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What Is Robotic Process Automation (RPA)?

By AdAI Research Team||6 min read

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) uses software bots to click, type, and read inside business applications the way a human would. The bots automate work that no API allows to be automated any other way. For SMBs, RPA earns its place mainly for legacy desktop software or portals with no API; for modern cloud apps, lighter tools like Zapier, Make, or n8n usually cover the same work more cheaply.

Key Takeaways

  • RPA bots automate work at the screen level, driving applications the way a human would with mouse and keyboard.
  • The right question when choosing between RPA and lighter tools: does the software have an API? If yes, use Zapier or Make. If no, RPA is the answer.
  • Microsoft Power Automate is the SMB-friendly RPA option (~$15/user/month, sometimes included in M365). UiPath and Automation Anywhere dominate the enterprise tier.
  • RPA is shifting toward "agentic automation," combining bots with AI agents that can decide what to do rather than follow a rigid script.
  • Common SMB uses: invoice entry into legacy accounting, supplier portal reports, government forms, moving data between old and new systems.
$3.6B
global RPA software market in 2024, up 14.5% year-over-year
Source: Gartner Market Share Analysis: Robotic Process Automation, Worldwide, 2024
$15
per user per month for Microsoft Power Automate with RPA, the standard SMB-friendly entry point
Source: Microsoft, 2025

What RPA Actually Does in an SMB

Four concrete SMB use cases.

Invoice entry into legacy accounting software. A small accounting firm receives PDF invoices from clients and needs to type the data into an accounting package with no upload feature. The RPA bot opens each email, extracts the PDF, reads the amounts, opens the accounting software, and enters the transaction. Saves the bookkeeper hours per day.

Supplier portal report downloads. Log into a supplier portal every morning, run a report, download it, email it to the ops team. Two minutes of bot time replaces fifteen minutes of a human doing the same thing daily.

Government forms. Fill in a monthly regulatory form using data from a spreadsheet. The bot opens the government portal, types the values in each field, submits, and confirms.

Data migration between systems. Move ten thousand customer records from a legacy desktop CRM into a modern cloud CRM. The bot reads the old screen and types into the new one overnight, work that would take a person weeks.

The Shift to Agentic Automation

The biggest change in RPA over the last 18 months is agentic automation: combining traditional RPA bots with AI agents that can adapt to unusual inputs rather than fail on them.

Traditional RPA is fragile. If a screen layout changes, the bot breaks. If the data is unusual, the bot fails. Agentic automation puts an AI agent in front of the bots to decide what to do next, which means bots handle edge cases more gracefully.

For SMBs, the practical impact is that RPA is becoming a more reliable tool for the messy work it was always best suited to. Power Automate, UiPath, and Automation Anywhere are all shipping agentic features. For most SMBs, waiting six months and using Power Automate\'s agentic features when they land in the SMB plans is a reasonable strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should an SMB use RPA vs Zapier?
Rule of thumb: does the software you want to automate have an API? If yes, use Zapier, Make, or n8n. If no, RPA is the answer. RPA is the only reasonable option for automating work inside legacy desktop software, old web portals, or government sites that require driving the screen rather than calling an API.
Which RPA tools are SMB-friendly?
Microsoft Power Automate is the SMB-friendliest option because it includes lightweight RPA capabilities inside Microsoft 365 subscriptions at around $15 per user per month. UiPath and Automation Anywhere are the enterprise leaders (35.8% and 9.7% market share respectively per Gartner) but priced for larger operations. For most SMBs, Power Automate is the right first choice.
What can RPA actually do for an SMB?
Move data between an old accounting package and a modern CRM. Log into a supplier portal every morning to download a report. Fill in a government form monthly using data from a spreadsheet. Read invoices from an email inbox and type them into an accounting tool. Any task a human currently does by clicking and typing in software, an RPA bot can do faster and without errors.
What is agentic automation, and how is it different from RPA?
Traditional RPA is rigid. The bot follows a fixed script every time. Agentic automation adds an AI agent that reads the situation, decides what to do, and tells the right bot to run. UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Microsoft are all shifting this direction. For SMBs the practical benefit is that bots that used to fail on unusual inputs now handle them.
What are the costs and payback time?
Microsoft Power Automate: around $15 per user per month, sometimes free inside your existing M365 plan. Enterprise RPA (UiPath, Automation Anywhere): typically low thousands per bot per year. Custom-built RPA workflow from a consultant: $5,000-30,000 depending on complexity. Payback on a well-chosen SMB automation is usually 3-6 months against the time saved.

Related Resources

Robotic Process Automation (Glossary)

The full technical definition and industry landscape.

Workflow Automation

The broader category. RPA is one specific approach.

API

The thing modern apps expose that lets you automate without RPA.

AI Automation for Accounting Firms

One of the industries where RPA still gets heavy use.

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