Following the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic to businesses, interest in robotic process automation (RPA) has increased as businesses seek to reduce dependency on a human workforce.
As a result, the global RPA software and services market will be worth $20.1-billion in 2030, up from $4.8-billion in 2021, according to GlobalData.
GlobalData’s latest report, “Thematic Research: Robotic Process Automation”, shows that businesses in almost every industry have accelerated their automation efforts during the pandemic.
Because RPA is a relatively quick solution to implement, it enables businesses to make a leap in their digital transformation efforts. RPA is not a technology for a dystopian future; it is here and has caught the attention of leaders and executives. The time for investing in RPA is yesterday.
Nicklas Nilsson, consultant for thematic research at GlobalData, commented: “Covid-19 has highlighted the need to coordinate automation in a business. It has accelerated the development of RPA as companies move away from the stands -alone automation capabilities and instead offers RPA as part of a broader toolkit of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, allowing for end-to-end automation of more complex business processes .”
RPA has undergone a rapid transformation, emerging as an important part of intelligent automation, where AI and other business process technologies – such as low code development tools, process mining, intelligent processing document management, and business process management (BPM) – are combined with RPA to facilitate enterprise-wide automation initiatives.
Nilsson added: “Cloud and platform giants – such as Microsoft, ServiceNow, and Salesforce – have recognized that software budgets are shifting towards automation and RPA and are eagerly turning to M&A to add RPA to their automation portfolios.
“In turn, RPA pioneers driving adoption are focused on adding capabilities from adjacent business process technologies. Process mining companies are particularly in demand as the technology is often viewed as a way to onboard new customers to initial automation solutions.”
RPA capabilities are increasingly embedded in various digital transformation tools and services. As a result, several RPA acquisitions have occurred in the past two years. There were 159 RPA-related M&A deals between 2014 and 2021, with 2021 being a record year, according to GlobalData.
Nilsson concluded: “RPA will continue to attract attention in the coming years for its role in helping businesses accelerate digital transformation and modernize traditional business processes.
“Integrating smart technologies like AI and making technology more accessible with low-code tools and cloud RPA will be high on the future agenda for all companies aspiring to be the go-to, one-stop-shop automation platform around which everything else is centered.”