Intelligent Automation (IA) Week Launches In-depth Benchmarking Report Focused on the Evolving IA Market

38% of surveyed process professionals shared that 10-30% of their positions could be automated within the next five years. So, what does this mean for businesses in the future? Well, with a future that is uncertain, many are unconvinced of how to tackle current problems involving streamlining operations and decreasing costs. Fortunately, the eye-opening 2018 Intelligent Automation Benchmarking Report offers some strategy changing insights.

Findings in the report include:

• 56% of respondents stated that there is a knowledge/skill gap holding them back from Intelligent Automation implementation.
• 55% of respondents expressed that the primary processes they are seeking to automate are in finance.
• Meanwhile, 40% of respondents shared that standardisation of processes was the cause of resistance to Intelligent Automation execution.

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The report results reveal that IA is moving on from its reputation as a novelty to become part of everyday reality for businesses of every size, worldwide. But, obstacles still exist. Providing commentary on the report, Anna Alechno, Head of Group Shared Services Continuous Improvement at IKEA, explains that ‘to implement IA you need to have budget and/or skills. If you don’t have skills internally you need to have a bigger budget to buy external services.’ Additionally, she clarifies that ‘when we think about the cost, we need to remember not only about developers but also about maintenance of existing robots’. In terms of the advance toward Cognitive Automation, Anna makes it clear that businesses will be ready to go forward once they see the return on investment. This is the key to unlocking the next step.

Read More: Interview with Jeffrey Kofman, CEO and Founder at Trint

The flexibility of the technology is part of what makes the future difficult to predict: with the ability to touch and transform so many industries and respond to so many different problems, Robotic Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence are able to adapt themselves to a business rather than forcing a round problem into a square solution.

The report reveals that Intelligent Automation is well and truly breaking boundaries and starting to become an everyday reality for businesses in a variety of industries. But, what’s next?

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