RPA vs API in 2025 and Beyond: An Expert Analysis

Robotic Process Automation and Application Programming Interfaces might sound like very dry, technical topics but they hold exciting potential for business optimization. As per leading research and advisory firm Gartner, RPA and API-led connectivity will be key pillars of scalable digital transformation initiatives delivering over $15 trillion of cumulative economic value addition by 2030.

This extensively researched guide will analyze RPA and API in depth, compare them, and provide recommendations on how to use them synergistically based on your specific business context.

Understanding Robotic Process Automation

Robotic Process Automation or RPA saw rapid enterprise adoption grow from 19% in 2018 to over 64% by 2021 as per Deloitte’s recent Global RPA Survey. What drove this growth?

RPA Overview and Capabilities

RPA tools allow configuring software bots to automate high volume, repetitive tasks without disrupting underlying IT systems. For example, extracting data from documents and reports, moving files across folders, copying-pasting data between applications.

RPA bot automating business processes

Figure 1: RPA software bots automating repetitive business processes. Source: Pepperdata

Leading capabilities provided by commercial RPA platforms like UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Microsoft Power Automate, IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation and others include:

Record and replay actions via desktop screen recording
Integration with AI/ML technologies like optical character recognition and natural language processing for advanced automation
Cross-application scripting using visual workflow designers
Resilient scripts to handle changes via rules engines
Secure credential and secrets management
Scalability to hundreds of bots
Monitoring and analytics dashboard

Besides commercial tools, open-source RPA frameworks like Robot Framework and RedwoodHQ also gaining adoption.

Evolution of RPA

RPA has evolved from basic screen scraping bots to an integral part of intelligent process automation stacks as this figure indicates:

Figure 2: Evolution of RPA from basic screen scraping to integrated automation with AI. Source: Twenty Eighth European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS2020), Marrakesh, Morocco, 2020

As RPA tools incorporate more cognitive abilities like text comprehension, speech recognition, chatbots and predictive analytics, they are called Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) platforms. This allows handling more complex and dynamic tasks beyond basic system interactions.

Forrester Research predicts RPA and other hyperautomation technologies could automate at least 30% of jobs with over 60 million global workers needing to be retrained over the next 10 years.

Benefits and Use Cases of RPA

The key benefits driving rapid RPA adoption across major industries include:

Cost reduction: Bot labor costs fraction of human employees
Improved efficiency: 24/7 operation, faster than human speed
Enhanced quality: Minimizes errors by removing human intervention
Better CX: Quicker customer request turnarounds
Regulation compliant: All actions logged for audits
IT-lite: Works across legacy systems without disruption

Per leading RPA vendor UiPath’s analysis, some industries seeing major RPA traction are:

Banking: Automating new account opening, loan processing, credit card applications evaluation
Healthcare: Claims management, patient admission process, medical coding
Energy: Handling billing exceptions, payment collection
Retail: Updating inventory status across channels, order tracking
Telecom: Managing service activations, billing, contract changes for millions of subscribers

McKinsey estimates RPA can deliver ROI of 30-200% in the first year itself by optimizing labor-intensive processes. Companies have saved thousands of human hours using RPA bots.

Driving Connectivity Via APIs

If RPA provides task-level automation, API facilitates seamless data exchange between applications. API adoption has exploded in recent years with APIs becoming the cornerstone of digital business.

API Definition

API or Application Programming Interface is a communication protocol that enables real-time integration between software programs and data exchange with applications via structured calls.

Leading research firm Gartner forecasts enterprises across sectors to double their API call volumes by 2025 touching 73 trillion calls from APIs exposed externally as well as internally.

Gartner API Economy Forecast

Figure 3: Enterprises across sectors forecast to make over 70 trillion API calls annually by 2025. Source: Gartner

Types of APIs

There are three broad API categories:

Public/Open APIs

These APIs are available publicly for any external developer to access and integrate into their apps. Example: Weather APIs, Google Maps API, Payment Gateways APIs.

Private/Partner APIs

APIs open for integration by select developer partners and independent vendors. Example: Shopify‘s Merchant API for app developers to tie into their ecommerce platform.

Internal APIs

These proprietary APIs enable interconnection between internal systems within an organization. Example: API to connect on-premise ERP data into cloud data warehouse.

Rapid Growth of API Marketplaces

Thousands of third-party public APIs offered across industry verticals and product categories are available via developer marketplaces like RapidAPI, AWS Marketplace, Azure Marketplace and more. This drives easy discoverability for developer community integration needs.

Key API Integration Capabilities

While open-source developer libraries enable API connectivity for coding languages like JavaScript, Java, Python etc, commercial API gateways like MuleSoft, Amazon API Gateway and Microsoft Azure API Management also provide many advanced features like:

Authentication protocols like OAuth 2.0 to secure APIs
Developer portals for easy testing and documentation
Traffic throttling based on usage tiers
Caching and response storage for fast data transfer
Multi-region API deployment
Real-time analytics on API consumption

For internal APIs, specialist gateways like Azure API Management, Kong, Tyk and more focus on access control, bot detection and backend connectivity.

Business Benefits of Leveraging APIs

APIs greatly accelerate software application development and minimize complex coding. By adopting API-first approach, organizations can gain:

Agility to launch products faster and pivot as per changing needs
Consistent customer experience across channels
Innovation via open ecosystem of partners and app developers
Cost savings from software development and licenses
Future proofing against constantly evolving tech landscape

Per Microsoft, companies can achieve over 700% ROI in 5 years by investing in API programs giving revenue upside and cost optimization.

Use Case Examples of API Driving Business Value

Here we analyze some real-world API application examples demonstrating tangible business value:

Global Payments Leader MoneyGram

Built API layer connecting disparate internal systems from retail to call centers to banking integrations
Accelerated global expansion by 50% more outlets via API-based integrations
Reduced IT release time from months to weeks

Leading Ridesharing app Grab

Leveraged Google Maps Location API for geo-tracking integrated with demand prediction ML models
Boosted driver response rate improving customer experience
Expanded horizontally across 8 countries within 18 months using API-led IT strategy

Top Media House Forbes

Created content API to feed real-time articles into apps, third-party platforms
Grew digital readership by 300% through content syndication partners
Enabled diversified modern revenue streams

As evident in these examples, API-led connectivity delivers quantifiable business results – faster growth, better CX and higher productivity.

Comparing Key Aspects of RPA and API

While RPA and API serve very complementary automation needs, let‘s compare some of their key aspects to understand differences:

Parameter	RPA	API
Objective	Automating tasks	Enabling connectivity
Key Capabilities	Document processing, screen scraping, data transfer	Request-response data exchange
Development	Configure no-code bots	Code APIs using programming languages
Flexibility	Brittle scripts prone to breakage	Abstracted payload, durable integrations
Monitoring	Bot level	API traffic, performance metrics
Security	Access control via credentials	Authentication, authorization
Ownership	Business users	Central IT, Architects
Learning Curve	Low-code tools, Citizen developers	Professional developers

While their objectives, approaches and monitoring models differ, RPA and API have a very symbiotic relationship. RPA bots can feed and offload data to other systems fast via API endpoints. APIs allow RPA to interoperate optimally across an automation ecosystem.

Using RPA and API In Conjunction

As this workflow diagram shows, RPA and API can work together in an integrated fashion:

RPA API Automation Workflow

Figure 4: End-to-end automation workflow using RPA for task completion and API for connectivity. Credit: Xtivia

Let‘s analyze a common example process leveraging both RPA and API capabilities:

New Invoice Ingestion Process

Email gateway triggers RPA bot on new vendor invoice arrival as attachment
RPA downloads invoice PDF from email into Document Management System via API call
RPA invokes OCR service API to extract invoice details – number, date, amount etc
Extracted invoice data transferred into Finance System record via API request
RPA updates invoice tracking dashboard retrieved via API call
RPA emails invoice team on completion via Office 365 mail API

Here RPA software bot handles document and data processing tasks like ingestion, invocation of services, status updates etc while API facilitates vital connectivity and data sharing across DMS, OCR, ERP and dashboard systems.

Key Takeaway – Well integrated RPA and API are invaluable technologies for process improvement leaders. Apply them judiciously to automation needs for exponential efficiency gains.

Criteria for Selecting RPA vs API

Based on business context, here is guidance on when to use RPA vs API approach:

RPA suits processes with:

Repetitive manual tasks
Fixed formatted inputs like forms, reports etc
Simple business rules and validations
Legacy systems where APIs not available

API fits needs like:

Connecting modern cloud applications
Event-driven data sharing with external parties
Complex processes requiring integration
Frequent interface changes expected
Developer partner ecosystem

For maximum benefits, use RPA and API together with clear roles – RPA handling task execution and API enabling seamless cross-platform connectivity.

Implementation Blueprint

Here is a step-wise blueprint to implement RPA and API led transformation successfully:

RPA Program

Document processes enterprise-wide and identify automation candidates
Calculate ROI projections, factor in risks
Purchase RPA tool like Automation Anywhere after vendor evaluation
Start with pilot – invoice processing, data entry etc
Build CoE for oversight of bot deployment, access control and monitoring

API Program

Define types of APIs – public, private and internal
Create API architecture aligned to integration needs
Set up API gateway for security, traffic management and analytics
Develop APIs for priority systems like ERP, CRM etc
Onboard business teams to leverage APIs and expand systematically

Governance

Maintain shared metrics dashboard tracking usage, productivity and benefits
Institute feedback loops to continuously refine and enhance both programs
Drive adoption across business units through training and evangelization

A well-governed Center of Excellence (COE) uniting expertise across business, RPA and API realms is key to drive sustainability and maximize synergistic leverage.

The Path Ahead

Gartner sizes the RPA market to clock over $7 billion by 2027 expanding at stellar 36% CAGR clip from 2021. Sustained double-digit growth seen for API management market as well touching $6 billion per MarketsandMarkets data.

As part of the overall intelligent process automation spectrum, RPA and API will continue to see increasing enterprise traction.

Forrester predicts almost 70% of organizations will have scaled RPA adoption within the next two years infusing more intelligence leveraging AI/ML. IDC sees global businesses developing over 400 million new API call integrations per year throughout the 2020s underscoring API‘s vital role in digital modernization.

The future looks bright for both these technologies solving two distinct but complementary needs – RPA to relieve staff of mundane repetitive tasks and API to seamlessly interconnect applications through reusable interfaces.

Key Takeaways

Let‘s recap key insights for business and technology leaders:

– RPA automates repetitive tasks across applications via user interface layer without changing systems

– API enables seamless connectivity and data exchange between applications

Major industries like banking and retail show high RPA adoption
Transportation, media and payments leveraging API extensively
Integrated RPA and API automation maximizes productivity
Choose RPA for stable digital workflows, API for connectivity needs
Well-governed CoE drives scaling and innovation of RPA and API

The fusion of robotic automation and interface connectivity hold huge potential to boost enterprise productivity, agility and competitive differentiation!