In a few short years, hyperautomation, or intelligent automation, has gone from a relatively unknown term to a word used across the technology spectrum. Gartner’s Strategic Technology Trends for 2020 named hyperautomation the #1 strategic technology trend for the year. Gartner also forecasted that the hyperautomation software market will reach nearly $600 billion by 2022.
What’s fueling the investment? Organizations are trying to remain competitive by decreasing costs and increasing productivity. A focus on hyperautomation can address business challenges and improve operational efficiency, not to mention elevating the customer experience.
“Hyperautomation has shifted from an option to a condition of survival,” said Fabrizio Biscotti, research vice president at Gartner in a recent press release. “Organizations will require more IT and business process automation as they are forced to accelerate digital transformation plans in a post-COVID-19, digital-first world.”
With Robotic Process Automation (RPA) at its core, hyperautomation incorporates advanced technologies — including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), natural language processing, optical character recognition (OCR), process mining, and others — to not only automate tasks typically completed by humans but also to build intelligence into the processes, as well as the information derived from those processes.
By building on RPA, hyperautomation elevates workflow automation to make decisions previously made by people. It augments the power and value of what RPA provides with a proven path to applying AI to improve business operations.
Because of the level of automation that can be achieved, hyperautomation is commonly referred to as the next major phase of digital transformation.
And, it’s an intricate process. Organizations must implement automation simultaneously on multiple fronts to reach the end goal of hyperautomation. They often need to partner with digital innovation advisors and technology consultants to create a hyperautomation strategy from top to bottom and take all of the organization’s nuances into account.
To achieve scalability, disparate automation technologies must work together. Careful planning, implementation, and improvement of processes are accomplished through intelligent business process management (BPM).
BPM is a core component of hyperautomation and supports long-term sustainability and operational excellence. The combination of BPM solutions with low-code, RPA, AI, and ML has become a driving force for digital transformations, integrating essential data, connecting your workforce, and developing applications.
It is up to technology leaders to create a clear strategy, set objectives, and prioritize actions across all business operations. Doing so ensures that the application of automation is efficient.
Employees on the front lines are also in an excellent position to identify which processes would provide the most benefit from automation. This can be supported by implementing a demand management solution. Then, it can then be synchronized with organizations’ change management to ensure employees understand the changes and are prepared for more advanced processes, thus elevating the workforce.
Organizations may be wary of the costs of change on such a large scale, but the process of integrating technologies does not always require creating a new infrastructure to replace manual operations. Many RPA, AI, and ML solutions can be integrated into automation and technologies that already exist.
The next generation of hyperautomation includes support for more complex processes and long-running workflows. Software robots will be able to interact with business users across core business functions, directly impacting the customer experience.
Hyperautomation represents the next step in intelligent automation and will transform how we will work in the future. It allows businesses to protect their investments through a holistic approach to digital transformation. As hyperautomation becomes more prevalent, we will realize a seamless and equal blend of robotics, human employees, and existing systems, which will all work collaboratively in a way never seen before.
No matter your industry, hyperautomation is worth consideration for its potential cost savings, intelligent processing, intelligence mining, employee efficiencies, and customer service improvements.
Learn more about how hyperautomation technologies like ML and AI can benefit you.