2022 will be a year of accelerated adoption of intelligent automation across enterprises and throughout the C-suite, a year of innovation and a year of hope. Here are the top automation trends in 2022.

Automation. Not just a buzzword anymore. It’s a reality for almost every company on this planet. Since the pandemic hit two years ago, everything has changed—even the perception about using robots for tasks that humans usually did. Everyone in the C-suite realized that automation is an essential part of the business, and creating a digital workforce should be a priority from now on.

#1 CIOs are stepping in

According to McKinsey, 80% of the companies say they’ll keep investing or increase the investment in automation in 2022. CIOs are stepping in developing strategies, governance and making sure that the budget is spent wisely. So, they created the so-called “automation mandates.” They want to deliver enterprise-wide automation, centralized visibility, governance, and control, with the help of strategic and implementation plans.

#2 Semantic automation

Nowadays, developers must write every step in a robot’s journey. “Open this, read that, extract that, move it there, etc.” Semantic automation allows developers to simplify their work. Semantic robots will learn by themselves how to do things only by observing an activity. They will recognize the process, understand the requirements, find the data, and move it where it belongs.

Semantic automation has the potential to democratize automation, freeing up the developer’s time and making automation easier to scale.

#3 HR teams will handle a human-digital workforce

Every aspect of the workplace changed in the last two years. Experts say that a hybrid human-digital workforce will be seen throughout companies in the next five years or so. Humans will work side by side with robots, sharing the workload.

The HR teams will be responsible for creating plans to predict where jobs will be lost and where they’ll emerge. They will have to think through redeployment plans, upskilling, reskilling, and hiring people for the future. They will also be responsible for training employees on working with automation and virtual assistants.

#4 Growth across the automation ecosystem

Intelligent Automation providers are just at the top of the pyramid. They wouldn’t succeed without the other layers. So, besides them, the ecosystem consists of software and hardware providers, IT integration services, consultants, custom application development, and many more. And this ecosystem is growing, turning to be a marker of the strengths and resilience of the automation industry.

#5 Intelligent automation to scale the RPA efforts

What is missing in your RPA journey? Intelligence. Intelligence is not only the ability to make off-the-cuff decisions. It is about completing any action as a human does. Like Professor Leslie Wilcox said, “If RPA takes the robot out of the human, Intelligent automation puts the human into the robot.”

Intelligent automation uses many complementary technologies to RPA. Because of this, the smart robot can work as a human: read e-mails, process an invoice, make decisions, communicate with a customer, etc.

Intelligent automation will ease the process execution and free up valuable time for your employees, making them more productive and efficient.

In 2022, we’ll see that growth will continue across the entire automation ecosystem. Companies will also intensify marketing, sales, and business development efforts, seeking to be the first among the automation providers. Automation will cement its position and continue to be seen as an essential technology by enterprises, with RPA at the center.