The evolving landscape for Hyper Intelligent Automation
While automation investments over the last several years have been increasing, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an exponential rise in adoption of automation technology. According to the Zinnov Global Automation CXO Survey 2021, 77% of Global CXOs claim that their automation investments have gone up due to COVID-19. In fact, many enterprises say their investments in automation have surged more than 25%. The primary reasons for this are that enterprises are seeking smarter ways to digitally transform the way they work, and because they want to offer better experiences for their customers.
Enter hyper-intelligent automation (HIA). HIA, as defined by Zinnov, utilizes multiple advanced technologies to achieve end-to-end automation. This advanced approach goes beyond automating smaller routine tasks—and instead—it’s about automating entire business processes. Built on a foundation of workflow automation and process optimization, HIA adds complementary and advanced technologies like process understanding and predictive actions to create an environment where automation is scalable. This enables enterprises to leverage the combined effect of artificial intelligence, software robotics, and human capabilities to their best advantage.
Using automation to increase the efficiency, speed, and accuracy of business processes is not a new concept, but it’s one that’s rapidly evolving. According to the Zinnov Global Automation CXO Survey 2021, enterprises are shifting their focus to customer and employee experience (20%) and business resilience (20%) as specific desired outcome of automation efforts.
Automation investments increasing across enterprises
Zinnov research estimates 2021 spend on automation technologies by enterprises between $14-$16 billion USD, with the annual spend expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50% to reach $110-$120 billion USD annually by 2026.
While it is clear enterprises are investing substantially in automation, the research also revealed that many organizations are still making decisions about point solution rather than a more strategic, longer-term decision to invest in a cohesive intelligent automation platform. Zinnov indicates that AI-powered technologies, key enablers of intelligent automation, are accelerating this platform investment.
Top challenges on the journey to HIA
Over 64% of CXOs participating in Zinnov’s Global Survey say that organizational challenges are holding enterprises back from achieving HIA, including lack of a defined automation charter, shortage of automation-proficient talent in-house, and an inability to gain leadership buy-in as top barriers to implementation.
Those are closely followed by process-related challenges (59%) including fragmented and non-standardized processes across geographies and functions, lack of robust governance structure, and the inability to define automation-ready use cases. Rounding out the identified obstacles to HIA are those related to technology (40%), including the inability to find the best-fit automation platform, inability to automate high volumes of unstructured data, and long implementation cycles impeded by inadequate support.
While the challenges each enterprise face may vary by their automation maturity level, one constant challenge for all is the move towards becoming a “software development” enterprise.
Building up no-code/low-code capacity
Enterprises that augment their developer capacity with low-code and no-code automation platforms are well-positioned to achieve scaled automation. Zinnov projects that by 2025, the number of low or no-code developers will more than double from 30% to more than 60% of development resources, while the volume of professional developers will remain flat. To successfully transform and achieve HIA, enterprises must select platforms like the Nintex Process Platform, which are easy to use and quick to realize business value.
Gain insights for your automation initiatives
To that end, we invite you to read the full Zinnov Hyper Intelligent Automation Landscape 2021 report. This report – and included playbook – includes ground-breaking insights that provide your organization with roadmaps to not only scale your automation initiatives quickly and efficiently, but also to reap HIA’s full benefits
Want to explore the full Zinnov Hyper Intelligent Automation Landscape Survey 2021? Click here to download the report now.
