Automation: Being Competitive in Today’s Business Landscape
In today’s continually-changing world, the world of work is having to keep up with fast-paced technology evolutions that are designed to transform businesses for good. Automation is one of those advancements, with its capabilities designed to streamline workflows, reduce downtime and leave greater room for workers to innovate.
Automation refers to the application of technology to achieve outcomes with minimal or no human input. These technologies could consist of programs, robotics or processes. However, with continued fears over if AI will replace - rather than augment - the workforce, anxieties over automation are becoming clearer.
With insights from executives at IBM, Endava and Universal Robots, we examine how automation is currently impacting the workforce and how businesses can use it to their advantage, therefore remaining competitive.
Navigating the automation revolution
If they weren’t already aware, global events in 2024 such as the CrowdStrike IT Outage have prompted organisations to truly realise their reliance on technology. Without the help of digital systems, businesses were unable to serve their customers, which led to overwhelming disruptions, downtime and revenue losses.
Automation could play a crucial role in addressing challenges like this moving forward. In today’s current business landscape, key automation trends such as AI are transforming how organisations operate by enhancing user experiences and streamlining processes.
“Organisations can augment people’s productivity by using digital employees that perform tasks to produce outcomes, and secondly, they can orchestrate business processes and work by combining AI with learned skills for routine tasks,” IBM’s UK&I Executive Director, David Hewitt, explains. “This is critical as the demand for companies to adjust to rapidly changing conditions has led to increasing scale and complexity of IT and business systems that require digital intervention to support IT teams who are already under much strain.”
Significantly involved is AI, which is already setting a new pace of development in automation and robotics. Not only is it making software development faster and more effective, the technology can also be optimised for a broad range of tasks and business challenges.
Some current enterprise automation trends within this include multimodal AI and agentic AI, as Joe Dunleavy, Global SVP and Head of AI Pod at Endava highlights.
“Multimodal AI is emerging as a significant trend, combining various forms of AI, such as text, voice and image processing to provide more comprehensive and versatile solutions,” he says.
“Likewise, agentic AI is also transforming automation by enhancing AI’s decision-making capabilities and ability to carry out complex tasks. This technology is enabling corporations to automate processes in entirely new ways, allowing them to solve business problems and scale at speed.”
Unlike traditional AI models that carry out specific tasks, agentic AI can understand and contextualise the task it has been given and take the necessary steps to reach the desired outcome. One area this works successfully in is advanced healthcare systems, where the technology can collaborate with medical professionals and analyse patient data to accurately diagnose diseases.
Within healthcare, automation can help improve patient care and operational efficiency, therefore streamlining administrative tasks and allowing doctors to dedicate more time to patient care.
“It has the ability to connect and interact with other systems so that it can retrieve and leverage the information it needs, which means that complex workflows that are broken down into tasks will not require human intervention at each stage of the workflow,” Joe adds. “The future of automation with agentic AI promises greater business agility and efficiency, allowing employees to focus on creating more value elsewhere.”
Likewise, AI has expanded into industries like manufacturing for complex automation tasks and robotics. Anders Billesø Beck, Vice President, Strategy and Innovation at Universal Robots, explains how automation is empowering robots within the workplace.
“Manufacturers are already using AI to develop applications that allow robots to exhibit human-like perception, handle variations, move parts with precision, adapt to changing environments and learn from their experiences,” he says. “A good example is Canvas which creates worker-controlled robots for the construction industry.”
Whilst expertise in automation is scarce, many companies are turning to collaborative robots, also known as cobots, to help bridge industry skills gaps.
“Cobots are designed to work alongside humans, offering a more accessible and user-friendly interface that allows even those with limited technical expertise to effectively operate and program them,” Anders notes. “Manufacturers can maintain high levels of productivity and quality, even in the face of limited skilled labour, thereby accelerating the adoption of AI and automation technologies across the industry.”
From caution to confidence
Since automation has rapidly taken off in the global business landscape, it is driving significant advancements across a wide range of essential industries and services.
“Automated fraud detection systems and customer service chatbots are transforming how financial institutions operate,” Joe says. “These tools have the ability to greatly enhance security and improve customer service by providing instant, reliable support.”
One area in which it is successful is the financial services sector, particularly as businesses have started migrating more towards the cloud. Plenty of organisations have now implemented significant cloud architectures that can support cost management, fraud detection and compliance.
David adds: “The pace and complexity of this amount of change has brought with it real challenges in controlling and understanding cloud spend.
“Using FinOps capabilities, global banks are now gaining automated visibility into costs and spending across all AI, hybrid cloud and application modernisation investments. Leadership teams can now better understand what teams are working on, get access to live project running costs and map that back to specific projects, applications and initiatives to optimise spend.”
As automation technology continues to evolve to suit enterprise requirements, its impact will strengthen - making it a key aspect of business operations.
“Automation is significantly transforming key industries like logistics, particularly in response to labour shortages, globalisation, the rise of e-commerce and increasingly complex supply chains,” Anders explains. “More logistics, warehouse and distribution centres are increasingly turning to automation to provide faster services and with greater accuracy.”
Joe notes: “In retail, automated inventory management systems and efficient supply chain management are helping to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. These technologies can ensure that products are always in stock and delivered promptly to the consumer, enhancing their shopping experience.
“Automation is also optimising routes and managing fleets more efficiently than before. Automated systems can predict the best routes, reduce fuel consumption and ensure timely deliveries, which is crucial for companies aiming to meet growing consumer demands.”
Harnessing transformation to its full potential
Overall, automation can be an essential, forward-thinking strategy for companies aiming to maintain a competitive edge and drive sustainable growth. In a digital age, this progress can be vital for businesses seeking to leverage advanced technologies for greater innovation, improved efficiency and enhanced productivity.
“Automation will only become more essential to survive and thrive, as more of society embeds and reaps the benefits of dealing with the efficiencies automation can provide, and they will invest this back into other forms of growth,” David says.
In order to remain competitive, he suggests that organisations will benefit from having a small starting point with their automation strategy.
“By starting small, organisations can scale up, allowing them to quickly use automation to rack up small successes that will add up to bigger wins,” he explains. “These low-risk, high-visibility opportunities can lead to quick successes, while tracking and measuring tangible and intangible key performance indicators can demonstrate the value proposition of AI.”
Automation is also able to help an organisation scale up their operations and handle increased workloads without putting additional pressure on employees. This scalability can be particularly crucial for businesses looking to expand rapidly or enter new markets.
“By streamlining repetitive and time-consuming tasks, automation allows processes to be completed more quickly and accurately,” Joe notes. “By reducing the need for manual intervention, it minimises errors and lowers operational costs, allowing companies to reallocate resources to other critical areas, such as research and development or customer engagement.”
What is clear across the board is incorporating automation into a company’s digital strategy is crucial for those wanting to boost customer satisfaction. By automating services and solutions, via chatbots for example, customers are able to gain faster responses and a higher level of service.
However, businesses must be mindful not to bite off more than they can chew, instead taking a measured approach to adopting automation solutions.
“Staying competitive in today’s fast-paced digital world requires adopting and incorporating emerging technologies when necessary, Joe explains. “Companies that embrace automation can stay ahead of the curve, offering superior services and products.
“For forward-thinking corporations, automation is not just important but essential for maintaining a competitive advantage in the digital age.”
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