Automation trends 2020: no-code integrations, configurable workflows and next-gen Bots

The year 2019 was all about AI, blockchain technologies, cyber surgeries and automated detection of fake data on social networks. Two thirds of all business & tech news were fully or partially related to robotics and automation trends.

And 2020 surely has a bunch of surprises in store for us. However, some of the most hyped trends are already peaking their heads into the spotlight. Or what’s more, they’re knocking on your office’s door!

Let’s take a quick look at what to expect in the tech-biz world of 2020.

Automation trends beyond the business sector

Just like with any other innovation, new automation technologies tend to be introduced within the business sector for its immediate needs. However, in the last couple years both the public sector and NGOs began to understand that paperwork automation does not really contradict their principles of work. As electronic reporting and e-signing became more widespread among public institutions, automation of their internal processes has become the next top priority.

We’ve also been observing growing interest in the public sector. In 2019 alone, several high schools, universities, police stations and courts have opted for testing their workflows with our automation platform. As their experiences turned out to be positive for all the stakeholders involved, we’ve become confident that the number of public sector organizations interested in new automation technologies will be on the rise in 2020.

Economic decline will make process automation unavoidable

The bad news is that the potential global economic downturn (let’s not call it crisis thus far) is inevitable. Layoffs will be unavoidable, at least temporarily. And many investment projects will be put on hold for an indefinite period.

The good news is that (for business owners, not employees, sorry!) every crisis is also an opportunity, right? This time, there is an opportunity for businesses to completely rethink their own business models with complete process automation.

If you’re considering new investments – we strongly recommend you look into new automation technologies.

They are:

• Affordable and what is more important – cost less than several standalone solutions;
• Can easily substitute for an additional labor force (which might be needed but is not really affordable);
• Eliminate most additional expenses (correspondence delivery, faxing, a significant part of travel expenses, etc.)

The growing share of digital natives among employees

By 2020, all university graduates will be of the so-called ‘digital natives’. These are people who got their first cell phones when they were 2, have been using the internet since they were 3, and some of them wrote their first “Hello, World” in middle school.

When it comes to robotics and automation trends, they do not really need additional training as they already know what they are using. Beyond this, some are even capable of initiating the implementation of automated solutions in the offices they work at. And businesses should be prepared to welcome such initiatives rather than treating them with unnecessary skepsis.

In other words, we already have a whole new generation of employees who were born ready for software automation. Employed wisely, they will not pose a threat to previous generations of employees, on the contrary – they will surely contribute to the overall productivity of your office.

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Consolidation of tech businesses could cause a new wave of software automation

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the digital sector are on the rise like never before:

• Salesforce bought Tableau, business intelligence and data visualization software;
• Google struck a deal with Looker, a business intelligence platform;
• Apple reached an agreement with Intel and bought out their smartphone modem business;
• airSlate went as far as combining the capacities of PDFfiller’s form-builder with signNow’s e-signature tool and USLegalForms’ library and then added bots of its own to come up with a fully automated business workflow.

Bots will be so much more than just chatbots

In 2019, ‘chatbot’ was one of the loudest buzzwords. Travel agencies, airlines, insurance companies, hospitals, theaters, colleges – all implemented chatbots in one form or another (on different platforms, for example).

What we need to keep in mind for the coming year is that chatbots are only the 1.0 version of all bots (in reference to the basic type of robotic process).

Examples of other bots use include:

• State Auto Financial uses bots, to process insurance claims and calculate vehicle losses;
• Spider-Man bot is selling comic books directly on Facebook and Twitter;
• Hotel bot by Marriott International will book you a room at any of its hotel chains;
• Configurable bots in airSlate will help you set up a fully automated no-code workflow which will be designed specifically for your office and/or for any business operation you have in mind.

Will bots become a substitute for human labor? Is this “robots will come to steal our jobs” fear coming true?

Yes and no, actually. Bots will take the brunt of the most monotonous, technical work, leaving all creative and people-oriented activities for human employees.

Today we have every reason to conclude that we are living in a time when business process automation is riding its second wave. The key features of this second wave include:

• A wider scope of process automation across all sectors, both private and public;
• A growing number of software integration options and greater flexibility for setup;
• Decreasing the need for additional staff training since employees are becoming more digitally literate while automation options are becoming mostly no-code and low-code.

And this is exactly what airSlate is offering you:

• Full-cycle no-code automation for workflows;
• Based on the integration of software solutions which have been in the market for years;
• No special skills required!