Fierce Competition: Who Could Win the Intelligent Automation Arms Race?

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There is a quiet but fierce battle being waged by the tech heavyweights. They want to consolidate the exponentially growing RPA (robotic process automation) market and the considerable investments made by users, which continue to grow. According to a recent study, enterprises spend an average of $480,000 per year on RPA, with those at the highest tier spending well over $1 million on automation each year.

With a market this size and every indication that automation will only expand, it's no wonder companies like Microsoft have entered the fray to take on the perennial leaders Automation Anywhere, UiPath and Blue Prism, raising the question: Who will emerge victorious?

Since Gartner released its first Magic Quadrant for the upstart RPA software segment in 2019, the same runaways have occupied the coveted "leadership" spot, vying for position like thoroughbreds descending the main straight at Churchill Downs. From our seat to the finish line, Microsoft may have gotten off to a late start, but it's going strong as some of its competitors wane and tire. It's shaping up to be a two-horse race where Microsoft and Automation Anywhere gallop away from the pack.

Who are the likely contenders for the smart automation crown?

Automation programs have matured. They are at a stage in their lifecycle where the name of the game is no longer adoption, but rather scale, innovation, cost reduction, and more end-to-end automation. In pursuit of these priority goals, enterprises are also experimenting with a cross-platform approach where multiple automation tools are used to take advantage of specialized features, use cases, and increased compatibility with enterprise architectures.

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Plus, the next evolution of automation will be in the cloud. Where first-generation legacy RPA tools have stalled, Microsoft's Power Platform and Automation Anywhere's Automation 360 deliver feature-rich, cloud-native platforms with next-generation capabilities and many other benefits that are driving excitement. interest of all CIOs.

Replatforming entire automation parks to a new platform is difficult and can be expensive, as automations in most cases have to be rebuilt anew. These challenges often deter companies from making a change. However, there are solutions and vendors that can make it easier and faster to redesign areas of automation on a new tool, like Microsoft's Power Automate, which seems to be getting the lion's share of attention. potential suitors.

Microsoft's Power Platform, a portfolio of next-generation efficiency-based solutions, and its future flagship Power Automate, are garnering such support because they hit where their target audience matters most: their wallets. Microsoft included Power Automate for free with Windows 10. You still have to pay for automation planning and orchestration; however, the pricing model is extremely competitive, with both per-user and per-stream structures, and that's before you consider the other forms of cost savings it offers.

Since many organizations already use Microsoft's suite of products, whether it's Azure for cloud computing or Office 365 for business applications, Power Automate integrates directly into the architecture of existing business so that organizations can automate more of their business processes with minimum effort and higher quality. Power Automate's UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) also deviate from its highly technical and complex approach...