Benefits and Challenges of Intelligent Automation
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Benefits and Challenges of Intelligent Automation
The majority of business leaders expect intelligent automation to be deployed in companies within five years, but they recognize the obstacles they will face. -
The Rise of IA
86% of the global business leaders surveyed believe their organization must successfully deploy intelligent automation (IA) solutions within the next five years to be a leader in their field. -
Facing Reality
Although they recognize the growing importance of IA, 69% of the business leaders said their company is not currently deploying it. -
Future Investments
54% of the companies that are not currently using IA intend to do so in the future. Of the executives responding to this question, 63% are IT decision-makers and 45% are C-level execs. -
Coming Soon
59% of the global business leaders who intend to use IA believe their organization will begin investing within two to three years. On average, companies will invest in IA within four years. -
C-Level Leadership
Business leaders believe it will be more important for C-level executives to understand new and emerging technologies (60%) than to have a deep specialization in strategy, sales and marketing (40%). -
Qualities Essential for Executives
Ability to lead a workforce that's augmented by IA and other tech: 53%. Strategic vision that incorporates technological changes: 52%. Thorough familiarity with emerging technologies: 52%. -
Roadblocks to Incorporating IA
Difficulty recruiting (or retraining) IA-skilled employees: 40%. Increased cyber-security threats: 39%. Difficulty integrating IA into legacy IT: 37%. -
Facing the Resistance
87% of IT decision-makers and 72% of C-level executives believe the adoption of advanced technologies and innovations has been limited by employee resistance. -
How IA Would Affect Workers
45% believe incorporating IA would replace a portion of their workforce, but 55% believe integrating IA into their current processes would simply augment their workers. -
Job Consequences
60% of consumer respondents believe workers would lose their jobs as a result of intelligent automation. -
Could IA Help Employees?
40% of respondents from the United States and the United Kingdom and 47% from Germany believe integrating IA would enable workers to do their job better. -
Industries Most Affected by IA
Financial services: 38%. Manufacturing: 36%. Aerospace: 31%.
Business leaders worldwide believe the success of their enterprise depends on successfully deploying intelligent automation (IA) during the next five years, according to a report from Avanade. However, while the majority of business leaders recognize the growing importance of investing in IA, many companies have not done so because of the difficulty recruiting or training IA-skilled employees, as well as increased cyber-security threats and difficulty integrating IA into legacy systems. Furthermore, companies face resistance from employees, and leadership is divided on whether IA would augment their workforce or replace a portion of it. Less than half of respondents believe integrating IA would enable workers to do their jobs better. Of all industries, IA's greatest impact would be felt by the financial services industry, manufacturing and aerospace. The study, which was conducted for digital services company Avanade by Wakefield Research, surveyed 400 C-level executives and 400 IT decision-makers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, Japan and Sweden between May and June of this year. During the same interval, about 3,000 adults in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany also participated in the survey.