Automation in the Cloud

In the search for greater efficiency and lower cost, one of the business solutions quickly becoming inevitable is the move to the Cloud.  Organizations that were not early adopters find themselves facing that question as more and more infrastructures, platforms, software, and processes are only offered through the Cloud.  And in the complicated web of technology, the Cloud and robotic process automation are closely linked.

To be clear, the Cloud referenced here is not a specific location in cyberspace or even in real life (in the form of remote servers).  It’s better to think of the Cloud as a new method in IT services.  Service providers that specialize in Cloud services now go way beyond loaning out server space.  Applications like Citrix and Salesforce offer organizations the ability to store huge amounts of data offsite and access that data from virtually any location through their software.  With Cloud technology, the days of manually updating software on every computer in the office are gone.  Having a central hub of sorts that is accessed by other machines keeps things tight and easy to maintain.

The rise in Cloud technology either created the space for or directly led to the now hot-button topic of the As-a-service economy.  In a recent paper on cloud's impact on IT service providers, HfS Research identified at least fourteen different As-a-service activities (no doubt there are even more within specific industries).  The four biggest players are Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and the newer Business Process-as-a-Service (BPaaS).  All of these activities are made possible because of the Cloud.  Instead of a company building or purchasing its own infrastructure, platforms, software, and business processes, they agree to let a Cloud service provider take care of it for a fee.  It’s kind of like outsourcing your IT.

It’s fairly easy to see how RPA fits into that picture, especially with RPA as an extension of business process outsourcing.  The same HfS paper even predicted that with automation, BPaas may leapfrog over Saas to quickly become a major component in the As-a-service economy.  What software will be necessary after an organization has BPaaS?  Time will tell.

RPA like UiPath can either be delivered as a Cloud service or as onsite software.  If the thought of handing over your business processes to a remote server makes you nervous, don’t worry; you can still enjoy the benefits of RPA.  If your organization is half in the Cloud already, RPA is there too.  UiPath is ready to go wherever and whenever you need.