Last year, for the first time, Gartner produced a “Magic Quadrant” for RPA—a sign that, as a sector, the automation technology has entered the mainstream of business thinking. This year, the addition of Microsoft, SAP and others indicate how consolidation has affected the industry as mammoth software companies buy or develop their way into the RPA market.
“These large vendors show the upcoming changes and the dynamic nature of the market,” the report’s authors wrote. “In the second year of this Magic Quadrant, the bar has been raised for market viability, relevance, growth, revenue and how vendors set the vision for their RPA offerings in a fluid market.”
Magic Quadrants use a proprietary analysis to place industry vendors in a graph that plots “ability to execute” on one axis and “completeness of vision on the other.” Companies that exhibit a high degree of both (those in the upper right “quadrant”) are identified by Gartner as “leaders” in the space.
The Stamford. Conn.-based consultancy named four leaders: Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism and UiPath return in the category, while WorkFusion joined them in the leader quadrant this year.