Use Of Intelligent Automation Expanding In Nordics After Helping Enterprises Meet Pandemic Challenges

ISG Provider Lens™ report says advanced, AI-powered automation solutions are well-suited to the region’s technological maturity, high labor costs and aging workforce

The Nordics region is well-positioned for growth in intelligent automation given its overall technological maturity, social trends and rapid economic recovery from a slump triggered by the COVID-19 crisis, according to a new research report published by Information Services Group , a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

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The 2021 ISG Provider Lens Intelligent Automation – Solutions and Services report for the Nordics finds the region’s high-wage, high-productivity workforce and aging population are likely to tighten labor markets and increase demand for automation in the coming years. Nordic IT investment is already rising as part of a robust European recovery from the early effects of the pandemic, which saw the EMEA market for managed services and as-a-service offerings growing by 36 percent year-over-year in the third quarter of 2021, according to the ISG Index.

Intelligent automation spans a range of solutions and services that can perform increasingly complex tasks using AI, machine learning, computer vision, voice recognition, natural-language processing and other capabilities. Organizations are applying these solutions to a growing number of business challenges, according to ISG.

“Enterprises in the Nordics are poised to join the expansion of intelligent automation into new areas of business, work and consumer life,” said Chip Wagner, CEO of ISG Automation. “The sudden growth of online work and consumption caused by the pandemic has led organizations to automate many more processes, and the Nordics are keeping pace with this trend.”

While many large enterprises in the Nordics have strong incentives to automate routine, low-value tasks, the region is also home to a high proportion of small and midsize businesses that tend to be more risk-averse, and this may slow the uptake of automation somewhat, the report notes. However, these companies show growing overall interest in several areas of intelligent automation.

For example, demand for intelligent document processing (IDP) solutions is rising quickly in the region’s telecom, construction, retail, healthcare and financial services sectors, ISG says. These solutions have matured to the point where there is a broad selection of machine-learning-powered IDP technologies that can handle both structured and unstructured data from a variety of sources.

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A large number of Nordic enterprises and government agencies also have implemented process discovery and mining solutions to better understand and optimize their operations, according to the report. Adopters include major retailers, tax administrators, construction companies and telecom companies. Some global providers have set up new sales offices in the region with an eye to expansion.

In addition, the Nordic countries are a prime market for artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps), given the prevalence of technologically advanced industries such as telecom and advanced manufacturing, along with multinational leaders in banking, energy and retail, ISG says. Many global AIOps providers have established significant footprints in the region.

The use of conversational AI is increasing, as in other markets, in response to disruptions from the pandemic, the report says. This technology has growing potential in the Nordics, especially as providers introduce software-as-a-service delivery models, which should make conversational AI more attractive to the region’s many smaller businesses.

The 2021 ISG Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation – Solutions and Services report for the Nordics evaluates the capabilities of 93 providers across five quadrants: Intelligent Business Automation, Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps), Conversational AI, Intelligent Document Processing, and Process Mining and Discovery.

The report names Accenture, Capgemini, HCL, IBM, TCS, TietoEVRY, UiPath and Wipro as Leaders in two quadrants each. It names ABBYY, ABBYY Timeline, Amelia, Artificial Solutions, Celonis, Genpact, Google, Kofax, Microsoft, QPR Software and SAP Signavio as Leaders in one quadrant each.

In addition, LTI is named as a Rising Star—a company with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition—in two quadrants. Kore.ai, Software AG and UST SmartOps are named as Rising Stars in one quadrant each.

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