Automate Attended vs. Unattended Automation
Integration & Workflows
Understand the two modes of RPA and when to use each. Attended bots assist your team in real time. Unattended bots work around the clock on their own. Most businesses need both.
The Power of Integration
Real results from businesses that automated their Attended vs. Unattended Automation workflows
Unattended bots work around the clock without breaks or supervision
Average productivity gain from combining attended and unattended automation
Of automated tasks can run fully unattended once properly configured
Speed improvement for tasks where humans and bots collaborate in real time
The Manual Integration Challenge
Common problems businesses face without automated Attended vs. Unattended Automation integration
Some Tasks Need a Human in the Loop
Not everything can run fully on autopilot. Some processes need a person to make a judgment call, verify a result, or handle an exception before the automation continues. Attended automation keeps a human in the driver's seat while the bot handles the heavy lifting.
Overnight Work Piling Up
Reports that need to be ready by morning. Data that needs to be synced overnight. Files that need to be processed before the team arrives. Unattended automation handles the work while everyone sleeps, so your team starts fresh every day.
Desktop Productivity Bottlenecks
Your team members spend chunks of their day on repetitive screen work: looking up information, filling forms, copying data between apps. Attended bots sit on their desktop and handle these tasks with a single click, giving time back immediately.
Choosing the Wrong Automation Mode
Deploying an unattended bot for a task that really needs human oversight leads to errors and exceptions. Running a task in attended mode when it could run overnight wastes your team's time. Matching the right mode to each task is critical.
Scaling Without Disrupting Your Team
You want more automation but worry about changing how your team works. Attended automation integrates into existing workflows without disrupting them. Unattended automation runs separately, in the background, on its own schedule.
High-Volume Processing Backlogs
Month-end processing, bulk data migrations, mass report generation. These high-volume jobs can't be done during business hours without slowing everything else down. Unattended bots power through them off-hours.
What We Connect Attended vs. Unattended Automation With
Seamlessly integrate Attended vs. Unattended Automation with your existing business systems
Robotic Process Automation
Both attended and unattended automation are modes of RPA. Start here to understand the core technology behind software robots.
UiPath RPA
UiPath supports both attended and unattended bots with Orchestrator for scheduling and management. We're a certified partner.
Digital Workforce
Your digital workers can operate in attended, unattended, or hybrid modes depending on the task at hand.
Intelligent Automation
Add AI to your attended and unattended bots so they can handle more complex, judgment-based tasks.
Hyperautomation
A hyperautomation strategy uses both attended and unattended automation strategically across the organization.
Automation Consulting
Not sure which mode is right for your processes? We help you design the optimal attended/unattended split.
Integration Capabilities
Everything we can automate with Attended vs. Unattended Automation integration
Attended Automation (Human + Bot)
Bots that work alongside your employees, triggered on demand when they need help with specific tasks. The bot handles the repetitive parts while the person handles the thinking.
- Employee-triggered task assistance
- Real-time data lookups and form filling
- Guided process steps with decision points
- Desktop productivity shortcuts
Unattended Automation (Fully Autonomous)
Bots that run independently on schedules or triggers, processing work 24/7 without human intervention. This is Winston the Robot at his best.
- Scheduled batch processing
- Event-triggered workflows
- Overnight and weekend processing
- High-volume data operations
Hybrid Automation
Workflows that combine attended and unattended steps. A bot processes bulk data overnight (unattended), then presents exceptions to a person in the morning (attended) for review and decisions.
- Best of both modes combined
- Automated pre-processing with human review
- Exception routing to the right person
- Seamless handoffs between bot and human
Bot Scheduling and Orchestration
Bot orchestration is how you control when and how your bots run. Schedule unattended work for off-hours, set up triggers based on events, and manage priorities when multiple bots need the same resources.
- Time-based and event-based scheduling
- Queue and priority management
- Resource allocation across bots
- Retry and error handling logic
Human-in-the-Loop Workflows
Design processes where bots handle the routine work and automatically escalate to humans when they encounter something unusual, uncertain, or requiring judgment.
- Confidence-based escalation
- Approval and review workflows
- Exception handling by skilled staff
- Continuous bot improvement from feedback
Monitoring and Dashboards
See exactly what your attended and unattended bots are doing in real time. Track completions, errors, processing times, and ROI across your entire automation portfolio.
- Real-time bot activity monitoring
- Performance and throughput metrics
- Error and exception tracking
- ROI reporting by process
What our clients say
Chuck Baresich
President
Haggerty AgRobotics Company
Had the team prepare a system for us to automate the re-branding of our digital invoicing and statements. The system has been working flawlessly for over a year. Simple to administer and the team are easy to get in contact with make adjustments or update our requirements.
Marilee A Nowgesic
CEO
Canadian Indigenous Nurses Association
The team is friendly, reliable and extremely patient to ensuring our concerns are addressed and understood. They have enabled an open table to allow for their clients to receive timely (...really feels like 24/7 platforms...) and concise information on the latest trends in IT, data collection and many other relevant issues. DigitalStaff has also provided an environment that allows for multiple levels and skills of their clients - so you never have to feel like you're not contributing. Their ability to translate your project needs provides an impressive output/deliverable to suit the needs of our projects.
Kevin Potts
President
Norseman Construction
Oscar and his team are amazing, they are always there when we need them. The automation process has been truly amazing, and we have found alot more time and productivity in our day to day processes.
Kyle Watters
Owner
Elmira Stove Works
We have been using Digital Staff for almost 10 years now, they look after all of our network and computer IT needs. They are friendly and great people to work with, knowing they are only a phone call away is piece of mind in our business. I would highly recommend this company for all your IT needs and if you are looking to save time, money and improve efficiency.
Gerda Zonruiter
Senior Research and Evaluation Consultant
Centre for Organizational Effectiveness
Oscar has helped me problem solve and find solutions for specific tasks saving me a lot of time. He provided me with the instruction I needed to implement the solutions on my own. He was responsive and easy to work with.
Paul B Bélanger
Trademark Attorney
The Law Office of Paul B. Bélanger
I am familiar with the highly professional services of DigitalStaff. I resorted to the business services of DigitalStaff on numerous occasions, knowing they pay attention to provide high quality services at reasonable price. I recommend DigitalStaff in confidence knowing their specialized services will provide satisfaction to any client, small or large.
Jill Osborne
National Executive Director
Kids Kicking Cancer Canada
The DigitalStaff team helped create effective and affordable solutions for our small shop. They quickly gained an understanding of our needs and have helped us trouble-shoot along the way.
Michael Mandich
Customer
It was wonderful service. I found Oscar to be honest and thoughtful. He was always available to do even the smallest tasks. He tried to teach me many things on the computer and was patient even though I find it very difficult. I recommended him to friends and they had high praise for his abilities. It is easy to give him 5 stars ⭐️
Ali Tavakoli
AI, RPA, and Automation Developer
DigitalStaff
DigitalStaff is a great company for doing Robotic Process Automation, the owner is very friendly and can take care of any issues that come up very quickly. Highly recommend DigitalStaff for RPA workload or any other type of software development where you need to automate tasks.
Ilze Van der Merwe
National Expansion Manager
Kids Kicking Cancer Canada
Our Organization can highly recomend DigitalStaff. They have helped us automate many of our work processes which saves us time and makes us efficient. We are a small organization with few hands, and having DigitalStaff assist us in our IT and backend processes makes our work lighter which opens up our time to get to things that really matter, which is making a difference in Children's lives.
Dr. Joan Clayton
Psychologist
Dr. Reist & Associates
Excellent and prompt service, highly skilled, personable and always eager to help and resolve issues - ABSOLUTELY THE BEST
Joe Orendorff
Owner
Elmira Stove Works
Great Service!
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Attended vs. Unattended Automation integration
What is attended automation?
A software robot that works alongside a person on their desktop, triggered when the employee needs help. The bot fills out forms, looks up information across systems, or processes documents while the person handles the parts that need judgment or customer interaction.
What is unattended automation?
A software robot that runs completely on its own, on a schedule or responding to triggers. Processing overnight transactions at 2 AM, handling invoices the moment they arrive by email. Our robot Winston is the perfect example—he works 24/7 and only escalates to a human when something truly unusual happens.
When should I use attended vs. unattended automation?
Attended: when the task needs human judgment, you're interacting with customers live, or the process varies too much for full autopilot. Unattended: when it's fully rules-based, can run on a schedule, or needs to happen outside business hours. Many processes work best as hybrids.
Can the same bot work in both modes?
Yes. UiPath and other platforms support both modes. A common setup: the bot processes bulk work unattended overnight, then helps employees with exceptions during the day in attended mode. Same automation logic, different deployment mode.
Does unattended automation need a dedicated computer?
Unattended bots run on a virtual machine or server, not someone's desktop, so they don't interfere with anyone's work. We can host them in our managed cloud or deploy on your infrastructure. Attended bots run on the employee's own desktop.
How does Winston the Robot fit into this?
Winston is DigitalStaff's unattended digital worker. He runs around the clock handling scheduled jobs, event-triggered workflows, and background processing. When he hits something outside his rules, he flags it for your team. Tireless, accurate, and never calls in sick.
What happens when an unattended bot encounters an error?
They follow a defined escalation path: retry the step, flag the item for human review, or alert the support team. We set up monitoring dashboards so you always know what's happening. Nothing falls through the cracks.
Is attended automation less valuable than unattended?
Not at all. Attended delivers the fastest employee satisfaction gains—people feel the improvement immediately. Unattended delivers higher volume throughput and cost savings. The best automation programs use both.
Ready to Deploy the Right Automation Mode?
Get a free assessment showing which of your processes should run attended, unattended, or hybrid. We'll map out the optimal automation strategy for your team.
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