How the Automation Generation is supercharging productivity and profitability

2023 has been a monumental year in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). OpenAI’s ChatGPT, with its ability to create content, generate code, and enhance user productivity, has solidified its place as an indispensable tool for many.

But while ChatGPT is impressive, it’s just one application of a large language model (LLM). AI-powered automation solutions leverage robust LLMs to take on a range of tasks that free up human employees for more creative and productive work.

With this higher productivity comes significant economic gains. McKinsey found that increasing productivity growth by just 0.8% could unlock $10 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP). Since “corporate profits and shareholder returns are directly linked to productivity growth,” there’s a clear mandate for business leaders to boost labor productivity.

In this blog, I’ll delve deeper into how these AI advancements help employees do more with less, directly resulting in bottom-line improvements.

Maximizing profits through higher productivity

Generative AI and other related technologies represent a new frontier in labor productivity. A recent article from McKinsey notes that “Generative AI could enable labor productivity growth of 0.1 to 0.6 percent annually through 2040.” But that’s just the start—many enterprises have already incorporated automation, and by “combining generative AI with all other technologies, work automation could add 0.2 to 3.3 percentage points annually to productivity growth.”

And increased productivity and engagement improve profitability. In fact, businesses with a highly engaged workforce are “21% more profitable . . . than those with disengaged staff.” Plus, their employees are a lot less likely to head for the exits—nearly nine in ten employees say they’re less likely to leave their job if they feel engaged at work.

The rise of the Automation Generation

While the financial benefits of AI-powered automation tools are significant, both employers and employees are also finding that the technology streamlines operations and enriches the work experience.

According to the UiPath 2023 Automation Generation report, which surveyed more than 6,400 workers across the globe, “employees are increasingly looking for automation to help with mundane, repetitive tasks . . . This technology also has the ability to increase employee satisfaction, engagement, and productivity by removing the mundane tasks that they dread from their workdays . . . Fifty-six percent of all respondents also said they believe AI-powered automation solutions would empower them to do their jobs better, and 44% of respondents want to contribute more to the creation of automations in their workplace that could enhance their work-life balance.”

Younger workers tend to lead the way in adopting new technologies, a phenomenon validated by the Automation Generation report—nearly 70% of Gen Z have a favorable view of AI-powered automation. But more than half of Gen X and 44% of Baby Boomers also recognize the value of these tools.

The Automation Generation isn’t confined to any one age or demographic. It represents a diverse cross-section of professionals who are leveraging AI-powered automation to get more out of their workdays.

Here are just a few ways this group is leveraging these tools to benefit both themselves and their employers:

Freeing up time to learn new skills

Giving employees time to learn new skills is a strategic advantage for businesses. A survey by PwC “found that 93% of CEOs who introduce upskilling programs see increased productivity, improved talent acquisition and retention, and a more resilient workforce.”

Increased training time can also help managers tackle skills gaps in a cost-efficient manner. As the World Economic Forum states, “Skills gaps continue to be high as in-demand skills across jobs change . . . On average, companies estimate that around 40% of workers will require reskilling of six months or less and 94% of business leaders report that they expect employees to pick up new skills on the job . . . A significant number of business leaders understand that reskilling employees . . . is both cost-effective and has significant mid- to long-term dividends.”

Spending more time on “deep work”

Digital tools have made it easier for knowledge workers to communicate during the workday, but they’ve come at the expense of uninterrupted periods of focus. Research from Asana found that “60% of knowledge workers’ time is spent on coordination rather than the skilled, strategic jobs they were hired to do. This  . . .  presents an opportunity for teams who prioritize focus at work, because they can produce better results than their competition.”

These benefits aren’t just theoretical. Leading companies are already realizing a significant ROI from their AI-powered automation investments.

An IBM survey of enterprises found that 30-40% are finding business value in AI, which has doubled since 2017. One forecast IBM referenced stated that AI will deliver $16 trillion in global economic contribution by 2030 . . . AI will fill many gaps between the skill requirements of businesses and people who have those skills by enhancing productivity.

Kevin Krewell, Contributor, Forbes

Expion Health, a provider of cost-management solutions to the healthcare industry, is one of those enterprises. Between medical records, credentialing documents, and pricing information, they had a massive amount of sensitive, unstructured data to manage. By leveraging a range of UiPath Business Automation Platform tools, including UiPath Document Understanding, Expion was able to automate the extraction and processing of this data.

This solution unlocked immense productivity improvements, including a 600% increase in the volume of claims they can handle. Five robots “are helping the company achieve a 99% success rate on claims processing and an overall 97% increase in productivity.”

AI-powered automation helps companies boost bottom lines

AI is no longer just a buzzword—leading enterprises are operationalizing the technology by integrating AI with enterprise automation. This is a pivotal insight for senior business leaders, since the combination is supercharging productivity and profitability.

The UiPath Business Automation Platform offers a comprehensive solution for quickly deploying and realizing value from AI-powered automation. Whether it’s Generative AI, Specialized AI, or a blend of both, UiPath delivers scalable and reliable automation solutions tailored to your unique business requirements. This approach gives AI the context needed to generate a significant ROI.

The full Automation Generation report is packed with more insights on how AI-powered automation is supercharging productivity. See it for yourself and download the report today.

Editor’s note: this is a guest blog post. Views represented in this blog post are the author's own.