"Our experience to date in the RPA space is that our clients are waking up to the robotic process automation (RPA) wave taking the world by storm. Companies are identifying with the new disruptive technology that assists with the automation of mundane tasks being performed by humans, allowing them to focus on other tasks in their workday that require more cognitive and value-added intervention," says Allen Pascoe, Divisional Head RPA at Datafinity. It's a known fact that the challenges facing organisations, in spite of technological tools available, still include realities like paper-based processes, lack of control, inability to retrieve documents at speed, inefficient processes that lack clear roles and rules, multiple technology solutions that do not necessarily connect to each other, legislative requirements not being met, shortage of resources, financial constraints, unprecedented growth requiring concomitant support and collaboration between multiple resources, etc. In conjunction with the disruptive technologies like cloud, IOT, AI and the like, companies are finding it difficult to remain focused on the best means to find a way to remain relevant, competitive and still add value to the client. Digital transformation is defined as the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It's also a cultural change that requires organisations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment and get comfortable with failure.

"Our experience to date in the RPA space is that our clients are waking up to the robotic process automation (RPA) wave taking the world by storm. Companies are identifying with the new disruptive technology that assists with the automation of mundane tasks being performed by humans, allowing them to focus on other tasks in their workday that require more cognitive and value-added intervention," says Allen Pascoe, Divisional Head RPA at Datafinity. It's a known fact that the challenges facing organisations, in spite of technological tools available, still include realities like paper-based processes, lack of control, inability to retrieve documents at speed, inefficient processes that lack clear roles and rules, multiple technology solutions that do not necessarily connect to each other, legislative requirements not being met, shortage of resources, financial constraints, unprecedented growth requiring concomitant support and collaboration between multiple resources, etc. In conjunction with the disruptive technologies like cloud, IOT, AI and the like, companies are finding it difficult to remain focused on the best means to find a way to remain relevant, competitive and still add value to the client. Digital transformation is defined as the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It's also a cultural change that requires organisations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment and get comfortable with failure.

The robotic process automation (RPA) services market is booming around the world, according to a recently published Forrester Research report, titled'The RPA Services Market will Grow to Reach $12 billion by 2023'. In 2018, the market was estimated to be worth only $3.9 billion. Furthermore, Forrester's research indicates that over the past three years, annual revenue growth for the top services vendors has topped 100%, rising from around $0.6 billion in 2017 to an estimated $4.2 billion by 2023. After surveying 25 of the top RPA service providers about their customers, geographic focus, revenue and scale of implementations for the report, which was published last month, the authors – Leslie Joseph and Craig Le Clair – concluded that the massive growth in RPA services was a result not only of organisations adopting RPA as a cost mitigation strategy, but because automation was regarded as critical to the implementation of broader digital transformation efforts. However, while RPA adoption in terms of spend appears to be rising around the world, Forrester was unable to provide information about RPA adoption in Africa, or South Africa, as it was unable to source sufficient data.