Business process automation (BPA) has been a hot topic since businesses began integrating technology to improve productivity. The current trend for automation will continue in 2023, but for more reasons than just productivity.
Employee growth, net zero contribution, and hyperautomation are just a few reasons business process automation trends will continue to rise in 2023. The benefits of automation continue to show as more companies take the transition seriously.
Before diving into the current trends, it’s important to remember that automation isn’t bad. People read statistics like companies dropping 43% in favor of technology-efficient options and think it will lead to people losing jobs. It’s the opposite.
Experts think automation will create new jobs and ways to do current jobs. Instead of people doing manual, repetitive tasks, they’ll have the opportunity to grow and create innovative strides for their company. This fact is why this isn’t only a great time for BPA. It’s a great time for innovation.
An Enabler of Employee Growth
It’s no secret that automation’s main purpose is to free up time for humans. With more free time, employees can focus on different aspects of their work. Additionally, employees will focus on more innovative means of improving their company.
Studies show that creativity is extremely important for the success of businesses. For many employees, it’s hard to deviate and be creative when too many manual and tedious tasks take away their energy. Creativity leads to innovation, and innovation leads to growth.
Employees who don’t grow within their field feel devalued and lose motivation to contribute to their departments. While automation won’t always fix motivation issues, it certainly helps to create opportunities for employees to contribute meaningful ideas to their company.
Additionally, automation will enable more collaborative efforts between employees and other departments. Generating reports is the most time-consuming task that most data analysts and employees have to do, but now software provides quicker means of creating reports.
Since companies can generate reports faster, it leaves time for departments to analyze data together and collaborate and contribute ideas on what the data in each department shows and how it affects others.
The overall impact of automation on employee growth comes down to the time they’re given to develop new skills and interact with their coworkers and managers.
Voice Activated Automation
Voice automation has become an increasingly better method of calling, scheduling, and managing daily tasks. Virtual assistance from Google Assistant, Siri, and Amazon Echo have proven beneficial in some business avenues.
Most smartphones incorporate a virtual assistant that can help automate your phone experience, but computers and applications are starting to incorporate a similar navigation method.
Voice technology isn’t new, but it’s becoming more reliable at handling complex tasks. Voice assistants like Siri can schedule meetings without you lifting a finger. Within a digital space, digital assistants are becoming more valuable for employees and executives.
The trend is that voice-powered automation will continue to serve businesses in more ways than simple tasks. Creating a hands-off experience within tasks is just the first step in complete voice integration for some companies.
For example, most computers allow you to talk instead of manually typing on a keyboard. This advantage frees up your hands to handle other manual tasks while writing down your thoughts or generating reports through your voice.
It’s important to note that voice automation isn’t fully there yet, but trends emphasize pushing for more implementation and integration of voice-based systems.
No Code Integration
Currently, no code integration continues to become the industry standard for companies. With no code solutions, companies with no software development experience can create efficient and helpful programs without the technical bog that comes with it.
In Gartner’s 2021 report, they continue to estimate a 23% growth in low-code development technologies. Currently, this trend in 2023 is continuing to rise because of the shortage of engineering and developer talent.
With an increase in software as a service, startups can compete and implement new ideas and solutions into their software to create a better overall experience for their target demographic. Additionally, businesses can create amazing websites with no web design experience.
Drag and drop features are what people commonly point to when discussing low-code or no-code trends. The main benefits of no-code development are the ability to reduce IT costs and improve your presence within the digital market.
Currently, large companies aren’t embracing low-code as fast as SMEs. Still, since most businesses are small to medium-sized, the trend for no-code solutions will continue to rise within the current and coming years.
Contribution To “Net Zero”
People expect companies to contribute to their community in more ways than just providing economic value. Businesses should be making a positive change to their community and environment, and they’ll do this through energy efficiency and climate technologies.
The use of climate technologies is a current business process automation trend that will continue for businesses as their main contribution to net zero. Integrating climate technologies into most business operations is becoming more important as people become aware of the dangers of carbon emissions.
Complete building automation and switching to the electrification of heat sources, geothermal heating, and electric equipment are becoming more important for businesses than ever. Smart homes, or smart offices, is how businesses and homeowners can contribute to net zero.
Most importantly, in addition to climate technologies, BPA plays an equally important part in the net zero initiative. With machines and factories automating processes more efficiently, the byproduct is that businesses will produce less waste.
The cycle of efficiency will continue with a focus on automation. Machines will become smarter and more efficient, and with the help of hyperautomation, humans can focus on creating innovative solutions for manufacturing processes and supply chain distribution.
Hyperautomation
People often need clarification on automation and hyperautomation. While similar, hyperautomation focuses on deep analysis and complex thinking, while automation strictly focuses on simplicity and convenience.
The reason hyperautomation is becoming an important business process automation trend to large firms is because of the need for deep analytic insight into data and trends. Hyperautomation trends point to critical importance in administrative and managerial positions.
To get a reference of how important hyperautomation will be, Gartner states that nearly 69% of work done by managers will become fully automated within the next several years. That work will open up more avenues of opportunities for managers.
That statistic may sound scary to managers, but it shouldn’t. Hyperautomation will open avenues for productivity that managers never had before. Managers can begin to focus on pressing issues and customer service more than mundane data entry and routine data analysis.
Managers will begin to serve a different role because of hyperautomation. This role will focus on more innovative avenues than reporting, inventory tracking, and data analysis. Additionally, businesses may see a decline in HR departments as managers will be more attentive to hiring.
Integrating RPA With BPA
Robotic process automation, or RPA, is a more advanced way to automate processes. Businesses now, especially those in finance and healthcare, are shifting towards RPA to improve their productivity and business functions.
Automation has limitations and still involves human intervention. Companies are looking at RPA because it affects nearly no human intervention. For banks and other financial institutes, RPA is amazing because of its efficiency, accuracy, and lack of human involvement.
RPA provides accuracy and efficiency humans can’t offer in fast-paced business environments. You’ll find that machines, or robots, are only inconsistent when human involvement occurs. Otherwise, machines do simple tasks like data entry without failure.
Companies’ main benefits from RPA are productivity, reduction in operational costs, accuracy, and customer service improvements. As your operating year continues, you will get more value from RPA tools. The time and money you save daily will multiply continuously.
Currently, RPA tools are for medium and large businesses. It’ll be difficult for small businesses to take full advantage of RPA tools because of their annual maintenance fees. Instead, you’ll see smaller companies use more simplistic automation tools.
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