How can Robotic Process Automation (RPA) improve the DSAR process?

Several regulations like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) allow individuals to access a copy of or request changes to their personal information stored or processed by a company. The request raised by an individual for exercising their data rights is called a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) or Consumer Rights (CR).

Processing hundreds or thousands of DSARs on a regular basis can be a routine, boring, and tedious task and invite errors. Moreover, it also requires training and allocation of resources, adding to the costs and hampering productivity.

As organizations struggle to implement and operationalize tools for DSARs, incorporating automation to some extent can go a long way in streamlining and expediting the process. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is one such technology that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities to automate repeatable tasks performed by humans.

RPA is a promising technology that is being adopted across several industries like banking, retail, healthcare, etc., for automating business operations. RPA can automate repetitive and labor-intensive tasks, making it a useful technology for DSAR processing.

However, it’s important to note that there needs to be checks and balances in the automation process to ensure a human is involved in the important decision-making process.

Here are six ways in which RPA can improve the DSAR process:

1. Cost Efficiency

RPA can automate manually performed repetitive tasks in the DSAR process, thus reducing the manpower required and improving accuracy. It can be used for tasks like user verification, accepting and rejecting requests, generating reports, channeling or managing how the requests need to be handled and by whom, etc. Automation can help organizations save 30 to 50% of costs as software robots require less investment than employing a human.

2. Accuracy and Productivity

Automating recurring tasks can also help with better accuracy and consistency throughout the process as humans are comparatively more prone to errors.

This ensures a better customer experience with timely and valid responses. Automating mundane tasks allows for better allocation of human resources to more meaningful responsibilities, and that can increase productivity and employee morale.

By adopting RPA, organizations can let employees focus on more value-added activities. In an era of the great recession, this can be a strategic advantage to many companies.

In our next article, we will talk about some of the value-added activities that can make DSAR smooth and efficient for your customers.

3. Compliance

Employing RPA reduces the need for human intervention and thereby results in a smoother experience for the customers. In addition, automated tools ensure better compliance with privacy regulations and provide an audit trail history for surveillance.

4. Easy Integration

RPA solutions can be easily integrated with your existing infrastructure without the need to make any substantial changes to it. This allows easy implementation and gets the system up and running in no time.

5. Scalability

With a growing number of customers, there could be an increase in the number of requests coming in on a regular basis. To expand the operations, RPA robots can be installed quickly and conveniently without adding too much to the capital.

The configuration of RPA is simpler than recruiting and training new resources for the job. Contrarily, RPA robots can be suspended to scale down operations based on the business requirements.

6. Improved Operations

Gartner forecasts that the global RPA market is expected to grow at double-digit rates through 2024. Automation of processes helps streamline the business operations and increase overall productivity. Any labor-intensive business will experience growth while saving time and money with RPA.

Better resource allocation reduces the workload on the employees to make them available for more important duties and critical business decisions. This leads to the enhanced expertise and improved skill sets that are beneficial to the organization in the long run.