For a long time, the idea of business automation has struck fear into the hearts of workers everywhere. There was a belief – and understandably so – that more automation meant fewer jobs available for the global workforce. But then a strange thing happened. The COVID-19 pandemic reconfigured the global workforce, turning an employer-friendly job market into one where workers have all of the power.

As a result, the conversation around business automation changed drastically. Instead of wondering if automation is a good fit, businesses are now wondering how fast they can automate their way out of a staffing crunch. And workers have stopped worrying about losing their jobs to automation, and are instead welcoming automation because it's taking some of the increasing workloads off their shoulders.

But as any business that's turning to automation can tell you, the process isn't as simple as purchasing the right technology and turning it on. There's also the matter of helping existing employees to understand the new automation tools and how to use them to their advantage.

It turns out there's a ready-made solution for that: gamification. By rolling out simultaneous initiatives to increase automation and to use gamification for training and onboarding, businesses can speed up their automation adoption without disrupting existing workflows. Here's an overview of how gamification helps and an example of it already in action.

Making Gamification a Part of RPA Adoption Plans

The key advantage of using gamification with RPA adoption strategies is that it can smooth out the learning curve that often prevents front-line workers from making effective use of RPA. Repeated studies have proven the benefits of gamification where learning is concerned. It's a strategy businesses have used ever since Microsoft bundled a version of Solitaire with Windows 3.0 to teach users how to operate a mouse. And employees already experiencing gamified training have demonstrated better knowledge retention and more motivation because of it.

And as an engagement tool, gamification is also quite effective. It's even a core part of the IBM communities where you're currently reading this. Here, it's used to increase engagement among community members by letting them unlock badges and achievements as they interact with the site. They serve as motivation to keep users moving forward through the site's features, and it works just as well when applied to training programs.

RPA and Gamification at Work

For an excellent real-world example of how well RPA and go together, you need only look as far as Finland. A few years back, that country's national post service – known locally as Posti – found itself facing a fast-changing postal delivery landscape. Due to the rise of eCommerce giants like Amazon and the increased use of digital communication tools by the general public, Posti was seeing a rapid decline in mail deliveries coupled with a sharp increase in parcel shipping.

Needless to say, Posti, which is one of the oldest companies in Finland, wasn't equipped to deal with such a sudden shift. As a result, they went looking for solutions to help revamp their services. And what they settled on was a twin rollout of RPA and gamification to help their employees accommodate the new technology without causing a wave of worker departures.

Posti began its efforts by combining technology from UiPath and Aito to create an automated invoicing capability. This made it possible for them to reallocate resources from their accounts payable department and rededicate them to expanding their delivery capabilities to handle the increased shipping volume.

Then, they rolled out an automated route-management system that would determine the most efficient package delivery routes and adjust them on the fly as real-world conditions change. Of course, Finland's extreme weather conditions through large parts of the year mean lots of route changes. And although computers don't mind endless last-minute changes, delivery drivers are another story.

To help drivers adapt to the new system, Posti rolled out an enterprise gamification platform from Infosys. It allowed them to integrate competitive game mechanics and rewards into the app their drivers use to interact with the new route management system. The app rewards drivers with points when they follow their route precisely and when they assist new employees to navigate the system and stick to their own routes.

The Bottom Line

The result, in Posti's case, was a smaller workforce handling more parcel deliveries than ever before. And, they're doing it without suffering an employee revolt or any notable increase in churn. Together, those outcomes serve as a very powerful endorsement of RPA and gamification as a formidable combination.

And they're a combination that could help plenty of other businesses now looking for ways to deal with the post-COVID-19 labor landscape. Together, RPA and gamification satisfy the two critical demands of this particular moment: doing more with less and keeping existing employees happy and in sync with the new technology.