The Impact of RPA (Robotic Process Automation) Development on BPO Firms: Business Model Innovation Perspective

Robotic Process Automation, the new kind of automation software recently introduced to the market, has the potential capacity to eliminate human employees in routine repetitive rule-based tasks typical for back office operations. Additionally, it offers benefits such as low investment cost, short payback period, agility, accountability, accuracy, speed of implementation and relative ease of maintenance. All of these characteristics make it a strong competitor for the traditional strategy of minimizing back office costs, such as outsourcing. In the face of such strong competition, Business Process Outsourcing companies feel compelled to improve their offerings, and many of them seem to revert to business model innovation, either though incorporating RPA into their existing services or by becoming RPA adoption consultants themselves. This thesis studies this ongoing transformation in BPO companies’ business model stimulated by development and spread of RPA.