The robots are coming, or at least that’s what analysts at Deloitte reckon.
They’ve tipped the rise of RPA, or robotic process automation, as being one of the most important strategic priorities for global business services.
But what is robotic process automation?
When we think of robots, most of us imagine chrome-plated automata mindlessly serving the whims of their human masters, whilst secretly plotting the annihilation of organic life.
For those at the forefront of artificial intelligence, however, the true potential of robotics transcends a physical form.
Robotic process automation is essentially advanced coded software harnessing complex computational mechanics to complete repetitive processes, such as sorting big data, processing payments and communicating with other digital systems to share data.
The market for robotic automation is estimated to reach nearly $5bn globally by 2020.
This sort of robotics already serves a function in our lives and we are probably not even aware.
Search engines deploy robots to sift and optimise search results and target advertising to consumers, for example.
When you click that search button, you are benefiting from the work of myriad robotic processes that have selected the most relevant results to make your life easier.
These programmes replace the need for humans when performing repetitive rules-based tasks.
The manufacturing industry has already been revolutionised by automation, meaning faster, cheaper and more efficient output.
Granta Automation, one of the UK’s leading robotics automation companies, even noted a boost in staff morale after the introduction of their machines.
Research by Everest Group estimated that robotic process automation could reduce the cost of onshore processes by as much as 65% with an investment recovery period as short as six months.
It could also lead to the repatriation of data processing, removing the need for foreign outsourcing.
Experts believe the service industry is the next market to be taken over by robots.
A total of 79% of workers in the UK are employed in the service sector, according to the World Bank.
So, automated processes - where no creative or emotional input is required - could replace the need for human workers to process data sets and work out payments.
For that reason, Deloitte’s report suggested that automation is the biggest risk to jobs in the financial services sector.
Professor Moshe Vardi, professor of computer science at Rice University Texas, has warned that robots could take over most jobs within 30 years, leading to unemployment rates of over 50%.
A third of those surveyed by Deloitte said that process automation was a top priority, but so far only 13% said they planned to increase automation in the next year through the use of robots.
This number is only set to rise as awareness increases.
RPA is nothing new. California-based Kofax (NASDAQ:KFX) has provided data management software for businesses for over a decade.
It recently launched its First Mile programme to aid companies to adopt data processing automation. The company was purchased by Lexmark for around $1bn in March last year.
It is estimated that over half of all roles in a typical finance function could still be automated.
The roles least likely to be automated are the knowledge-based management positions, which means the white-collar grunt workers are most at risk.
But David Moss, of software robot developer Blue Prism (LON:PRSM), has a far less depressing vision of a world populated by virtual robots.
In a TED talk to University College London, he asked attendees to consider what are the skills and talents we could use people for and what can we use robots for?
Instead of taking the human out of the workplace, robotic automation would take the robot out of the human. Currently, human potential is wasted, he argued.
“We think we are using people for their skills, but we aren’t,” he said.
By allocating repetitive mundane tasks to robots, human workers would be free to utilise the skills and talents they were employed for.
The benefits of freeing the potential of a human workforce are yet to be realised, but automated processes could revolutionise not only the finance industry, but many other sectors.
Instead of taking our jobs, robotic processing automation could revolutionise not only the way we work, but the jobs themselves.