3 RPA Predictions for 2019

‘Tis the season for predictions. This is our favorite time of year; when we start to foreshadow the year ahead, get excited about developments in technology and new and emerging trends. This is the time of year to set goals, while also looking back at the previous year and analyzing how we tracked on those goals. It’s a fresh start, and for those of us in the tech industry, it’s exhilarating!

Each year we hit the web and look for predictions for the industry. When it comes to RPA in 2019, we’re seeing artificial intelligence (AI) continue to rise in popularity, millennials embracing automation and robots coming to the forefront of previously-manual tasks.

1. More attended robots. Attended robots work alongside their human counterparts. In this case, we’re thinking specifically about RPA. Attended robotics, like RPA, do not take over the jobs of human workers, but enhance their jobs. They automate tedious, manual tasks, freeing up humans to work on more pertinent projects that need things that only people can provide – cognition and decision-making. It’s anticipated that attended robots will become more popular in 2019 and beyond, which is great news for workers who can reap the benefits of automation without their jobs being on the line.
2. Reasons for automation will be based on employee satisfaction: Instead of counting up the number of employees, processes and dollars you have, the decision to implement RPA will instead be based on employee engagement. Millennials will soon make up the majority of the workforce, and it’s no secret that millennials LOVE technology. This means that today’s happy millennial employees will appreciate a workplace that uses state-of-the-art technology to make their jobs more efficient. The prediction is that more managers will take these millennial workers and their love of tech into consideration when thinking about implementing RPA. Making millennial employees happy is – and will continue to be – essential.
3. AI and RPA will come together. AI is super appealing for its sci-fi-like functionality and ability to replicate human behavior, but the reality is that the majority of companies are not prepared for a full AI integration. Like any other implementation, it’s essential that processes are ready for the transformation, and getting those processes ready for full digital transformation often starts with RPA, and then combining RPA with more cognitive systems. Blending RPA and AI will be one of the top trends this year as companies seek to transform, but at a rate that makes sense them and that delivers business value. IN fact, estimates show that 40 percent of enterprises will create state-of-the-art digital employees by combining the power of AI with RPA.

Which trends are you looking forward to seeing with RPA, AI and digital transformation in 2019? We’ll report back at the end of the year and see how all these predictions worked out!