Process automation is about the automation of operational processes. Plants, machines or equipment are to be enabled to work automatically. The computers and programs used usually include options for importing and exporting process signals and for recording, processing and outputting process data. In the context of process automation, robot-controlled process automation, machine learning, cognitive computing or advanced learning are also used, for example.
This market overview lists current software solutions for the automation of business processes. Robotic process automation (RPA) describes digital robots that can handle processes fully autonomously. For this purpose, rule-based and structured data, such as repetitive uploads and downloads or data entries into an ERP system, are processed via the user interface of the process-supporting robotic software.
In contrast to business process management, process automation does not revise or optimize the underlying process itself; process automation refers solely to the automation of existing processes.