Automation Trends to Watch in 2021

By February 3, 2021December 5th, 2023Quality Control Insights
7 Automation Trends to Watch in 2021 | Effects of Automation in Industry

As 2020 wrapped up, businesses bid farewell to a year full of losses and unprecedented challenges. Companies are now looking for smart, innovative solutions to boost their net throughput, profitability, and efficiency, maintaining operational continuity under the current uncertain circumstances. This is where automation steps into the picture. Viewing digital transformation as the driver of competitiveness, organizations are eyeing innovations in automation and AI to redesign hierarchical workflows. Companies are increasingly leveraging automation technologies to automate tedious and erroneous tasks.

Businesses are eager to invest in digitalization and automation of the processes, while new automation solutions pop up and the existing ones evolve. A study reveals that nearly 50% of businesses across the world will increase RPA adoption due to COVID-19. Automation ensures seamless and simplified workflows, quick turnaround, enhanced accuracy, huge savings and spares your company’s employees the time to indulge in creative and value-adding tasks.

Related ArticleReasons Why You Need Collaborative Automation For Today’s World

7 Automation Trends to Watch in 2021

The 7 prominent automation trends in 2021 are as follows:

  • Hyperautomation

Hyperautomation, typically an advanced form of automation, has been attracting quite some hype for the last few years. Gartner predicts the scope of automation will expand from rigid and pre-defined tasks to intelligent automation. However, this requires an automation strategy that focuses on optimizing digital processes through customer-facing applications. Hyperautomation for the entire life-cycle of the automated process brings integration, DevOps, monitoring, and management on the same page.

  • Embedded AI in intelligent automation

In 2021, AI will now not only be available to data scientists but everybody inside the organization. Machine Learning, Optical Character Recognition, Natural Language Processing, and Image recognition, embedded in the automation systems, will enable citizen developers to achieve digital workflows and enhance their levels of productivity.

  • Bots for security and management

RPA bots can have a significant influence on corporate IT security strategy by eliminating the scope of human blunders. These bots are ideal in performing arduous and data-sensitive assignments without errors and with close attention to subtleties in your code. They can also be used to provide customer support and provide meaningful responses to customer queries.

Also, Read Robotic Process Automation – Carving the Future of Different Businesses

  • Ecosystems

While the platform suppliers deliver intelligent automation platforms that are able to drive fast outcomes and pay off the technical debt, several companies actually require customizations. Ecosystems are tremendous networks of technologies, applications, and services working inside their dynamic structures, admitting pre-built connectors, templates and solutions. In 2021, organizations will depend on such ecosystems to achieve their business objectives.

  • Citizen developers to accelerate digital transformation

Citizen developers can collaborate with IT to harness intelligent automation and rethink data-escalated workflows. This new, combined model will induce agility and reduce technical debt.

  • Rise of IPA

Intelligent Process Automation combines the capabilities of RPA and AI. This technology also leverages Machine Learning and fundamental process design, meaning it can learn and improve its accuracy over time. KPGM predicts that the investment in IPA and related technologies will reach US$232 billion by 2025. 

  • Hybrid Digital Infrastructure Management

Hybrid Digital Infrastructure Management (HDIM) is a term coined by Gartner that refers to the practice of monitoring and assessing the IT infrastructure involved with an organization, like servers, storage, and networks. As IT systems become increasingly complex, companies need to focus on a platform that allows monitoring processes, resources, and workloads across distributed environments.

Impact of Automation on Different Industries

  • Finance & Retail

Activities such as performing manual reconciliations, journal entries, extracting data from invoices can be effectively automated. Chatbots can interact with customers and help resolve their queries. In fact, by leveraging Machine Learning, these bots can analyze large volumes of customers’ data and deliver meaningful, contextual, and personalized services accordingly. Giving the customers what they want is an excellent way to foster positive, long-lasting relationships.

  • Manufacturing

By replacing manual labor with automation, you can generate quality, standard products while cutting down costs and time invested. Also, robots can perform effectively even in hazardous environments and hence, increase workplace safety. RPA can be leveraged to extract and store data from invoices and inventory management. In fact, collaborative automation is critical to achieving Industry 4.0.

Also, Read The Future Of Manufacturing

  • Logistics and supply chain management

With a growing demand from retailers, tightening labor markets, and a burgeoning volume of tasks, the logistics industry faces a number of challenges that, to some extent, can be overcome with automation. Activities such as picking, sorting, and palletizing of goods can be automated. Also, drones are being used for inventory management at autonomous warehouses.

  • Agriculture

Repetitive and arduous tasks like weeding, planting seeds, spraying insecticides, and harvesting should be automated to achieve higher efficiency and reduce this burden off humans. With the population increasing at an alarming rate, the conventional methods will prove to unviable and redundant. Deployment of intelligent, autonomous machinery has proved to increase the quality and quantity of the produce. 

  • Healthcare 

Trivial tasks such as fixing appointments, filling forms, and billing should definitely incorporate automation. Also, robots are being extensively used to perform several high-precision and complicated surgical procedures accurately. In 2014, approximately 570,000 robot-assisted surgeries were performed. Medical imaging and AI can be used to create 3D models of body organs and accomplish an accurate and quicker diagnosis.

Also, Read 7 Common Applications of Machine Vision in Manufacturing

Conclusion

In this increasingly competitive scenario, carving out your share of profits will keep on getting harder unless you rethink and improve your business strategies. It all breaks down to a simple rule: Evolve or perish. On the other hand, proactively adopting the right advances in automation will surely provide you an edge over your competitors.

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