The worldwide market for web-based applications is expected to grow significantly over the next several years; thus, more organizations are choosing web-based business management software. However, working with these programs necessitates that staff execute repetitive but vital duties weekly, daily or even hourly. These activities often result in human mistakes (e.g., data duplication, missing tasks, etc.), which can contribute to inefficiency in the deployed online solution. Web automation (i.e., using bots to automate repetitive processes in web application development) is one of the ways that can help reduce mistakes and boost productivity.
What Is Web Automation?
Web automation is a notion in which software bots (such as RPA bots, web scrapers, and task automation tools) record your activities automatically. These perform repetitive and error-prone human-type actions inside a web browser or application based on the recorded data.
Some of these duties include the following:
- Fill out online forms: Filling out lengthy online forms can be arduous. By capturing the process of filling out an online form, you establish a web automation job; the bots will automatically reproduce this in the future.
- Get information from the web: Bots can be programmed to extract information from web sources, rearrange it, and store it for future use; for instance, collecting data from many internet sources utilizing web scrapers or RPA bots to price your eCommerce business.
- Transfer data: Web automation enables the simple transfer of extracted or saved data into other documents, reports or business applications.
- Web testing: This is often accomplished using RPA. It is possible to develop web automation jobs which delegate testing and monitoring of online applications to bots whenever they occur using RPA. For instance, during the installation of a web application, periodic tests must be conducted to guarantee a high level of client service. These examinations can be automated.
- Download and create online reports: In online automation, bots can receive price information and extract pertinent data to build reports that need to be shared with stakeholders.
How Is Web Automation Implemented?
In web automation, RPA task bots employ screen scraping to observe how users interact with GUI components inside a web browser, so as to complete a job online and then reproduce these interactions using an automation tool. For example:
- A real estate business can automate the downloading and updating of its website’s property listings
- A hospital can automate the process of distributing test results to patients through the hospital portal or government health websites
The website automation process for a commercial job could be as follows:
- Log into the website
- Navigate to the form
- Enter data into the form
- Click the “Save” button
- Log out of the site
Benefits and Importance of Web Automation
Administrative activities of any firm need website automation. It saves time, minimizes mistakes, and frees up brain space which can be invested elsewhere. Web automation can help businesses of any size carry out vital tasks and remain competitive.
Among the advantages of web automation are:
Better Visibility
Since bots record every step of a process and maintain audit trails for these phases, web automation enables enterprises to attain more system visibility. Accessible to companies, these records provide complete insight into the process.
Decreased Response Time
Additionally, web automation can enhance the testing of new apps. Since bots can perform many test cases on various browsers simultaneously (24/7) it is possible to reduce turnaround time and release the application sooner. According to a case study, an automaker indicated that automation assisted in reducing quality assurance efforts for their web app testing and monitoring functions.
IT Team Skill Development
While bots complete your web application’s operational activities automatically, staff can focus on more important responsibilities. According to a survey, automation has given people more time to acquire new skills.
Elimination of Human Errors
Due to the fact that bots are built to do rule-based activities without human interaction, they are less prone to commit mistakes (or skip process phases).
Strategies for Web Automation
Several considerations should be examined while selecting the optimal strategy for adopting web automation for your company. Understanding the actions and resources that need to be automated is the first step. Traditionally, web automation is accomplished using coding. However, not all organizations that want to launch a web application have a crew with sufficient development expertise. Therefore, examining your team’s capabilities before using web automation is essential.
Visit mediaforce.ca online or call us at (613) 729-0500 to find out more about web automation.
