In this article, we will try to explain what web scraping is and how to use it with RPA in detail. Robotic Process Automation is a technology that can be used for different jobs (web scraping, desktop automation, data validation, OCR, web automation, API automation, etc.) in many sectors. It has the capacity to do all the work that takes place in the digital environment and ensures that all repetitive and boring jobs are done faster than human beings and are also error-free. It offers ease of use as it is easy to install and operate robot software. RPA can easily automate all of the processes that are suitable for automation and saves time. In addition, as Kronnika adopts the pay-as-you-go model, it is possible to automate jobs at low cost. This leaves time for you and your employees to do value-added work.
For example, tracking the prices of different sellers of a certain product on an e-commerce site every day and reporting this price analysis can be done quickly and easily with software robots. While it can take hours to do this with human workforce, it can be done in a few minutes with robot software that does the same process by imitating the human and following the same steps. This process is the automation of Web Scraping with RPA.
What is Web Scraping?
Web scraping is a tool that allows users to extract data from different websites. The information collected is transferred to a more convenient format for users, such as a spreadsheet. Web Scraping plays an important role in many workflows that often require the management of external data. People usually do the job by manually scraping the web, spending hours on monotonous repetitive activities that can lead to simple mistakes made due to the human factor. Therefore, automated web scraping allows companies to extract data much more efficiently and people to focus more on ROI-focused and important tasks.
How Web Scrapers Work
The entire process of collecting data from various sources is a simple algorithm that must be tailored to each company’s goals and business needs. It usually has three steps:
Creating the scraper: A user develops a custom-designed scraper to extract certain data from certain websites.
Extraction of data: The scraper retrieves certain data in HTML format preselected by the administrator.
Getting the results: The web scraper outputs all the extracted information in a format more preferable to the user. Usually in CSV, TSV, or JSON format.
What Can Web Scrapers Be Used For?
There are numerous processes where web scrapers can be used in business processes in almost every department, from sales and marketing to accounting and finance. For example, the web scraper has an area of application in daily business and in many variations, such as extracting data of the same product from different sites for comparison shopping, comparing stock prices when making investment decisions, obtaining financial information for in-depth market research. Thus, it helps gain insightful information that can be used for both strategic planning and short-term tasks.
What Happens After Scraping Data?
Web scraping is a useful tool for professionals dealing with lots of data in the workplace. What if you need to transfer the extracted data to another system or application? This is another time-consuming process that can be automated with RPA. Robotic Process Automation can perform scraped data processing tasks. Thus, Web Scraping and RPA become a powerful combination in common business processes.
What Are The Benefits Of Web Scraping With RPA?
Fewer mistakes are made and the cost is lower.
The main purpose of robot software is to take over repetitive and boring tasks that people are expected to make mistakes. RPA ensures less human error and lowers costs.
It allows doing more.
With Robotic Process Automation, you can do more than simple Web Scraping. RPA tools can also be used for hundreds of other repetitive and tedious tasks, such as automating quality and assurance tests and sending the same emails to multiple people.
It does not require coding knowledge.
Whether it’s a business partner, research assistant, or coder, anyone may need automation. However, not everyone has equal knowledge of coding. Automating one task may be done in a completely different way than another task. With the use of low code/no code, RPA can be used by anyone without coding knowledge.
It is quick and easy to install.
Installing software is much easier than teaching people to code. Since most of the automation techniques already exist, it doesn’t take much time to apply them to a new set of web scraping requirements. In addition, it can be easily integrated into different processes since it is scalable.
No need for a Web Scraping team.
Web scraping with Robotic Process Automation is one of the increasing usage areas of RPA. Thus, a single robot can do the work of multiple people much faster. It is also possible to be customized in complex usage areas.
Increases customer satisfaction.
Collecting data from social media has become an important metric as companies try to analyze their customers and understand their behavior. Many social media platforms do not allow automatic data collection. However, RPA can easily collect social media data or complaints because it imitates the human.
Who Should Use Web Scraping with RPA?
Data entry is an essential job in many companies. Companies that are still manually scraping data can use Robotic Process Automation to increase efficiency and reduce errors and costs. RPA is not tied to any particular use case and can perform whatever task you think is too boring and repetitive to be done by a human.
If you want to automate your web scraping processes, please review our ready-to-go robots and share your scenarios to be automated.
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