PROCESS AUTOMATION

Automation, especially in times of budget belt-tightening, is a goal of many organizations, and enterprise-scale implementation of automation workflows signals a maturity phase in larger digital transformation journeys. Originally conceived as robotic process automation (RPA) focused on software to automate repetitive, tedious information tasks, today’s market for RPA tools – and the vocabulary around the concept – has enlarged to include business process software, intelligent automation, and other functions. Various forms of AI have enriched the domain of process automation in recent years, too. Indeed, the line between AI/ML and the process automation industry has thoroughly blurred, bringing opportunities and new threats to some long-standing RPA vendors. 

The dominant process automation vendors in the market tend to have long-established name-recognition as automation specialists (e.g., Automation Anywhere, UiPath, Appian) or are hooked into broader software ecosystems (e.g., Microsoft Power Automate, SAP Build Process Automation, Salesforce MuleSoft RPA). Other players in the market may be legacy tools or relative newcomers with more of a narrow focus.

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

1. Leaders like Microsoft Power Automate and UiPath show strong adoption and market share, driven by broad capabilities and ease of use.
2. Advancing Vendors such as Salesforce MuleSoft RPA, SAP Build Process Automation, and Automation Anywhere are gaining Momentum but still lag in Presence compared to market leaders.
3. Pursuing Vendors, including IBM, SS&C Blue Prism, and Nintex, are experiencing slower growth, with less impact in the market.

Our survey reveals that larger vendors associated with broader software ecosystems are capturing considerable market share. Companies like Microsoft and UiPath consistently rank at the top in terms of innovation, ease of integration, and customer satisfaction.

Both Microsoft Power Automate and UiPath are veteran names in automation. Power Automate enjoys high spending and utilization from typically Microsoft-focused organizations deploying other products in the Microsoft Power Platform suite, such as Power BI. The process automation offerings from these established platform vendors are robust, with accessible user interfaces friendly to less tech-savvy business users who can build automation workflows themselves with drag-and-drop buttons, intuitive commands, and minimal coding. These platforms also come with management and governance capabilities, such as control over who can create, share, and implement workflows and other fine-tuning around the orchestration of automation scripts. Ease of use is critical and essential for success. Both vendors are rated highly for their innovation, spending plans, and in various vendor strengths.

Vendors such as SAP Build Process Automation, Pegasystems, and Microsoft Power Automate are especially sticky in organizations’ tech stacks, with some of the longest expected length of use ratings in the market and high ratings for difficulty to replace. The feature sets of these most entrenched vendors varies, though tends to be robust and suitable for a wide range of use cases. Expected return on investment varies, however, and does not map neatly to expected length of use or spending intentions on these vendors. Easy integration with an existing tech stack was also seen as an important feature for process automation tools, and some vendors in the Pursuing vector – such as Nintex – excelled here alongside Microsoft, MuleSoft, and other ecosystem plays.

Across the board, process automation vendors are hammering home a message of AI, whether it is specifically a ChatGPT or other generative AI integration or a general AI-enhanced set of capabilities to make automating workflows smarter in the long run. Building automation workflows is still fairly tedious, but some see an opportunity for technologies such as generative AI to accelerate the construction of these pipelines. Whether this poses a threat to the process automation space or will spur renewed interest in the market remains to be seen. To dive deeper into the ETR Observatory's insights and uncover the full competitive landscape, use the form below check out the full report.