UiPath held its annual Forward event, one of the largest annually in the intelligent automation space, in Las Vegas this week and Automation Today was there. The event this year focused on AI and how it is being integrated more fully into intelligent automation technology. UiPath and many of its partners are making news announcements during the event and Automation Today was on hand to cover those, speak with experts in the software automation field and cover new trends in the space, especially around the continuing integration of AI in automation software.
We’ll hear from UiPath leaders in in-depth interviews conducted at the show in future editions of Automation Today. In this issue, we look at several announcements made at the show by UiPath.
Report: 74% of Enterprises Anticipate Positive ROI from Automation
Seventy percent of respondents to a new survey said AI-driven automation is either “very important” or “critical” to fulfilling their organization’s strategic objectives and nearly three quarters indicated they expect positive return on their investment in automation technologies. UiPath, which partnered with Bain & Company on the survey, unveiled the results at Forward VI this week in Las Vegas.
Bain conducted the research, polling 200 large companies and assessing the impact of the rapid spread of AI-based technology.
“Enterprises have an opportunity with AI-powered automation to infuse a shot of adrenaline into their business roadmaps and reconfigure their goals, regardless of size and scope – if they take a holistic approach and act now,” said Ted Shelton, Bain & Company expert partner in the firm’s Enterprise Technology and Performance Improvement practices. “Businesses must go beyond deploying this technology and fundamentally rethink and redesign business models to integrate AI and automation seamlessly. The truly future-proofed organizations will be agile, with a fluid culture and design, constantly evolving, and reconfiguring in tandem with technological advancements in AI.”
Other key findings in the report include:
- 53 percent of businesses surveyed have already deployed some form of Generative AI
- 58 percent expect AI to enable new product offerings
- 52 percent said AI creates avenues for data monetization
Finding Automation Talent
Organizations have been bemoaning the tech talent gap for years. Finding exceptional talent has been especially hard on the intelligent automation industry because it is so new, changing so rapidly and there is no formal higher education track for it yet. Kelly Services, a staffing company based in Troy, Mich., aims to alleviate that pain for tech companies by unveiling a new online recruitment platform that connects job seekers with AI and automation experience with businesses that are having difficulty finding them. The platform uses AI and human input to match candidates with appropriate openings at Kelly partners.
“We believe that automation and AI are the catalyst for continuous reinvention and that the opportunities are limitless when employers hire exceptional automation specialists,” said Brigette McInnis-Day, Chief People Officer at UiPath, a leading enterprise automation software company and strategic partner in the Kelly Arc network. “Kelly Arc addresses a critical need in today’s quickly evolving talent marketplace and we’re thrilled to introduce the platform to our global network of automation leaders.”
Enabling Generative AI in UiPath Automations with Amazon Bedrock
UiPath announced its users can now leverage an integration with Amazon Bedrock that enables, among other things, access to foundation models users can tap to build generative AI applications. The connector lets UiPath customers use the generative AI model of their choice to build automations in UiPath Studio or Studio Web.
“The UiPath connector for Amazon Bedrock is simple to use and brings the power of foundation models to all UiPath customers so they can accelerate building their own Generative AI applications,” said Graham Sheldon, Chief Product Officer at UiPath. “With its open, flexible, and responsible approach, UiPath provides organizations with a comprehensive platform for implementing and harnessing the power of AI-powered automation. This functionality complements our vision for helping customers innovate faster with Generative AI.”
Adding AI to Automation Learning Process
With formal automation education at the university level still in its infancy, UiPath is one of several organizations that have moved to fill the gap. At this week’s Forward event in Las Vegas, the company announced it has changed the curriculum of its UiPath Academy to add specialized AI training and certification. The free online learning platform, which has worked with more than 1.6 million students, is evolving the content of its program to reflect the way intelligent automation has changed in the face of a lingering talent shortage.
“We’re experiencing a technological paradigm shift that necessitates changes in the workforce, particularly in automation and AI. While companies seek to automate processes across the enterprise, the talent pool required to manage new AI capabilities is still shallow,” said Hedley Potts, UiPath vice president of Customer Experience & Enablement. “That’s why UiPath is constantly investing in our learning and enablement capabilities. These enhancements to our training and certification programs further our commitment to empowering people with the in-demand automation and AI skills to succeed in newly emerging careers and remain competitive in their current roles.”
The Specialist AI Professional certification, along with the others offered by the UiPath Academy, was available free to Forward VI attendees this week in Las Vegas.
UiPath is my Copilot
UiPath used its Forward VI event to announce a new AI-powered enhancement to its platform. Autopilot integrates generative AI, specialized AI and software automation to make building automations easier than ever, the company says. The feature uses generative AI to translate natural language into automation-powered apps.
“The new Autopilot capabilities at UiPath enable citizen development in a novel way. Autopilot for Studio, in particular, means that learning programming skills, low code or not, is becoming less critical than learning about technology capabilities,” said Hemant Porwal, executive vice president of Supply Chain and Operations at Wesco, a UiPath customer. “We are already incorporating this vision into our next wave of citizen developer training.”
2023 Partner Award Winners
UiPath unveiled this year’s winners of its Partner Awards at the Forward VI customer event in Las Vegas. The company recognized partners in 25 categories, led by EY, its Global Partner of the Year for 2023. Other winners included:
Worldwide Awards
- Worldwide Impact Partner of the Year – Lydonia Technologies
- Worldwide Innovation Partner of the Year – EY India
- Worldwide Growth Product Partner of the Year – Accenture
- Worldwide Automation for Good Partner of the Year – SimplifyNext
- Worldwide Industry Solutions Partner of the Year – Amitech Solutions
- Worldwide Foundational Partner of the Year – Ashling Partners
Regional Awards
Impact Partner of the Year:
- Lydonia Technologies (Americas)
- ONEOONE (APJ)
- Novigo for Information Technology (EMEA)
Innovation Partner of the Year:
- Persistent Systems (Americas)
- EY India (APJ)
- Office Samurai (EMEA)
Growth Products Partner of the Year:
- TestingXperts (Americas)
- Accenture (APJ)
- CGI (EMEA)
Automation for Good Partner of the Year:
- Slalom (Americas)
- SimplifyNext (APJ)
- ABP Consultancy (EMEA)
Industry Solutions Partner of the Year:
- Amitech Solutions (Americas)
- Power Solutions (APJ)
- Cronos Automation (EMEA)
Foundational Partner of the Year:
- Ashling Partners (Americas)
- PwC India (APJ)
- Camelot MC (EMEA)
UiPath also unveiled a new awards program aimed at recognizing partners innovating with AI. Winners of the inaugural AI10 Awards are:
- Banca Progetto
- Cox Enterprises
- Equifax
- Expion Health
- Flutter UK & Ireland
- Intel Corporation
- Lazard
- Omega Healthcare
- OMERS
- USI Insurance Services
Stay tuned for more news and in-depth interviews conducted at the show, in future editions of Automation Today.
