Tech Bytes - The Automation Push

Last week I published a LinkedIn update regarding the July jobs report. Essentially, we saw total nonfarm payroll employment drop to 187,000, which was the smallest gain since December of 2020.

While job growth has slowed, productivity and consumer spending have been on the rise. Labor productivity increased 3.7% in Q2 as output increased 2.4% and hours worked decreased 1.3%.

Seems to be an interesting trend and one that fits anecdotally with many of the conversations we’ve been having with our client base. With our offshore workforce remaining steady, we’re simultaneously seeing an increased interest in automation.

Of course, AI is grabbing most of the headlines, as companies look to implement AI training courses and potentially bring in top AI talent. That said, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a popular topic of conversation for companies looking to eliminate repetitive or rules-based tasks that take up an unnecessary amount of time for employees. The RPA work seems to be more focused within some of the more highly regulated industries such as Banking, Insurance, and Healthcare.

Some of the key drivers behind the RPA push include the following:

• Employee Retention – Despite the tech layoffs that we’ve seen this year, many employers are desperate to retain their top talent as the cost of turnover in key roles can be upwards of 35% of the employee’s annual salary, in addition to the negative impacts on productivity and company culture. By leveraging RPA, companies are able to give their employees more fulfilling work that helps to facilitate future growth opportunities and ultimately increase tenure.
• Resistance to significant tech changes – Many companies are comfortable with their legacy technology systems and management doesn’t want to take the chance on a new software implementation/data migration that will likely be too long, involve too many outside resources, and potentially disrupt the business. With RPA, they’re able to leverage software robots within the context of existing legacy systems to perform swivel chair work and not be burdened with complex software implementations, training, and delays.

Needless to say, there are plenty of reasons to consider RPA as a potential solution in this market. The never-ending demands for growth, employee retention, and resistance to tech changes are just a few.

One of our more recent conversations revolved around simply utilizing software robots to scan for and flag key words across thousands of documents. The UiPath solution that we built saved an incredible amount of time but more importantly it preserved employee sanity ;). Hoping we can spread the word and help other organizations in the process.

Be Great!