Robotic process automation industry to disrupt traditional business operational models

Companies are using robotic process automation (RPA) tools to transform their information technology (IT) departments and improve workplace and operational efficiency and this is fueling the industry's growth overall.

By Ojaswita Kutepatil, Global Market Insights January 8, 2018

The relentless quest for operational efficiency in today’s digitized era has unmistakably left a mark on robotic process automation (RPA) industry. This comes as no surprise given that virtually every industry vertical revolves around the growing desire for numerous operations to be carried out efficiently, adhering to the determinants of cost and time effectiveness. In order to sustain and grow in today’s complex data handling markets, major conglomerates have been seeking a high level of accuracy, speed, cost efficiency, and precision beyond the level of human workforce.

An increasing number of firms have been adopting RPA tools to transform their probability quotient amidst their tenacious expedition to look out for technological channels for accelerating profits, augmenting revenue, and slashing costs, which would have a proportional impact on RPA market share. As more organizations join the marathon for enabling RPA to handle and streamline their workflows, the RPA industry will continue its march toward an escalated growth map.

Robots have already proven their worth in the industrial and manufacturing sectors for a while now. However, with the increasing complexity in data handling and synchronization, the information technology (IT) industry has also been embracing robotics for process handling. RPA comprises a procedure wherein computer software impersonates human actions to perform specific tasks for addressing redundant manual work.

Technically, RPA is a technological application that configures computer software to automate a rule-based, repeated, and non-subjective process. The implementation of RPA technology is solving critical business issues that have been on the priority lists of many organizations to achieve better operational efficiency. The rapid rise in the number of firms adopting RPA will most certainly have a profound effect on RPA industry size.

Below are some of the most compelling figures responsible for the rise and proliferation of the RPA industry. The statistics mentioned provide some key insights on the impact of RPA technology in organizations has fortified RPA market growth.

The National Association of Software & Services Companies stated the implementation of RPA in an organization is likely to provide a cost reduction of 10-30% in offshore delivery and a whopping 35-65% for onshore process operations.

When it comes to managing overall business goals relative to budgets, ROI, and resource allocation, the aforementioned figures are quite staggering is terms of saving costs. A report by a leading consulting firm throws light on this fact, statingalmost 45% of the activities individuals are paid to perform can be now automated by implementing RPA technologies. The RPA technology offers an investment recovery period between six to nine months, which has proved to be a major driver for RPA market. The RPA industry overall will witness lucrative gains in the forthcoming years as the technology offers a valuable proposition for organizations looking forward to operating as efficiently as possible.

Robots have already begun to have a profound effect on today’s businesses. Leslie Willcocks, a professor at the London School of Economics’ department, said, “RPA is a technology that takes robots out of humans.” With the implementation of RPA software, a lot of routine, repetitive, and dreary tasks can be carried out in a highly effective and accurate manner through the implementation of this software.

The RPA market stands to gain huge acceptance in the IT industry where the software needs to be configured to mimic human actions such as issuing an invoice or even something as simple as just a single click, to more than 600 actions in a given sequence. Sources claim the labor productivity of RPA is expected to be equivalent to the output of 110 million to 140 million workers.

This technology is expected to have a massive economic impact between a mammoth range of $5.2 billion and $6.7 trillion by 2025, according to experts. Based on these figures, it is quite evident the RPA industry is poised to remain one of the most profitable businesses that will have a favorable impact on the economy through the product’s escalating adoption rates.

A recent report compiled by Global Market Insights, Inc. claims the RPA has a value of more than $5 billion at an annual growth rate of 20% worldwide from 2017-2024

The above-mentioned statistics reveal the worldwide RPA industry has immense potential to bring about an extraordinary transformation over the forthcoming seven years. The rising prevalence of RPA adoption to improve the organization’s operational efficiency, performance, and capabilities are providing a major boost to the global RPA industry share. As per reports, RPA market size, in 2016, was pegged at over $600 million. Furthermore, the growing demand for customer support across several vertical industries driving the growth of the RPA industry. The report, in addition, also identifies Asia Pacific to emerge as one of the most lucrative growth grounds for the RPA market in the ensuing years. The rapidly increasing rate of RPA deployment to eliminate manual interference in BPOs and IT applications is further estimated to garner profits for the regional RPA industry.

Will the robust growth of RPA industry undermine the value of human resources?

While RPA may take over rote tasks and eventually snatch jobs from the human workforce, they cannot be applied effectively in areas where decision-making requires intellectual thinking, human intervention, and a change of processing rules. In fact, industry experts believe certain segments of a job profile that come under the monotonous category are deemed to be taken over by RPA, as opposed to sole job responsibility. In addition, many companies have been considering the RPA technology too lucrative to let go off – an undeniable fact that can be gauged from the growth rate of the RPA market.

This technology is on its way to becoming the next frontier for businesses seeking to extricate people from performing mundane tasks so they can focus on more complex business challenges. In effect, it can thus be inferred the RPA market is poised to exhibit unprecedented growth potential in the forthcoming years, driven by the escalating requirement for superlative operational efficiency and ease of functionality.

Ojaswita Kutepatil, Global Market Insights. This article originally appeared on Global Market Insights’  market research blog. Global Market Insights, Inc. is a CFE Media content partner. Edited by Chris Vavra, production editor, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

Original content can be found at www.gminsights.com.