Robotic process automation market to reach AU$870m in ANZ by 2020: Telsyte

 

By Tas Bindi |  May 30, 2017 -- 01:45 GMT (18:45 PDT) | Topic: Enterprise Software https://www-zdnet-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/www.zdnet.com/google-amp/article/robotic-process-automation-market-to-reach-au870m-in-anz-by-2020-telsyte/

Enterprise investment in robotic process automation (RPA) is set to soar in Australia and New Zealand, according to new research from analyst firm Telsyte. 

The analyst firm said RPA -- which enables software robots to replicate the actions of human workers for routine tasks -- is now being used or investigated by six out of 10 ANZ organisations with more than 20 employees. 

The finance and insurance industries are expected to be the fastest adopters of RPA in the short term, according to Telsyte, although RPA can also be applied to industries with large customer support and request processing requirements, such as telecommunications and government. 

Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi said RPA is not just about cutting overhead costs; it can also change the way organisations operate.

"A proof of concept is important for organisations to first understand the nature of processes that can be best solved through RPA, before progressing to an enterprise-wide strategy," Fadaghi suggested.

"Equally important is the use of pilot programs to understand the change management requirements before a further rollout."

Telsyte also recommended that organisations assess the processes they would like to automate by their level of complexity. 

"Complexity has a positive correlation with automation costs, and targeting lower-complexity processes initially can result in better initial returns," Telsyte said. 

Fellow analyst firm Gartner has previously referred to RPA tools as "gateway technologies" or "surface tools", because they simply skim the surface of the larger intelligent automation services market.

"The attraction is the RPA tool just sits on top of the legacy system" such as enterprise resource planning(ERP), and there is no need for any special integration, Gartner research vice president and analyst at Frances Karamouzis told ZDNet.

"They're also easy to use and have a relatively low cost. For all those reasons [RPA] has by far the highest adoption of automation tools that we've seen," Karamouzis added. 

With the increase in enterprise investment in RPA, DXC Technology, a New York Stock Exchange-listed IT services company, announced the introduction of 60 new RPA experts in Australia and New Zealand.

"Organisations are looking for a way to bridge the gap between large funded digital transformation projects and the long tail of business processes attached to aging systems. RPA can achieve this with a virtual workforce that streamlines existing processes, lays the foundation for intelligent automation, and frees up employees for more engaging work," said Seelan Nayagam, managing director at DXC Technology ANZ.

Additionally, 38 percent of organisations with more than 500 employees have active RPA programs in place. 

Based on insights provided by 302 CIOs and IT decision makers, the Telsyte ANZ Robotic Process Automation Study 2017 predicts the ANZ RPA market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45 percent from AU$216 million in 2016 to AU$870 million in 2020.

Bill Gates shares 5 pearlers

Bill and Melinda Gates 

• Artificial intelligence, energy and biosciences are “the most promising fields” to make an impact in today 
• remember those around you
• surround yourself with people who challenge you, teach you, and push you to be your best self. "As [Melinda Gates] does for me,” he said.
• measure your happiness by whether people close to you are happy and love you [and] by the difference you make for others.”
• the “most inspiring book [he’s] ever read” is Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. Why? Because, according to Gates, it “shows how the world is getting better”.

And his positive spin on the world....humanity is actually doing better than it ever has before. We're living longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives, 

How Financial Modelling can help you make a Step Change in your Career

Business of the Future: How Collaboration Platforms Provide the Advantage

Part 1 - Why Collaboration is the Key to Success we looked at the importance of collaboration to a company and why it is so vital to fostering business success.

In this article we’ll delve into the specifics of implementing collaboration platforms in your business, covering the hows and whys of this sometimes confusing topic.

Every Business Is Different

Without wanting to state the obvious, it is true to say that every business is unique and because of this, every business has needs that unique. It is vital, therefore, that you take time to think about what it is that you want this new platform to do, and understand how it will both change and benefit the company, before you jump into spending money and implementing a collaboration platform. It is important to identify what you want from this tool.

Selecting a collaboration platform that suits your aims, needs and working environment is crucial to success. Integrating a collaboration platform isn’t merely about updating some software; the end goal is to decidedly alter the culture of the business for the better.

Examples Of Success

A good example that illustrates the incredible changes that can be wrought within a business environment through the use of a collaboration platform alone is the runaway success at the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The UK’s largest public service department and one of the country’s biggest employers with over 120,000 staff, the DWP utilized a Spigit platform to shake up its work culture. Spigit’s cloud-based crowdsourcing approach was ideal for a large employer that was looking for ways to engage its staff and generate new ideas. Through the use of this tool, the DWP accomplished greater interaction between its work force as well as a saving of £20 million, found through staff suggestions.

While this success story is a particularly strong example of the benefits of collaboration, it is by no means alone. Time and again successes like this are seen as silos are broken and information is shared.

Uses Of Collaboration Platforms

Platforms like Quip, Slack, Office365 and Atlassian’s Confluence help streamline team work to produce more effective project plans, budgets or press releases. Confluence’s ability to centralize and make available all documents, allows real-time revision from colleagues, bringing alternative and thought-provoking ideas to the table. Knowledge is readily available and work output is optimized. Errors are reduced and travel costs saved. It is benefits like these that provide a time and cost advantage and allow a business to alter its work mode as the nature of business becomes more mobile and dispersed.

Need For Management To Be Onboard

Without the participation of employees, collaboration is null and void. And to promote the engagement of employees in any organization managers must be fully onboard. The change requires interaction between executives and staff both on the platform and off, as behaviours in the work place and executive’s willingness to listen will affect employee’s willingness to participate. Similarly, a show of implementing some suggestions - or at least commenting upon them - exhibits the management’s commitment.

Collaboration provides feedback loops and transparency so that each action taken by a member of staff can be learned from a built upon. Decisions can be made further down the chain of hierarchy by less senior staff, but who are directly involved in the process. This move offers staff a change to take responsibility for their actions and a feeling of involvement. This change also removes the need for management to be omniscient and to sign off on everything.

Manager’s made need time to get used to this new way of working, but it will build a more efficient machine. These platforms instill communication, improvement and constant learning. As was mentioned earlier, integrating business collaboration isn’t just rolling out some software: it is changing the very culture of business. Ultimately, this leads to further equality, the acceptance of personal responsibility, and company growth.

Nicki Doble is Managing Director of 99th Floor. 99th Floor is a digital consultancy firm which helps its clients create and deliver their digital strategy (simply).

Business Builders Group: Is AI good or bad for business and jobs?

Business Builders Group: Is AI good or bad for business and jobs?:   I’ve been asked many times recently to comment on how the rise of AI will impact the jobs and the economy, particularly in customer servic...

Zuckerberg and Altman push for BAsic Universal Income

Mark Zuckerberg joins Silicon Valley bigwigs in calling for government to give everybody free money

• Zuckerberg presented to Harvard Students  and called for universal basic income, echoing other elite members of Silicon Valley

Todd Haselton | @robotodd

Thu, 25 May '17 | 4:28 PM ETCNBC

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called on the need to consider universal basic income for Americans during his Harvard Commencement Speech.

"When you don't have the opportunity to take an idea and try and commercialise it - we all lose!!

 How can we encourage people to try and fail and try again - so that we can all benefit? People need a cushion to fall back on if they failed

See the video here http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000621877 

UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME

Zuckerberg's comments reflect those of other Silicon Valley bigwigs, including Sam Altman, the president of venture capital firm Y Combinator. 

"Every generation expands its definition of equality. Now it's time for our generation to define a new social contract," Zuckerberg said during his speech. "We should have a society that measures progress not by economic metrics like GDP but by how many of us have a role we find meaningful. We should explore ideas like universal basic income to make sure everyone has a cushion to try new ideas."

Zuckerberg said that, because he knew he had a safety net if projects like Facebook had failed, he was confident enough to continue on without fear of failing. Others, he said, such as children who need to support households instead of poking away on computers learning how to code, don't have the foundation Zuckerberg had. 

Universal basic income would provide that sort of cushion, 

Altman's view is similar. A year ago, Altman said he thinks "everyone should have enough money to meet their basic needs—no matter what, especially if there are enough resources to make it possible. We don't yet know how it should look or how to pay for it, but basic income seems a promising way to do this." 

Altman believes basic income will be possible as technological advancements "generate an abundance of resources" that help decrease the cost of living.

What Next in a Global Labor Landscape in Flux?

 

By Kimberly Hogan

Focus on job creation 

“I see aspirations converging all over the world and I’m really worried about it because unless we move more quickly in fighting poverty, unless we move more quickly in creating jobs, thwarted aspirations could turn into something really negative.”

– Dr. Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President

How would you describe the modern work landscape? Confusing, upside-down, stark, ever-changing? Many factors have contributed to this disorientation: technology, information access, constant connectivity, globalization, and much more. Even the concept of a traditional work week has eroded.

The gig economy is here to stay - risk transference from the corporate to the individual

As of January 2016 regular “remote work” among the non-self-employed population, has grown 103 percent since 2005 in the U.S. and continues to grow globally. Meanwhile, the ranks of independent contractors swell as on-demand services become a more prominent segment of the workforce. 

What are the repercussions of such a disruption and how are our employers, recruiters, education systems, and communities responding?

Those are the themes that framed a Skoll World Forum session called A Work Landscape in Flux for Young People. 

As Jim Kim mentioned in the opening plenary of Skoll Week, now more than ever we need to pay close attention to these dynamics and anticipate the impacts. “Aspirations linked to opportunity yield dynamism,” he told the crowd. “Aspirations linked to frustration yield conflict, violence, and extremism.” There seems to be no better time to have this discussion.

Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of Institute for the Future (IFTF), set the stage by describing what she calls the “digital coordination economy.” This is our current age: built on the foundation of technology, connectivity, context, and coordination. New forms of efficiency, driven by individuals connecting those in need to services available, has created a dynamic gig economy. Www.referron.com

Sounds like a western perspective? Other panelists described similar shifts in other regions of the world. Marwa Moaz, Co-founder and COO of Bamyan Media, described how gig economies help formalize the informal work sector in Egypt. Forty percent of Egyptian Uber drivers were previously unemployed. Driving Uber, said Moaz, gives them autonomy and a reliable income, and they get paid on time.

Dina El Mofty, CEO and founder of INJAZ Egypt, described how young people are at the forefront of this movement, creating their own economy, especially in the Middle East, a region with the highest youth unemployment rate in the world. Organizations like her own have empowered 500,000 young people in Egypt and 1,000,000 in the Middle East by focusing on addressing work readiness and entrepreneurship.

Education and upskilling is key

Fhazil Wamalwa, an educator and social entrepreneur who works with the M-Soma Institute and DISA Energy Management, said that the youth unemployment rate in Kenya is over 40 percent. He stressed how we need to help young people improve their skill sets to better match emerging jobs. Perhaps this is a root cause of the issue of global unemployment, he offered.

In the gig economy, the weight of risk is moved from the corporation to the individual, a burden for which many are unprepared. Healthcare options and individual insurance are harder to come by for those juggling jobs for a living wage.

Many growing job sectors rely on independent workers: military, IT / computer science, agriculture, fishing, and forestry. We may need an overhaul of the social safety infrastructure to mitigate this growing problem of individual risk.

The opportunity - matching jobs skills to jobs available - www.myrectuitmentplus.com 

Each of the voices in this session found consensus around the need to match job skills to jobs available. But by whom, and how?

El Mofty noted that engagement with the government is critical. She cautioned though against waiting for government-led curriculum shifts; the marketplace is changing far too fast. INJAZ Egypt works with the Ministry of Education to partner with the private sector to teach work-ready skills to young people. These programs can create appetite, she said, and link students to the outside world through mentorship.

VET - vocational education is key as part of the solution - www.bsilearning.com

Gorbis mentioned how some U.S. community colleges are implementing a “learning is earning” model that requires students to be employed while earning their degree (preferably in a job related to their field of study). This approach encourages students to apply new skills in real time. Still, education and training must adapt curricula to match the actual needs of the marketplace, and quickly!

Parents can exacerbate the issue by pressuring their children to follow more traditional routes where there may no longer be a job market, said Moaz. Media has an opportunity to educate and shift mindsets. Wamalwa spoke to an interesting approach that M-Soma Institute has developed to quickly scale up individual technical skills by offering short-term training courses to young people before they pursue costly post-secondary studies. This not only equips students with a new set of “real time” applicable skills, but also allows them to earn an income and save for college or university.

The future of jobs will be different to what it is now  - if we don't chang- it will be at our peril! 

The question remains: can we adapt fast enough? It’s the pace that makes navigating this “brave new world” such a challenge. Will we forever play catch up? This loops back to Jim Kim’s thoughts. We need a sense of urgency, of personal responsibility, and of community to tackle these challenges. We need to play our part in empowering, educating, and creating opportunity for the next generation. We can all be mentors, and perhaps that’s one place to start.