63% of Indian Enterprises To Invest In Intelligent Automation And Generative AI In 2024: Automation Anywhere Report Finds

* 85% Increase In Clanned Investments In Intelligent Automation Solutions From Last Year

Automation Anywhere, the leader in intelligent automation solutions that put artificial intelligence (AI) to work across every aspect of an organization, released its fourth Indian edition of the Automation Now & Next report, emphasizing the significance of process automation and generative AI as key investment catalysts for Indian enterprises. 

The Automation Anywhere commissioned survey underscores the critical role these technologies will play in facilitating organizations to attain their primary objective of exponential growth. Notably, the report indicates 63% of Indian enterprises are proactively directing investments towards artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for the automation of their business processes in the upcoming 12 months, witnessing 85% growth in AI investments since last year. Furthermore, 33% of these enterprises are strategically planning to adopt Generative AI as a driving force for growth, reflecting a forward-looking approach towards innovative technologies in pursuit of business optimization and transformation. 

Currently, more than 78% of enterprises say productivity gains are the desired impact of automation, surpassing all other KPIs.  The Now and Next report predicts to see more AI-driven innovations, especially as generative AI deployments increases with 72% of the respondents globally investing in AI/ML over the next 12 months.

“Productivity is foundational to economic growth and the world’s next level of evolution. Intelligent automation, including AI and generative AI, are proving crucial to solving the massive productivity crisis unfolding in front of us,” said Ankur Kothari,” Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer, Automation Anywhere. “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 organizations around the globe.”

“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 generative AI, is crucial for success. Measuring ROI confirms its impact, substantially increasing customer satisfaction and employee engagement.” -- Suresh Ramanan, Managing Principal and Intelligent Automation Practice Lead, ZS Associates.

The three major takeaways from the Now & Next Report, released by Automation Anywhere -

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 organizations are navigating through these barriers

According to 39% of respondents, data challenges and regulatory/ethical concerns stand out as the primary obstacles to adopting AI technologies.

According to 52% of respondents, technical complexities and data security are the challenges/barriers they feel in adopting and using AI.

Despite these concerns, 33% 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:

Return on Investment (ROI) and work productivity remain on top for measuring the success of automation solutions implemented by Indian Enterprises 

80% of Indian enterprises are planning to determine the impact of Intelligent automation based on business ROI, however, more than 70% of respondents from Indian enterprises say they measure the success of Intelligent automation based on customer and employee satisfaction levels.

63% plan to use industry-specific intelligent automation to solve their specialized requirements. 

59% 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% of business users say citizen development is broadly encouraged, while another 41% said it is encouraged in select business areas. 

48% 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%) and a lack of technical skills and training (51%) 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%) are looking for specialized and industry-specific automation technologies, such as custom large language models for generative AI.

“We see significant scaling up of investments in Automation and AI/ML at our customers with generative AI driving the identification of new use cases and improving business outcomes. Organizations 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.” -- Satyen Makhija, Partner, Head - Automation and Platforms, KPMG.

About Automation Anywhere:

Automation Anywhere is the leader in intelligent automation solutions that put AI to work across every aspect of an organization. The company’s Automation Success Platform is powered with specialized AI, generative AI and offers process discovery, RPA, end-to-end process orchestration, document processing, and analytics, with a security and governance-first approach. Automation Anywhere empowers organizations worldwide to unleash productivity gains, drive innovation, improve customer service and accelerate business growth. The company is guided by its vision to fuel the future of work by unleashing human potential through intelligent automation. Learn more at www.automationanywhere.com.