Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) are viewed as essential for successful process automation by 88 percent of respondents in Automation Anywhere’s survey.
The findings also reflected an increase in intelligent automation investments, with the average now being $5.6 million in 2023, representing a 17 percent increase compared to 2022. Moreover, 45 percent of respondents reported that they will invest in GenAI-powered automation over the next 12 months.
The survey, Automation Now and Next: State of Intelligent Automation Report 2023, was conducted by Foundry across 1,000 automation leaders and commissioned by Automation Anywhere, which describes itself as a “leader in AI-powered intelligent automation solutions”.
Ankur Kothari, Co-Founder, Chief Customer & Strategy Officer, Automation Anywhere, said: “Productivity is foundational to economic growth and the world’s next level of evolution.
“Intelligent automation, including AI and generative AI, are proving crucial to solving the massive productivity crisis unfolding in front of us.
“The 2023 Now and Next report echoes our long-held belief that intelligent automation is the only true solution to the current workforce challenges facing organizations around the globe.”
AI for Automation Success
Most business leaders see AI, in particular generative AI, as an essential tool for successful process automation as it has the ability to speed up business transformation, increase productivity, and reduce potential risks.
The survey also found that 63 percent of respondents have deployed AI and ML and 40 percent have deployed generative AI.
A further 72 percent reported that their companies will invest in AI and ML automation technologies over the next 12 months.
It was also revealed that virtual assistants are the number one use case for intelligent automation, which demonstrates the major increase in generative AI adoption.
Automation for Productivity Gains
According to Automation Anywhere, organisations are now viewing automation as the most powerful tool to accelerate productivity, which is, in turn, the main driver of enterprise automation implementation.
Productivity gains were shown to be the desired effect of automation, 78 percent of respondents reported.
Switching to more complex end-to-end process automation has been recognised by 86 percent of automation leaders in the survey as the best path to achieving their productivity goals.
Another strong majority of 84 percent said that a single, connected automation platform is necessary to scale productivity gains.
Scaling Intelligent Automation Programs
Automation programs are now being scaled enterprise-wide, which includes a focus on citizen development to increase the rate of automation adoption.
Business application users can help organisations to accelerate citizen development and drive automation in accordance with business goals.
The majority of respondents, 85 percent, found that automation should be developed with business objectives in mind.
The report also found that 82 percent of respondents actively support citizen development.
Of the enterprises surveyed, 41 percent advocate citizen development, and another 40 percent encourage it in specific areas.
Finally, 49 percent of respondents say that security and governance concerns are obstacles to citizen development.
The growing significance of generative AI can also be seen in investments, such as SAP ploughing $1 billion into generative AI startups.
Last year, Automation Anywhere launched a contact centre solution built on the company’s robotic process automation platform, Automation 360.
