RPA revenue to reach $2.9 billion

According to the latest forecast by Gartner, global robotic process automation (RPA) software revenue is projected to reach $2.9 billion as of this year, an increase of 19.5 percent from 2021. Although growing at a slower pace than previous years, the worldwide RPA software market is projected to continue to experience double-digit growth in 2023, growing 17.5 percent year over year. In fact, Gartner predicts that through 2024, the drive toward a state of hyperautomation will drive organisations to adopt at least three out of the 20 process-agnostic types of software that enable hyperautomation.

Tuesday, 2nd August 2022 Posted 2 years ago in by Phil Alsop

Whilst this shows real promise as organisations lay down the foundations for future RPA projects, Ash Finnegan, digital transformation officer at Conga believes leaders need to be more strategic with how they approach and implement AI across their business. Leaders should start by establishing their digital maturity and reviewing their revenue and data cycles:

“Whilst automation offers many competitive advantages, that does not necessarily mean it is easy to implement or deliver as part of a wider transformation project. Too many leaders prioritise technology over strategy and simply do not understand what automation really is and should drive. Most aspire to be disrupters, picking a technology and implementing it at speed, without necessarily establishing clear objectives. They rush to adopt the latest AI or RPA programme with no real idea of how this will improve their overall services or business performance.

“AI is not a silver bullet – it is only as good as the data provided, if there are bad processes in place, automation will only accelerate this issue. Therefore, integrating systems and streamlining processes should be the first priority, ensuring all data and workflows are properly structured and fully optimised prior to implementation. All data needs to be accounted for across the revenue lifecycle before leaders consider applying new technology, or indeed, make any major strategic decisions or changes for their organisation.

"Adopting AI, or any automation technology for that matter, is a process, not a race – all systems, data and processes need to be aligned. Leaders need to be more strategic with their investments and approach automation with a level head, rolling out a programme in a phased manner, considering each phase of their operations from front to back office. By streamlining their operational model and unifying systems of record, companies will have far greater insight into data streams, and this will empower AI, taking their business to a true state of intelligence. From here, automation can actually add real value."