Exploring the Distinction Between Attended and Unattended Bots in RPA

In the realm of Robotic Process Automation (RPA), using software robots to automate mundane tasks and streamline business processes has become increasingly prevalent. These bots come in different forms, each addressing specific automation needs within organizations. Two primary categories of RPA bots are attended and unattended, each serving distinct functions in enhancing operational efficiency and productivity. Let’s delve into the world of the bots to uncover their distinct objectives and functions, shedding light on why comprehending their roles is essential for optimizing automation strategies and driving business growth.

Attended bots are designed to work alongside human employees, providing real-time assistance and enhancing user productivity in daily tasks. These bots operate on the user’s desktop and require human intervention to initiate and complete specific actions. Attended bots are ideal for scenarios where human judgment and decision-making are essential and the automation process involves user interaction.

How Attended Bots Work:

Attended bots are usually activated either manually by the user or automatically in response to predefined triggers.

For instance, when a customer service representative receives a call, the bot can automatically pull up relevant customer details based on the incoming call information.

Once triggered, the attended bot performs specific tasks that are either repetitive or data-intensive, freeing up the human worker to focus on more nuanced aspects of the task.

For example, in healthcare, an attended bot might assist a doctor by pre-filling patient information into an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system during a consultation​.

The key feature of attended bots is their collaborative nature. They assist in tasks that require frequent human decision-making or actions.

For instance, in finance, an attended bot might help an accountant process an invoice by extracting relevant data and filling in forms, but the final review and submission still require the accountant’s approval​.

Attended bots are often integrated into users’ existing workflows. They can seamlessly interact with multiple applications, pulling data from one and pushing it into another, thereby reducing the need for manual data entry.

In the insurance sector, for instance, an attended bot might assist an underwriter by retrieving historical policy data and pre-populating forms, but the underwriter would still be responsible for final approval​.

Unattended bots operate independently without human oversight, executing predefined tasks autonomously in the background. Unattended bots are typically deployed on servers or virtual machines and can perform repetitive, rule-based tasks at scale without the need for human intervention. These bots excel in scenarios where 24/7 automation is required, such as batch processing, data migration, and report generation.

Here’s how unattended bots function:

Unattended bots can be set to run on a specific schedule or triggered by certain events, such as the arrival of a new file in a f