for creating typical workflows.
- Workflow modeling canvas with drag-and-drop tasks and decision points for creating custom workflows.
- Workflow logic based on internal policies and practices including handling rule exceptions.
- Support of non-linear and multistep workflows with any number of sequential and parallel steps.
Workflow management
- Management of bulk workflows.
- Workflow scheduling (one-time and recurrent workflows).
- Assigning employees to workflows or individual workflow tasks.
- AI-based task routing to relevant employees based on their roles, skills, and experience.
- Multi-step approval of workflows and workflow tasks.
- Setting due dates for workflow tasks.
- Workflow launching.
- Workflow and task tracking (e.g., status, progress, assignees, due dates) in real time.
- Managing workflows from mobile devices.
Workflow administration
- Single storage for workflow tasks, associated data, documents and discussions.
- Automated validation of workflow errors (e.g., broken pathways, logic loops).
- Automated time- and condition-based notifications (e.g., a task is assigned to an employee, a task is finished).
Workflow collaboration
- Searchable group discussions.
- Discussion boards.
- Sharing work-related files.
- Workflow-related emails and notifications.
- Collaboration on workflow-related documents.
Reporting and analytics
- Analytics of automated processes based on various KPIs (e.g., time-to-hire in recruitment, customer satisfaction in customer service).
- Real-time dashboards showing workflow status, progress, due dates, etc.
- Workflow analytics (e.g., workflows by type, complexity, average completion time).
Integrations
- With various enterprise software and data sources (ERP, CRM, HRMS, email services, etc.) via prebuilt or custom connectors to enable data mapping for digital process automation.
Security and compliance
- Access control.
- Role-based permissions.
- Multifactor authentication.
- Data encryption.
- Audit trail.
- Regulatory compliance (e.g., AICPA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, FDA, FISMA).
Success Factors of DPA Software
With 33 years in IT, ScienceSoft's consultants have defined a set of factors, which if covered, help maximize ROI of DPA software.
Strong governance model
that defines what technologies are used for digital automation of business processes, how they are used and how they complement each other in an enterprise’s digital environment.
Ability to handle complex enterprise-level processes
for example, financial processes with high-volume transactions like payroll management.
Intuitive drag-and-drop UI
to easily construct and visualize business processes.
Mobile functionality
to enable 24/7 managing of business workflows to prevent process delays and ensure high process productivity.
Easy integration
with enterprise systems (e.g., ERP, CRM, HRMS, CMS, ITSM) and other software to create a connected automation environment.
Success Story by ScienceSoft
Document Approval Workflow for a Law Firm
- A custom SharePoint approval workflow consisting of two parts: the primary workflow and the additional workflow for documents with the amount bigger than established.
- The workflow integration with a financial management system.
DPA Software: Investments and ROI
Digital process automation software offers ROI from 190% to 390%. The payback period is usually up to 6 months but depending on the implementation scope, it can be up to 12-13 months. DPA implementation costs will vary depending on the chosen platform, the number of employees, an organization’s digital maturity, automation scope, the complexity of processes to be automated, the enterprise systems involved, and other factors. For example, according to Forrester Total Economic Impact study for Bizagi, the implementation costs of a DPA solution for a global financial services organization with $5 billion in revenue and 30,000 employees is $275,000.
Key financial outcomes
Top DPA Platforms
ScienceSoft recommends using the following DPA platforms that offer rich workflow management features and allow automating business processes of any complexity quickly and easily.
SharePoint
Best for
Automation of document management processes like document approval and signature collection.
Description
SharePoint offers 5 built-in types of workflows that help streamline collaboration on documents and project management due to automation of collecting signatures, feedback, or approvals for documents and tracking the current status of project tasks.
Users: Citizen developers.
Rating: 4/5 by G2.
Pricing
$12.50 - $57 user/month (including Office apps).
Microsoft Power Automate
Best for
Automating repetitive or rules-based tasks like vacation approvals.
Description
Microsoft Power Automate helps create and manage simple and complex workflows across multiple services or applications to synchronize files, get notifications, collect data, and more.
Users: Citizen developers and business users.
Rating: 4.6/5 by G2.
Pricing
Starts at $15 user/month.
Appian
Best for
Automation of complex business processes and custom app development.
Description
Due to its low-code capabilities, Appian enables quick creation of business process management apps and automation of complex workflows that connect multiple enterprise systems. Appian helps organizations increase productivity, improve customer experience, ensure regulatory compliance, and more.
Users: Professional developers.
Rating: 4.5/5 by G2.
Pricing
Starts at $70 user/month, free version is available.
Pega
Best for
RPA-powered automation of repetitive tasks and app integration.
Description
Pega combines robotic process automation and business process management in a single platform and helps organizations automate business processes with bots to increase employee productivity.
Users: Nontechnical business users and citizen developers.
Rating: 4.2/5 by G2.
Pricing
Starts at $90 user/month, free trial is available.
DPA Software Implementation by ScienceSoft
With 33 years in IT, ScienceSoft offers consultancy and implementation of DPA solutions to ensure business connectivity and streamline business orchestration in your company.
DPA software consulting
- Analyzing your organization’s business processes.
- Helping design a digital transformation strategy for your business processes and a governance model for your digital environment.
- Prioritizing features for your DPA solution based on your digital process automation needs.
- Choosing a suitable DPA platform.
- Elaborating on DPA integration roadmap (e.g., enterprise systems, data sources).
- Drawing a DPA project plan.
- Elaborating a user adoption strategy for a new DPA solution.
DPA software implementation
- Analyzing your organization’s business processes and suggest how to optimize them via DPA software.
- Translating business needs into technical requirements for a DPA solution.
- Implementation of a DPA solution.
- DPA integration with enterprise systems (e.g., ERP, CRM, HRMS, CMS, ITSM) and data sources (email services, databases, etc.).
- Quality assurance and post-implementation support of a DPA solution.
- User adoption and training.
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and software development company headquartered in McKinney, Texas. We provide enterprises with consultancy, implementation, and support of digital process automation solutions to increase the efficiency of business processes and accelerate digital transformation. Being ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified, we rely on a mature quality management system and guarantee cooperation with us does not pose any risks to our customers' data security. If you’re interested in introducing digital process automation in your company, you’re welcome to request DPA consulting or implementation by ScienceSoft.
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