The 2016 RPA Premier League Table – Transformation Comes to the Fore

We are seeing the exponential growth of the Intelligent Automation deployments setting in. However, this growth occurs largely below the radar as the market communication and stakeholder management around the notion of automation remain unusually coy. This is largely due to the not yet fully understood impact on revenue models on the supply side but also to emotional responses to notions of robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Yet, the notion of what RPA is meant to represent is starting to shift in line with that maturation. It is moving beyond the extraction of data from heterogenous systems and the ability to capture, schedule and execute process steps in a studio, drag and drop style. All tool providers are expanding the capabilities toward operational analytics and AI while service providers are pushing service orchestration and broad automation frameworks. As a result, the go-to-market and the stakeholder management is evolving from notions of task automation and a narrow, short-term cost focus toward an emphasis on transformation and end-to-processes. Unsurprisingly, this has led to significant shifts in the competitive landscape.

Thus, building on and following up on the discussions for the Blueprint, HfS is assessing the competitive landscape of service providers in two categories: Transformation Enablers and Automation Pure Plays. We are aiming to assess which service providers has moved up the value chain and are pursuing a holistic approach to service delivery and automation by demonstrating transformational capabilities. In both categories, we are focusing on implementations, not just broader advisory services or tool selection projects.

The goal of this assessment is to provide a deep dive and more nuanced analysis of the specifics of the RPA segment.