Bots & Business

In this article I continue sharing learnings from process mining implementation. This is the second part of the series

Most financial managers are interested in automation and robotisation for the digital transformation of their finance and accounting tasks. Once the fashionable effect has passed, the initial costs and the complexity of implementation may have dampened enthusiasm and confined these projects to large groups with resources and a real strategy. But the COVID crisis, lessons learned from large companies and the ongoing search for productivity and cost reduction as well as new technology and service offerings have reshuffled the deck.

Hyundai Motor Group, Boston Dynamics and SoftBank announced the completion of the Group’s acquisition of a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank, following the receipt of regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. The deal valued the mobile robot firm at $1.1 billion. Additional financial details were not disclosed.

FedEx and Nuro have announced a multi-year, multi-phase agreement to test Nuro’s next-generation autonomous delivery vehicle within FedEx operations. The collaboration between FedEx and Nuro launched with a pilot program across the Houston area. This pilot marks Nuro’s expansion into parcel logistics and allows FedEx the opportunity to explore various use cases for on-road autonomous vehicle logistics, including multi-stop and appointment-based deliveries.

Organizations running on SAP S/4HANA or SAP ECC can manage a great deal of processes, but there are several challenges. Earlier we talked about these challenges with Tanja Breitling-Zboril, Sr. Manager Partner & Alliance Management at UiPath: Processes stretch beyond SAP systems; expert work can be expensive and integration with SAP S/4HANA requires specific tasks.

Maybe you experienced it yourself: after a long flight (do you remember those days) you left the plane and walked through the airbridge. You saw some commotion in front of you. Customs officers are walking upstream. You see them coming in your direction. And then you see what the commotion is all about: they brought their sniffer dog.

One of the many questions I almost always get when talking to organizations about RPA -the other one I covered in the column about Automation Anxiety-: Isn’t RPA just a band aid?

Blue Ocean Robotics, the manufacturer of UVD Robots for autonomous UV-C disinfection, announced that it was selected by ISS World Services to provide autonomous robots for disinfection as part of ISS’ global offering.

The promise that IT will support people in their work above all, which  has been hanging over the market for years, seems to be reached now with RPA, though this cannot happen on its own. A successful automation project requires the cooperation of IT and business, including the use of HR to guarantee the acceptance of technology. The ultimate aim is people-centred IT.

By 2024, 80% of technology products and services will be built by those who are not technology professionals, according to Gartner. This trend is driven by a new category of buyers outside of the traditional IT organisation who are occupying a larger share of the overall IT market. Today, total business-led IT spend averages up to 36% of the total formal IT budget.