The Future of Automation Belongs to Hyperautomation

According to Gartner, Hyperautomation is one of the top trends to look out for in 2020. The technology has grabbed first place in the list of Gartner's top 10 strategic technology trends that will drive significant disruption and opportunity over the next five to 10 years.

Automation uses technology to automate tasks that once required humans. Hyperautomation deals with the application of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), to increasingly automate processes and augment humans. Hyperautomation extends across a range of tools that can be automated, but also refers to the sophistication of the automation (i.e., discover, analyze, design, automate, measure, monitor, reassess.)

As no single tool can replace humans, hyperautomation today involves a combination of tools, including robotic process automation (RPA), intelligent business management software (iBPMS) and AI, with a goal of increasingly AI-driven decision making.

Although not the main goal, hyperautomation often results in the creation of a digital twin of the organization (DTO), allowing organizations to visualize how functions, processes and key performance indicators interact to drive value. The DTO then becomes an integral part of the hyperautomation process, providing real-time, continuous intelligence about the organization and driving significant business opportunities.

Automation Anywhere defines Hyperautomation as the extension of legacy business process automation beyond the confines of individual processes. By marrying AI tools with RPA, hyperautomation enables automation for virtually any repetitive task executed by business users. It even takes it to the next level and automates the automation – dynamically discovering business processes and creating bots to automate them.

With a range of tools like Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), working in harmony to automate complex business processes—including where subject matter experts were once required—Hyperautomation is a means for real digital transformation.

Hyperautomation provides a high-speed route to engaging everyone in transforming the business, supported by automating more and more complex work that relies on knowledge inputs from people.

Upskilling RPA with intelligence creates intelligent digital workers that can take on repetitive tasks to augment employee performance.

These Digital Workers are the change agents of hyperautomation, able to connect to various business applications, operate with structured and unstructured data, analyze data and make decisions, and discover processes and find new automation opportunities.

AI is what differentiates Digital Workers from standard automation approaches. Making RPA+AI the essential ingredients of hyperautomation.

And by uncovering and automating previously inaccessible data and processes, hyperautomation offers another unique benefit: the creation of a digital twin of the organization (DTO). How does that help? A DTO makes visible the previously unseen interactions between processes, functions, and key performance indicators.

Moreover, according to a market report, the global hyper automation market was valued at US$4.2 Billion in 2017 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 18.9% over the forecast period (2019-2027). It is most likely to surpass US$ 23.7 billion by end of 2027, says report.