Ok Ok – I know that this isn’t new news!! you got me!! (or maybe I got you… who knows?)

In September 2024 (I think !?) Oracle made available native Robotic Process Automation (RPA) within Oracle integration cloud. I guess you could say it was written in the stars since with Oracle Integration 3 no longer has the same out of the box RPA adapters (UiPath and AutomationAnywhere) that were available in Oracle Integration Cloud Gen 2.

Fun fact – when I navigated to my OIC gen 2 instance to show this – I can see it has already been upgraded to OIC3!

Since I can no longer provision an instance of OIC Gen2, either you’ll just have to believe me, or you can go and look at some very old posts of mine: Oracle Integration Cloud (OIC) UiPath Adapter, Oracle Integration (Gen2): Connecting to UiPath. LONG LIVE OIC GEN2!!! (just kidding.. OIC3 is better! 🙂 )

On the same thought process of “this was written in the stars” – exhibit A below is an excerpt from an email exchange I had with Oracle product development back in 2023!

Why is this important, and why am I bothering to blog about it now since I’ve ignored it for the past 12 months…. well… as I wrote about in my post It’s time to move to Oracle Integration 3!, soon you will no longer have the luxury of leaning on Oracle Integration Cloud Gen 2 – so if you want to continue using RPA capability with Oracle Integration than either you:

1. Integrate with your existing RPA solutions (e.g UIPath, AutomationAnywhere, BluePrism, etc) using the REST API adapter
2. Evolve to leverage the Oracle Integration native RPA offering

Only you can decide what is right for you, your organisation, your customer or your implementation. Though, in an ever increasing “Oracle-First” Oracle implementation world – it might be sensible if the capabilities fit your needs.

Amy, I still don’t know why you’re blogging about it now!? – well… it’s rather a sentimental story.

My involvement in the Oracle community and the beginnings of my ACE journey all began with RPA. In 2018, I did my first ever presentation at UKOUG TECH18 on the subject of … you guessed it!… OIC & RPA. There were more posts too if you so wish to go and read about what interested me back in 2018. UiPath – Creating a Robot in Orchestrator, Robotic Process Automation, Pt1 – History & Introduction, Robot Process Automation, Pt2 – What is RPA? … I’m sure there was a Pt3 here too but unfortunately, I can’t locate it 😦

Here is Luis Weir posting about my first ever tech session at UKOUG in 2018!

It feels strange to look back only 7 years – I wouldn’t be best pleased nowadays if I turned up to present at a conference in a room with such a small screen!!

This however, is therefore somewhat of a full circle moment for me!

Now, if I’m being really honest, I fell out of love with RPA (booo!). Why? I hear you ask! Well, in an ever evolving cloud world, I just found less and less need for RPA. For the record, I still think this is true. In fact, I remember Luis Weir posting a tweet that was a direct quote from what I said back then.. which was: “RPA is not a silver bullet!”.

What is RPA?

First, let me (re)explain what RPA is.

RPA uses software-based “robots” to automate manual repetitive tasks performed everyday by your employees, such as mundane data entry and transaction processing tasks. Automating such tasks not only frees those valuable resources for more strategic activities but also improves business process efficiency and effectiveness.

RPA works by using simple tools to train robots how to use applications, just like humans do, through the application user interface. Building automations becomes accessible to both technical and nontechnical users, making it possible to innovate at speed and scale. RPA excels where you need to automate tasks in applications without APIs or want to quickly create an automation without engaging specialised skillsets.

There’s the crooks of it!

Specifically… “RPA excels where you need to automate tasks in applications without APIs”. As cloud technology evolves and dominates the market, I feel that there is less and less need for RPA solutions (since all cloud solutions come with native API integration capability) and therefore I fell out of love with it. As head of Oracle Technology at Capgemini UK, part of my job is ensuring that our customers get the best and most use out of their technology purchases, and some of that is about encouraging why not to use “sticky plasters” like RPA to replace “proper” integration.

However

Who has ever worked within (or for) an organisation who has a wall to wall cloud estate?

(tumbleweed)

Legacy solutions do not necessarily have the modern integration mechanism that cloud solutions offer. so… there is absolutely a place for RPA but I’ve been on a MODERNISE, MODERNISE, MODERNISE rampage for a number of years and well…

I’m back on the RPA train!

Caveat – I’m back.. but I’m only back for using it in the right places. Stick with me to learn more on this and just like you see my regular OIC new release updates (such as NEW FEATURES in Oracle Integration 3! (25.04) and NEW FEATURES in Oracle Integration 3! (25.06)), you’ll now start to see RPA updates too!