The objective behind investing in shared services is to increase operational as well as administrative efficiency. While it is a sought after option, companies have begun moving towards automating multiple recurring and monotonous tasks. Many executives believe that automating tasks that do not essentially require human effort will provide employees the chance to utilize their skills and expertise on tasks of higher importance.

Hence the move toward Robotic Process Automation (RPA). RPA marks a major jump in the quest to optimize shared services because it allows businesses to systemize simple and repeatable tasks. Virtual bots used in automation software are programmed to mimic human keystrokes at a computer, which means they can handle clerical jobs more quickly and accurately at a lower cost.