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Why is it Difficult to Implement Robotic Process Automation?

Empirical Cases from Swedish Municipalities

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Electronic Government (EGOV 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13391))

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Abstract

Swedish municipalities have been urged by policy makers to implement automation technologies to make administrative work more cost-efficient. As a response, a large set of municipalities have attempted to implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions with the intention to speed up administrative processes. However, although RPA has been promoted for several years, implementation has been limited and slow. This paper explores challenges related to RPA implementation experienced by three Swedish municipalities. We use an extensive interpretive case study as our empirical foundation, generated in collaboration with three Swedish municipalities, complemented with interviews with RPA consultants. Through interpretive analysis, we generate challenges along four themes. Our analysis shows that RPA implementation requires that different organizational sub-units and stakeholders cooperate. Challenges arise from: initiating RPA top-down without bottom-up support; insufficient process- and IT-competence; dependence on individual enthusiasts and external RPA consultants; and subsequent difficulties in finding the right processes to automate. Our study contributes with empirical illustrations of how RPA implementation is made difficult by current organizational structures and resources. We confirm and further contribute to previous findings by pointing to multiple dimensions in which challenges can arise.

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Acknowledgements

This research is funded by AFA Insurance (AFA Försäkring), project 190200.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management and Engineering; Information Systems, Linköping University, 581 83, Linköping, Sweden

    Ida Lindgren, Björn Johansson, Fredrik Söderström & Daniel Toll

Authors
  1. Ida Lindgren
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  2. Björn Johansson
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  3. Fredrik Söderström
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  4. Daniel Toll
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ida Lindgren .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Marijn Janssen

  2. Corvinus University of Budapest, Budapest, Hungary

    Csaba Csáki

  3. Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Ida Lindgren

  4. University of the Aegean, Samos, Greece

    Euripidis Loukis

  5. Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Ulf Melin

  6. Danube University Krems, Krems an der Donau, Austria

    Gabriela Viale Pereira

  7. University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Manuel Pedro Rodríguez Bolívar

  8. University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece

    Efthimios Tambouris

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Lindgren, I., Johansson, B., Söderström, F., Toll, D. (2022). Why is it Difficult to Implement Robotic Process Automation?. In: Janssen, M., et al. Electronic Government. EGOV 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13391. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15086-9_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15086-9_23

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-15085-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-15086-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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