What Does The Future Hold For RPA?

So, we’ve all heard of  Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and why it has grown exponentially in the last two to three years. Automation technology is helping businesses globally transform internal work processes that were previously accomplished manually. Not only did RPA help in reducing the overwhelming pressure of doing repeated tasks, but it has also set new standards of efficiency. The Implementation of RPA had grown to become a necessity rather than a luxury during the global pandemic when companies looked for more productivity with limited resources.  

It is undoubtedly the technology that brought about the much-needed digital transformation of processes across various organizations. The benefits derived from implementing RPA far outweigh any technical complexity, provided if there is any. The global market potential of RPA companies keeps growing and so are the organizations who have adopted automation in their operations. Let us take a look at some facts and figures, 

According to studies revealed in MarketsAndMarkets “Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Market is estimated to reach USD 2,467.0 million by 2022, at a CAGR of 30.14% between 2017 and 2022” 

Around 80% of finance leaders have implemented or are planning to implement RPA. (Gartner**)” 

“53% of respondents have already started their RPA journey and a further 19% of respondents plan to adopt RPA in the next two years. (Deloitte Global RPA Survey)” 

“98% of IT leaders say automating business processes is vital to driving business benefits. (Automation Anywhere)” 

78% of those who have already implemented RPA expect to significantly increase investment in RPA over the next three years. (Deloitte Global RPA Survey) 

The global robotic process automation market size was USD 1.29 billion in 2020. (Fortune Business Insights) 

Apart from the numbers mentioned above, Mckinsey & company reviewed 16 case studies to determine that the return on investment derived varied between 300 to 200% within the first year itself. 

But What is the Future Like For Robotic Automation? 

As robotic automation becomes more prevalent, there is a lot of speculation as to how the future will look for robots and humans. Some people believe that robots will eventually take over many jobs, while others think that they will help us to become more efficient and productive workers. Whichever direction things go, it’s clear that the future of robotics is exciting and filled with potential. Here are five ways that robotic automation is going to change the world in the coming years.

• Robotics will help us to improve manufacturing processes.
• They will make our food more sustainable and fresh.
• They will make our health care systems more efficient and effective.
• They will make our transportation systems more reliable and efficient.
• They will create more jobs than they destroy.

The Robotic Process Automation industry is increasingly growing. Among the changing dynamics, we’ll see are a variety of exciting developments as RPA matures and the global economy learns to adapt to it. 

RPA Automation services have enabled global organizations to improve efficiency in their work processes. It added more value in services to enhance customer experience, and drive better productivity to keep up with the demands of the ever-evolving digital economy.  

Global RPA Market Growth Predictions 

The global market prediction made by Research and Market forecast a massive surge from USD 2,078.3 million in 2020 to USD 45,982 million by 2030 which is an annual compound growth of 36.3% between 2020 to 2030. 

Gartner estimated that the overall RPA software spending will grow by $2.4 billion in total revenue in 2022 and over 60% of organizations earning a revenue of more than $1 billion will implement RPA service tools by the end of the year 

In a research report by Forrester, it was revealed that the global RPA market is likely to grow by $2.9 Billion By 2021 while also mentioning that RPA technology will be a key contender in the intelligent automation workforce market. 

One in Ten startups will have a higher digital workforce with RPA by 2023. (UiPath) 

Grandview Research reports states that “The global robotic process automation market size was valued at USD 1.89 billion in 2021 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.2% from 2022 to 2030.” 

1 in 10 startups will have a higher digital workforce with RPA by 2023. (UiPath) 

The market is projected to grow from USD 1.61 billion in 2021 to USD 7.64 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 25.0% in the 2021-2028 period. (Fortune Business insights) 

And this is where one can say ‘Sky is the limit’ for Robotic Process Automation. As the digital eco-system keeps evolving, RPA companies have also been continuously updating their technology to provide better value to clients. RPA will not remain limited to automating repetitive, rule-based digital tasks, the future of automation robots will be more about improved interactions with applications and information sources as much the same way human workers do. 

An article by Forbes used the term RPA as a Service (RPAaaS) as the next promising development in the future of automation. It went on to describe the possibility of RPA gaining more scale and flexibility and will be a convenient tool for enterprises in their automation strategy.   

Top 10 RPA Trends to Look Forward To 

Higher RPA adoption 

So far, the industries which are the biggest adopters of RPA are banks and insurance companies, telecommunication, and utility-providing companies. RPA services certainly became a convenient solution for these industries as they could successfully transform their operations into their elaborate legacy systems. 

Nevertheless, as RPA grows in revenue and capabilities, many industries will implement RPA meticulously, including manufacturing, banking, as well as oil and gas. RPA is gradually becoming an integral part of operations for prominent companies globally.

Smart digital workforce

A drastic change is underway in the dynamics of the RPA industry. It is more likely to undergo a massive transformation as automation and bot workers will take up the roles of repetitive and high-volume business functions, thus allowing human workers to get involved in more creative and value-adding services that demand human intelligence. 

A survey was conducted by KPMG in 2018 along with top executives around the world, according to the report “over 32% of industry leaders expect RPA investment to increase by 20 percent or more, and two-thirds of respondents believe they have the capacity to scale up smart automation”.

Redefining the roles of humans in organizations

The increasing demand for automation brought up the issue of endangering employment for humans. But this apprehension became baseless because automation practices in the future will be more of a joint collaboration between machines and humans handling many areas in the business processes. This culture will likely bring about an enhancement in the nature and the quality of jobs and create job opportunities. This movement will bring a growing demand for automation along with process experts to resolve complex issues concerning business processes as well as refine user interfaces.

RPA bots for data security and risk management 

The level of efficiency maintained with automation mitigates any sign of errors which is a crucial aspect for information security management systems. With RPA companies rapidly expanding towards artificial intelligence technologies, automating processes for information security can actively reduce any potential risks that can arise due to human involvement. Moreover, Implementation of RPA in these processes can efficiently execute data-laden tasks.  

Companies benefit greatly from this reduction in security risks and time savings, allowing workers to focus on tasks requiring cognitive ability. More and more companies will start to deploy smart software bots for eliminating any potential risks of internal data leakage and secure valuable assets of the company. 

Collaborative effort – Humans and Automation 

As the demand grows for RPA services to be incorporated in various office systems pervades, we are likely to witness new levels of efficiency and productivity in various job roles. As organizations strive to combine human and digital workers, employees from Human resources and Information will need to collaborate on their efforts as organizations to handle automation. Although AI or artificial intelligence technology offers its share of benefits in terms of business performance, but to leverage the technology completely, companies have to prioritize their human employees first to restructure the roles and responsibilities of new job dynamics.

RPA key metrics

By leveraging the proven results of organizations who have implemented RPA well, meaningful methods can be developed to measure the impact of RPA. Key metrics on the basis on which RPA value can be derived are; 

• Higher Productivity 
• Improvement in speed, quality, and delivery of services 
• Generating faster and more innovative Opportunities 
• Improvement in the performance of business operations 
• Enhanced experience for the employee 

Focus on strategic Use Cases

By implementing an end-to-end automation strategy, organizations will restructure their processes, technologies, and frameworks to accommodate RPA. Companies will be looking at every opportunity to implement automation even in the most complex tasks to bring more value and best resonate with the goals of the company’s business prospects. RPA adoption for crucial processes like verifying documents, data extraction, processing autonomous invoices and even detecting frauds will be accomplished with more accuracy. 

 Budget friendly RPA services

It is predicted by Gartner that companies will experience price reductions for generic RPA tools which are being offered by multiple new vendors. The cost reduction in RPA services can be due to the growth of cloud-based technology, or the emergence of new system integrators revising pricing strategies leading to more cost-effective automation services, and it can also be because of the increase in ROI caused due to the implementation of RPA in company’s process operations.  

Hyper-automation

The process of synergizing artificial intelligence and machine learning in RPA technology has led to a more evolved and smart automation system. This collaboration has procured more benefits for companies globally. Hyper-automation in RPA primarily concerns itself with understanding the span of automation mechanisms and how they can be utilized interactively to bolster automation technology to handle complex use cases. 

Chatbots and RPA integration has always been an important part in the culture of smart automation. This collaboration enables a process where chatbots can set-off RPA to perform data structured tasks based on user command without the need to direct it to a human executive. Chatbots by integrating with RPA will also be capable to understand and respond to more complex requests by the user that too at a better scale.

Smarter RPA technology

There are two types of RPA technology: autonomous and semi-autonomous. Autonomous RPA technology is when the computerized system performs all the tasks without any help from a human. Semi-autonomous RPA technology allows a human to perform some tasks, but the computer ultimately makes the decisions. Either type of RPA technology can be used for a variety of purposes, including customer service, marketing, and sales.

And since its inception, RPA has come a long way advancing itself from the time of its inception. RPA companies over the years have worked on equipping automation with smarter features and services to make complex decisions effectively, which is the primary reason to design unattended RPA bots.   

What To Look Forward To 

The future course of RPA will witness intelligent automation as a result of combining robotic automation with artificial intelligence technology. This claim is further backed up by the Initiatives undertaken by organizations to link their AI projects to their KPIs such as revenue, cost reduction, and customer satisfaction. According to a Forrester prediction, incorporating Artificial Intelligence in RPA will enable it to become more capable of responding to tasks and understanding the goals of the business processes. It is likely to become a prominent part of automation in the future. 

Considering automation for your business processes? And why not! Because intelligence in processes entails smarter businesses.

Get in touch with our experts at Webuters. Our trained professionals will assist your company’s legacy systems to successfully incorporate advanced automation that will ensure efficiency and better ROI.