Member Article

What Does The Future Hold For Robotics? 5 Predictions For 2017

Attitudes towards robotics have been changing; in the last 12 months, there has been a shift from people thinking ‘why should I consider robotics’ to ‘why aren’t we considering robotics’. If 2016 was the year of the pilot, 2017 will be the year of adoption.

So why now, and what else can we expect from robotics in 2017? We share five of our predictions:

1. Moving Beyond the Pilot

Next year, we will see automation projects moving out of proof of concept phase and into full-on, automated processes. People will begin to scale their automation projects, taking on much larger roll outs and going after the benefits. We expect to see continued activity with more cognitive AI solutions, such as IBM Watson.

2. Taking Ownership of Automation

As the adoption of automation becomes more widespread, clients will be more organised, identifying roles where cognitive solutions fit within various operations with a view toward continuous improvement. New roles will emerge to accommodate individuals’ who have overall ownership of automation, a ‘Chief Automation Officer’, for example. There needs to be a specific appointment in order to have the cloud to move automation through the business.

3. Rise in Cloud Adoption

More and more companies are talking about cloud hosted solutions – even the financial service industries which have been more reserved in the past. Cloud-based hosting will provide businesses with a slick, cost effective approach.

4. Taking in the Whole Picture

While desktop automation tools have been around for a while, and so have Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools, it’s only now that people are beginning to look across functions to think about automation as a whole, and that’s where companies can really start to add value.

Over the next 12 months, Intelligent Automation (IA) is set to become huge. Combined with BMP and workflow tools, IA will be able to provide a new and different perspective on how automated processes can be applied to operations. People will no longer be looking for large automation opportunities, but for end-to-end process management that combines humans and technology to provide the most efficient processes.

5. The Automation Arms Race is On

We expect that three or four automation tools will emerge as strong frontrunners, while others will struggle to compete in an increasingly busy market. This arms race will be ongoing as people build out on capability, with some consolidation in terms of people pulling together investment in capabilities, not just in investment but in services as well. Consolidation will stem from a number of firms who have made it into the investment level in private equity, which will begin shaping the market.

Looking towards 2017, we expect to see more scalable, successful examples of robotic process automation. We hope that people are prepared to move beyond the organisational red tape and go for it together with all the benefits it will bring to business.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by James Hall .