Robotic process automation (RPA) company Automation Anywhere has announced that it is bringing its main offering to Google’s public cloud platform as part of a wider collaboration with the tech giant. The two firms are set to work together to create new products and Automation Anywhere will also bring its RPA capabilities to a number of Google Cloud products and services.
RPA is technology that automates monotonous, repetitive tasks traditionally performed by human workers, and it’s a burgeoning trend. According to a McKinsey survey, at least a third of activities could be automated in about 60% of occupations. And a study by Forrester estimates that RPA and other AI subfields created jobs for 40% of companies in 2019 and that a tenth of startups now employ more digital workers than human ones.
Automation Anywhere is one of the leaders in the fast-growing RPA market, valued at over $6.8 billion. The company’s main platform is its Automation 360 offering, which enables companies to create AI-based robots that can assume numerous repetitive manual tasks.
Automation Anywhere said that the partnership with Google is timely because research shows that half of all businesses are planning to increase investments in automation within the next year. According to new research from the company, in the next year, 67% of businesses plan to deploy RPA in the cloud in the next 12 months, in part due to the need for remote work solutions caused by the global pandemic. Automation Anywhere has deployed more than 2.8 million bots to some of the world's largest enterprises.
The company said that Google Cloud will enjoy being the primary cloud provider for the Automation 360 platform, as it becomes Google Cloud’s preferred RPA partner. The company’s full portfolio of offerings will be available on Google Cloud Marketplace. From there, they can deploy across both on-premises and hybrid environments.
Additionally, Google will integrate Automation 360’s RPA capabilities with several of its cloud tools and services like Apigee. It will also integrate the platform with the AppSheet and AI Platform offerings. The plan is to create industry-specific tools that focus on healthcare, finance, supply chain, and telecommunications.
