Tuesday 3 January 2023
Did you know, organisations that automate their processes benefit from increased clarity, stability, and efficiency?
Following a quick shift to automated practices in 2020 due to the pandemic, businesses have embraced these benefits and continued to automate their processes throughout 2021 and 2022. This ensures that they are better prepared to face any further disruptions to the market, and can adapt their ways of working to navigate these as needed.
Now, as we enter the new year, we're looking ahead at the automation trends to look out for in 2023, and how these could benefit your business. Check out this quick guide to get ahead of the curve…
1. Increased use of conversational AI
Conversational AI (artificial intelligence) helps people to interact with computer applications in a similar way that they would with other humans.
This term refers to technologies like chatbots or virtual agents that rely on the use of data, machine learning, and natural language processing to imitate human interactions and recognise speech and text.
Conversational AI can be especially helpful for companies who are looking to increase the automation of simple customer service tasks, such as answering FAQs, or HR requirements, including employee training and onboarding new recruits.
Investing in this technology in 2023 will give more businesses the opportunity to allocate staff time to more complex tasks or those based around strategic thinking rather than simple solutions. It can also contribute to increased levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty, which can help boost reputation.
Conversational AI can even be personalised via a link to a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system, giving companies the option to provide relevant recommendations to customers and even cross-sell particular products.
2. Further collaboration between humans and robots
Last year, we predicted an increase in the use of physical robotic machines in 2022, especially to carry out jobs that typically pay a low wage and require difficult working conditions. This year, as companies become more familiar with robotic technologies, we're expecting to see a trend in human and robot collaboration.
Pairing robots with human workers will help businesses combine the strength, speed and accuracy of robotic technology with the creativity and decision making of humans in a shared professional environment.
This approach sees machines tasked with jobs that require heavy lifting and the use of complex calculations, while humans take on responsibilities where judgement or learning is required.
This kind of collaborative working could be especially beneficial to supply chain processes, such as production, packaging and shipping, as it enables quick reactions to market changes, helping to save time and money.
This approach also supports health and safety initiatives such as social distancing, and can minimise repetitive activities for employees, contributing to an increase in staff satisfaction.
3. Growing uptake of low/no code platforms
Low code/no code platforms are pieces of software that make it easy for people without a lot of experience in coding to automate processes in a particular application. They are often very visual, and provide reusable actions as components that users can drag-and-drop into processes for rapid development.
As companies look to automate more of their processes in 2023, it's likely that the procurement and use of these platforms will increase.
Advantages of low/no code platforms include giving teams the independence to manage automation in house, and make simple changes to processes quickly and easily without having to spend time building prototypes and testing scripts.
Only time will tell what 2023 holds for automation, but we're sure these three trends will continue to gain momentum over the next twelve months.
If you'd like to find out more about how these trends in automation could enhance your business this year, get in touch with our team using the form below.
