What is RPA — in plain words?
Imagine you had an employee who never gets sick, needs no breaks and still handles every dull data-entry task flawlessly. That’s exactly what an RPA bot is. Robotic process automation — RPA for short — sounds like science fiction, but at its core it’s astonishingly simple. An RPA bot is a software program that mimics the operation of computer applications. It clicks buttons, fills in fields, copies data between systems and navigates menus — just like a human, only automatically, faster and error-free.
The decisive advantage over classic software development: RPA bots work with your existing systems. You don’t need elaborate interfaces or system overhauls. The bot uses the same user interface as your employees. In my experience, that’s precisely what makes RPA so attractive for SMEs that don’t want to — or can’t — completely rebuild their existing software landscape.
Concrete use cases: where RPA shines in SMEs
RPA is suitable wherever people carry out rule-based, repetitive tasks on the computer. The best candidates for RPA automation are processes that follow clear rules, repeat the same steps over and over, and work with structured data.
The most common RPA use cases in SMEs:
- Invoice processing: incoming invoices are captured automatically, the data is extracted (invoice number, amount, IBAN) and transferred into the accounting system. A bot processes 100 invoices in the time a human needs for 5.
- Data entry and migration: transferring customer data from Excel into the CRM, synchronising product information between systems, updating address changes across all systems at once.
- Report creation: every morning the bot collects data from different sources — revenues, stock levels, open orders — and automatically produces a clear daily report.
- Email processing: enquiries are classified by type, routed to the right department and answered with an automatic acknowledgement of receipt.
- Order handling: orders are transferred from the online shop into the inventory-management system, delivery notes are created and shipping notifications are sent.
- HR: processing holiday requests, checking time recording, working through onboarding checklists.
Cost-benefit analysis: what does RPA cost for SMEs?
The cost of RPA has changed dramatically in recent years. What used to be a six-figure enterprise project is today available to SMEs from a few hundred euros per month. The cost is made up of three components: the software licence, setting up the bots, and ongoing maintenance.
Typical costs and savings at a glance:
- Software licences: from free (UiPath Community Edition, Power Automate in Microsoft 365) up to around 500 euros per month for full-featured cloud solutions.
- Setup per bot: depending on complexity, between 1,000 and 5,000 euros. Simple bots (data entry, email forwarding) sit at the lower end, more complex processes at the upper end.
- Ongoing maintenance: roughly 10 to 20 per cent of the setup cost per year. Bots have to be adjusted when the user interface of the applications changes.
- Typical saving: 2 to 8 hours per day per bot. At an hourly rate of 30 euros (incl. on-costs), a single bot saves between 1,200 and 4,800 euros per month.
Rule of thumb: if a manual process costs more than 2 hours per week and follows clear rules, RPA almost always pays off within 6 months.
Cloud-based or on-premise? Choosing the right RPA option
For your business, the question arises: cloud or on-premise? Cloud-based RPA solutions have clear advantages for smaller businesses. They require no server infrastructure of your own, are quick to deploy, and are maintained by the provider. The bots run in the cloud and access your systems over the internet. On-premise solutions offer more control over the data and suit companies with strict data-protection requirements or systems that are not reachable over the internet.
Most SMEs in Carinthia and Austria are best served by a hybrid solution: cloud-based orchestration and management, but local bot execution on a dedicated machine in the office. That way you keep control over sensitive data while still benefiting from the flexibility of the cloud.
The most important RPA tools for SMEs
Proven RPA platforms compared:
- Microsoft Power Automate: already included in many Microsoft 365 subscriptions. Ideal for companies that work with Outlook, Excel and Teams anyway. Desktop and cloud flows are possible. Getting started is almost free.
- UiPath Community Edition: free for small businesses and individual users. Powerful desktop automation with a visual bot designer. A large ecosystem of pre-built components.
- Automation Anywhere: a cloud-native platform with strong AI integration. Especially good for document processing (intelligent document processing). Free community access available.
- n8n: open-source workflow automation that combines excellently with RPA approaches. Can be self-hosted and offers over 400 integrations. Particularly flexible for API-based automations.
- Robocorp: open-source RPA built on Python. Ideal for technically skilled teams that want maximum flexibility. A free execution environment in the cloud.
When RPA is NOT the right solution
As promising as RPA is — it’s not suitable for every process. There are clear cases where other approaches work better.
RPA is not ideal when:
- The process changes frequently: RPA bots are fragile to changes in the user interface. If a system changes every few weeks, bot maintenance becomes expensive.
- Human judgement is required: processes that call for complex assessments — such as evaluating a complaint — are unsuitable for pure RPA. Here you need AI support or a human decision.
- APIs are available: if two systems offer a direct programming interface (API), an API integration is more stable and faster than an RPA bot operating the user interface.
- The volume is too low: if a process only occurs a few times a month, the setup costs often exceed the savings.
- The process should be fundamentally rethought: sometimes the right answer is not automation, but a complete redesign of the process.
RPA is strongest when you understand it as a bridging technology: it automates immediately while you work on better solutions in the long term.
Getting started with RPA in your SME — with Grafenau
RPA is not rocket science, but getting started needs direction. Which processes are suitable? Which tool fits your business? What does a realistic timeline look like? At Grafenau I analyse your business processes, identify the best RPA candidates and set up the first bots together with you. In doing so, I make sure your team can adjust and extend the bots independently — because automation should not make you dependent on external service providers. Let’s work out together which of your processes a software robot can handle better and faster than manual work.