Author: David Rivera – RPA Engineer
In 2024, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) cited the environmental challenges for Colombia. Based on the crisis that emerging or developing countries have had to face with climate impacts and their consequences, such as the crisis in the natural resource system where consumption and use are not regulated, we have an example of the potable water resource crisis, a result of the severe climate facing the city of Bogotá and the country.
Emphasizing the consumption and regulation of potable water, we can say that technology and the tools it provides can play an important role in consumption regulation. For example, we can address the regulation of potable water consumption through robotic process automation (RPA), which can become a complementary strategy for the efficient management of water resources. The following forms of consumption regulation can be considered:
1 OPERATIONAL EFFICENCY
This is where RPA and its main function of automating repetitive tasks play an important role, as it can not only improve operational efficiency in organizations but also generate an indirect impact on resource use, thus reducing the waste of resources such as paper, energy, and other supplies, where water is an important factor for the production of these supplies, goods, or services.
2 Environmental Monitoring and Management
RPA, with the help of sensor integrations or monitoring systems, can collect information that, together with an analysis of data focused on the environment, can identify and mitigate abrupt changes in the use and management of natural resources.
3 Consumption Management and Tracking
With RPA, we can automate the billing processes for water service, aiming to obtain a better calculation of consumption and facilitate tracking by end-users, promoting more rational, efficient, and responsible use of the resource.
4 Infrastructure Management
Advanced programming can be done so that robots can perform regular inspections of infrastructure related to resource consumption, identifying areas that may require corrective or preventive maintenance.
5 Data Analysis and Demand Predictions
RPA can collect information which, with proper processing and analysis of these large volumes of consumption-related data, allows authorities and companies to anticipate future demand and take proactive measures to manage the supply efficiently.
Taken from: https://vitaldesign.com/buyer-persona/
These forms of regulation can be complemented with intelligent valves that not only regulate the water resource such as the filling of reserve tanks, irrigation systems in gardens, among others, but also switch systems which make optimal use of electricity, remember that these are indirect impacts but that influence the rational use of water.
Although we have observed the ways we consider that the management of these resources as it can be done through RPA, this is not a complete solution by itself, but complementary in the impacts of the regulation of the same.
Finally, we can conclude that technological advances where there is evidence of a solid range of products for smart homes that are part of the Internet of Things (IOT) accompanied by Smart Automation, can influence not only in business tasks, but also in the regulation of resource consumption from home, contributing to solve environmental problems.
David Rivera – RPA Engineer
