Low-Code vs. RPA: Which One is Right for Your Business?

Key advances in the low code market

According to a survey, two-thirds of large enterprises will use at least four low-code applications by 2024. The rapid adoption can be partly attributed to critical advancements in low-code technology, making this approach to automation more powerful and versatile.

Some of these advancements include: 

• AI-powered development tools
  Recent development has seen a growing integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) features into low-code development platforms. Features like natural language processing, predictive analysis, and automated testing streamline the development process and improve decision-making of low-code automation solutions. As AI technology advances, we can expect an even deeper integration of AI in low-code, allowing low-code developers to create more sophisticated automation applications with minimal effort.
• Cloud-native capabilities
  Low code platform are becoming increasingly cloud native. Most apps developed with low-code platforms are designed to run on the cloud and integrate with other cloud-native applications. The growing cloud-native capabilities of low-code automation allow enterprises to deploy and manage their low-code applications at scale, increasing accessibility and agility.
• Integration with enterprise systems
  Low-code platforms can integrate with existing enterprise systems such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Businesses can build end-to-end automated systems that connect with their existing application landscape without writing complex code.
  
  

Limitations of robotic process automation

While RPA has some advantages, these limitations can be a deterrence for forward-looking organizations seeking to thrive in an increasingly digital world:

1. High maintenance

RPA requires regular management, maintenance and security, which adds on to the processes the IT department has to tackle. The more bots your organization deploys to automate processes, the more the likelihood of your IT department being overwhelmed. Since RPA requires integration into the corporate IT infrastructure, it adds a layer of architectural complexity, and IT overhead. IT personnel have to ensure your RPA bots are working optimally and simultaneously manage other IT processes.

2. Successive changes break processes

RPA is limited to individual tasks and cannot adapt to change. Software bots are trained to follow specific, straightforward actions, so even minor updates to the user interface or underlying systems can cause processes to fail, or return incorrect data. Any exceptions outside predefined procedures can confuse bots, make the automation process brittle, halt RPA processes and require complete re-tuning.

3. Move the focus away from strategic projects

RPA is a tactical, relatively easier way to gain swift process efficiency, but it may unintentionally divert attention away from more critical and strategic projects. It can also make you overlook digitalization opportunities or take you away from more valuable activities, such as replacing large legacy core systems or creating new systems for disruptive business processes.

4. Cannot interpret unstructured data

RPA is not a cognitive solution for interpreting unstructured data. It's more useful for rule-based processes with set criteria and structured, easy-to-access data entry with well-defined processes. It's best for data stored in a quality standardized format in columns and rows that conforms to a data model. Unfortunately, many business documents have unstructured data such as rich media, images, or text that require a higher level of intelligence.

Beyond automation: Innovation and digital transformation

Low-code drives innovation by enabling businesses to reimagine internal processes, create new business models, and achieve digital transformation even with limited resources.  

Building with low-code is faster, allowing organizations to innovate quickly and build software to help them compete effectively within their industry. Low-code also bridges the skill gap, one of the main hindrances to digital transformation.

Most organizations lack the talent to go beyond automating their everyday operations. With low-code, business users can build and automate workflows without needing help from the IT department. It reduces the burden on IT and allows them to focus on more complex projects critical to achieving complete digital transformation.

Low-code also makes it easier for businesses to maintain agility, which is necessary to stay ahead of the competition. You can build applications in a few days instead of months, ensuring your business adapts quickly to changing market conditions and consumer behavior. 

The low-code edge over RPA

Low code is a practical development platform shaking up the industry. Its diverse benefits give it a definite edge over RPA:

Reduced maintenance

Low code’s simplified development process and ready-to-use templates reduce the need for regular maintenance. It lets your business manage and track development processes across the organization from one central dashboard. It's a comprehensive, end-to-end solution that reduces the number of bugs, and streamlines the automation process, making it stress-free.

More flexibility

Low-code is an innovative and flexible tool that helps businesses scale easily. It allows organizations to fill the IT skills shortage gap with business users who build custom applications, helping the company quickly adapt to ever-changing market requirements and business conditions. It increases retention rates because non-tech users can meet customer needs and enhance customer experiences across all channels without waiting on IT developers.

Enhanced agility

Low code process automation is designed to simplify the exhaustive and time-consuming application development process. You can build and update applications faster and easier, to meet current requirements and changing organizational needs. The little coding knowledge and skills required to build apps, pre-built templates, and automated testing in low-code platforms increases organizational agility.

Greater speed

Low code offers an intuitive and highly visual graphical user interface that uses API connectors to integrate with third-party tools to quicken app development. The time and effort typically required to create enterprise-grade applications with low code are relatively less, whether you’re building apps, completely redesigning processes, or adding features. You’ll deliver apps in days or weeks instead of months.

Cost-effective

Low-code platforms’ initial set-up, training, implementation, and maintenance cost less. Creating custom, fully functional apps and updating them requires little coding skills and takes little time, which saves you time and money. Also, low code has fewer staffing needs and doesn’t require specialized IT skills, so it greatly reduces the need for IT experts. IT developers can automate and refine processes to deliver projects faster, further saving money because fewer developers can handle key non-repetitive IT processes.

Beyond automation: Innovation and digital transformation

Low-code drives innovation by enabling businesses to reimagine internal processes, create new business models, and achieve digital transformation even with limited resources.  

Building with low-code is faster, allowing organizations to innovate quickly and build software to help them compete effectively within their industry. Low-code also bridges the skill gap, one of the main hindrances to digital transformation.

Most organizations lack the talent to go beyond automating their everyday operations. With low-code, business users can build and automate workflows without needing help from the IT department. It reduces the burden on IT and allows them to focus on more complex projects critical to achieving complete digital transformation.

Low-code also makes it easier for businesses to maintain agility, which is necessary to stay ahead of the competition. You can build applications in a few days instead of months, ensuring your business adapts quickly to changing market conditions and consumer behavior.

RPA or low-code solutions: Which is better for enterprise business?

RPA is an efficient way to automate repetitive business tasks for greater efficiency. Low-code offers the same benefits but provides a broader range of development capabilities that help redesign entire processes to fix the core inefficiencies. Low-code is a better choice for process automation, especially for businesses looking to automate workflows, streamline operations, and accelerate digital transformation.

Take Caratlane, for instance; India’s first omnichannel jewelry brand founded to make jewelry accessible, affordable, and forever wearable for its customers. Despite a partnership with India’s largest retail jeweler, Tanishq, to offer a distinctive shopping experience to customers, Caratlane struggled with a poor and messy post-order process.

Most tasks were handled with forms and spreadsheets, making them tedious and challenging to track. The company needed a custom solution to effectively clean up its operations and digitalize processes.

In 2017, Caratlane adopted Kissflow as the low-code/no-code platform for automating workflows, managing business processes, and building enterprise applications.

With Kissflow, Caratlane created apps for its warehousing, accounting, customer service, quality checks, and other vital departments in a fraction of time. It led to a boost in customer satisfaction and accountability, accelerating innovation without IT dependency.

Low-code over RPA every time

RPA may be easier to implement, but it's slowly dying. Switching to Kissflow low-code moves you to a more sustainable and adaptive platform that increases business agility, integrates easily with remote solutions, and will help you innovate frequently. It's a cloud-driven solution to help you implement a better digital transformation strategy and meet changing business and customer needs.