<P> The hosting of RPA services also aligns with the metaphor of a software robot, with each robotic instance having its own virtual workstation, much like a human worker . The robot uses keyboard and mouse controls to take actions and execute automations . Normally all of these actions take place in a virtual environment and not on screen; the robot does not need a physical screen to operate, rather it interprets the screen display electronically . The scalability of modern solutions based on architectures such as these owes much to the advent of virtualization technology, without which the scalability of large deployments would be limited by available capacity to manage physical hardware and by the associated costs . The implementation of RPA in business enterprises has shown dramatic cost savings when compared to traditional non-RPA solutions . </P> <P> Software robots interpret the user interface of third party applications and are configured to execute steps identically to a human user . They are configured (or "trained") using demonstrative steps, rather than being programmed using code - based instructions . This is an important concept in the RPA market because the intention is not to provide another "coding" platform for IT users (who already have the benefit of mature and tested software development and middleware platforms). Rather, the intention is to provide an agile and configurable capability to non-technical "business" users in operational departments . The paradigm, in summary, is that a software robot should be a virtual worker who can be rapidly "trained" (or configured) by a business user in an intuitive manner which is akin to how an operational user would train a human colleague . </P> <P> The benefit of this approach is twofold . Firstly it enables operations departments to self serve . Secondly, it frees up the limited and valuable skills of IT professionals to concentrate on more strategic IT implementations such as ERP and BPMS rollouts . Such programs are often upheld as being transformational in nature, delivering huge returns in the medium to long term, whereas RPA is typically focused on immediate operational effectiveness, quality and cost efficiency . RPA is classically seen therefore as complementary to existing automation initiatives . </P> <P> RPA does not require programming skills: Business operations employees - people with process and subject matter expertise but no programing experience - can be trained to independently automate processes using RPA tools within a few weeks . </P>

The lowermost layer in layered design of rpa