This proposed chapter aims to present a study on RPA leaders and understand the parameters for improving Power Automate's position amongst industry leaders by formulating a SWOT analysis for the company. The work presented starts with scrutinizing various literature on RPA, followed by a detailed analysis of Microsoft's RPA efforts. Gartner published a report on robotics process automation, placing Microsoft's Power Automate lowest in the Leader's magic quadrant. This chapter provides recommendations that could help Power Automate move up the ladder. The research method adopted is a qualitative analysis of the company in focus. As the chapter progresses, it unfolds various offerings of Power Automate that either empower its growth or could be a concern compared to RPA leaders like Uipath, Automation Anywhere, and Blueprism. Power Automate has made its footprints in the RPA space, and with aggressive innovation and restructuring, it can be a prominent player across industries.
Top1. Introduction
Automation was developed to perform repetitive tasks using programmed commands and mechanized feedback controls to ensure execution of business workflows. It grew with the meaning of substitution of electrical and mechanical efforts of human intelligence. As a result, automated systems have grown more smarter and more intricate. In multiple use cases, the capabilities and performance of such advanced systems have least error and the runtime is faster compared to those of humans. (Britannica, n.d.) Process automation controls business operations for consistency and openness; business apps and specialized software are used to command it. Process automation is extensively used for process mining and workflow automation. Following the process automation, there was the development of integration automation, in which once the engineer specifies the machine rules, robots can copy and repeat human activities. A classic example could be “Digital worker”. The most recent type of automation is AI automation, which is now considered to be the most important facet of automating systems. AI has enabled robots to “learn” and “make decisions” based on previously encountered and studied scenarios. For instance, virtual assistants in customer service can lower costs while empowering both customers and human agents, resulting in the best possible customer experience.
In 2011, Apple released Siri, that paved the way for strategic shift from physical robots to automation software, and this trend empowered the development of Robotics process automation. Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software technology that develops, deploys, and direct robots that imitate human actions to interact with the digital world.
Robotic process automation structures workflows, which aims at instruction-based execution of processes to be automated. Major RPA players in the market today viz Uipath, Automation Anywhere, Blueprism, Power Automate, Appian, Nice, and IBM., are using innovative ways to address customer use cases. Gartner published a report in 2021 for Robotic Process Automation, and placed Uipath, Automation Anywhere, Blueprism, and Power Automate in the leaders' magic quadrant. Power Automate is ranked lower in the leader's quadrant and has to innovate its processes, improve its deliverables, and provide scalable solutions to the customer. ()