RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and BPM (Business Process Management) are both popular approaches that companies use to drive digital transformation. While it’s easy to confuse them to mean one and the same thing, these two have fundamental differences worth understanding when making decisions around which one to use: either, both, and why?
In this guide, we explore the differences that matter between RPA and BPM, as well as the strengths of each.
What is RPA?
RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is the use of robotic software to automate repetitive tasks that are normally performed by humans. The bots are designed to mimic human actions in a digital setting. Some common examples of such tasks include:
Copying and pasting data
Logging into systems and applications
Filling forms
Sending invoices to customers
Generating reports
Scheduling appointments
Processing orders
Managing inventory
Creating payroll
Updating customer records
Posting to social media
Monitoring website traffic
Analyzing data
RPA helps businesses to achieve efficiency by reducing the typical errors that humans are otherwise prone to.
For a comprehensive dive into automation, please read our expert guide into automating IT processes.
What is BPM?
Business Process Management (BPM) is about the processes, just as the name suggests. It’s the science of understanding and managing business processes so that they deliver optimal value to the organization and stakeholders.
BPM seeks to achieve the following:
Streamline workflows
Eliminate waste
Reduce operational costs in the long term
Scalability
The focus of BPM is to enhance collaboration, visibility, and control over the sequence of how work or different projects are performed within the organization.
Traditionally, this process was conducted manually by process experts. They would interview users of the company's processes, including employees, then use the insights they gain to design process diagrams.
The diagrams were designed with the use of tools like Microsoft Visio and other visual diagramming solutions. The final files needed to undergo additional work in order to make sense, since they were simply static. The shift to modern tools that capture the diagrams automatically instead of modeling them is what has given birth to BPM.
RPA vs BPM: The Key Differences
At the very top level, RPA is for automating repetitive processes, whereas BPM is for managing and streamlining business processes.
In other words, RPA focuses on automation at the task level without seeking to change any aspect of the process. Take the example of an invoicing process that involves manual extraction and entry of data from email messages to a spreadsheet. If the company decides to apply RPA to this task, a bot will be programmed to perform the following tasks:
Extraction of data from emails
Inputting the data into the spreadsheet
The RPA bot does all this without interfering with the underlying process that entails the fundamental sequence of steps or decision-making procedures that the company uses to manage invoices.
At a more granular level, the following distinctions act as the fundamental differences between RPA and BPM.
1. Technology
RPA makes use of programmable bots to accomplish the automation of repetitive tasks.
Unlike RPA, BPM is more of an approach and not a solely software-based system. BPM entails a streamlined guide of how processes operate, constantly checking and bringing out areas that need improvement, and providing direction on how each process can be best improved.
RPA just automates. But it does not look at the process to critique the efficiency and ensure that it's truly up to expectations. It just works at the surface level. So, for example, you can automate data collection and entry such that instead of relying on humans to get the right data from thousands of documents and enter it into a spreadsheet, you can use RPA software that is tailored for this task. However, the automation of these tasks does not necessarily mean that you will end up with the right data. If you do not have a clear process on how the software should identify the right data, how quality is checked and how the entries are organized, then the automation may as well be an exercise of no value.
So, in the above example, BPM will check the processes to ensure that the RPA software is collecting the correct data, tha the data is of high quality and that it's entered correctly in whatever medium.
BPM relies on different types of tools such as:
Business process modeling tools
Workflow management systems
Process automation platforms
These technologies are designed precisely for the purpose of analyzing, optimizing and automating business processes.
2. Goal
The main goal of RPA is to automate routine human tasks that can actually be done without the involvement of humans, or very minimal involvement if any.
On the other hand, the main goal of BPM is to effectively manage processes and enhance the efficiency of those processes.
Let's look at practical examples of a task and a process.
For RPA, imagine automating responses to customer inquiries via email. Instead of the customer support staff having to manually type out responses to common questions, a bot could recognize keywords and generate automatic replies. This frees up the human agents so they can attend to more complex queries.
For BPM, think of managing a fast-food restaurant. Currently, each employee handles orders on their own way:
Taking customer orders
Assembling the food
Checking the food for accuracy
Handing the food to the customer
Since each employee is doing it their own way, it can create confusion and make it so hard to reconcile orders at the end of the work day. A lot of time is wasted in addition to the employees getting overwhelmed.
When you apply BPM to the restaurant's order management process, the system will create a detailed checklist that each employee follows to handle each order. Each step is clearly defined to minimize errors. Each employee understands what to do, leading to faster service, happier customers and employees.
3. ROI
Both RPA and BPM offer impressive Return On Investment, so no problem on this. The only difference is the duration it takes to realize the ROI, as well as the size of the ROI.
For RPA, the ROI is realized in the short term. As soon as you implement an RPA software, you see the changes within a short time and the users feel relief. Think of an employee who was previously involved in manually copying data from emails and pasting it to a spreadsheet. When you implement RPA, the employee stops performing these tasks. The time they used to perform the repetitive task will be invested elsewhere.
For BPM, ROI takes time to realize because the process is elaborate and the impact is on processes rather than tasks.
However, in terms of magnitude or size, the ROI from RPA is relatively basic compared to the returns from BPM.
4. Deployment
The difficulty level encountered when it comes to deploying either RPA or BPM varies.
RPA is generally simpler to implement. You can deploy an RPA software and get up and running within a very short timeline.
Compared to RPA, BPM is relatively complex when it comes to deployment. This complexity can be explained by the fact that BPM combines many technologies applied to different processes which require seamless integration. In most cases, businesses will need to start by rethinking their entire operations and business model before they even get to the level of deploying the BPM.
5. Use cases
RPA is suited for use cases such as copying and pasting, processing invoices, data extraction, reconciling accounts, and among others. It reduces manual errors and accelerates process execution.
BPM is best for use cases such as identifying bottlenecks and optimizing workflows. It excels in scenarios where a comprehensive understanding of the entire process is necessary to drive improvements and make informed decisions. In other words, BPM helps in identifying inefficiencies, streamlining operations, and adapting to changing business requirements in a systematic manner.
6. Existence
RPA is relatively new compared to BPM. RPA grew in prominence with the onset of Artificial Intelligence technologies such as Machine Learning. The emergence of these frontiers enabled organizations to leverage intelligent software bots to execute repetitive tasks with speed and precision.
Meanwhile BPM has been around for quite some time, way longer than RPA. BPM is rooted in methodologies such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Process Reengineering (BPR). The frameworks have evolved over the years to adapt to rapidly changing business landscapes and advancements in technology. In short, BPM is relatively older than RPA.
Even the market numbers paint the same picture. The RPA market size is at around 5 Billion in 2024 while the BPM market size is at around 15 Billion.
RPA vs BPM — Choosing the Right One for Your Use Case
The first step in picking the right option between RPA and BPM, is to get a crystal clear picture of what exactly you want to achieve in the end.
If the focus is to automate repetitive tasks, then you should choose RPA. On the other hand, if the focus is to transform processes at a larger scale that are comprehensive in scope and affect many departments with potential involvement of third party integrations, BPM is the way you go.
If the processes you need to transform have lots of repetitive tasks that will require automation, then you need to think about combining both RPA and BPM.
In precise distinction, we can assert that RPA constitutes a technology while BPM embodies a discipline.
As a technology, RPA tackles smaller tasks that are repetitive by deploying bots to perform the tasks. These tasks typically involve structured data and follow predictable rules. Please note that these automated tasks are often integral parts of broader business processes. Keep this in mind.
Unlike RPA, which targets specific tasks, BPM looks at the entire workflow, from initiation to completion.
RPA and BPM are not competitors!
While the differences are many, RPA and BPM are complementary and together they provide a great framework that aids organizations in becoming digital-efficient.
RPA can be integrated as part of BPM. In such a context, BPM will impact an entire process, whereas RPA will automate certain repetitive tasks within the processes being subjected to transformation by BPM.
For example in a loan processing operation, RPA can be used to automate the entry of information from physical forms to the loan processing software. BPM will guide the overall flow (including the workflows within RPA). When you deploy both RPA and BPM, you achieve comprehensive digital transformation. It's far much better than when you implement transformation in disparate patches, which often bring complications around visibility and decision-making.
