The Fire chat session given by Milan Sheth and Anurag Malik of EY started with a discussion on RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and AI (Artificial Intelligence); and how robots of RPA are ‘dumb’ whilst AI is ‘self-learning’. There are around 500 bots being used in HR as of now. Milan discussed the evolution of RPA starting with Robots handling the ‘do’ part, cognitive doing the ‘thinking’ part and ‘analysis’ doing the analysis part. 

Bot is a software that mimics human action e.g. query handling, ticket checking. So it usually does what is repetitive in nature. Milan then went on to show a small video of Automation in recruitment process that depicted how recruitment is done in present days using software. He further mentioned that HRA is a customer-facing function and is getting replaced by robots, and humans in turn would be left with resource management and relationship management. 

Anurag Malik stated that “It is very surprising that talks about HR are still very minimal. But after Finance, it is the HR that has the maximum potential of robotic action. He further brings forward the areas where bots are starting to make their space like Workforce management, Recruitment & Selection, Performance management, Training & Development, HR Operations and Payroll. Though he mentions that obviously it won’t be like Optimus Prime but it will be something of same sort.

He further discussed how bots can check a mail, save the requisite CV, shortlist it, create schedules for interview and so on.  When a “bot” has finished working on a CV, it could email it to a candidate with a note saying what further needs to be done and what follow up tasks are required. Bots therefore become a part of the team. Milan then adds that, “Power has shifted from IT to business.” The HR department has had a tremendous transactional evolution and RPA will play a significant role in organisational cost optimisation and will also elevate the customer experience.

(This article is based on Fire Chat on 'HRobotic Process Automation' at TechHR 2016)