Desktop Automation Software

Copying and pasting information from one application to the next over and over is incredibly labor-intensive and a major waste of time—and? It’s tedious and prone to all kinds of errors that can cost you big time. 

In 2003, the Canadian power supplier TransAlta lost $24 million in a copy-and-paste error due to misaligned rows in an Excel spreadsheet. 

In 2012, the London Summer Olympics committee oversold tickets to a synchronized swimming event because of a keystroke issue, selling 20,000 tickets for 10,000 seats.

In 2012, JP Morgan incurred a $6 billion trading loss because of an Excel copy-and-paste mistake on a value-at-risk model. 

You need a better way to deal with this meticulous busywork and remove the risk of errors. 

Connect Your Processes and Applications

If a typical day at the office for you or your team members involves things like copying and pasting fields from one application and then pasting it into other applications, then importing sales data from an Excel spreadsheet into an online form, it’s time to automate your desktop processes. 

Sure, Excel macros are a decent way to accomplish some of this, but they only work in Excel, and even then, the internet is filled with all kinds of articles addressing what to do when macros don’t work. Excel macros require programming knowledge that many employees don’t have, and IT doesn’t have the time to implement these kinds of simple tasks. 

Businesses and IT processes can be impacted by errors in these repetitive, rule-based tasks that involve the manipulation of software across multiple applications. 

It’s time for robotic process automation (RPA).

Desktop RPA can build these same kinds of macros, only much more reliable and on a bigger scale. A macro macro, if you will, so that automations seamlessly leap from one application and into the next, connecting these processes and streamlining your workflows.

Desktop Automation and Rule-Based Business and IT Processes

How can robotic process automation impact the way your team works every day? Desktop automation enables users to set and indicate repetitive operations you’d like your robots to perform, even between applications, just by indicating on the screen what needs to happen.

These desktop scripts operate at a logical control level and don’t rely on the precise positioning of elements on the screen like older, largely ineffective legacy automations. Why does this matter? With desktop RPA, your automation isn’t beholden to screen size and resolution, which means that automations are more reliable and dependable than ever before. 

Desktop RPAs are intuitive and easy to implement. Anyone on your team can build automations whether they know how to code or not, and it’s simple to maintain these automations and accommodate small tweaks to the scripts as well. 

What can you do with desktop automation?

• Create automation apps: Build your own automation apps then deploy them to all the computers in your organization.

• Use a task recorder: Record your tasks just by indicating them on a screen in the same way you would train a new hire.

• Build user events: Trigger automations with the click of a button.

• Employ presentation layer automation: Fashion entirely accurate scripts that see your presentation layer at the control level.

• Enjoy automation without coding: Create automation scripts with no programming experience necessary.

• Implement non-intrusive automations: Set off automations that don’t change anything about the underlying legacy applications in days, not months.

Increased Productivity Using an Integrated Recorder

Perhaps one of the best examples of what desktop automation can do for your enterprise is the recorder function. Normally, automations have to be configured one step or action at a time, which can be incredibly time-consuming. Those new to automation might not always be able to match action models with the steps they need, and desktop RPA makes this process accessible for everyone.

Recording with desktop automation means that your on-screen actions are observed and translated into real workflows. What might this look like?

• You could record an entire sequence such as logging into your Salesforce account, running a search, and generating a report; this whole recording could be set in just two minutes. 

With desktop automation, you can record all kinds of actions including clicking buttons and links, typing into editable controls, and selecting an option on a drop-down menu. You can even set a recording for advanced actions like waiting until an image appears on the screen or pulling structured data from a particular web page—even if the web page changes.

Cronos is here to help you implement desktop RPA systems so you and your entire team can build and create customized, automated workflows that mitigate the risk of error and cut down on the amount of time you spend steeped in busywork.

We’re here to support the day-to-day work you do so you can look at the bigger picture, broaden your horizons and make real change in your industry. Want to learn more about desktop automation and how it can impact your entire organization? Contact us today!