According to a new IDC study commissioned by Automation Anywhere, a global leader in RPA, nearly half of all businesses in India will implement robotic process automation (RPA) by 2024. Triggered by COVID-19, the study further anticipates that RPA adoption rates will increase by 57% next year.
The IDC study, which surveyed technology executives across India, combined with Automation Anywhere’s survey of more than 1,600 customers in multiple industries, revealed that the pandemic spurred a recalibration of business plans accelerating digital transformation – and RPA adoption.
The report, Building Business Resiliency: Automation the Path to the Future Enterprise, identified four key pillars essential for an automation journey that include business resiliency, democratization with automation, efficiency and scalability – and trust as businesses move to a new normal.
Milan Sheth, Executive Vice President, IMEA, Automation Anywhere, said: “The pandemic is a stark reminder of the critical importance of being prepared for any future calamity or uncertainty. Automation is at the core of any business transformation strategy — and two out of every three customers today are starting that journey in the cloud. Cloud RPA is the future, enabling remote work, reducing the burden on IT resources, and lowering infrastructure costs.”
The study found that 57% of organizations are investing in RPA and intelligent automation to build resilience post-COVID, as opposed to 21% investing in analytics/big data, 7% in machine learning, and 15% in other emerging technologies. Indian organizations cited trustworthiness as their No. #1 priority for digital transformation and are looking for increased security and overall governance of processes via automation. Respondents also said they believe that RPA can improve the accuracy, consistency and security of transactions.
Among the key findings, 56% of organizations surveyed plan to deploy digital workers and software bots that work directly with employees, encouraging more human-bot collaboration. The study found that 47% of employees believe that RPA increases business efficiencies.
Rishu Sharma, Principal Analyst, Cloud & AI, IDC India, said: “Resilience, intelligence, and empowerment at scale are top priorities for the CXOs in the new normal. As the nature of jobs and work changes after the pandemic, digital workers will add value beyond ROI to help organizations develop new capabilities and business models. Automation will become a business imperative for driving innovation, customer centricity, and gaining efficiencies.”
The Building Business Resiliency: Automation the Path to the Future Enterprise report combines Automation Anywhere customer data with IDC survey results from organizations across healthcare, financial services, government, technology and telecom verticals.
