Automation Anywhere citizen dev launch: “Automation to a billion more workers”

Imagine 2022 Automation Anywhere Mihir Shukla CEO

Key Takeaways

Automation Anywhere has introduced new enhancements to its platform focused on keeping 'humans in the loop' of intelligent automation, including a citizen development app that enables everyday workers to create their own automations using a low-code interface.

The automation industry is poised to contribute $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030, but current automation project success rates are low, with only 13% proving successful; AA aims to improve value on investment and address the limitations of existing automation tools.

New features such as the AA CoE Manager app and the Automation Anywhere Robotic Interface (AARI) will enhance control for leaders and simplify cross-departmental workflows, while advanced process discovery tools and document automation capabilities aim to optimize automation initiatives and improve ROI.

Automation Anywhere (AA) has announced a breadth of new software enhancements aiming to keep ‘humans in the loop’ of intelligent automation. Word of the new automation success platform features came today at the automation provider’s Imagine 2022 conference in New York City.

The automation industry is expected to add $15tn to the global economy by 2030, according to Gartner. However, with a study by Deloitte showing only 13 percent of automation projects prove successful industry-wide today, AA claims it will bring more value on investment to the many companies struggling with one-size-fits-none automation tools and inflexible on-premise platforms.

In a bid to bring automation into the control of everyday workers, a citizen development app will now be hosted within the new automation success platform. The app is said to provide every worker with access to a simplified builder to create their very own ‘digital co-worker’ automation. It will feature a low-code user interface and built-in governance features for standardization and business rules. Plus, for added protection, a static code analysis will automatically scan every citizen-developed bot for potential errors and further machine learning opportunities.

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Additionally, resilient automation features are now said to enable ‘computer vision’ that will highlight when user interface updates across other apps and programs will affect any live automation builds. The features will include triggered alerts, as well as detailed video and written explanations of the change event.

Handing greater control to CoE leaders too is a new AA CoE Manager app, designed in AA partnership with program management software vendor Shibumi, which is set to allow CoE leaders to build, monitor, and scale all automation within the business from a centralized command center.

Plus, by delivering direct access to the automation success platform, the new Automation Anywhere Robotic Interface (AARI) claims to make communicating data and completing tasks easier throughout cross-departmental and cross-application workflows. AARI will function as a widget from within hundreds of other business enterprise apps such as Google, SalesForce, SAP, Workato, and Genesys, in a bid to minimize the user steps, clicks, and screen jumps required to automate everyday tasks.

AA’s launch of process discovery features with deep learning and interactive mining was also announced today. The tool has been created after a recent acquisition of FortressIQ and will suggest what end users can automate next for the greatest ROI. Moreover, an automation pathfinder program will use AI that’s driven by over 20 years of previous automation case experience to enact best practices in any bots. A new document automation tool will now be powered by Automation Anywhere’s pretrained AI models or through customer-preferred platforms such as Google Document AI and Microsoft Azure.

Mihir Shukla, CEO and co-founder of AA told ERP Today, “Our mission is to bring automation to a billion more workers and make it more and more solution-focused, putting it in the hands of people and making it successful at scale. With AARI, we will be part of every single application, bringing automation inside everything we do.

“Today, nobody does that. For other platforms, you have to get ten IT staff that you don’t have, in order to manage all of that, and there’s a cost involved,” Shukla continued. “Our partners are working with us to produce even deeper solutions across specific verticals, so we can enable this global movement of citizen developers, helping people to automate and take care of it themselves. Opportunity is enormous, and we are on this journey together, where we are discovering, evolving, and reimagining the future of work.”