How to Get Buy-In for Your RPA Project

When starting an RPA project, you’ll need to find a way to get key stakeholders on board. These steps will help you build your case for RPA at your organization and get feedback at the right steps along the way.

#1 Identify the most compelling use case for RPA

Make this use case specific, identifying one process that currently takes up a lot of valuable employee time and resources. Have a clear benefit attached to using RPA in this way. Is it cost savings? Time savings? Reducing complexity or tedious tasks?

Talk to people who actually perform the process today to get the full picture of the process and to get an idea for how a bot or digital worker could take tedious tasks off their plates.

#2 Based on this compelling use case, identify your needs for an RPA partner

This list should include:

• Functionality
• Scalability
• Reasonable budget
• Deal-breakers

Who will need to use this tool? Identify the skills at your disposal. Does it need to be business-user friendly? Or will IT be using it?

#3 Bring in a couple stakeholders

Limit this group to people closer to the initial use case, those who will be implementing or using RPA, management for that group, and the people who own the business process in the initial use case. Make sure IT is part of this conversation as well. Talk about your use case and needs for the RPA partner, and get feedback on the process so far. 

Include a variety of perspectives:

• At least one business user
• Someone from IT
• A management representative

Identify initial concerns and ways to mitigate those concerns. Incorporate feedback from these stakeholders, refine your plan, and move on to step 4. 

#4 Identify 3 options for RPA partners

Demo the robotic process automation software and ask all your questions about functionality, support, and how to tackle your initial use case. Either include your close stakeholders in these conversations or report back afterwards to keep them in the loop. Ask questions based on your criteria determined in step 2, and be sure to find out how long it will take to implement and begin to use the software.

Make sure to get a clear understanding of cost, as this will be important to share with the full team of stakeholders in the next step. In between step 4 and 5, you'll need to compile your findings, use case, and options for moving forward.

#5 Make your case to the full team of stakeholders

Make the business case, complete with your best estimation of ROI amount and timing based on your research and software demos.

Present your initial use case as the plan for the first step of implementation, utilizing those close stakeholders as proof points where you can. Then, from there, share the options for RPA partners and your evaluation of each. Make a recommendation, and open up the floor for feedback.

In some cases, going through the five steps once will get buy-in, depending on the company and readiness to adopt new technology. In other cases, you may need to go back and consider other partners based on concerns raised by the full team of stakeholders. It may not be perfectly linear, but by including the right people at the right time and carefully planning how this product will be used, you'll be better set up for success in your implementation and will have the support you need to move forward.