Process automation
What is RPA
RPA stands for robotic process automation: software that does on a screen what an employee does. Log in, copy, paste, enter, next. Not a robot made of metal, but a program that takes over the work between systems. This is what it is, where it fits and where it stops.
What a software robot does
An RPA robot operates applications through the screen, like a person. Microsoft describes it as automating repetitive tasks on the workstation, also in legacy applications without an integration, by working with screen elements. That is the difference with an API integration: that one talks to the system at the back. RPA talks to the front, and so works where there is no door.
Where RPA fits
Lacity and Willcocks, who studied the first large RPA rollout at Telefónica O2, call it swivel chair work: someone who brings input from different systems together and retypes it. RPA fits processes with high volume, high standardisation, clear rules and a stable way of working.
- Copying order data into the ERP.
- Matching invoices with purchase orders.
- Creating a customer in four systems at once.
- Compiling reports from fixed exports.
What it delivered at Telefónica O2
In 2015 O2 ran more than 160 robots on 15 core processes, handling 400,000 to 500,000 transactions a month. Payback was twelve months and the three-year return was between 650 and 800 percent. Processes that took days, such as a SIM swap, took minutes. It is one company and one study, but a carefully documented one.
How often it is used in the Netherlands
Statistics Netherlands counts robotic process automation as an AI technology. In 2025, 8 percent of companies with ten or more employees used it. Among companies with 10 to 20 people it is 5 percent, among 100 to 250 people 16 percent.
Where RPA stops
A robot that operates the screen breaks when the screen changes. A new version of the package, a button that moves, a pop-up that suddenly appears. So RPA is a solution for work that has no API, not a replacement for an integration where one is possible. And a robot does not decide. At an exception it stops and hands the work back to a person.
Frequently asked questions
Is RPA the same as AI?
No. RPA follows fixed rules. AI comes in when the robot must read or judge something that is not fixed, such as an invoice in a free format. That is then called intelligent process automation.
When do I choose an integration instead of RPA?
When the system has an API. An integration is more robust, because it does not break with a new screen layout. You choose RPA for applications without an API, or as a temporary bridge.
What does an RPA robot cost?
That depends on the number of processes and on how stable the screens are. Most of the work is in describing the exceptions, not in recording the clicks.
Sources
Where every figure on this page comes from.
- IEEE 2755-2017: Guide for Terms and Concepts in Intelligent Process Automation · Gepubliceerd 28 september 2017
- Microsoft: Introduction to desktop flows · RPA op de werkplek, ook voor oude toepassingen zonder API
- Lacity en Willcocks: Robotic Process Automation at Telefónica O2 · MIS Quarterly Executive, maart 2016
- CBS: ICT-gebruik bij bedrijven naar bedrijfsgrootte, 2025 · Tabel 86118NED, robotondersteunde procesautomatisering als AI-technologie
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Which retyping costs your team the most hours?
Name the process, and in one conversation we tell you whether a robot, an integration or an AI employee fits.
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