Automation Technology Trends 2024

In 2024, we will witness a profound transformation in the business landscape. For once, we’re not talking about Generative AI!

We’re referring to automation technology, that’s reshaping various industries. We may sound like a broken record but automation has the potential to entirely redefine your business processes and organizational efficiency in 2024.

Think of this: with AI-driven solutions here to stay and evolve in the long run, automation will not just play a vital role in executing repetitive, low-value processes but also develop autonomous workflows for processes that can only be achieved manually to date. Moreover, by overcoming the challenge of mundane work, humans will be able to devote more time to creative, productive and strategic pursuits. Hence, in 2024, businesses will prioritize the adoption of the latest automation technologies to reduce redundant human-driven processes and get more work done in less time with consistent outcomes.

The chances are high that you too are seeking automation solutions that seamlessly integrate with your existing enterprise ecosystem. Yet, to make a sound (pun intended!) decision, you first need to know about the latest in the world of automation. That’s where we come in – last year, we uncovered trends such as AI integration, Cobots, predictive maintenance, RPA-as-a-service and sustainable automation.

Want to know what’s in store this year?

Read on and find the top 5 Automation Technology Trends of 2024!
 

Trend 1: Automation Will Continuously Adapt With AI/ML Integrations

 
Last year, we highlighted hyperautomation, a trend that refers to the “automation of everything that can be automated” within an organization, leading to streamlined processes. This year, businesses will not only increase hyperautomation deployments but also focus on improving its effectiveness by using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) integrations.

Automation, at its core, aims to run processes and workflows independently without human intervention. However, businesses want to improve not only the volume of automated processes but also its quality. Hence, the latest trend is to “automate” the continuous improvement and adaptation of automation deployments through AI/ML integrations. Yes, we’re automating automation!

In 2024, automation systems won’t be static; instead, they will adapt to changes in real time, leading to improved responses, better performance and higher operational efficiency. For instance, AI and ML algorithms can continuously monitor automated processes in a manufacturing plant to spot inefficiencies and areas for improvement. Then, data-driven analytics powered by AI models can allow the business to dynamically modify the automated process to improve manufacturing yield.

This will mean that automated workflows will scale up/down to maximize resource allocation and efficiency. Soon, hyperautomation won’t be a one-off initiative for businesses; rather an ongoing strategic adoption of iterative automation. Using AI/ML models will enable enterprises with hyperautomation strategies to adapt to changes while maintaining peak operational performance. According to Precedence Research, “By leveraging AI, hyperautomation can be even more sophisticated and adaptive, handling complex processes with a higher degree of autonomy.” Hence, businesses will double down on their hyperautomation strategies with AI/ML integrations in 2024.

TechDogs’ Takeaway: Businesses aiming to leverage AI/ML to create adaptive hyperautomation deployments must ensure synergy between automated processes across the business ecosystem. To do this, businesses need to ensure access to real-time insights that will help them understand the current state of operational efficiency and agility. Next, they must foster a culture of continuous improvement by implementing self-learning AI algorithms that regularly capture, analyze and process data. This will help in creating feedback loops that refine the automation system with time and as the business requirements change, the autonomous system will evolve to fit the demands. Finally, business leaders must encourage collaboration between AI systems and human expertise to design adaptive hyperautomation systems that leverage the synergy between human decision-making and precise automated capabilities.
 

Trend 2: Businesses Will Leverage Automation To Reduce App Sprawl

 
The work-from-home trend over the past few years led to companies adapting by purchasing more digital solutions than ever. Yet, an unintended consequence of his has been a growing “app sprawl,” in simpler terms, a significant increase in the number of software applications within the enterprise environment. In 2024, businesses will look towards automation technologies to tackle app sprawl!

First things first, the term “app sprawl” essentially refers to the overabundance of on-premises or SaaS software in the workplace, resulting in fragmented or disjointed data silos within the business ecosystem. According to a Forbes’ survey, 40% of the surveyed workers said real-time collaboration had been replaced with “asynchronous and disparate collaboration tools.” With the fragmented workforce facing data silos across hundreds of applications, businesses witness inefficient and limited productivity – till automation steps in!

Automation will address the challenges of sharing information in real time while reducing the redundant data transfer tasks for employees relying on multiple apps. While some businesses will aim to downsize the number of apps they use, others will look to integrate automation solutions within their technology stack to reduce app sprawl. For instance, Tray.io is a unified AI-powered platform that helps businesses automate processes within their app ecosystem, having already served major names such as IBM, GitHub and NetApp. David Dorman, Head of Growth Marketing at DigitalOcean validates this trend saying, “We can look across the end-to-end stack and connect any of our tools to gain total control. This is the next wave of what a stack will look like and the Tray Platform lets us fulfill that vision.” Hence, inter-app automation will significantly transform the workplace experience for employees in 2024.

TechDogs’ Takeaway: Using multiple apps and software may be unavoidable for your business, so you should invest in automation tools that reduce the time-consuming process of managing them. Businesses should start by conducting a thorough review of existing SaaS and on-premises applications to identify redundancies and those that can be automated for data collection, data analysis, application rationalization, etc. Businesses also need to implement automation solutions that integrate seamlessly between existing apps to develop a cohesive business ecosystem that reduces application sprawl, eliminates redundancies and enhances productivity through automation. Finally, businesses must leverage Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to automate routine tasks and streamline workflows within apps by identifying and automating repetitive processes. This will minimize the need for multiple applications and thus the complexity of app sprawl, leading to increased operational efficiency.
 

Trend 3: The Rise Of Sustainable Hyperautomation Will Be Inevitable

 
Last year, we covered two major automation trends – namely, hyperautomation and sustainable automation. With both gaining traction in various industrial settings, we will soon see the amalgamation of the two concepts. In 2024, get ready to welcome sustainable hyperautomation, as businesses seek to make automation not only an efficiency enhancer but a sustainable strategy too.

We don’t have to tell you that the concern over sustainability is growing globally. After all, hyperautomation has led to a steep increase in the deployment of automated machines and systems that consume more energy than traditional manual approaches. This is why businesses will look at hyperautomation through the lens of sustainability in 2024. By adopting eco-friendly automation, businesses will meet the goal of sustainable hyperautomation: optimize and automate processes/workflows with the least amount of energy and environmental impact possible.

For example, Pegasystems, an automation industry leader and specialist in hyperautomation, has developed and offered a data platform that measures the ecological and social impact of products, services, solutions and projects. Moreover, companies will look for automation solutions that run on low-energy consumption algorithms and energy-efficient hardware. In fact, a recent poll by Gartner showed that more than 85% of Chief Information Officers stated they were active in their organization’s sustainability activities as consumers continue to choose brands with a lower environmental impact. Businesses will need to be more prudent about hyperautomation investments in 2024, as its effectiveness will need to be justified by the environmental effect.

TechDogs’ Takeaway: To be sustainable and economical in the long term, businesses must break down their automation system lifecycle. To start, automation engineers should take complete stock of their IT and business process landscape to understand what resources are available for automation before designing the necessary workflows. Next, businesses must build hyperautomation systems by leveraging HyperApp platforms that encapsulate all the capabilities required for business process automation, including designing, building, deployment, monitoring, analysis, etc. This will enable businesses to quickly prototype and test new hyperautomation ideas, while the ease of modification and reusability will create a sustainable automation platform. Lastly, businesses need to test their hyperautomation strategy across the widest range of scenarios possible to ensure sustainable development and deployment are a priority and not an afterthought.
 

Trend 4: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Will Automate Data Capture

 
Adopting the latest in automation has been a staple for many workplaces across industries. One of the most common tasks for which businesses adopt automation solutions is data capture for analytics and insight generation. In 2024, such tasks will receive a boost as OCR-powered automation is set to become more accessible!

Have you faced the arduous process of manually processing hand-written invoices or notes? Soon, it will come to an end and businesses will witness a significant transition away from the manual, demanding effort for processes that require data capture. For instance, Nanonets is an AI-based data extraction platform that specializes in OCR automation for the healthcare industry. Its AI-powered API solution “captures, categorizes and extracts unseen, unstructured documents or forms into structured data within seconds,” allowing healthcare professionals to focus on more demanding tasks.

Similarly, in 2024, professionals from other industries will be assisted by intelligent automation systems powered by cutting-edge Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. This will allow professionals to outsource labor-intensive tasks such as fetching data, invoicing, accounts payable, etc., as well as reduce human errors. The trend is validated by market data that shows the global Optical Character Recognition (OCR) systems market is projected to reach USD 1.5 billion by 2028 from USD 788.4 million in 2022. Hence, we will see more businesses adopt OCR automation solutions for data capture and analytics.

TechDogs’ Takeaway: If you’re tired of human-driven processes for capturing, translating, copy-pasting or analyzing text data, heed this trend! To leverage OCR automation, businesses must implement high-quality OCR tools that offer accurate character recognition across languages to enhance data capture efficiency. Next, businesses also need to ensure that OCR automation is followed by effective data management that helps organize and categorize the extracted information seamlessly. This is critical in boosting the effectiveness of OCR automation and ensures precise data processing and insight generation. Finally, automation teams must regularly assess and fine-tune their OCR systems to adapt to the evolving business needs and support the accuracy of data capture. Using OCR automation will help you maintain efficient, error-free, automated data capture across various business processes!
 

Trend 5: Businesses Will Level up With Intelligent Process Automation

 
Although artificial intelligence (Trend 1) has continuously delivered promising automation capabilities in recent years, in 2024, it will join forces with RPA to offer businesses something new: intelligent automation. As its full potential has yet to be realized, intelligent process automation (IPA) will become a major game-changer in the automation sector soon!

IPA takes automation to the next level by blending the rules-based automation capabilities of robotic process automation (RPA) with the creative potential of artificial intelligence (AI). This new technological trend will allow businesses to design systems that can automate fundamental as well as complex processes. Moreover, the automation system will learn and improve over time, leading to more robust and efficient automation. For instance, according to Cognizant, an American multinational IT services and consulting company, a client in the telecoms industry experienced a “90% reduction in average handling time for customer quotes” after they adopted Intelligent Process Automation.

As the adoption of RPA has been growing (and is expected to grow in the coming years!), the intelligent process automation market will also see a corresponding increase in interest. According to KPMG, the enterprise investment in the intelligent process automation (IPA) market will reach $232 billion by 2025, compared to a mere $12.4 billion in 2018. Forward-thinking businesses that want to move beyond the limitations of their RPA-driven processes will look towards the smarter iteration, IPA, to do just that in 2024!

TechDogs’ Takeaway: Most businesses want to integrate AI/ ML and robotic process automation (RPA) strategically into their business processes – and now there’s a simple way. Small businesses and startups wanting to automate routine but complex or dynamic tasks should look at IPA solutions to improve operational agility and efficiency. Next, businesses need to gather and analyze data to gain insights that will inform them about the best possible strategies for IPA deployments. Investing in Intelligent Process Automation needs to be a strategic decision to best optimize workflows and processes. Lastly, it is critical to foster collaboration among IT, operations and other business verticals when implementing IPA as workers relying on AI/ML/RPA can all contribute to a unified approach that maximizes the benefits of intelligent process automation for the organization.
 

Conclusion

Automation is one of the evergreen domains of technology. Each year, we see novel concepts and technological innovations in the industry that empower businesses to focus on more strategic and productive decisions. Businesses that stay on the lookout for such trends are rewarded by being ahead of the curve – after all, automation has a major say on how successful your business is.

To pursue success, in 2024, we will witness businesses integrate hyperautomation deployments with AI/ML models, leverage automation to manage app sprawl, develop sustainable hyperautomation strategies, invest in OCR automation and level up with Intelligent Process Automation (IPA!). If only there were an automated tool to inform you of the latest trends in the automation industry!