In 2024, the robotic process automation (RPA) market will shift due to four major trends. These include (you guessed it) artificial intelligence’s effect on RPA, shifts in the market landscape, changes to RPA’s place in the larger automation landscape, and new data management methods.

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a software system automation approach that employs pre-programmed “bots” to automate manual tasks, typically through a user interface (UI). RPA tools are primarily used to automate business processes that once depended on human resources and were highly repetitive and operational in nature. Many of these business processes are rooted in legacy technology, which often acts as a bottleneck due to its outdated nature.

Robotic process automation (RPA) refers to the use of software robots, or "bots," that mimic human actions to automate repetitive tasks within business processes. RPA technology can interact with applications, systems, and data sources to automate procurement tasks such as data entry, document processing, and report generation.

Business process automation (BPA) refers to the use of computer systems and software to automate business processes or tasks. These days, many people simply refer to BPA as process automation: a set of tools that automates entire business processes, end to end. Robotic process automation (RPA), on the other hand, is a single part of a process automation toolset. RPA fits into a process automation strategy by automating repetitive tasks within a process.

Have you seen the efficiency gains you’d hoped for from your investments in task automation tools like robotic process automation (RPA)? Despite prioritizing automation efforts, many IT leaders still lack the tools for broader, end-to-end process automation—or as Gartner calls it, hyperautomation. If you’ve found yourself grappling with numerous disconnected islands of automation, where do you go from here?

So, did you invest in RPA? Did you buy into the dream of automation? How's it going? Are your bots running at 100% reliability and delivering amazing ROI? Or are you fighting bot breakdowns and struggling to justify the expense of costly RPA bots with poor reliability?

To get the most out of any technology investment, you have to be sure you're using it in the right way. Just as you wouldn't remove a lid from a jar with a spatula, you shouldn’t use robotic process automation (RPA) for a purpose it isn't well suited to. The same is true for process mining and RPA. To maximize the benefits of both, you first need to understand what these two technologies do best.