What is Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA) vs Robotic Process Automation (RPA) ?
For me RDA is automation of single desktop/user and RPA is automation of many desktops/uses.
Desktop automation is a robotic process automation which was a scaled down version of actual RPA for a single user. Robotic desktop automation is used for data scraping, Excel automation, file transfers, report generation, etc. An example, checking an apllication for a status on regular basis and to download reports or emailing a report to a distributed list of people.
However RPA installs on a server (not for single desktop eventhough that can also be done), cloud , or virtual machines. RPA processes can spread acrross departments or work flows.
For example, invoice generation needs to flow through multiples of tasks is a great candidate for RPA. It might start with retrieving an attachment from an email, then RPA needs to categorize it, uploading to an ERP systems, then find the right receiving person and send out email to that right approval person is a perfect candidate for RPA.