This is not a new thing and has been around for years. Just last year I was involved in helping a small Gujarati company figure out the right RPA tool (settled for UiPath) for automating a loan underwriting process by accessing a Mortgage Management software, accessing their document management system and following a set of rules to implement a checklist against HMDA docs.
The objective was to reduce a 18-30minute process to under 10 mins. We did achieve something like 6-10 mins but not without some human intervention. The roughly 60% reduction in processing times meant that they could let go 60% of their workforce (not sure what they did though). Now the clients themselves know that automation significantly reduces processing time for their BPO provider and they do renegotiate contracts accordingly.
Another challenge was that there were restrictions on document usage but these could be overcome by cleverly designing the automation (say screen reading instead of downloading a document to local machines). Some customers insist that no automation is used and it would a violation if the BPO does so as they need human oversight on some things. In all, the one that gets paid well is the RPA software maker and the person who designs the automation. The BPO adds some bps to their margins but how this will add 2 lakh jobs, am not sure. Isn’t automation supposed to reduce the workforce?