CASE STUDY
Thoughtful Automation switched to Robocorp and reduced OpEx by 90%
The automation consulting company makes much-needed automation solutions accessible through their Bots-as-a-Service, development-focused approach.
The client
About Thoughtful Automation
Thoughtful Automation is a company that provides affordable, efficient, and scalable automation solutions for mid-market businesses. They initially used UiPath, but it proved too costly for a customer seeking to automate their invoicing process. To find a more budget-friendly alternative, Thoughtful Automation explored open-source RPA technologies. After considering Robot Framework and Selenium, they discovered Robocorp’s platform, which offered the right balance of open-source and SaaS features. The easy-to-use platform and resource-based pricing made it an ideal fit for both Thoughtful Automation and their customers.
“We were losing money to build that bot, just to prove the model worked.”
Alex Zekoff, CEO, Thoughtful Automation
The Problem
RPA was Inaccessible to Small and Medium-Sized Businesses
Most SMB and mid-market companies miss out on the benefits of RPA due to high upfront costs and long payback periods. Thoughtful Automation wanted to address this issue by reducing implementation fees to $0 and adopting a “minimum viable bot” strategy, where clients pay a monthly fee for usage, hosting, and maintenance.
However, implementing this strategy on UiPath proved to be challenging and expensive. Thoughtful Automation had to pay $29,000 per robot monthly for licenses, SQL servers, orchestrator, and hosting. In addition, UiPath’s prescriptive approach to bot creation limited their development team’s ability to meet complex needs. As a result, Thoughtful Automation needed to switch to a different tool.
“We aimed to have complete control over the code and settings without the added responsibility of managing servers or databases. Our priority was to utilize all available tools to solve business problems efficiently.”
Serhii Romanets, Engineering Lead, Thoughtful Automation
THE SOLUTION
Thoughtful Automation Finds RPA Scalability and Deployment Solution with Robocorp
Thoughtful Automation wanted to move away from packaged software. They evaluated open-source RPA technologies with two critical criteria: controlling development at the code level and having a low-maintenance cloud solution that could quickly scale horizontally. While frameworks like Robot Framework and Selenium solved the scalability problem, they didn’t solve the deployment problem. They wanted a hybrid open-source and SaaS offering, which was not generally available.
Thoughtful Automation discovered Robocorp, made a phone call, and quickly found the solution to their needs. Robocorp manages the orchestration, servers, and databases, making it easy for developers to get up to speed quickly, while Thoughtful Automation focuses on building the automation code for their customers. Robocorp’s consumption-based pricing supported Thoughtful Automation’s $0 implementation fee goal, charging only for robot minutes used.
The Results
After exploring open-source RPA technologies, Thoughtful Automation discovered Robocorp’s platform, which offered the right balance of open-source and SaaS features. This, along with resource-based pricing, made it an ideal fit for both Thoughtful Automation and their customers.
90%
reduction in OpEx
60%
decrease in worker execution time
8x
client time saved
The Bottom Line
Thoughtful Automation provides affordable, efficient, and scalable automation solutions for mid-market businesses. Their initial use of UiPath proved too costly for a customer seeking to automate their core business processes. Robocorp answered the call and helped them bring transformative business results to their customers.