As the world becomes increasingly digital, the business world also moves in the same direction in tandem. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is one technology that has slowly taken over the technology sector in the past few years. Businesses looking for minimal workforce opt for automation to perform repetitive and error prone tasks without errors that were previously performed by humans. Like all trending technologies, business owners should keep themselves apprised of the latest developments in RPA to stay competitive in this increasingly competitive world.

This article talks about the top seven trends in RPA for the previous year that all businesses – large and small – should know about as they will, undoubtedly, remain relevant in this year as well as the coming years.

1. Mandate of CIO’s:

The CIO in every company is assigned the task of bettering the organization’s IT performance. This includes the responsibility of identifying new technologies that can benefit the business. In today’s world this includes RPA. Deloitte’s Global RPA Survey showed that 53% of the sample had already started their RPA projects and this number is expected to reach 72% in the next two years. This shows not only the importance of RPA in the business world but how imperative it is for CIO’s to include it in their mandates.

2. Cognitive Tasks:

Automation at a basic level has been around for quite a while that allows users to automate very simple tasks. However, intelligent automation that can perform cognitive tasks is becoming the new demand. This is combined product of RPA and AI working together and companies are striving for this to reduce the workload that cognitive tasks take a lot of from humans. It allows them to reduce the time taken, increase the volume of workflows and increase productivity. We can expect to see this grow in the coming years.

3. Centers of Excellence (CoE’s):

CoE’s in any organization that are the pioneers of their particular technology in the company. They provide advice and ideas about where and how that technology can be implemented on top of training and support. RPA CoE’s are rising at an unprecedented rate as more and more businesses are adopting it. Since CoE’s maximize adoption, we can expect to see RPA CoE’s grow even more in the coming years.

4. Low-code Platforms:

As businesses are implementing softwares and systems rapidly, there has been a rise in platforms where applications like that can be built with minimal coding since not all businesses are operating in the technology or software sector. Similarly, in response to the rise in demand of RPA, platforms that use minimal to no coding have emerged that allow businesses to automate their workflows without the need for programmers or any tech support. As RPA is rising, low-code platforms for RPA will rise in the coming years as well.

5. Adoption in non-tech Industries:

There is a common misconception that RPA can be only utilized by industries operating in the tech sector. This is not true. Non-tech industries have a range of business operations where RPA is not only applicable but actually necessary. Supply chain management, payroll processing, HR etc. are some of the many business operations where RPA is invaluable and is being applied as well to free up human workers to focus on higher value tasks. This is growing at a drastic rate and we can expect to see more and more non-tech industries rapidly adopting RPA in the coming years.

6. Adoption in SMB’s:

One result of the rise in demand for automation has made RPA one of the cheaper solutions in technology. The result is that small and medium sized enterprises (SMB’s) represent the larger portion of RPA adoption compared to big enterprises. They can afford automation because of the cheap rates as well as easier access to automation software and low-code platforms dedicated to providing RPA solution. RPA is set to become even more affordable in the coming years considering its rising demand and, therefore, we can expect to see more SMB’s adopting it in their organizations.

7. Non-Tech Employees:

Businesses all across the non-tech world are facing the task of training/upskilling their non-tech employees so that they can handle RPA. This is extremely advantageous to businesses who stand to have workers that can augment their organizations’ productivity and efficiency by performing both technical and non-technical functions when it comes to RPA. They can even act as middlemen between RPA workflows and human task requirements thus deriving the full benefits of RPA by increasing efficiency and reducing time. Businesses are willing to invest in making their employees well versed and we can expect this to spread drastically in the coming years.