03 October 2018

Automation Anywhere – Survival of the most Innovative

A thought-provoking recent article in Forbes about the take-up of new technologies like RPA.

Forbes: If Industry Leaders Reap The Benefits From AI, Big Data And Robotics, How Can SMEs Stay Relevant?

Great stuff guys, but may we beg to differ, based on our not-inconsiderable RPA experience?

Forbes warns that the World Economic Forum and Accenture have research showing that only top 20% of industry leaders may enjoy most of the potential benefits of new technology like AI and RPA, “creating a small group of highly productive industry leaders and leaving the rest of the economy behind,” with smaller enterprises particularly at risk.

Obviously not good for most national economies where smaller enterprises form the backbone of the economy and provide one in every three jobs.

Forbes goes on to list their five best – mainly cultural - ways for smaller enterprises to avoid falling behind.

So then, in answer to Forbes’ prediction that only the top 20% of industry leaders may realise the benefits of AI and RPA...

First up, we see no such cause for gloom and despondency for those outside the top 20%. Quite the contrary, since RPA in general and Automation Anywhere in particular are ideally suited to mid-sized organisations, based on their needing relatively modest budgets to get started, delivering near-instant results, and being deployed by business and operations users.

Secondly, based on our experience on many Automation Anywhere implementations the deployment strategy best suited to the platform is not the cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach of the Big Four - who sadly tend to be the ones to whom industry leaders turn first for advice. The clear message from our extensive experience is that Automation Anywhere is best suited to a more flexible, custom approach - starting with the premise that every company’s needs are different - and that this delivers greater efficiencies more rapidly.

Properly supported and advised thus, we see no reason why - far from being disadvantaged - smaller enterprises cannot implement Automation Anywhere more quickly than the top 20% of industry leaders, and as a consequence realise the attendant innovation benefits more rapidly.

All of which could result in a Darwinian-scale shake-up of the established commercial order, with the newly-innovative agile smaller enterprises running rings round the slower, less innovative industry leaders struggling to force the square RPA pegs of the Big Four into their round holes.

Bring it on! Go be great!

 
Mark Mannion

Mark Mannion is Extra Technology’s CEO and a recognised expert in the field of Intelligent Automation, including Robotic Process Automation, Workload Automation and Advanced Analytics. Mark advocates a pragmatic approach to Automation, encouraging a policy of using ‘the best tool for the job’.

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