Robotic process automation (RPA) company UiPath and research firm IDC this month launched a free interactive assessment tool that offers organizations a tailored response on how to automate for good.

But what, exactly, does it mean to “automate for good?”

UiPath and IDC looked to the United Nations for its definition, said Margareta Mucibabici, public affairs manager for UiPath.

“Initially it started as an initiative aimed at just researching, collecting, thinking about automation use cases that can really bring a positive impact on organizations, on people, on stakeholders in the larger society in general,” Mucibabici told Bank Automation News. “Then we started thinking about okay, but what is good? How do we define good?”

IDC and UiPath looked to the United Nations’ sustainability and development goals for inspiration. Together they developed five principles for good covered in an IDC paper on the topic:

1. People are at the heart of automation projects.

Seeing people as “a cost or overhead to be removed from an activity diminishes the automation opportunity and demeans the value of human engagement as core to the automation process,” IDC stated.

2. Automation creates new personal development opportunities and skills horizons.

Automation can create new opportunities and skills, but to be good, those opportunities should be extended to all employees equally — regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability, according to the principles.

3. A multipurpose tool for transforming organizations.

Organizations can use automation to transform more than operating costs — they can increase resilience and transparency and decrease material waste and energy usage. In public sectors, that can save taxpayers money and create financial benefits for a larger population, which in turn can decrease socioeconomic gaps, IDC stated.

4. Automation dividends should be invested in furthering a company’s mission.

When a company achieves returns on money, time or skills, those savings should be invested in an “organizations’ broader missions to deliver positive value to society, and by doing so can further increase employee engagement,” according to IDC.

5. Automation should be pursued in the light.

“The value of automation is amplified when organizations are transparent about their automation efforts, sharing their successes and challenges and reporting on all the outcomes that are delivered,” IDC stated.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, for example, used automation to help visually impaired employees use systems via speech interfaces, IDC reported.

How banks can automate for good

Banks can also leverage automation for good, said Mucibabici, who previously worked as an attorney covering banking, finance and commercial law. Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) is one area where banks can leverage automation for good, she said. Automation can help “green” a bank by reducing paperwork, for example.

“Another layer in the banking and finance industry is also about sustainable investing, and circular economy, because that’s an area where automation can also have an important role to play,” Mucibabici said. “It’s also about the areas where it looks for sustainable and green investment.”

Organizations can focus on automation for good by asking specific questions around the topic, such as how to implement automation so that it delivers more returns that have a positive impact and societal benefit, she added. It also means engaging employees on the automation journey and democratizing training opportunities.

Establishing a center of excellence is yet another way to create automation for good, Mucibabici said.

“When a customer establishes a CoE, that’s the place where a lot of jobs and roles originate and people can get training to become business analysts or technical developers, and so on,” she said. “So you have a new ecosystem that creates around this new technology.”

Automating for good may also benefit the organization through better automation since many automation ideas come directly from process owners.

“We see a lot of ideas coming from citizen developers when we empowered them with the automation tools,” Mucibabici said.

Bank Automation Summit, taking place March 1-2 in Charlotte, N.C., is the first and only event to focus solely on automation in banking. The event will feature the brightest minds from across financial services on intelligent automation strategies and deployment. Learn more and register for Bank Automation Summit 2022.