Software as a Service (SaaS) organizations are increasingly becoming popular in industries where accessibility, functionality, and versatility are top priorities. These organizations are a major driver of cloud adoption, offering businesses scalable and subscription-based software.
According to a recent Gartner prediction public cloud service spending is forecasted to reach $679 billion in 2024 – a level hike that will shape how the future of SaaS will evolve in coming years.
With this level of increase in demand, SaaS companies are on the lookout to further reduce operational costs and multiply efficiency. Enter RPA, a modern technology that is swiftly proving to be a powerful support tool for SaaS companies. With automation all the rule-based time-consuming operational tasks without much human intervention. This further frees up SaaS ops to keep up with the enormous demands from unique customers.
While SaaS solutions have already simplified software management by providing cloud-based applications, adding RPA to the mix is taking this a step further. RPA allows SaaS providers to reduce manual labor, enhance accuracy, and provide faster, more seamless services to their clients.
In this blog we will explore how RPA is set to transform the future of SaaS with some in depth use cases. Let’s begin! But first let us understand the basics.
What is RPA?
In simple terms, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) refers to bots that can mimic human actions without much human intervention. They can perform tasks like data entry, any kind of navigation, complex analysis, and so much more! For SaaS RPA can handle tasks like syncing data across systems managing client profiles and other repetitive tasks.
Modern automation directly functions on user interface, unlike traditional RPA systems which require complex API integrations. This denotes the seamless implementation of automation to existing SaaS systems.
What is SaaS?
Software as a service (SaaS) as the name suggests is a software that works as a distribution model. In this cloud provider hosts different applications and makes them available to end users(customers) over the Internet. The targeted audience includes both B2B and B2C ranging from the media industry to big tech giants.
Why Are SaaS Companies Embracing RPA?
1. Operational Acceleration and Cost controls
One of the biggest challenges for SaaS providers is managing the operational tasks that come with serving thousands of customers. Things like data management, account setup, and subscription management often require a significant amount of manual labor. RPA solves this problem by automating those tasks, leading to faster and more accurate processes.
For example, HubSpot, a popular marketing SaaS platform, has adopted RPA to streamline data migration during customer onboarding. Previously, setting up new customer accounts and migrating data from external systems required multiple hours of manual labor. With RPA, this process now takes a fraction of the time, and it has also reduced human error, improving customer satisfaction.
McKinse in their value of automation interview revealed that organizations who adopted RPA reported a cost savings of 30-50% in their back-office operations. For SaaS providers operating on tight profit margins, these savings can significantly enhance profitability.
2. Customer is the king, and so is Cx.
Customer experience is key for SaaS platforms, especially in highly competitive industries. In many cases, RPA can be used to improve the onboarding experience for new users by automating manual tasks like account creation, billing setup, and data verification. This provides new users with a faster and smoother onboarding process, increasing their overall satisfaction.
Salesforce is another prime example of how SaaS companies use RPA to improve customer experiences. RPA integration with their customer support operations, Salesforce has been able to automate processes such as ticket resolution and issue escalation. This has led to faster response times and reduced the workload on customer support teams, allowing them to focus on more complex customer issues.
In the global RPA survey conducted by Deloitte, 78% of organizations reported improved customer satisfaction after implementing RPA in their customer service workflows. The ability of RPA to reduce service times and increase accuracy makes it a key tool for maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction in the SaaS industry.
3. Improving Data Integration and Management
SaaS platforms generate and manage a tremendous amount of data and ensuring that this data is accurate and easily accessible is essential for success. RPA can automate tasks related to data extraction, transformation, and migration, ensuring that data is consistently synced across platforms without manual intervention. This not only improves data accuracy but also speeds up decision-making processes by making data more readily available.
For instance, Workday, a leading SaaS provider in the human capital management space, has integrated RPA to streamline HR data management. By automating the integration of HR data across multiple systems, Workday has been able to reduce data processing times by 25% and improve reporting accuracy.
4. Enhancing Compliance and Regulatory Reporting
For SaaS companies that operate in regulated industries—such as finance, healthcare, and insurance—compliance with regulations is critical. Manually handling compliance tasks, such as data validation, audits, and reporting, can be time-consuming and error prone.
For example, Intuit—the maker of financial management software like QuickBooks and TurboTax—has implemented RPA to streamline its regulatory reporting. This has helped the company reduce the time it takes to generate reports by 40%, while also improving the accuracy of its filings.
Let’s Understand Real-world Use Cases of RPA in SaaS
Several real-world examples demonstrate how RPA is transforming the SaaS landscape:
- Microsoft Power Automate is another popular RPA tool that allows businesses to automate end-to-end workflows that integrate seamlessly with other SaaS platforms like Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365. Companies using Power Automate have reported productivity improvements of up to 30%, especially in repetitive tasks like data synchronization and customer service.
- UiPath, a leading RPA vendor, has partnered with several SaaS companies to automate workflows such as customer onboarding, data reconciliation, and financial reporting. UiPath’s bots have helped companies like Autodesk reduce manual data entry by 80%, enabling their teams to focus on more strategic tasks.
SaaS and Automation- The Potential Duo
Few of the top benefits of SaaS models include ease of access, instant adoption, on-demand scalability, and cost-effectiveness. When combined with RPA the duo acts as a powerful tool transforming the potential of software delivery and operational efficiency.
With automation SaaS companies can become even more intelligent and scale dramatically with predictable lowered costs. Which is a win-win for both customers and companies. Isn’t it? Some more evolving modern technologies that will fit SaaS best include hyperautomation, Artificial intelligence etc. This will allow SaaS platforms to offer more personalized services and optimize operations in ways that were previously unimaginable.
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