After Covid-led business disruptions prompted firms to turn to robotic process automation, or RPA, robotics solution providers are anticipating another wave of mass adoption on fears of a recession and consequential layoffs. Huh. Mihir Shukla, chief executive officer of US-based RPA solutions company Automation Anywhere Inc, believes it will play a key role for firms and sectors due to its speed and scale.
In an interview, Shukla talked about how companies are embracing automation, the disruptive role of platforms like ChatGPT. Edited excerpts:
We heard about Automation Anywhere’s IPO plan. Is it delayed?
We’re growing fast, building a very compelling product on cloud automation that is being used by over 70% of our new customers. We are very excited by the business we are building and will seek an opportune moment to bring about our public offering.
Your key markets are North America and Europe, but have you seen rapid growth in India following the digital transformation wave led by COVID-19?
India has been and continues to be a great source of talent and innovation for us. We are strengthening our presence in India with two R&D centers in Bengaluru and Baroda. We are seeing a growing interest from local enterprises in adopting automation. With well-known brands growing their businesses in India, they feel the need for speed and scale. We are seeing some large private banks, oil and gas companies adopting and scaling automation, and seeing traction in healthcare, telecom and manufacturing in India, and a lot of interest from governments.
Has the economic crisis affected the adoption of automation?
Automation because of speed and scale is the solution to come in times of recession and inflationary pressure, as we are all experiencing. I think you’ve seen it in the last recession as well. You will see even faster adoption of automation across enterprises.
What are your plans in India in terms of hiring and investment?
We are strengthening our teams in India: for R&D and to serve enterprises. More than 50% of our global workforce sits in India and that speaks for itself. The team has worked on some of the most cutting edge products that have been launched in the recent past.
Several companies are working on integrating ChatGPT into their services. Will it soon become mainstream?
Most technologies initially start out as fun. Technologies with potential like ChatGPT will become more and more mainstream. ChatGPT is an example of where we are going and what is to come. AI can be a great tool for answering questions. I think one of the things we have to get better at as human beings is to think about what the right questions are. There is no AI software in the world that can tell you what is the right question.
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