The adoption of robotic process automation in a South African bank

Abstract

Increasingly, South African financial institutions are showing interest in adopting robotic process automation (RPA), to improve productivity, response time and competitiveness. Despite the efforts, some challenges derail the adoption of the RPA. This study examines the factors that influence the adoption of RPA, from both technical and non-technical perspectives. The case study approach was followed, based on which one of the largest banks in South Africa was used as a case in the study. From the organization, qualitative data were gathered, at the point of saturation. The technology acceptance model (TAM) is employed as a lens to guide the analysis of the data. From both technical and non-technical standpoints, five factors, assessing readiness; modern IT solutions; systems integration; implementation and use; and business requirements and RPA functions were found to influence the adoption of RPA. The study reveals that the manifestation of the factors makes RPA adoption prohibitive. There are hesitations in the adoption of RPA in some South African banks because the influencing factors are not fully understood. The study presents empirical evidence, which can assist in addressing the challenges that affect the adoption of RPA in South African institutions and could be expanded to other countries.