In the next five years, over half of all talent acquisition tasks can be automated using a variety of technologies including RPA, cognitive & AI, and analytics, among others, either on their own or in combination with one another
Enterprise digital initiatives transitioning from pilot to program: 57% of the enterprises’ demand is firmly around digital technologies in the next 12-18 months. Most enterprises now perceive digital to be indispensable for the firm’s long-term growth and are trying to position themselves as “digital-first” enterprises
Like most businesses today, your company is probably looking at the possible cost and productivity improvements achievable through digital technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and analytics. If so, it’s important to understand that digital transformation is a journey of very deep and broad, company-wide change. Through our Pinnacle Model™ research on digital journeys, we at Everest Group assessed the impact on enterprises implementing RPA. Our study finds that, compared to other enterprises, Pinnacle Enterprises™ (companies that achieve superior business outcomes in digital journeys) achieve 4X the ROI compared to other enterprises implementing RPA, higher improvement in operational metrics and higher impact in strategic areas. What makes the difference in RPA outcomes for Pinnacle Enterprises?
Everest Group reports that RPA Pinnacle Enterprises are realizing a 50% improvement in operational metrics through RPA implementation and 30% cost savings through RPA investments.
Everest Group has identified the global enterprises who are leading the way in the journey to adopt Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Nine organizations among 52 Fortune 1000 enterprises assessed by Everest Group have achieved superior business outcomes because of their advanced RPA capabilities and have been deemed RPA Pinnacle Enterprises™ by the firm.
Everest Group reports that as a group these Pinnacle Enterprises significantly exceed other enterprises in three key outcome areas:
Everest Group studied the RPA adoption journey of 52 Fortune 1000 enterprises, examining five key capability areas for RPA—vision and strategy, implementation, organization and talent, technology, and resourcing. Everest Group also examined three key types of outcomes—cost, operational, and business. In an analysis of the correlation between capabilities and outcomes, the Pinnacle Enterprises rose to the top.
“RPA is beginning to make its mark on nearly every vertical, and although many organizations are still in the early stages of RPA adoption, those whom we identify as Pinnacle Enterprises are clearly excelling in the adoption journey and reaping superior outcomes,” said Michel Janssen, chief research guru at Everest Group. “By examining what these Pinnacle Enterprises have in common, we are able to glean for other organizations valuable insights on how to succeed, whether they desire to make incremental changes or achieve major transformations.”
***Register for Complimentary Webinar***
Everest Group is hosting a complimentary webinar, “Top 5 RPA Myths Dispelled | Insights from our RPA Pinnacle Model™ Analysis,” on Thursday, April 12, at 9 a.m. CST. During this webinar, Everest Group experts will explain:
“Our Pinnacle Model analyses show organizations exactly who is succeeding and how,” adds Sakshi Garg, practice director at Everest Group. “One of the most valuable aspects of this research is that we are able to identify ‘journey accelerators,’ which are specific methods organizations can use to accelerate their RPA adoption journey. Armed with clear points of comparison and insightful recommendations, organizations are better equipped to prioritize where to invest their time and resources and plan their own path to the top.”
About the Pinnacle Model
Everest Group’s proprietary Pinnacle Model™ analyses, which include input from executives from leading Fortune 1000 companies, compare internal capabilities to desired business outcomes, such as disrupting the industry, improving customer experiences, increasing market share, and launching innovative products and services. By highlighting what the best—Pinnacle Enterprises™—are doing, these performance studies help organizations plot a journey from their current position to where they want to go, prioritize investments of time and resources for maximum impact, and accelerate change.
Following my initial review of how financial services firms are getting on with artificial intelligence (AI), I was interested in finding out more about adoption of AI and related technologies such as RPA and the technical challenges companies currently face, as well as near-future evolution at sector organizations.
According to the study Digital Pinnacle Enterprises by analyst firm Everest Group, of the 55 financial services organizations polled, 16% adopted AI most effectively while 89% of those had already invested in AI in some form or other.
The most common AI uses in the sector were for sentiment analysis for marketing, personal finance virtual agents and financial and advisory virtual agents. Another Everest study of 12 property and casualty insurance companies last year showed that 29% were running AI pilots and 50% were seriously considering it.
RPA is much more pervasive than AI in the sector: Everest data shows that banks and financial firms account for 40% of the RPA independent software vendor market. In the insurance study, 93% of the sample had already deployed RPA – by comparison, some 29% had implemented AI. There is a number of ways in which RPA can support automation in financial services, according to Sarah Burnett, research vice president at Everest Group.
Chief Research Guru Michel Janssen shares three sneak peeks from the forthcoming report: Enterprise RPA Adoption | Pinnacle Model™ Assessment for 2018. The full report – featuring survey results from several enterprises adopting RPA – will be released soon and will challenge multiple assumptions and myths circulating around the industry today.
After surveying enterprises about RPA adoption across a wide swath of industries, we have finalized the analysis and are about to release a goldmine of data. The new research is full of insights for enterprises looking to take a confident step forward in their journey toward Pinnacle RPA status. In this video, Chief Research Guru Michel Janssen shares three sneak peeks from the forthcoming report: Enterprise RPA Adoption | Pinnacle Model™ Assessment for 2018.
After surveying enterprises about RPA adoption across a wide swath of industries, we have finalized the analysis and are about to release a goldmine of data. The new research is full of insights for enterprises looking to take a confident step forward in their journey toward Pinnacle RPA status. In this video, Chief Research Guru Michel Janssen shares three sneak peeks from the forthcoming report: Enterprise RPA Adoption | Pinnacle Model™ Assessment for 2018.
After surveying enterprises about RPA adoption across a wide swath of industries, we have finalized the analysis and are about to release a goldmine of data. The new research is full of insights for enterprises looking to take a confident step forward in their journey toward Pinnacle RPA status. In this video, Chief Research Guru Michel Janssen shares three sneak peeks from the forthcoming report: Enterprise RPA Adoption | Pinnacle Model™ Assessment for 2018.
Enterprises are increasingly leveraging their Global In-house Centers (GICs) to drive automation efforts across the globe. Per recent interactions with over 100 enterprises, GICs, and technology vendors to develop our new report, “RPA Implementation in GICs – Learnings and Best Practices,” we determined that more than 50 percent of enterprises are already driving or plan to drive their global RPA initiatives from Centers of Excellence in offshore/nearshore GICs.
While GICs are well positioned to drive RPA, the extent of success varies and the journey is not easy. To succeed, GICs need to avoid the following six pitfalls, and follow the lead of best-in-class GIC adopters of RPA.
Successful RPA initiatives are a result of strong collaboration between enterprise and GIC leadership. Best-in-class GICs involve enterprise leadership from the beginning of their RPA journey.
Successful RPA initiatives involve stakeholders from relevant functions – e.g., IT, operations, risk, and legal – not just the operations team (recipients of automation solutions.) RPA initiatives in some organizations reside under the strategy and innovation function, rather than being led by IT or operations.
Through centralized efforts, GICs are able to document and share knowledge across the enterprise, thereby, reducing cost, effort, and time to implementation.
Best-in-class adopters have a strong emphasis on developing in-house capabilities, for example, product development / customizing RPA solutions to suit process requirements.
Successful GICs have avoided the temptation to automate high complexity processes or explore end-to-end automation, and instead have focused on transactional/repetitive/rule-based processes that are easier to implement.
Successful GICs view RPA as one of the tools to improve operations by way of error reduction, productivity enhancement, and SLA compliance improvement. Process standardization and reengineering both play key roles in driving the effectiveness of RPA solutions.
Best-in-class GICs have evolved from execution to enabling business units across multiple locations to implement RPA solutions independently. To learn more about the best practices employed by mature GIC adopters of RPA, read our report, “RPA Implementation in GICs – Learnings and Best Practices.” And if you are driving RPA from your GIC, we’d love to hear your story. Feel free to share your opinions and stories on how your GIC is evolving in its RPA journey with [email protected] or [email protected].
Also, keep a lookout for our upcoming report on Enterprise RPA adoption, which leverages our robust Pinnacle Model™ methodology to compare enterprise performance on RPA adoption.
Finally, we’re in the process of conducting a first-of-its-kind survey, the results of which will reveal the state of digital adoption and what separates Pinnacle GICs™ from others. We invite you to join your peers and participate in this survey, today!
Now that we’ve put the finishing touches on our first-of-its kind assessment of enterprise RPA adoption around the globe, we’re seeing a full dismantling of several RPA assumptions and myths.
After surveying enterprises across a wide swath of industries, we have finalized the analysis and are releasing a goldmine of data and insights for enterprises looking to take a confident step forward in their journey toward Pinnacle RPA status. While the full results are laid out in our Enterprise RPA adoption | Pinnacle Model™ Analysis for 2018, I want to provide an overview of some of the findings here that I think you’ll find interesting.
Enterprise RPA adoption is not a trend for big organizations in certain industries to pursue while smaller players maintain the status quo. Stagnation is a recipe for complete disaster in the industry’s rotation to digital. In our research, we’ve found that all types and sizes of enterprises are adopting RPA. This includes both top-down adoption across the org to improve overall speed to impact and bottom-up adoption where segments of orgs are adopting RPA to optimize specific processes. Regardless of size and type, enterprises are going all-in and getting results.
So, what happens if you’re not a part of that? Well, you can imagine the way Toys ‘R Us execs felt when they realized they were about to watch the titan enterprise enter into complete oblivion. Part of that is due to a failure to transform the model in the age of digital transformation. Enterprises that are not thinking in the direction of some level of enterprise RPA adoption are in danger of charting a course to that same end. The takeaway here is clear: adopt or be disrupted.
RPA Pinnacle Enterprises exceed others in the three critical areas of cost impact, operational impact and business impact. Statistically, they have seen a 50% improvement in operational impact alone. Those enterprises not at the Pinnacle level, but who are still adopting RPA, have seen a 30% improvement.
So the news for all enterprises moving along the RPA adoption curve is either good or great – there is really no bad news here. This is a fascinating and important statistic for all enterprises, and warning of what’s to be missed out on for those on the sidelines of adoption.
Automation is soon to be a driving factor for sweeping job losses across all industries. While that’s great fodder for headlines, blog titles, and social media clicks, the actual enterprises we’re talking to aren’t singing that song at all. I talk about this more in a recent blog, The Robots are Coming – Should You Fear or Welcome Them, but in essence, enterprises are talking about reskilling, upskilling, and enhanced training; they’re not talking about eradication of the human element.
As you might have heard, in the midst of this rotation to digital across all industries, we’re actually experiencing a labor shortage in the United States and Europe. We’re just not seeing it in the headlines.
Instead of the comparison to Skynet or some other Terminator-related theme, a better comparison for RPA and jobs is one that involves our actual history. When you review what happened in the industrial revolution, you don’t find the entire workforce replaced by machines (Of course, individuals were impacted at various levels). Instead, you find massive reskilling and upskilling so that the new technology can complement and improve human effort – AND by improving productivity, allow our companies to continue to grow even in the face of a labor shortage. That’s much more along the lines of what enterprises are discussing, planning, and doing. Unfortunately, news like that doesn’t make the cut for trending stories.
Many more in-depth details about these enterprise RPA trends are laid out in our Pinnacle Model analyses. Moreover, this research is brimming with data-packed analysis on what is truly differentiating Pinnacle RPA enterprises from the rest of the pack. The kind of analysis that all enterprises are clamoring for as they determine where they are on their journey to Pinnacle, and decide what the next best steps should be. We also hosted a webinar on April 12 that dispels popular myths surrounding RPA using our fact-based analysis from the RPA Pinnacle Model study. Watch the webinar replay.
Please contact us with any questions you may have about our Pinnacle Model analyses, or reach me directly at [email protected].
Everest Group’s recent research revealed that successful adoption of RPA and chatbots in contact centers can reduce the total cost of contact center operations by 11-16 percent. Yet, very few enterprises have achieved these levels of automation-driven cost reduction in their contact center operations. Why? Technology is just one piece of the puzzle. In order to unlock the true benefits of automation solutions in your contact center, you also need to focus on organizational readiness, effective change management, and better governance mechanisms.
Enterprises should start by identifying the contact center processes that are most suitable for automation. To achieve breakeven in quick time, it’s best to start by automating highly repetitive and less complex business processes with RPA. For example, a process wherein agents spend exorbitant amounts of time navigating through multiple systems and applications to fetch the required information is ideal to automate with RPA.
Automating business processes that aren’t standardized or simplified can result in more exceptions. But optimizing them before automating them, with IT and operations jointly looking at them through the RPA lens, can greatly reduce exceptions. Learnings from best-in-class RPA implementers also suggest that business process re-engineering is a significant step to realizing the strategic objectives of RPA adoption.
Building a partner ecosystem with leading RPA technology vendors and/or system integrators that offer best-in-breed automation platforms and specialized domain expertise is crucial to achieving successful RPA adoption. Doing so can help enterprises save time and effort at every stage of RPA adoption, which eventually manifests in effective cost savings.
Enterprises that achieve significant financial impact and rapid return on their RPA investments quickly scale-up from the pilot stage to large-scale deployments. To move fast successfully, it’s important to foresee challenges ahead while in the pilot stage, and begin mitigation efforts earlier. Enterprises can also follow an agile implementation approach, which could enable their RPA deployments to quickly and flexibly adapt to changes in business requirements or underlying applications.
Once RPA has delivered some quick wins, enterprises can deploy chatbots alongside RPA to realize incremental cost savings. For example, chatbots can resolve less complex customer queries more quickly when RPA bots fetch the necessary information and relevant insights from multiple systems and applications. Enterprises should envision building a digital workforce with both RPA and chatbots in their contact centers to achieve long-term benefits that can extend well beyond the incremental cost savings.
Adoption of best practices for contact center automation can help enterprises achieve tangible business outcomes. And the returns can be quick: our latest research shows 9-15 months with RPA, and 18-24 months with chatbots adoption.
To learn more about how you can build a successful business case for automation adoption in your contact center, check out Everest Group’s recently released report: “The Business Case for RPA and Chatbots in Contact Centers.” And, please feel free to share your automation adoption experiences in contact centers with us: Katrina Menzigian ([email protected]) and Jayapriya K ([email protected])
UiPath recently made history by becoming the first Romanian RPA unicorn, thanks to $153 million Series B funding provided by a group of investment firms led by Accel and including CapitalG and Kleiner Perkins. This is the largest round of funding to date in the RPA market, leading to a valuation of over $1bn for UiPath – a unicorn. It is good news for all vendors and buyers as well.
Other examples of increased investment in the RPA industry include Blue Prism raising £70m ($100m) in funding through new share issuance in January 2018 and WorkFusion raising $35m in Series D financing in January 17.
The fact that investors are willing to put in these huge sums of money is great news for the industry for both buyers and vendors.
For other RPA vendors, this may seem like a huge competitive threat but it also means that:
Organic or inorganic growth: We now have several RPA companies that are flush with cash; most were already able to operate in a cash-positive manner, so these funds provide for accelerated investments. Some have had the money for longer than others and have invested in organic growth, e.g., opening new offices and hiring more staff. This is a path that UiPath, Blue Prism and WorkFusion have taken already. Expect more announcements from some of them on this front. For UiPath, given that CapitalG is an investor, we expect to see much more integration with Google AI/ML technology.
Then there is the inorganic growth option – to acquire complementary capabilities. This could be cognitive or other technologies to enhance the core RPA capabilities or growing their professional services to accelerate adoption/training. We believe this is highly likely.
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