Gartner recognises Power Automate as Leader for Robotic Process Automation
With the demand for Robotic Process Automation (RPA) solutions rapidly on the rise, Gartner's report has named Power Automate as a leader in this space.
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In recent years the uptake of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has been on the rise, with Gartner noting it as the fastest-growing segment of the software market. Despite the uncertainty brought about by Covid-19, the RPA Software segment’s revenue grew by 38.9% in 2020, surpassing all other segments and exceeding the growth of the overall enterprise software market, which was 8.9%.
What's Driving The Uptake in RPA?
RPA solutions are a popular choice for many organisations to help improve overall efficiency, streamline everyday tasks and boost productivity. RPA solutions work by automating repetitive humans tasks by mirroring the steps done by humans, mainly through organised user interface (UI) interactions. It maps the human task in RPA software language for a script (also known as a 'bot') to follow the script with runtime assigned to complete the script by a control dashboard. Bots can be developed by programming, but more recently, bots are being developed by low-code solutions that are part of the RPA solution platforms.
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What is the Magic Quadrant?
The magic quadrant is an in-depth analysis done by Gartner that provides insight and advice into the market direction based on a set of criteria and Gartner’s methodology, which is done by comparing different vendors in the space.
According to Gartner, at a base level, RPA Solutions must enable ‘citizen developers’ to create automation scripts, have administration capabilities that include security, configuration and monitoring, as well as the ability to integrate with other enterprise applications. Other RPA platforms also offer advanced functionality such as process mining and discovery, intelligent processing for documents and Auto machine learning and natural language processing libraries with drag and drop menus.
Gartner notes that vendors raise the bar in terms of relevance, growth, viability, vision and innovation for RPA solution offerings yearly. To reflect this dynamic market, Gartner annually adjusts the inclusion and evaluation criteria.
Microsoft’s Power Automate as Leader
Microsoft is positioned as a leader in this quadrant. Leaders are those who have acquired notable market share and influence relative to competitors. They are considered leaders in the space today and prepared for the future. Microsoft’s RPA Product is Power Automate, which includes Power Automate desktop and is augmented by the SaaS-based platform on Azure. It is also part of Microsoft Power Platform and includes fully integrated features which some well-known components such as Power BI, Power Apps and Power Virtual Agents.
Microsoft’s roadmap includes a richer recording experience, more out-of-the-box API connectors, a more resilient runtime on virtual machines, simplified document processing with embedded AI and an easier installation experience.
Some of the strengths highlighted in the report are:
The Microsoft Ecosystem:
Power Automate provides rich integration abilities with the Microsoft ecosystem of popular applications. Microsoft has a large customer base, with 15.8 million bots deployed, prompting 1.5 million daily actions. Further, its Azure-based RPA offering is accessible to 1 billion people.
Operations & Sales Execution:
The sales ecosystem for Microsoft Power Automate includes over 400 partners and is continuing to grow. There is a free version of Power Automate Desktop available to all Windows 10 users. There is also a premium offer that includes additional functionality such as process discovery/task mining and API connectors on a per-user, per month plan.
Product Strategy:
The value proposition for Microsoft’s RPA platform involves RPA with API orchestration that can integrate multiple systems of record to automate routine data transcription work. Microsoft harnesses all the components of Power Platform to deliver a single unified solution that offers integration, automation, low-code app development and analytics functionality.
Click here to read the full report for Gartner's 2021 Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation.
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