Total automation: Tech for intelligent enterprise execution, 2023 research agenda, Part 2

Introduction

As noted in Part 1, we define "total automation" as a disciplined and holistic managerial approach to the entire process automation strategy of an enterprise. It is data driven and focuses on the continuous improvement of execution efficiency and outcomes; greater levels of automated and autonomous business and IT operations; and empowering the workforce to collaborate, create and invent with tools that augment their skills and help them work smarter and faster together with less effort.

The Take

Digitally driven enterprises are investing in intelligent process-discovery and automation technologies to enable greater levels of collaboration and productivity, and to empower workforces with resources to work smarter together to reveal hidden opportunities for improvements and imagine new ways of conducting business. They seek a total approach to enterprise automation that goes beyond mere process automation and software robots to bring together business and IT leaders, developers, and process stakeholders to think more strategically, holistically and creatively about how the entirety of their digital business operations can be improved and differentiated from rivals, and how their people can be empowered to collaborate to create and invent new products, services and better ways to serve customers. Enterprises that engage in total automation can create new forms of competitive advantage by transforming their IT infrastructure and applications into data-gathering assets able to create a constant state of awareness of their digital businesses, as well as to take action with new abilities to reactively, proactively and even autonomously respond to change, risk and opportunity intelligently.

Total automation: Vendor landscape

The total automation vendor landscape to be researched in 2023 will continue to examine digital automation platforms (DAPs) and low-code application development (LCAD) platforms that automate complex structured processes, decisions, and unstructured collaborations and cases. It will also look at robotic process automation (RPA) technology, which automates repetitive manual tasks and supplements workforces with digital skills; process discovery technology (PDT), which enables a visual data-driven approach to process and task analysis and automation design; and hybrid integration platforms (HIPs), which bring together disparate data, applications, processes and IT ecosystems, enabling the integrations needed of cloud-native, edge and IoT computing. Moreover, in 2023 we will examine how event-driven architecture (EDA) is being used within and across these technologies to enable the future event-driven enterprise.

DAP, LCAD and RPA

DAPs evolved from earlier business process management suites and generally enabled the automation of end-to-end business processes. They include a set of tools and resources structured within a unified framework to enable developers to rapidly design, develop, deploy, manage, and monitor process-, content- and case-oriented applications. They use low-code/no-code capabilities that include visual models, prepackaged templates and graphical design capabilities with drag-and-drop tooling to compose rather than code software. DAPs combine both development and runtime IT environments. Changes can be made on the fly, making them agile DevOps platforms. Representative vendors in the DAP market include Appian Corp. and Pegasystems Inc.

LCAD platforms represent a market segment that lives alongside DAPs. LCADs typically enable a more complete set of application life-cycle management functionality that supports the design, build, test, deploy and management stages of a software life cycle. They can also include capabilities for data integration, data quality management, performance monitoring and end-user feedback. LCADs can deploy code using CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous delivery) techniques to a range of disparate multivendor cloud platforms. Representative vendors in the LCAD market include OutSystems and Mendix.

RPA technology emerged as simple tools to craft software robots (bots) that can automate repetitive human activities. Bots can be developed to work in an "attended" mode to assist or guide the workforce in their tasks, or can act autonomously in an "unattended" mode to execute highly repetitive operations at scale. RPA tools can include AI technologies such as optical character recognition, computer vision and natural language processing, among others, to digitize and interpret semi-structured or unstructured data. They provide capabilities to automate data and process flows together, at a granular field and form level, to enable inter-application data and process integration between source and target systems. Some RPA platforms can craft bots trained using AI to learn from iterative examination of data input patterns, to create digital skills that can make recommendations based on contextual awareness and guide human or system interactions. Representative vendors in the RPA market include SS&C Blue Prism and UiPath Inc.

Vendors and enterprise buyers alike have realized that DAP/LCAD and RPA should not be isolated platforms. Rather, they complement each other and should interoperate as a holistic automation platform capable of blending the design and development of complex processes, applications, collaborative activities and human-in-the-loop operations. The convergence of these markets has been underway for several years.

Our 2023 research will point out these and other distinctions among a vendor landscape that includes, but is not limited to, AgilePoint, Appian, Automation Anywhere, Automation Edge, Blue Prism, Datamatics Global Services Ltd., Boomi, BMC, BP Logix, Broadcom Inc., Camunda, Catalytic, DronaHQ, EdgeVerve Systems, FireStart, Hyland Software, IBM Corp., InRule, Kofax, Kryon Systems, Mendix, Microsoft Corp., NICE Ltd., Nintex, OutSystems, OpenText Corp., Oracle Corp., PagerDuty Inc. (acquired Catalytic in March 2022), Pega, Pliant, PMG, QuickBase, Red Hat, Redwood Software, Salesforce Inc., SAP SE, ServiceNow Inc., Software AG, TIBCO, Tonkean, Trisotech, UiPath, Ultimus, WorkFusion, Workato and Zapier.

Process discovery technology

PDT is an evolving class of AI that can visualize processes and workforce activities (based on data captured from systems of execution and user devices) and analyze that data to design improvements in process execution and workforce behavior. In general, there are two types of PDT. Process mining tools extract data from business processes codified in applications or distributed across multiple business functions. They examine log files and system data to discover and visualize process routes and data paths within and across enterprise applications and IT infrastructure. They can help craft automation designs using DAPs and LCADs. Device (or task) mining tools provide insight into user behavior and interactions with multiple systems via a desktop or other device. They examine how humans behave during the execution of their various activities and tasks. They monitor and record user device and application activity to capture and analyze screen and login data. Findings help craft bot designs using RPA technology.

Many RPA platforms include recording tools to capture workforce behavior as they interact with applications and devices. Some offer more sophisticated device mining technology capable of task analysis to guide improved designs. DAP/LCAD technology, in general, has lacked any process or device mining capabilities.

Enterprise buyers now realize how workforce productivity, process execution and business performance can be improved by using PDT. This awareness is driving yet another convergence, in which DAP and automation vendors of all types want to include PDT as part of their platforms or partner with discrete PDT specialists to improve the quality of their automations. These next-generation DAP/PDT platforms will create a unified low-code development and collaboration environment, equipped with AI and designed with self-service capabilities for use by non-IT business professionals, helping preserve scarce IT resources. All users will be able to visualize ideas about new ways of doing things, create, and collaborate to invent, rapidly prototype initial designs, test outcomes, iteratively develop innovations into production, and potentially invent new digital businesses of the future.

Several DAP and RPA vendors already participate in the PDT market alongside vendors that specialize in PDT. The vendors to be studied in our 2023 research include, but are not limited to ABBYY, Appian (acquired Lana Labs in 2021), Automation Anywhere (acquired FortressIQ in 2021), Celonis, EdgeVerve, Fluxicon, IBM (acquired myInvenio in 2021), iGrafx, Kofax, Nintex (acquired Kryon in February 2022), Mehrwerk, Microsoft (acquired Minit in March 2022), Neostella (acquired Work-Relay in September 2022), Pega (acquired EverFlow in May 2022), SAP (acquired Signavio in 2021), Salesforce/MuleSoft (acquired ServiceTrace in 2021), Software AG, Soroco, QPR and UiPath.

Hybrid integration platforms

Many business and IT processes are distributed across a variety of disparate on-premises infrastructure, software, cloud services, mobile devices and things that now compose modern hybrid IT architecture. HIPs represent the next generation of integration-platform-as-a-service technology that enables data exchange and process interoperability in these environments. They are increasingly becoming integral to the automation of processes that span and require integration across distributed hybrid IT architecture.

HIPs generally include integration pattern development tools, messaging, data integration and API management capabilities. Some have data quality management tools, and use AI to make recommendations to integration developers as to the "next best steps" to take during design. Several HIP vendors are now redesigning their underlying messaging capabilities to include event-driven architecture technology. EDA can produce, detect, consume and react to events. It enables a constant state of awareness of all operational activity within and across a distributed hybrid IT ecosystem. EDA is becoming a core enabling technology to support the decoupled and distributed nature of cloud-native computing and application modernization. HIPs built upon or equipped with EDA can support event-driven integration — a capability that is expected to play a vital role in enabling total automation.

HIP vendors in our 2023 research include but are not limited to Actian, AWS, Boomi, CData, Celigo, Flowgear, Google, IBM, Informatica Inc., Jitterbit, Microsoft, OpenText, Oracle, Qlik, Red Hat, Salesforce, SAP, SnapLogic, Software AG, Solace, Talend, TIBCO, Tonkean, Tray.io, TriggerMesh, Workato and WSO2.

Emerging vendors have come to market in recent years offering both process automation and data integration capabilities within a unified platform and common architecture. They are different from traditional automation vendor offerings that merely include fundamental integration tools for application and data connectivity. Unified platforms appeal to enterprises that seek as much functionality from as few IT vendors as possible. We believe these emerging unified technology platforms will change the market landscape and the product strategies of incumbent vendors in both the automation and integration markets. Representative vendors in this market include SnapLogic, Tonkean, Tray.io and Workato.

The HIP market is evolving rapidly, and we will study the emerging technologies coming to market that support the evolution of cloud-native computing, edge computing, IoT, and the highly distributed and diverse nature of hybrid IT architectures.

Enterprise performance intelligence

The technologies that enable total automation can, in effect, "instrument" IT infrastructure and applications, equipping them with means to capture, in real time, the event and telemetry data needed to monitor and control the performance and outcomes of digital business operations, creating the emerging enterprise performance intelligence market. EPI enables real-time (or near-real-time) sensing/monitoring and analysis of measurement of event and performance data, and is capable of proactively responding to change, risk and opportunity that can occur during the execution of digital business operations and may affect enterprise performance.

We believe the data capture, visualization and analytics capabilities found in current PDTs can be adapted and configured to work alongside DAP, RPA and HIP technologies to enable an integrated and more uniform intelligent automation platform that can monitor and measure enterprise performance metrics in real time as processes execute. Currently, there are a handful of PDT and other vendors pursuing EPI. Among them are ABBYY, Celonis, Mehrwerk, Minit and SAP (via Signavio). Solace represents a best-of-breed EDA vendor that is playing a key role in this evolving market. Other vendors pursuing intelligent process automation and EPI include Alteryx and Qlik.

Evolving markets to be tracked in 2023

In 2023 we will also continue to examine ongoing M&A activity in these markets, how the integration of these technologies creates new capabilities and new markets, and how they will potentially influence other markets. For example, the RPA market is pursuing new use cases by developing and acquiring technologies to position it within the mature but dynamic intelligent document processing market. In another example, several vendors in these markets are offering preconfigured automations for business processes that are common to most companies, such as accounts payable, accounts receivable and human resources, as well as industry-specific business processes such as in banking, insurance, retail, healthcare and manufacturing. This trend creates potential rivalry with ERP, supply chain management, CRM and other business application markets that have long codified such processes within their respective platforms.

Conclusion

During 2023, as in prior years, we will continue to examine how these markets will interoperate, converge, and drive investment and M&A activity. We believe them to be among the essential technologies needed for the strategic design and execution of digital business architecture, and are critical to the success of digital transformation initiatives. They will continue to coalesce and evolve into future intelligent automation platforms that can create new competitive advantages using a strategic total-automation approach to empower a creative workforce and continuously discover, analyze, automate and monitor the effectiveness of digital business operations and the quality of enterprise execution and performance.