4 Automation Trends You Should Be Aware of in 2021

Top automation trends

Automation is a fast-evolving field, with its changes brought on by advances in AI, machine learning, and by the shifting wants and needs of key stakeholders: customers and employees.

Despite its unpredictable future, leaders at enterprise organizations know how they’ll automate over the coming years. How do we know? Using TechValidate, we surveyed 80 IT and BT leaders at enterprise organizations, like Broadcom, Atlassian, and Hewlett Packard, and asked them about the types of automations they’ll look to build over the next 2 to 3 years.

Here’s what we learned:

Want the latest automation trends? Here’s what we’re predicted for 2022

1. Automations that focus on improving the customer experience will grow in adoption

More than half of our respondents want to build automations that aim to deliver more value for their customers.

A stat that reveals a strong desire for building customer-focused automations

These automations will likely vary in scope, but they can include any of the following:

  • Leveraging product usage data to quickly identify and reach out to customers who aren’t making full use of your product/service
  • Using product usage data to inform future product-focused events, like webinars that highlight specific use cases for your product 
  • Streamlining issue resolution, whether it impacts individual or several customers 

Related: 11 business automation statistics that can inspire you to innovate

2. Automations that aim to transform the employee experience will be widely used 

Like customers, our respondents expect to build automations that strive to improve the employee experience.

A stat that reveals a strong desire for building employee-focused automations

Given the variety of ways that automation can influence employees, it’s hard to pin down where organizations will focus their efforts. That said, here are some opportunities worth highlighting:

  • Streamlining app and equipment provisioning so that employees can get what they need on day 1
  • Enabling employees to make requests in a platform like Slack, and allowing their manager (or any other approver) to review and approve/reject the request in the business communications platform
  • De-provisioning an employee’s access to apps and equipment at the end of their last day 

Related: 4 reasons why offboarding automation can be invaluable for your organization

3. Automations that deliver operational efficiency will be prioritized

Nearly 3 in every 4 respondents (72%) told us that they plan to build automations that aim to improve operational efficiency.

How organizations plan to do so, however, can differ drastically. For instance, when asked about the automations they plan to build over the next 3 years, respondents answers included the following:

3 quotes from business professionals who've outlined their plans for building automations.

In short, organizations may differ in how aggressively they automate and in the processes they focus on, but the cost and time savings that operational efficiencies deliver are enough to attract widespread interest.

Related: 5 trends that can motivate you to change the way you integrate your systems

4. Organizations will use a single platform to build integrations and automations

We uncovered the following from our survey:

A stat that reveals a strong desire for using a single platform to build integrations and automations

What can we take away from this? That organizations value the time savings, cost savings, and productivity savings that come with using a single platform to build integrations and automations—versus relying on several (like an RPA, an iPaaS, an ETL tool, etc.).

You can uncover even more automation trends—like the types of automations that are gaining widespread adoption, and those that continue to be neglected—by downloading The State of Automation report!

About the author
Jon Gitlin Content Strategist @ Workato
Jon Gitlin is the Managing Editor of The Connector, where you can get the latest news on Workato and uncover tips, examples, and frameworks for implementing powerful integrations and automations. In his free time, he loves to run outside, watch soccer (er...football) matches, and explore local restaurants.