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Companies are increasingly seeing the value of adopting Robotic Process Automation (RPA). This is according to recent research by Acumen Research and Consulting. Global sales in this market segment will increase 35 percent annually between now and 2030 to a total of 23.5 billion euros ($25.1 billion).

RPA is booming, the market researchers note in their report. Companies are increasingly seeing the application of this technology as a means of automating their business (manual) processes to achieve greater efficiency. The latter, in turn, should lead to lower costs.

The rising adoption is beneficial for the entire market segment. While global RPA sales totaled $1.6 billion in 2021, they are expected to reach $25.1 billion by 2030. This is an annual increase of 35 percent.

SMEs embrace RPA

Whereas initially it was mainly large companies that embraced RPA, today more and more SMEs are also using these solutions and applications. Especially for the aforementioned streamlining of operations and ensuring greater efficiency.

Companies also see other benefits for deploying RPA. Especially as part of their digital transition. Moreover, RPA solutions and applications easily integrate with their existing applications and systems. Think legacy systems, but also with cloud services or AI and ML solutions and applications.

The researchers note that RPA is also increasingly being used within the healthcare industry. For example, for processing claims with health insurance companies, but also for scheduling appointments and managing medical records. The financial sector is another major user, including for automatic management of bank accounts, loan processing and fraud detection. Other industries increasingly deploying RPA include retail and manufacturing.

More focus on user experience

Companies are increasing their investments in RPA, but in doing so, they are also increasingly focusing on specific objectives, according to the researchers at Acumen Research and Consulting. For example, they are focusing more often on implementing more security. This is for protecting sensitive data in their RPA systems. Companies are also eager to improve the end-user experience of these types of solutions and applications.

The latter desire leads to increasing demand for low-code RPA platforms so that non-technical end users can also use RPA to automate their workflows. Furthermore, the increasing need for RPA is leading to a huge demand for specialized companies that develop, deploy and manage these types of solutions and applications.

Bottlenecks to growth

The researchers do argue that the global RPA market can grow even faster than it already is. Still, they note a number of developments that are hindering this further growth. Many companies, especially in the SME segment, are still deterred by the high investment costs. Companies also still have questions about the security of their data in these types of solutions and applications.

In addition, RPA still faces a lot of competition from other technologies that provide the same benefits and results. Think, for example, of AI or machine learning.

Furthermore, potential users still see a lack of scalability and flexibility with RPA when it comes to making desired changes, and companies find that these types of solutions are not yet very adaptable to their own specific situation or environments, the researchers conclude.

TIP: We recently published a comprehensive story on how Etex made great gains in the efficiency and accuracy of their processes using RPA.