Exclusive news: Alibaba Cloud has quietly launched RPA cloud computer, and has opened cooperation with many RPA manufacturers
RPA cloud computer, let RPA have unlimited computing power out of the box?
Text/Wang Jiwei
In the past few days, Wang Jiwei's channel has obtained exclusive news from industry insiders. Alibaba Cloud recently launched a project called "RPA Cloud Computer". Knife and many other RPA head manufacturers have docked with their product technology.
According to the data, RPA cloud computer has the characteristics of automatic login and registration robot, one-click automatic completion of tasks, etc., which can help organizations quickly achieve efficiency and cost reduction through process automation, and has been implemented in many industries.
It is worth noting that this may mean a change in Alibaba Cloud's role in the RPA market.
When it comes to RPAaaS, everyone must be familiar with it. Now almost all RPA platforms are on the cloud, and the RPAaaS model is becoming the mainstream solution for RPA vendors to serve a large number of organizations.
But when it comes to RPA cloud computers, you must have never seen it. This concept should be proposed for the first time.
You can think of RPA cloud computer as the combination of RPA and cloud desktop. However, from the perspective of the architecture and functions of RPA cloud computer, it cannot be simply regarded as RPA+DaaS.
Compared with traditional RPA, it not only realizes out-of-the-box use, but also directly transfers more elastic resources from the IaaS layer, which improves computing power, cost and security. Especially under the trend of RPA+AI, this cloud computer is actually a standardized interface for massive computing resources.
I believe that at this point, everyone is already very interested in this product. What is the industry value of this new form? Why does Wuying, which is regarded as a strategic product by Alibaba Cloud and wants to subvert the future terminal form, go deep into the vertical field to develop RPA cloud computers?
In this article, Wang Jiwei Channel will talk to you about RPA cloud computer.
Talking about RPA+DaaS
Friends who often read articles on Wang Jiwei's channel have already understood that RPAaaS (RPA as an application) is the "as-a-service" model after RPA goes to the cloud, so what is this RPA cloud computer?
To put it simply, RPA cloud computer is somewhat like the combination of RPA and DaaS (desktop as an application, or cloud desktop). It directly integrates RPA into cloud desktop, and encapsulates multiple automated applications and components into RPA to achieve more Simple RPA works out of the box.
From an implementation point of view, RPA+DaaS is simpler and more direct than RPAaaS. Organizations without IT facilities only need a cloud desktop terminal the size of a set-top box to optimize business processes in various scenarios through RPA. And the return is naturally a higher ROI.
The specific product form of RPA+DaaS will be explained in detail below. Here, let's first talk about why the RPADaaS model appears.
In fact, the emergence of RPA+DaaS is not accidental, but born out of demand.
In recent years, although the market size of RPA and its penetration rate in various industries are growing rapidly, the success rate of RPA implementation and operation has not improved significantly. In fact, many RPA-based business processes are very fragile, and many organizations have to continue to invest in manpower, technology (hyperautomation, etc.) and other resources to ensure the stable operation of RPA.
The extensive application of RPA has not only created more RPA operation and maintenance teams, but also brought many new business challenges to the organization.
First of all, the types of robots are becoming more and more abundant, but the proportion of attended robots is increasing. As the burden of robot operation and maintenance management increases, scattered deployment of robot operation and maintenance requires a lot of labor, which poses a great challenge to employee management;
Secondly, from simulation behavior to intelligent behavior, the integration of AI and RPA is accelerated, which is bound to force the continuous improvement of computing power, which will greatly increase the hardware purchase cost of the organization;
Furthermore, the trend of hyper-automation technology has led to a surge in unstructured data in all aspects of design and management, requiring a more secure full-stack data operating environment;
In addition, the flexible office trend promoted by the epidemic and other reasons has accelerated the optimization of the digital workforce, and at the same time requires more flexible deployment methods, but more RPA management platforms are still popular and subject to geographical restrictions.
The new business challenges that the massive deployment of RPA brings to organizations can be summarized as RPA's requirements for high computing power, low cost, mobility, and interactivity. For a long time, limited by multiple factors such as infrastructure and operating environment, everyone believes that these four points cannot be achieved at the same time. But the emergence of RPA+DaaS may be able to change people's consistent perception of RPA.
In the Alibaba Cloud team, the RPA+DaaS solution eventually became an RPA cloud computer. The four-point RPA requirements brought about by new business challenges are exactly the characteristics of Wuying Cloud Computer.
What kind of product is this? See below.
More than 10 product features have been revealed
According to the news from Wang Jiwei's channel, the "RPA Cloud Computer" developed by the Wuying Architecture Team of Alibaba Cloud aims to be a computing terminal solution serving the RPA industry, and has verified seed customers in more than ten industries.
Judging from the disclosed information, Wuying is the product of Alibaba Cloud's attempt to change the future terminal architecture. It solves the shortcomings of the traditional desktop office model in terms of delivery, experience, and management, and can create a cloud-integrated, safe, and efficient one. One-stop office space on the cloud.
▲ RPA cloud computer running interface
Wuying RPA cloud computer is based on the Alibaba Cloud base, reuses mature and reliable basic technologies, and integrates other cloud computing general product capabilities, so it has the following core value points:
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Automatic login registration robot;
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Temporary maintenance link. Password-free and time-limited access to the desktop;
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Create a session for the backend of the RPA scenario;
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Unified account, remote access, one-click automatic completion of tasks;
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Data Security;
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Pooled desktop management, connection API integration;
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stay online at all times;
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Screen recording function to look back (collect operation and running data);
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In the future, it will cooperate with RPA to realize the process mining and optimization process.
In terms of deployment, both RPA and cloud desktops can help organizations solve the problems of high cost and low efficiency. The Wuying RPA cloud computer combined with the two can solve more problems, including excessive hardware investment caused by rapid organizational business changes, high operation and maintenance costs, security guarantees for sensitive data processing and operating environment control, business The environment is unstable, error-prone, etc.
In terms of application, compared with traditional RPA, RPA cloud computer not only solves the problems of offline RPA, such as equipment occupying seat space, difficulty in remote access when problems occur, and inelastic resources, but also solves the need for public network IP in RPA on the cloud. Port access and management connections are relatively complicated, multi-person operations have preemption, and manual intervention is required to cause unsmooth operating experience.
From this point of view, RPA cloud computer has many advantages. It directly uses RPA out of the box and achieves a lower level.
From "RPA+DaaS" to "IaaS for RPA"?
A mature RPA product should at least perform well in terms of security, stability, ease of use, and scalability. If you adopt an out-of-the-box RPA solution that integrates software and hardware, you must be better in these aspects.
RPA cloud computer is still a carrier of cloud computing basic technology. "Computing power, cost, security, convenience, and openness" are still core values. Computers can effectively optimize TCO to reduce operation and maintenance costs; especially in terms of security, RPA cloud computers adopt multiple data security mechanisms, and achieve high reliability and leakage prevention through rich security strategies such as data not landing and multi-copy storage.
The network and computing power from Alibaba Cloud Computing ensure the stability of RPA processing parallel business processes.
At the same time, the on-demand scalable computing power, out-of-the-box features, and the integration of Wuying Cloud Computer and various Alibaba Cloud products enable RPA to connect various systems and applications from the IaaS layer to the SaaS layer, making it easier Realize the business process automation of various data systems, and greatly improve the ease of use and scalability.
▲ The retail robot is analyzing the store situation
In fact, in terms of simplicity and ease of operation, cloud computing has raised the ease of use of RPA to another level.
For general users, users do not need to purchase back-end local servers, nor do they need to invest in front-end PCs and other equipment. They only need the Wuying Cloud computer soft terminal or thin terminal to open on the cloud desktop that has been adapted and packaged for various business scenarios. RPA robot can quickly realize the business process automation of DingTalk, office, ERP, CRM and other common enterprise management software.
The difficulty of this kind of operation can be called a fool level.
At the market level, Alibaba Cloud's RPA cloud computer project has clearly chosen an ecological route, packaging and exporting various capabilities including IaaS to RPA vendors in the form of solutions.
It is understood that at present, Real Smart RPA, Shadow Knife RPA, etc. have become the first batch of manufacturers to cooperate with Alibaba Cloud Wuying RPA cloud computer. Wang Jiwei's channel also saw the official announcement of cooperation between Real Smart and Wuying.
As we all know, due to the close cooperation with e-commerce and manufacturing scenarios, Alibaba Cloud RPA belongs to the first camp in China, and ranks No. 1 among the RPA launched by cloud vendors.
It can also be seen from this that Alibaba Cloud's role and positioning in the RPA industry has begun to change. It is changing from a big player in e-commerce and unattended RPA (running on the server side) in the past to IaaS for RPA, starting to play a new role. The role of the RPA deployment accelerator.
What trend does RPA cloud computer represent?
Judging from the current RPA development progress and the organization's digital needs, artificial half-duty robots will still be the mainstream of the domestic RPA market for a long time to come.
This means that the human-machine collaborative business process automation model will continue to exist. In order to ensure the safety, compliance and efficiency of human participation in business processes, it is necessary to further improve the indicators of the system (machine) that is adapted to humans.
Traditional local RPA deployment is limited by computer operating systems, resolutions, anti-virus software and other software and network environments. With limited financial resources and IT infrastructure, the threshold and cost of deploying RPA are still high, making Many small and medium-sized enterprises can only stay away.
Although the RPAaaS model after RPA goes to the cloud can make deployment and prices easier and cheaper, under the trend of RPA+AI, it cannot solve users' random computing power, storage and other problems, nor can it guarantee business from a lower level and data security.
In view of the above three points, an RPA cloud computer that can maximize security, stability, ease of use, and scalability is more important and more practical.
▲ Open the interface of the Aliyun RPA robot from the RPA cloud computer
Security, computing, and storage are the fundamental guarantees for an enterprise's core data assets. Only on this premise can RPA-based efficient business process automation truly help organizations achieve more effective digital transformation.
Therefore, the RPA cloud computer is not only a highly usable cloud desktop device that can realize RPA out-of-the-box, but also a set of extremely valuable solutions for RPA manufacturers and implementing agencies.
RPA manufacturers can quickly build RPA+DaaS products with powerful computing power, flexible deployment, and out-of-the-box use through RPA cloud computers, and implementing agencies can serve customers in various industries with simpler deployment methods based on RPA cloud computers.
▲ Shizhi intelligently manages multiple e-commerce operation robots through RPA cloud computer login
At the same time, the RPA cloud computer integrates the computing power, security, storage and efficiency from the cloud computing platform into RPA, making RPA simpler from deployment to application, greatly enhancing the ease of use, and making RPA manufacturers "RPA Available to all" vision is a big step forward.
Wang Jiwei Channel believes that although the concept of RPA cloud computer has just been born, its advantages are obvious.
As more organizations discover its value, more cloud computing vendors will embrace RPA+DaaS and launch RPA+IaaS solutions and products. RPA vendors will also leverage the power of major cloud platforms to innovate more RPA products, helping more organizations achieve efficient digital transformation based on business process optimization.
[Wang Jiwei channel, focusing on TMT and IoT, focusing on digital transformation, business process automation and RPA. 】