FEATURE: ROBOTIC PROCESS AUTOMATION

Once seen as a niche tool for back-office efficiency, Robotic Process Automation has become a core enterprise capability across the Middle East. Experts from Jacky’ s Business Solutions, MAXimuz Technology and PROVEN Consult share where RPA delivers strong ROI, where it can still fail, and how its role is evolving alongside AI and intelligent automation.

Manoj Ganapathy, Division Manager at Jacky’ s Business Solutions Visitors Management and Robotics Division

Robotic Process Automation( RPA) has firmly moved beyond the early-adopter phase and is now a mainstream technology across many industries in the Middle East. At Jacky’ s Business Solutions, we’ ve seen a growing maturity in how organisations approach automation: no longer as a quick fix for cost savings, but as a strategic lever for resilience, agility and longterm value.

RPA’ s business case has always been rooted in efficiency – automating repetitive, rules-based tasks to free up human capacity. That still holds true, especially in high-volume, low-complexity functions like finance operations, HR onboarding, invoice processing and customer service workflows. But the conversation has evolved. Today, enterprises are looking at RPA not just to cut costs, but to create new value— through faster processing times, improved

Where RPA really shines is in legacy-heavy environments. Many UAE businesses still rely on older core systems that are expensive to modernise outright. RPA acts as a bridge – integrating data, automating manual workarounds, and enabling Digital Transformation without full system overhauls. In sectors like banking, healthcare, and logistics, this has delivered rapid and measurable ROI.

However, not all RPA deployments succeed equally. Challenges often emerge when organisations underestimate the importance of process assessment and change management. Automating a flawed or inconsistent process only amplifies inefficiencies. Poor documentation, siloed ownership, or lack of scalability planning can also undermine long-term impact.

Moreover, while the ROI from task automation is often immediate, the broader promise of RPA – as part of a wider Digital Transformation strategy – requires a deeper commitment. Integration with AI, Machine Learning, and intelligent document processing is where the future lies. These intelligent automation capabilities move RPA from rule-based scripts to adaptive systems that can understand context, extract meaning and make decisions. At Jacky’ s, we help clients evolve their automation journeys towards these capabilities, aligning technology with business outcomes.

Another emerging opportunity is low-code automation – where business users can deploy bots through

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