Robotic Process Automation Costs and What Factors Determine Its Cost of Ownership

Process automation costs are a big concern for adopters, even though it promises significant benefits and a quick ROI. Information on RPA pricing from providers is not readily available online because the price really depends on the project. The experts at Tagence used their experience to compile some information for everyone to start planning their budgets. (We can tell you exactly how much implementing RPA at your business will cost, reach out to us.)

In this article, we will share our findings on the following:

• Four major RPA software providers and their prices
• Multiple bot implementation and multiple user scenarios
• Forms of deployment, e.g, aided or unaided bots
• What factors influence the prices of RPA software, e.g, does your business need multiple seats?

There are five major players in the market, each with its own RPA deployment, pricing, and integration. Your particular use case will be the most significant influencer when calculating the price of an RPA platform.

1. Basic Prices of Robot Automation Software

It isn't easy to find information about RPA software pricing because prices tend to be customized to specific users. However, Microsoft's Power Automate pricing plans indicate that it is the cheapest option available. Plans start at $15 per user per hour or $40 per user per month.

UiPath is the RPA platform with the biggest market share so far. The company's annual licensing pricing starts at $2,000 per user per year and varies widely. Implementation costs depend on the extent of customization required, configuration, workflows, data migration, and integration with existing systems.

Blue Prism has a more comprehensive pricing approach that costs anywhere from $5,000-$100,000 per client per year. As with UiPath, the extra costs arise not just from the software licensing but implementation costs as well.

Micro Focus has a simple pricing model in the range of $10,000-$20,000 for each bot, which can be as many as 500 for a large business organization.

Automation Anywhere is one of the most expensive RPA solutions starting at $9,000 per year for small teams. Automation Anywhere prices are relatively high for enterprise-level deployments.

These prices are estimates based on a generalized use scenario, which means that prices will vary greatly for each customer. However, our research shows that the prices of RPA software vary loosely as above from the lowest to highest.

2. How Many Bots Do You Really Need?

The second factor that determines how much Robot Process Automation costs is how many robots you need in your business. For example, Micro Focus, each "robot" is defined as one kind of capability or functionality to complete an automated workflow.

Thus, if you will be automating 10 or 20 discrete workflows, your license and implementation costs will scale accordingly (though not necessarily in a linear fashion). The number of robots you implement is determined by your particular needs as driven by business size and your capacity to run many concurrent or sequential executions.

In the case of UiPath, the number of business processes determines the number of bots you need. Blue Prism has a slightly different scaling model, but the end result is that more robots = higher costs.

Large organizations aim for a number of bots that is half of the number of people it would have taken to do the same job manually. Only a thorough analysis of your business needs will help you to determine which critical processes are most suited to RPA and will give the fastest ROI.

3. Aided vs. Unaided Bots: Which is Right for You?

Until bots become sentient, the truth is that many of them will still need some form of human oversight depending on the complexity of their processes. As with Automation Anywhere, think of attended bots as digital assistants that work hand-in-hand with your employees while unattended RPAs can run independently.

Unattended RPAs require advanced complexity and technology such as Machine Learning and AI to support autonomous operation, which makes them more pricey. Unattended bots will free up more of your employees' valuable time, which can justify the added cost. The more advanced features a bot has, the more expensive it will be.

This human/bot collaboration factor also defines the amount of customization and tailoring that will be done to match your unique process workflow needs. This can increase the cost of implementation significantly for any RPA software platform.

4. Does Your Business Require Multiple Seats?

While many people complain that robots are here to "steal our jobs," the irony is that it can actually take many people to manage and maintain an RPA platform. Even in the case of unattended RPA bots, you will have many users interacting with the system at the input and output level.

Given that many RPA vendors, such as Power Automate from Microsoft, have a per-user pricing model, the number of administrative staff you have for each bot will determine your prices. In this case, it is wise to determine the exact number of user licenses that you require to run the system successfully at an optimal cost.

Conclusion

The pricing of Robot Process Automation software is highly dependent on factors unique to each customer. RPAs can be cheap or expensive depending on their deployment and scale. This is why only a consultation can help you find out specific costs for your particular business needs.

For example, the number of bots you need to successfully take over a process from a human will directly influence its total cost. Unattended bots are more expensive due to their advanced technology, and increased collaboration with human users will also drive the costs up.

When implementing RPA in your organization for the first time, it is critical to first evaluate the processes that are easiest to automate - these are the low-hanging fruit of RPA with the fastest ROI.

Tagence works with clients across industries to determine their Robot Process Automation needs and guides them on implementation to ensure the highest returns on their investment. Contact us for a customized quote on the RPA that best fits your business needs.