Russian RPA Systems Market
The article talks about the development of RPA systems in Russia.
2023: Russian RPA Market: Current Status and Development Prospects. TAdviser Overview
TAdviser interviewed Russian RPA solutions vendors, integrators and users from the banking sector, which traditionally accounts for the most RPA implementation projects, about the current state of the market and its development prospects. Based on the assessments of the study participants, we prepared a comprehensive overview of trends in this segment. More...
2021
The volume of the Russian market for RPA systems was estimated at 16 billion rubles
The volume of the Russian market for RPA systems in 2021 reached 16 billion rubles against 1.5 billion rubles in 2019. Such data in the IT company "IBA" led in August 2022.
Most of the software used in the Russian Federation for robotizing business processes fell on foreign decisions, but after the departure of foreign IT companies from Russia against the background of the Russian special operation in Ukraine and the subsequent Western sanctions, the situation may change. By 2024, as predicted in IBA, more than 90% of Russian companies using RPA systems will switch to domestic software.
The transition to local software is not only caused by geopolitics. Existing solutions on the market are cheaper than analogues and tied to the ruble. The implementation of the project, even taking into account the "migration" to another RPA system, will bring at least two-fold savings in the future. Russian companies also expect to avoid the risks associated with the renewal of licenses.
"Migration" has already affected many areas, and banks, transport workers, large manufacturers, telecom operators and retailers are most active. Foreign robots, which for years "kept" customers with paid licenses, are replaced by domestic ones. Demand for them is growing every month, according to a study published in August 2022.
 | The main advantage of RPA platforms of local IT companies compared to Western vendors is the cost of implementation, IBA IT company explains. - When buying a program from the register of domestic software, you do not need to pay VAT. Also, with turnkey automation, there is no license fee, and automation becomes two to three times cheaper compared to foreign vendors. And the result will be the same high-quality, because highly qualified specialists are working on each project. |  |
IBA General Director Vladimir Lushnikov believes that the introduction of software robots does not have strict industry specifics. All industries in which a person works at a computer are quite suitable for "digital employees." First of all, robotization is subject to processes that include a significant number of routine operations in accounting and financial unit, document management, logistics, personnel management, he explains. According to Lushnikov, the complication of robots and their intellectualization is the main prospect for the development of the industry.
| | Most likely, this trend will affect intelligent work with documents: their automatic categorization and extraction of data. Robots are already actively used by Russian banks, oil and gas companies and retailers. The potential for the introduction of robots is in metallurgy, medicine, as well as in government agencies. Now one of the main tasks for the entire Russian business is to transfer already functioning robots to local platforms, - said the head of IBA. | |
Experts attributed the benefits of RPA projects to the following:
- One robot can work more than 10000 hours a year.
- RPA allows people to be freed from monotonous work and direct their efforts to more global and complex tasks.
- RPA algorithms make it possible to exclude errors and the effect of the human factor on the result.
- When scaling processes with RPA, you can save on operating costs, not expand the staff.
- High RPA payback in a period of six months to a year.
Analysts note that the implementation of RPA projects should not be based on inaccurate data. There is little desire and budget availability when it comes to obtaining real results. Before embedding robots in processes, it is worth studying how justified this is, and how long the effect will be.
Features of RPA market development
The global business process robotization (RPA) market is perhaps the leader in growth across the IT industry. Thus, according to the estimates of the analytical agency Grand View Research, it will increase annually by 40.6%, up to 2027. Impact estimated the annual growth of this by 31.1% until 2025, and in 360 Research - 61% per year. HFS Research estimates are somewhat more modest - the company's analysts predict growth of less than 30% by the end of 2021. Moreover, further, a gradual slowdown in growth is expected (see figure below). The double-digit growth figures are impressive, especially amid the pandemic downturn in the global economy. And this order of growth figures will continue until 2024, according to Gartner researchers.
In Russia, the situation is not very different from the global one: according to various estimates, the domestic RPA market will grow by an average of 30-50% per year.
| | For Russian customers of software robots, this trend is in line with global trends. The only difference in the speed at which organizations are moving towards robotization, - notes Anton Sergeyev, RPA Development manager of TietoEVRY Russia. - The higher the level of competition in the market and the more difficult it is for business to survive on it, the faster the organization switches to digital business. " | |
According to the expert, if the organization is protected from competitors and external threats by preferences from the regulator, then incentives to increase efficiency and optimize production are felt to a lesser extent, and this thesis applies, in particular, to the introduction of software robots.
Explaining the high growth rates of the RPA market, Daniil Morozenko, head of RPA at First Bit. Sportivnaya Office, "highlights several waves in the general process of market perception of RPA technology. The content of the first wave is an acquaintance with the technology that corresponds to simple clicker scripts or scripts for transferring data from one form to another. The second wave is the stage at which the business got quite used to the new technology and began to look closely at the developed additional capabilities, in particular, OCR and Machine Learning. The third wave of RPA corresponds to the state of the market, when robots are considered as a full-fledged technology for automating business processes, along with, say, CRM.
| | If there is a third wave abroad now, then the second is just beginning in Russia, - says Denis Morozenko. | |
According to a survey of the corporate sector, which ABBYY conducted at the end of 2020, more than 57% of organizations in Russia were forced to revise their IT strategy, and only 53% of respondents said that they were already using robots or planned to start using RPA in the near future.
Sergey Lozhkin, co-founder and CEO of PIX Robotics, believes that at the moment the Russian RPA market is in its infancy, and it will face a period of active growth and development.
| | This will be a multiple of growth, if not tenfold, the specialist believes and explains, - Growth occurs due to the scale of customers and the scaling of RPA in each company, because the RPA solution allows you to quickly get the desired result and synergistically complements automation and classic information systems. | |
Indeed, according to Grand View Research, the segment of large enterprises in 2020 accounted for the largest share of revenue in the RPA segment - more than 66%. Analysts attribute these needs to changes in the workflows of companies in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic - they contributed to the adoption of the idea of virtual labor and RPA in large enterprises.
| | Those companies that began with 10-15 robotic processes, after a year and a half, calculate robotic processes in hundreds. We envision RPA scaling becoming common practice in the next few years. | |
Estimates of the volume of the RPA market in absolute numbers also differ among different researchers. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2021, the revenue of the global RPA software market will reach $1.89 billion (an increase of 19.5% compared to last year). Forrester expects this market to reach $2.9 billion in 2021, while Grand View Research estimates $2.1 billion. At the same time, Grand View Research predicts CAGR at 32.8% from 2021 to 2028, which will provide in 7 years the RPA market size of $13.74 billion.
The Russian RPA market is at the beginning of its formation. According to TAdviser estimates, in 2019 it amounted to about 1.5 billion rubles. At the end of 2021, some market participants announce estimates of 16 billion rubles, that is, approximately $0.2 billion. For comparison: the other day the retailer "Lenta" announced the purchase of the online store "Utkonos": the transaction amount is 20 billion rubles. However, the growth rate of the Russian RPA market gives reason to ElectroNeek Robotics experts to assume that in five to six years it will bypass the ERP systems market in volume.
Incentives for rapid growth of the RPA market
The growing popularity of RPA technologies is due to a number of reasons.
| | The growth is explained by the capabilities inherent in software robots. Software robots do not need leave or sick leave, they work faster and more stable than humans. Since robots work strictly according to the laid down algorithm, due to this, they are more reliable than humans in processing routine operations, says Pavel Borchenko. | |
The range of such operations, where robots clearly give a head start to a person, is wide: they repeat the user's actions (pressing keys, opening or closing windows on the screen, launching applications, etc.) and therefore are easily carried out in an automated mode, for example, transferring data between various information systems, accessing databases, bulk sending letters and alerts, entering and replicating data, launching desktop and web applications.
One of the popular applications of RPA is the integration of IT systems: software robots can be easily integrated into the existing IT ecosystem and processes. Robotization has actually become a typical solution for integrations of legacy systems, for which often providing interaction with conventional methods is too laborious.
| | The explanation for double-digit growth is simple: The RPA brings quick returns. Moreover, importantly, not an abstract increase in customer satisfaction, which should bring some benefit to the enterprise, but an improvement in the performance of a specific business function "here and now" and, as a result, a specific head of the division, - emphasizes Anatoly Belaychuk, BPM-evangelist of Comindware. - The effect of introducing the robot is easy to calculate, and if the economy develops, implementation is fast. | |
Indeed, the situation when routine repeated manual operations are performed automatically gives the company a lot of economic and practical benefits, first of all, the speed of processing documents increases multiply, while software robots do not allow "human" errors.
| | The high growth is due to the desire to improve business efficiency, - says Anton Sergeyev from TietoEVRY Russia. - The events that we have seen in the past few years demonstrate the unpredictability and at the same time the slowness of the existing operating model based on human labor. | |
Many methodologies have been invented to improve business efficiency, the expert continues, but everyone has common features - reduction of errors and defects, more efficient use of resources, flexibility of the production process, predictability of internal factors and predictability of external conditions.
| | These general practices are easily implemented with the help of the Digital Labor Force - software robots, - emphasizes Anton Sergeyev. | |
Dmitry Smykalov, head of the RPA department at GMCS, also speaks about the importance of the human factor in the growing popularity of RPA:
| | The pandemic revealed outdated business scenarios and showed that people in their workplaces want to remain people in the first place - devote more time to communicating with other people, solve more creative tasks that reveal their talents, and not press keyboard buttons or fill out endless forms. | |
It is in these issues, the specialist emphasizes, that robots help people: they reduce the amount of time and effort people need to perform long and repeated actions, reduce the number of errors, while saving money (it is possible, for example, to reduce the staff of accountants) and free up labor resources so that they can focus on tasks that require interaction with a person (an ordinary accountant can undergo retraining and go to work in the planning and economics department).
The pandemic has contributed to the change in the general business situation.
| | First, the time frame for making decisions has been reduced, but people do not have time to adapt their activities in order to keep up with changes. Secondly, in addition to such changes as non-working days, lockdowns and transfer to remote work, additional requirements of regulators have appeared, - lists Christian Wells, an expert on robotization of processes, Head of the client office of Blue Prism in Russia. - We are taking a serious lesson from the pandemic, which suggests that things can change very quickly, but at the same time, people cannot always be a reliable basis for business, and need to move to digital rails to respond flexibly to the needs of remote work and contactless businesses. | |
| | It is not surprising that in the conditions of such requirements, restrictions and the ongoing pressure of competition, the growth of robotization on a global scale will amount to 30-40% over the next five years, - sums up Anton Sergeyev. | |
Second, RPA technologies have reached maturity levels. On the Gartner Hype Cycle curve (often called the technology maturity curve), for artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which Gartner analysts published in 2019, RPA technologies are placed on a "slope of disappointment," but marked: reaching a plateau of productivity in less than two years.
Sergey Lozhkin, CEO of PIX Robotic, strongly disagrees with the terminology of "disappointment":
| | Robotization occupies a worthy place in the company's IT infrastructure line. Those who expected too much, relied entirely on robots are disappointed, considered it a magic button that would do everything for people. Those companies that incorrectly built the architecture, or did not receive management support, stopped and became disillusioned. And those who mature to the introduction of robots begin to increase the volume of robots and see the effect from them. | |
At the same time, there is already some cyclicity, says Lozhkin: the company was disappointed in RPA, and after six months - a year it enters robotization in a new way and then the chances that disappointment will not happen are quite high.
| | RPA finds its niche and applicability, he is sure. | |
Pavel Borchenko from ROBIN also observed all these phases of customer interest:
| | First, you had to explain to customers what RPA is. In the wake of hype, there were many conversations that did not end with anything, since many customers did not fully understand either the effectiveness of the technology or how it could be used. Now we see that customers are moving from the stage of interest to the stage of understanding the need to implement RPA, especially in large companies. They come to us with specific requests, consider the effectiveness of implementation, create competence centers within companies, etc. | |
Daniil Morozenko, Head of RPA. "First Bit. Sportivnaya's office "points to another sign of market maturity:
| | On the one hand, potential customers realized that RPA robots are not just clickers, but a technology with which they can automate global business processes. On the other hand, integrators have learned to sell RPA projects, increased competencies that allow them to be implemented at a high level. It's time for major implementations. | |
Third, RPA technologies have reached maturity, not only in terms of technology but cost-effectiveness models.
The main economic effect of the introduction of software robots is achieved by saving on employee remuneration. Moreover, we are talking not only about reducing some positions (Full-Time Equivalent, FTE), but also about eliminating the need to hire new employees, for example, in a growing business. The (Robot-Time Equivalent, RTE) - the equivalent time of the robot - describes how many employees would have to be hired permanently to cope with the same amount of new work that the robot does.
Anatoly Belaychuk, BPM evangelist at Comindware, calls for attention to the original name of the Gartner curve - the "marketing noise curve" (hype cycle): it reflects not how suitable the technology is for mass use, but how widely it is discussed.
| | The uniqueness of RPA technology is that it gives a quick and understandable return, - says the specialist. - But in the same way its weakness - the field is quickly developed, but also quickly dries up. On the Gartner curve, this is expressed in the fact that RPA technology quickly soared to the peak of expectations, quickly began to descend and, just ahead of others, will reach a plateau. Therefore, I would be cautious about extrapolating the growth figures of previous years. | |
Smart Robotics, that is, smart robotics technologies, which are currently at the peak of expectations, according to the same Gartner scheme, are quite another matter.
| | This is a new quality of robotization - RPA with artificial intelligence, but there the time to reach the plateau ranges from 5 to 10 years, - notes Belaychuk. | |
We are talking about the fact that robots learn to perform more complex tasks than routine repetitive operations. For example, robots collect data from various sources, such as internal and external, aggregate and consolidate data, automatically send reports to users, enter data into accounting or other corporate systems, or upload it to Excel or the BI system for further work of a person - analyst. Robots with "analytical capabilities" can take over time-consuming data analysis processes, including those that can be used to support Process Mining, an in-depth analysis of business processes.
The additional growth of the RPA market is provided by related technologies: voice processing, text, unstructured text, says Pavel Borchenko:
| | The RPA robot acts in the front of various components, in fact, allows customers to use the capabilities of artificial intelligence faster. | |
In addition, the specialist notes, the introduction of RPA, unlike traditional automation, requires less resources - a robotization specialist in the market can be found much faster.
Personnel for RPA
The RPA toolkit is aimed at business users - the users of software robots are not the IT divisions of companies, but the sales department, human resources department, accounting, etc. Such employees who are not IT professionals, but create solutions for automating their work sites, are commonly called "Citizen Developers." According to ElectroNeek Robotics experts, in 2020 the companies hired more than 50 thousand. RPA specialists, and about 7 thousand more vacancies have been opened. Under these conditions, special requirements, in terms of user experience, are imposed on the RPA tools themselves.
| | The scenario by which the robot is created should be simple, preferably in the form of a simple block diagram, which is taught at any school, - says Pavel Borchenko. - The script should be filled with actions that are logically understandable in the language of the business user (open the file, launch the browser). Then this tool really allows you to quickly and efficiently solve business problems. | |
Usually, application designers and visual design methods in the Low-code/No code style based on the item library are used to support users. Pavel Borchenko urges to be attentive to the statements of RPA vendors regarding the implementation of No Code:
| | It is quite possible that there will be some No-code, but it may happen that most of it will have to be created with code, due to the lack of necessary actions, structures and elements. We often encounter situations where a programmer writes code inside the robot due to lack of functionality and thereby minimizes all the advantages of the technology, since this is usually followed by many problems. | |
Meanwhile, in practice, the position of the RPA specialist turns out to be quite expensive. A global survey of RPA specialists conducted by UiPath in 2020 showed that 54% of respondents came to robotization from the position of a programmer, and the rest previously occupied various business roles: business analyst (26%), project manager (17%), operations manager (10%).
The cost of the relevant specialists is one of the barriers to the implementation of PRA in the environment of small companies. As noted by Alexander Chernikov, project manager of RPA company "First Bit. Sports Office, "these companies are primarily interested in reducing staff through automation, and, meanwhile, robotization is as much an IT project as many others.
Natalya Romenskaya, an independent expert on digital transformation and robotization of processes, notes that it is possible to achieve the optimal composition and "cost" of a corporate RPA team on the way to competently combine your own staff with an outsourcing resource. In addition, additional savings can be achieved if you use one "expensive" employee in each direction of robotization, and to help him form an RPA expertise in the division based on existing employees.
RPA Market Players
Experts characterize the global RPA market as highly competitive, thanks to the presence of many, both small niche and well-known large suppliers offering reliable solutions for automating robotic processes.
Gartner, July 2021
Analysts at Grand View Research in their 2021-2028 RPA Market Forecast Robotic Process Automation Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Type, By Service, By Application, By Deployment, By Organization, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2021 - 2028, published April 2020, talk of leading players offering the market complex solutions that can go beyond rule-based automation. These vendors have to focus on developing more and more advanced products, as niche players appear with innovative IT solutions that increase competition in the global market.
In this environment, market leaders are expanding their operations through new partnerships and M/A transactions. So, in March of this year, UiPath - No. 1 in the Magic Quadrant leader segment, Gartner acquired Cloud Element, which owns the API integration platform. This acquisition made UiPath the leading provider of API-based automation tools and an enterprise-level user interface (UI) on a single platform - this is how the deal is evaluated in Grand View Research.
In general, niche players with innovative solutions in the field of RPA are becoming objects of close attention of BigTech: Google, IBM, Microsoft. Specifically, in this March, Automation Anywhere - another occupant of the leaders' quadrant - formed a partnership with Google to help it develop a new suite of products designed to automate the core work functions of businesses.
And at the end of November 2021, the British developer of robotic software Blue Prism, also located in the segment of the leaders of the Magic Quadrant Gartner, was sold for $1.63 billion to the American investment company Vista Equity. This private company, which manages assets of over $81 billion (as of the end of June 2021), plans to merge Blue Prism with its other company, TIBCO, which specializes in developing software for IT infrastructure and business analytics, which it acquired in 2014 for about $4.3 billion.
In the Russian RPA market, the situation is calmer. This is despite the fact that almost all world leaders are represented in our country (either directly or through partners), as well as local players.
| | A year ago, we did not feel competition, we were almost alone in the Russian market. The main competitor was classical automation, and we explained a lot about the advantages of RPA, "says Pavel Borchenko, head of ROBIN. - Now we feel that the trend towards robotization of processes has indeed reached Russia, a lot of information has appeared on the market, and customers have an understanding of what it is and why it is needed. | |
ROBIN CEO sees RPA's global leaders as his competitors: "We're only competing with them now."
According to Anton Sergeyev from TietoEVRY Russia, there is great competition among RPA solution vendors in the Russian market - it is due to the promising market and the growing demand for robotization.
| | To this is added the general maturity of the industry, where the best practices and the main criteria of the demanded product have already been identified, - the expert notes. - Therefore, local players can enter the market without many years of costs and R&D literally wedge themselves into the offer. | |
Therefore, despite the fact that in terms of robotization, Russian enterprises are still lagging behind developed countries, experts expect a significant increase in competition in the RPA market and the transition to the level of mass implementations. So, Yulia Pechnikova, director of business development and innovation at MERLION, believes that this will happen within two to five years.
In other words, the Russian RPA market is far from saturated, it is in the phase of active growth. An additional incentive for its development was the needs of import substitution of software, primarily in the public sector.
| | The country has its own RPA technologies, striving to reach the world level. Russian RPA platforms have learned to work with our local accounting systems, in particular, with 1C and Bitrix. We can say that the robots have been localized, "says Daniil Morozenko, head of RPA. "First Bit. Sportivnaya office. "- Next, the process went on increasing: with the advent of new opportunities, more business processes became available for robotization. This entailed an increase in the number of offers, advertising, discussions in the public space, the popularity of the technology began to grow rapidly. | |
The most popular RPA systems in Russia
As of February 2022, the TAdviser database contains information on 130 projects for implementing RPA systems. The bulk of them are public projects reported by the companies themselves. According to these data, the Blue Prism RPA platform is most often introduced in Russia.
On a separate page on RPA technology, you can familiarize yourself with the developers of such solutions and projects on the basis of which the rating is based.
Where is the competition line or how to select the right RPA platform
| | Although some companies continue to experiment, in general, preference is given to industrial platforms that occupy confident positions in ratings than to newcomers to the market. | |
Indeed, RPA leaders, together with the market, went through all stages of technology development, helped to deal with the emerging difficulties in the path of applying RPA, and, being in close cooperation with customers, improved their solutions.
{{quote 'If this is a big business, then the main front of competition is now passing according to the criteria of circuit resiliency, security, uninterrupted operation and development strategy. If medium and small, then these are the possibilities of working with ready-made robots, activity marketplaces, cloud solutions and simplified launch cases, - said Sergey Lozhkin, CEO of PIX Robotics. }}
Victoria Babankina, head of the RPA department at NFP, notes that new products regularly appear on the market with their "chips": someone promises the best conditions when working with the SAP or "1C" interface, someone has a built-in BPM mechanism adapted for the work of a business user, etc.
{{quote "When choosing a platform, it is necessary to proceed from the company's tasks, from what software is used in functional structures, as well as from the requirements of regulatory documents, both external and internal. By answering these questions, it will be possible to reduce the list of candidate systems and select the desired tool, - advises Victoria Babankina. She notes that customers often appear who already had negative robotization experience due to the incorrectly selected platform. "It is logical that such customers ask either to make a small pilot, or to show whether the platform from our" portfolio "is capable of performing the tasks they need. }}
| | The stability of the platform and the availability of the tools necessary for the developer to implement the most rational and concise algorithm are of paramount importance. | |
In his opinion, it is also worth paying attention to such parameters of the RPA platform as the quality and variability of built-in activities, the availability of licensing, as well as the ability to add their activities, and the language of their writing (preferably the.NET platform).
As for the competition of Russian and foreign RPA solutions, then, for example, in the portfolio of GMCS solutions, they do not conflict, but safely get along with each other.
{{quote 'Yes, for state-owned companies, the question of the "origin" of the platform is a defining criterion. For example, in the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, we helped to robotize several processes based on the Russian PIX Robotic platform, says Dmitry Smykalov, head of the RPA department at GMCS. - And the corporate market primarily pays attention to the functionality, cost, flexibility and technological aspects of the platform, as well as the presence of partners with whom the project can be carried out. So our company works with both foreign (UiPath) and Russian (PIX Robotics) RPA vendors. }}
At the same time, according to the specialist, when choosing a vendor, the determining factors are the technological maturity of the solution, the openness of the vendor and the investments that he invests in the training and development of the community and partner network, in marketing, etc. Therefore, in addition to UiPath and PIX Robotic implementations, GMCS has pilot projects using Microsoft's robotization tool, as well as cloud scenarios for deploying UiPath robots in the Microsoft Azure cloud.
TietoEVRY Russia also focuses on customer tasks when choosing vendor partners.
| | The most important criteria for us are the availability of products, the use of which simplifies and accelerates our interaction with the client at all stages - from search and evaluation of processes for robotization to their development, implementation, operational support and scaling. It is important and convenient to solve the entire range of problems in a single ecosystem, - says Anton Sergeyev. - Thus, the question of choice for us is as follows: How easily and quickly can we move from process assessment to implementation and scaling?. | |
| | This is a fact due to the difference in experience, in the timing of its presence on the market, because vendors such as UiPath have almost 10 years longer than their Russian colleagues. | |
Therefore, this company has the ability to bring unique RPA tools to the market, such as the UiPath Automation Hub - it helps employees find, offer and track new processes for automation. It's essentially about supporting crowdsourcing ideas internally to expand automation.
However, the choice of global leaders has its disadvantages, the specialist notes, for example, all foreign RPA solutions are currently sold by subscription, there is not a single one that can be purchased indefinitely.
| | In the current political situation, this means that the next round of sanctions can lead to the complete shutdown of any foreign RPA platform on the territory of Russia and, therefore, to the stop of all related processes in all Russian companies using it, - emphasizes Alexander Chernikov. - Of course, such a probability is small, but many clients seek to avoid such a risk | |
Thus, to select domestic suppliers, there are certain reasons, in addition to the need for import substitution: price (including the lack of the need to pay VAT when buying a program from the register of domestic software), more efficient work with local Russian software products, in particular, 1C solutions, as well as the possibility of operational feedback.
| | Foreign vendors do not work to order - it is impossible to agree with them on revision for a specific customer and its inclusion in the next release. Domestic vendors are often ready to show flexibility and meet the client halfway, - explains Alexander Chernikov. | |
However, the further development of RPA technologies, which is happening today before our eyes, can change the profile of the competitive situation. The main growth points of the Russian RPA market for 2022 are connected not only with the scaling of technology within the company, the automation of new business processes and the further development of competence centers (CoE) according to RPA, recalls Dmitry Smykalov, as well as with the development of hyperautomatization scenarios, including through a combination of RPA and artificial intelligence.
| | The development of cognitive robots will bypass bottlenecks, optimize processes or create new integrations where it was impossible before, he is sure. | |
By and large, there are two fronts of competition for RPA solutions, draws a line under the discussion of Anatoly Belaychuk from Comindware:
| | The first is the struggle to redistribute the existing market. For the most part, it has already been divided, and for every additional percentage you need to fight. And the second is the race for the future market for AI robots. So far, there are more promises on the second front than real achievements, but the winner will hit a big jackpot. | |
2019
The market for RPA systems in Russia in 2019 is actively growing. Regarding the level of market development, its players differ in estimates. At the same time, they talk about various obstacles that interfere with its faster development.
Dynamics and features of the RPA systems market in Russia
The market size of RPA systems in Russia, according to Robin CEO Pavel Borchenko, is clearly growing in 2019. At the same time, all companies in the country have already formed an understanding of what RPA is.
Director of the Laboratory for Robotization of Processes of Sberbank Alexander Pyatkov drew TAdviser's attention to the fact that the Russian market for RPA systems is not lagging behind the global one. Moreover, according to the expert, Russia is at the forefront in terms of the development of the RPA systems market.
| | For example, at the stage of replication of RPA technology - at the transition from 5 to 20-50 robots in the industrial circuit - only 18% of companies are globally located, - said Alexander Pyatkov. | |
According to Stanislav Maslov, head of robotization and custom development at Softline, over the past few years, the RPA systems market in Russia has grown significantly and continues to grow by an average of 30-50% annually.
| | In the foreign market, RPA technology began to develop much earlier. In Russia, the peak of interest in it came at a time when all platforms have already developed to such a state that from a technical point of view they have become no longer as important as an integrated approach, the ability to find the necessary processes, competently conduct analytics and be able to apply the knowledge gained in implementation, - said Stanislav Maslov. | |
According to Andrei Zaytseva, director of the department of contact centers and robotic systems at Naumen, in 2018 the Russian market for RPA systems increased by 50%. In 2019, the expert expects the same significant increase in it.
Mikhail Petrov, Director of Products and Innovations at VR Bank (one of the customers of the RPA solution), told TAdviser that the global market for RPA systems in 2019 will be $1.3-1.7 billion. Russia, as Petrov hopes, will take 10-13% of this volume. At the same time, in any case, according to him, the growth of the RPA systems market in Russia in 2019 will be higher than the global ones, striving to double. Its feature in the country, according to Petrov, is a small number of commercial solutions and low competition.
In addition to the active growth of the RPA systems market in Russia, IT market players surveyed by TAdviser noted the demand for RPA solutions outlined in the country from the public sector. So, according to Stanislav Maslov, head of robotization and custom development at Softline, after the technology has proven itself positively in Russian business, state-owned companies and enterprises have picked up the trend for installing RPA systems. Read more here.
Note that on December 5, 2019, it became known about the inclusion in the unified register of Russian programs for electronic computers and databases of the first RPA system - Robin RPA, manufactured by Robin. This was reported in the GC "Applana." As TAdviser found out, another domestic RPA platform, Primo RPA, is expected to be included in the register, the manufacturer of which is Rondem.
RPA Market Players in Russia
According to Pavel Borchenko, many local and foreign manufacturers of RPA systems appear in Russia.
| | Thus, the choice of customers in Russia is extremely diverse, - said Borchenko. | |
According to Mikhail Andreyanov, head of the Center for Competencies in Banking Technologies at Technoserv Group of Companies, companies such as UiPath and Blue Prism are still the leaders in the Russian market for RPA systems. The market itself is still in its infancy.
Alexander Pyatkov has a similar opinion. The third world leader, Automation Anywhere, according to him, is practically not represented in the country. Despite the fact that its solution is not inferior in functionality and cost to the products UiPath and Blue Prism. Moreover, according to the expert, Automation Anywhere is most highly appreciated by investors in the RPA system market - its cost is more than $6 billion with a revenue forecast of $300-400 million.
RPA System Market Barriers in Russia
Speaking about the difficulties of implementing software robots, Pavel Borchenko drew TAdviser's attention to the fact that RPA systems are characterized by an obvious feature, which in fact is both their advantage and disadvantage at the same time.
| | Robots work with existing systems and do not require their modifications. This allows you to quickly get the result and start the robot. But in the future, the result will depend on updates to the systems with which the robot works. Thus, their absence can interfere with the result. Many do not understand this in the first stages, which is why various incidents occur on projects. It should always be understood that robots are not a magic wand, but a convenient tool that can solve a huge number of different problems, - said Pavel Borchenko. | |
According to Mikhail Andreyanov, Russia often misunderstands the essence of RPA technology and has some kind of "magical" thinking.
| | Robots are mainly purchased not as a tool that offloads employees, or optimizing processes, but as a means of reducing staff. As a result, there is disappointment in the technology. Unfortunately, the driver of growth in Russia is still promoting the product under the slogans "any robot is made in two weeks," "one robot replaces four people," etc., - said Mikhail Andreyanov. | |
He also noted that this can not always be called at least half-truths. In addition, in his opinion, vendors themselves strike the market, often focusing their marketing programs on things that are not useful for robotization, such as machine learning and integration with various external services, and silent about the lack of basic functionality for robotization.
| | As a result, the disappointment of the business is only growing, - said TAdviser Mikhail Andreyanov. | |
According to Andrei Zaitsev, the key barrier to the development of RPA systems in Russia is the lack of a digital business transformation strategy for many companies. As the expert pointed out, they are in the stage of point testing of RPA solutions, and at this stage it is sometimes difficult for them to give an objective assessment of the potential of these technologies. The success of such pilot projects, according to Zaytsev, directly depends on how carefully the company's business processes were audited for automation.
| | Thus, the formation of a systematic approach to digital transformation in the business will be an additional catalyst for demand for RPA systems. In turn, as the market "matures," vendors of these systems will increasingly look towards integration into the products of artificial intelligence technologies, - said Andrei Zaytsev. | |
The creation of intelligent RPA solutions, he said, will help expand the range of tasks that RPA systems can solve, as well as bring automation to a fundamentally new level, at which robots not only follow the specified rules, but independently make decisions.
DIT of Moscow: Half of the companies in the capital have introduced robotic automation of processes
Almost half of the companies in Moscow have introduced technologies for robotic process automation. This was reported in a study conducted by the Moscow Department of Information Technology and the authors of ICT.Moscow. The data were released in August 2019.
The study was attended by representatives of 461 small and medium-sized businesses, 12 large companies, as well as experts. About half - 41% - of the surveyed representatives of small businesses in Moscow and 52% of medium-sized businesses have already implemented RPA technologies.
According to the study, 79% of small and 86% of medium-sized businesses are familiar with RPA. About a third are aware of the capabilities of RPA, but do not yet have experience in its use. Only 21% of small businesses and 14% of medium-sized businesses said they had not encountered the technology.
Most often, RPA is already used in areas such as data analysis and document management. The most common automation of statistics collection (61%), reporting (54%), computing (51%) and filling out forms with data (50%).
According to the authors of the study, in the next two years, starting in August 2019, 94% of companies using RPA plan to continue to robotize their business processes, and 85% want to open vacancies for RPA specialists or already have them in the state. 81% of companies surveyed recouped their RPA costs, most of them in less than a year.
Among the advantages of RPA technology, respondents note:
- versatility;
- the rate of implementation;
- fast payback;
- saving human resources;
- relatively low cost.
Key barriers to implementing RPA respondents indicated:
- Business's lack of understanding of the benefits of RPA
- lack of awareness of the technology;
- low salaries of employees whose functions can be robotized;
- conservatism of executives;
- features of processes in companies (for example, the lack of a clear operating algorithm).[1]
Moscow launches robotization of business processes in authorities
On June 5, 2019, the Moscow Department of Information Technologies ((DIT) announced testing of robotization of business processes (RPA) in executive authorities. RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is a software and hardware complex that emulates human actions in various computer systems. RPA "robots" can work around the clock, allowing you to free up human resources for expert tasks, the DIT notes.
Main article: Moscow launches robotization of business processes in authorities
Knowledge base on Russian and global experience in implementing RPA technology
In 2019, the ICT.Moscow platform hosted a free knowledge base on Russian and world experience in introducing business process robotization (RPA) technology. [2]
2017-2018
Main article: Why RPA becomes the technology of the year
In Russia, 2017 was the starting point for the spread of RPA technologies. Market participants gradually began to learn about the capabilities of RPA systems. In addition, growth was facilitated by the fact that RPA solution providers optimized pricing policies, reducing the payback period for implementations to one year.
By the end of 2017, the volume of licensed implementation of RPA in Russia amounted to about 1000 units. This is due to the fact that the heads of companies introduced only pilot projects, and they became interested in licensed ones only by the end of the year. The low growth in interest in implementing RPA in 2017 was simply explained. First, there were concerns related to the release of workers due to the introduction of robotization in the company. There was also an objective shortage of specialists with relevant competencies with experience with technology. Moreover, the requirements for specialists were and are a little broader than just knowing the technology. RPA specialists should be able to work at the interface of business intelligence, process engineering and IT. In addition, some companies did not have an understanding of the approach to the formation of the RPA competence center.
See also
- How software robots turn into a digital workforce
- Why is RPA becoming the technology of the year?
- Overview of the BPM system in Russia
- BPM Market Statistics
- Directions of development of BPM systems
- Learn more about BPMS
- Business simulation
- Global BPM Market
- BPM (Implementation)
- Where will the evolution of BPM lead?
- Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
- Project and Process Management Issues
- Services and Products in BPM Practice
- How to painlessly implement process management in the company
- Corporate/Business/Enterprise Performance Management
- "Russian market VRM 2015-2016." BPM Logic and TAdviser Research
- Development differences on RPA UiPath and Kofax RPA platforms
Notes
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