Process Automation

Today’s robotic process automation (RPA) market encompasses business process management tools, intelligent automation platforms, and other related technologies. What began as a set of tools designed mainly to offload repetitive, manual tasks like data entry has merged with a wide array of AI and machine learning capabilities. Technologies like optical character recognition (OCR), computer vision, natural language processing (NLP), ML model training, and generative AI have all expanded what process automation can do. As a result, the boundaries between AI/ML and RPA have largely dissolved, creating both new opportunities and competitive challenges for traditional automation vendors.

We’re kind of seeing ‘RPA 2.0’ with AI, where we’re using AI a lot for unstructured data, helping us make decisions in conjunction with RPA. But RPA is certainly not going away where we put it, because of the need for all kinds of data feeds where we have exclusive connections with vendors.

The 2025 ETR Observatory for Process Automation surveyed 316 IT decision makers. Most (69%) represent Large enterprises of more than 1,200 employees, with more than a fifth (21%) at Fortune 500 firms and nearly a third (31%) at Global 2000 enterprises. The three most representative industry verticals are Services/Consulting, IT/TelCo, and Financials/Insurance, collectively comprising more than half (55%) of the sample. More than two-thirds (69%) of respondents are in North America and 19% are in EMEA, with the remainder representing APAC (10%) and Latin American (2%) regions. About half (52%) of respondents hold VP or Director-level titles, and the remainder are split between C-level roles (28%) and practitioner roles (20%).

The report categorizes vendors across different categories, reflecting their Momentum and Presence within the Process Automation space:

1. Leaders like Microsoft Power Automate, ServiceNow, SAP Build Process Automation, and UiPath show strong adoption and market share, driven by broad capabilities and ease of use.
2. Advancing vendors Celonis and n8n are gaining Momentum but still lag in Presence compared to market leaders.
3. Tracking vendor Salesforce MuleSoft RPA is a long-established name in enterprise tech stacks, with stronger Presence but relatively lower Momentum.
4. Pursuing vendors, including Automation Anywhere, Appian, SS&C Blue Prism, and IBM, are experiencing slower growth, with less impact in the market.

Microsoft Power Automate and ServiceNow lead the process automation market in spending plans, with Microsoft Power Automate posting a Net Score of 72% and ServiceNow with a Net Score of 57%. Net Scores are a snapshot of positive spending plans (Adoption and Increase indications) minus negative spending plans (Replacement and Decrease indications). Both vendors have 6% Adoption rates and Increase spending indications above 50%: two-thirds (67%) of respondents are increasing spending on Microsoft Power Automate, and 57% are increasing spend on ServiceNow. Both vendors also have very low negative spending indications, with zero respondents indicating plans to Replace Microsoft Power Automate this survey. SAP Build Process Automation (40%), Celonis (40%), WorkFusion (40%), and n8n (37%) cluster behind these two leaders. Net Scores drift downward after this group, and on the lowest end are Nintex with a -19% Net Score and Pegasystems with a 6% Net Score.

As AI capabilities become more sophisticated, an open question is whether process automation vendors will incorporate these features to remain competitive with broader generative AI offerings or will be made obsolete by these technological advancements. Innovation in the process automation market may very well be synonymous with how well a process automation vendor can embrace AI and make the case for their continued use most relevant. Understanding which vendors are seen as the innovators in the market sheds light on where the market may be going in terms of its technical features, while knowing which vendors are the most desired for centering in a tech stack speaks more to deeper strategic needs for organizations as they evolve with the market. In the Observatory study, we ask respondents to provide open-ended answers to which vendor they view as the most innovative, and which vendor they could most prioritize if given the opportunity to rebuild their tech stack from scratch. Analyzing these open-ended responses shows that Microsoft Power Automate is the clear leader across both queries, by a considerable margin. After Microsoft, ServiceNow and UiPath are rates next-most desired. For most innovative, after Microsoft it’s the same two vendors swapping places: UiPath, then ServiceNow.

The process automation market is at a critical crossroads. Though the global pandemic brought financial pressures that caused organizations to look for ways to automate tasks and make work more efficient, the subsequent maturation of generative AI capabilities have forced many to view process automation tools as under threat from broader-purpose AI agents that can more or less automate the same kinds of tasks with ease. Spending data in the sectors that comprise the process automation market have shown steady decline over the past year, but a few vendors stand out for their ability to integrate AI features to make process automation better and for integration with broader cloud service provider ecosystems.