Automation Anywhere has released its fourth Indian edition of the Automation Now and Next report, emphasising the significance of process automation and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) as key investment catalysts for Indian enterprises. The report indicates 63 per cent of Indian enterprises are proactively directing investments towards AI and machine learning (ML) for the automation of their business processes in the upcoming 12 months, witnessing 85 per cent growth in AI investments since last year. Furthermore, 33 per cent of these enterprises are strategically planning to adopt GenAI as a driving force for growth, reflecting a forward-looking approach towards innovative technologies in pursuit of business optimisation and transformation.

Currently, more than 78 per cent of enterprises say productivity gains are the desired impact of automation, surpassing all other key performance indicators (KPIs).  The report predicts to see more AI-driven innovations, especially as GenAI deployments increases with 72 per cent of the respondents globally investing in AI/ML over the next 12 months.

Commenting on the report, Ankur Kothari, co-founder and chief operating officer (COO), Automation Anywhere, said, “Productivity is foundational to economic growth and the world’s next level of evolution. Intelligent automation, including AI and GenAI, are proving crucial to solving the massive productivity crisis unfolding in front of us. The 2023 Now and Next report echoes our long-held belief that intelligent automation is the only true solution to the current workforce challenges facing organisations around the globe.”

Meanwhile, Suresh Ramanan, managing principal and intelligent automation practice lead, ZS Associates, said, “Intelligent automation technologies are designed to improve efficiency, scale operations, and enhance business and employee productivity. Productivity is paramount in today’s dynamic business landscape, and adoption of intelligent automation, especially with GenAI, is crucial for success. Measuring return on investment (ROI) confirms its impact, substantially increasing customer satisfaction and employee engagement.”

The three major takeaways from the report:

Barriers to adopting AI technologies by Indian enterprises

Despite the widespread recognition of AI’s value in Indian enterprises, deployment challenges persist; however, determined, and focused organisations are navigating through these barriers.

  • According to 39 per cent of respondents, data challenges and regulatory/ethical concerns stand out as the primary obstacles to adopting AI technologies.
  • According to 52 per cent of respondents, technical complexities and data security are the challenges/barriers they feel in adopting and using AI.
  • Despite these concerns, 33 per cent of Indian enterprises express confidence in implementing robust security measures and privacy protocols to mitigate potential risks associated with AI technologies. This confidence empowers them to embrace AI and intelligent automation technologies with assurance.

Overcoming India’s productivity challenges with intelligent automation

ROI and work productivity remain on top for measuring the success of automation solutions implemented by Indian enterprises.

  • 80 per cent of Indian enterprises are planning to determine the impact of intelligent automation based on business ROI, however, more than 70 per cent of respondents from Indian enterprises say they measure the success of intelligent automation based on customer and employee satisfaction levels.
  • 63 per cent plan to use industry-specific intelligent automation to solve their specialised requirements.
  • 59 per cent of respondents from Indian enterprises believe this higher level of growth requires moving beyond low-stakes task automation and end-to-end process transformation.

GenAI to accelerate scalability for automation

According to the survey, true transformation requires automation at scale. Business users are crucial to the citizen development efforts that will drive automation at scale while keeping their business objectives in mind.

  • Globally, 40 per cent of business users say citizen development is broadly encouraged, while another 41 per cent said it is encouraged in select business areas.
  • 48 per cent of the respondents from Indian Enterprise encourage business users to build and scale automation.
  • However, respondents from Indian enterprises say security and governance concerns (60 per cent) and a lack of technical skills and training (51 per cent) are preventing automation leaders from encouraging widespread citizen development.
  • The Now and Next report predicts that generative AI-powered virtual assistants will enable business users to turn conversational requests into consistent, governed, and high-quality complex automations.
  • Most respondents (82 per cent) are looking for specialised and industry-specific automation technologies, such as custom large language models (LLMs) for GenAI.

Further, Satyen Makhija, partner and head, automation and platforms, KPMG, said, “We see significant scaling up of investments in automation and AI/ML at our customers with GenAI driving the identification of new use cases and improving business outcomes. Organisations are increasingly moving up the value chain from automating only rule based, large volume transactions to providing real-time business insights supporting strategic goals. This is expected to unlock significantly faster decision-making capabilities and enhanced customer experiences, driving growth and profitability.”