Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is revolutionising the way we work. As it becomes more widespread, its potential to become a standard part of business life is becoming a reality, which has resulted in a great amount of business investment. In 2018, the RPA market grew by 63.1% to $846 million, meaning it the fastest-growing segment in the enterprise software market.
This article will examine the significance of RPA and how K2 is leading this technological revolution by becoming an official partner of Automation Anywhere, the global leader within this sector.
RPA at Work
When RPA first emerged, there was some apprehension that people would lose their jobs to automation software, particularly among those with jobs heavily based around administrative or repetitive rules-based tasks. While automation is expected to make some jobs obsolete, these will be more than made up by new jobs in the sector.
Companies hoping to reap the maximum benefits from RPA should consider several points:
- There must be a strategic vision in place
- The IT department must be universally willing to work with RPA
- There must be a business case that considers the full range of benefits that RPA can offer a business
Once RPA has been introduced into a company, the most successful outcomes result from considering not only how it can benefit customers, but also employees. The primary advantage RPA can bring to people is that it frees them from their more monotonous duties that can be automated. This allows them to concentrate on value-adding, strategic tasks, providing them with more opportunities to upskill and progress higher up in the organisation. They can also have more time to develop and maintain human interactions with not only their colleagues, but clients.
For the company itself, not only will they have more employees concentrating on the tasks that people do best, but RPA will help to improve their processes. There will be less scope for human error and tasks can be completed faster. If there is a sudden change in demand or a deadline, RPA can adapt immediately whereas a human team would take longer to become accustomed to the new requirements. Not only this, but using RPA will provide comprehensive metrics and insights.
Automation Anywhere
K2 is pleased to be an official partner of Automation Anywhere to help businesses in their RPA implementation, as well as training professionals in the most in-demand RPA skills. Our shared goal is to build world-class Intelligent Digital Workforces and increase their employability.
In a survey by Forrester Consulting, 43% of the companies involved claimed to find it difficult to understand the RPA deployment options that were available to them. Generally, organisations have issues with scaling their RPA solutions because there is a lack of trained professionals and resources to support them when they choose to employ the system. By working with Automation Anywhere, K2 will be able to fill this gap by providing trainers and training to both clients and IT professionals on a global scale.
Automation Anywhere held one of their annual Imagine Conferences from the 19th to the 21st March 2019. As one of their training partners, we were in attendance at the conference to immerse ourselves in the future of RPA, as well as Automation Anywhere’s ethos, Automate Everything, Adopted by Everyone and Available Everywhere.
One of the stand out speakers was Garry Kasparov, professional chess player whose 12-year winning streak was ended by IBM’s chess computer, DeepBlue, in 1996. Kasparov discussed ‘The Winning Strategy of Human + Machine’, focusing on the benefits of RPA once embraced by the human race.
“AI is not a magic wand; it is not Terminator; it does not mean dystopia; it is just a tool. Treat it as a tool designed to make lives simpler.”
New Automation Anywhere features were announced that will be released throughout 2019, including a new managed service tools, which provide greater cloud capabilities. These include a cloud-only platform, multi-tenancy and a browser-based designer.
Industry estimates suggest that by 2021 the RPA industry will be worth $2.9 billion. Its rapid rate of growth means that there has never been a better time for both businesses and professionals to stay on top of the developments and trends within this exciting sector.