RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is technology where software mimics human interactions with a computer: opening applications, reading screens, clicking buttons, copying data between systems.
Key advantage: it works even with legacy systems that have no API. If your accounting software from 2008 has no automation interface, an RPA robot can simply do what an employee would – manually open, click, copy.
Popular RPA tools: UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate.
Where does RPA make sense? Processing data between old systems without APIs; repetitive administrative tasks in a fixed format; situations where API integration would be too expensive or complex.
Where does RPA fall short? RPA robots are fragile – if the screen layout or software version changes, the robot breaks. This is why RPA is increasingly combined with AI: AI understands unstructured inputs, RPA executes actions in legacy systems. This combination is called Intelligent Automation.