The future of automation is a hot topic, especially now that “work-from-home” — forced onto most businesses as a result of the coronavirus pandemic — has permanently shifted the enterprise culture.

UiPath Inc., a global leader in the robotic process automation market, is fighting to be the top RPA software provider. The company provides a software platform to help organizations efficiently automate business processes. 

In 2005, UiPath operated with a 10-person team in Bucharest, Romania, where it outsourced automation libraries and software to businesses. Today, it has more than 5,000 enterprise customers and has raised more than $920 million, with a valuation of $7 billion.

The company’s UiPath Academy has taught RPA to more than 35,000 now-certified developers, which helped propel its quick growth. And in 2019, UiPath was named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Robotic Process Automation Software, alongside Blue Prism Group and Automation Anywhere Inc.

UiPath held its UiPath Live: The Release Show on May 13 and 14 to roll out its first major product release of 2020, UiPath 20.4. The event included details on how UiPath’s end-to-end Platform for Hyperautomation enables a virtuous cycle, how its Automation Cloud provides quick and easy scalability with high availability, and how its StudioX, UiPath Assistant, and Automation Hub products are helping to fill its vision of “a robot for every person.”

TheCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, is providing post-event analysis on Thursday, May 21, at 9 a.m. PDT, to provide key insights into UiPath’s journey in the RPA market, as well as how other vendors are competing. Dave Vellante, co-host of theCUBE and chief analyst at Wikibon, SiliconANGLE’s sister company, will talk with UiPath executives about their vision of a “robot for every person,” real RPA versus marketing hype, and automation software architectures.

RPA market stays red hot as investors go all-in

The benefits of RPA are numerous and include better use of staff resources, faster customer service, improved analytics, better governance, and improved scalability. The goal of RPA isn’t to replace the workforce, but to augment it for better results. 

“We estimate that for $1 invested in UiPath, our customers can return $15 or more in their first year,” according to Param Kahlon, chief product officer at UiPath. “We’re making it easy for more professionals across the enterprise to interact with robots, including citizen developers, business analysts and end-users.”

Based on the promise of a big return on investment, as well as the possibility of using technology to build a better business for the long term, RPA continues to disrupt the tech industry, according to a recent report from Gartner.

“Robotic process automation has democratized integration and automation, leading to widespread business adoption and 60%-plus vendor revenue growth. It is imperative that IT leaders stay ahead of RPA use and market developments to ensure efficacy and business agility,” the report says.

As organizations continue to weigh where the best ROI can be achieved using RPA, venture capitalists have lined up to invest. UiPath and Automation Anywhere have raised nearly $2 billion and continue to grow rapidly, according to a new Wikibon report. In addition, “existing players like Blue Prism have benefited from the automation trend, and existing business process players like Pegasystems who started in the early ‘80s has added RPA to its platform — as have many others, including Microsoft who has been trying to crack into this market for a while,” Vellante explained.

It seems the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated the need for automation tools as companies struggle to coordinate systems and data in multiple locations — from on-premises to the edge, and everywhere in-between.

“Automation initiatives that reduce human labor that is not value-add has been gaining traction for the past 18 months,” Vellante stated. “The pandemic has accelerated the focus on such efforts, and robotic process automation along with machine intelligence have been beneficiaries relative to other segments of the IT stack.”

Looking forward, the RPA market is predicted to continue expanding, and Wikibon foresees a substantial TAM expansion opportunity for the technology. “If you expand the definition beyond RPA software into the broader automation opportunities, this market could be much larger than depicted here — perhaps well over a $100B opportunity as AI-powered automation becomes a fundamental part of every organization’s operating model,” Vellante explained.

Gartner’s conclusions also predict a big expansion in the RPA market, as it recently reported that by combining redesigned operational processes with hyperautomation, businesses will reduce operational costs by 30% by 2024.

For more on UiPath’s journey in the RPA market, as well as the future of the industry, tune in to theCUBE’s in-depth analysis starting at 9 a.m. PDT on May 21.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch theCUBE’s coverage and post-event analysis of the UiPath Live: The Release Show, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s events on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE’s coverage of the UiPath Live: The Release Show

Watch theCUBE’s post-event analysis of UiPath Live: The Release Show on theCUBE’s dedicated page and YouTube channel.

TheCUBE’s post-event analysis of the UiPath Live: The Release Show can be viewed on theCUBE’s dedicated page and YouTube channel.

TheCUBE Insights podcast

SiliconANGLE also has podcasts available of archived interview sessions, available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify, which you can enjoy while on the go.

UiPath Live event speakers and special guests included: 

• Param Kahlon, chief product officer, UiPath
• Tarek Madkour, VP of product, UiPath
• Brandon Nott, SVP of product, UiPath
• Iulia Istrate, director of product management, UiPath
• Bogdan Ripa, VP of product management, UiPath
• Maureen Fleming, program VP, IDC
• Aftab Ahmed, program manager, Emerging Digital Technology for Functions, ConocoPhillips
• Chiron Lum, associate director, Group Digital Office, Singtel

Guests who will be interviewed on theCUBE’s Post-Event Analysis of UiPath Live

Guests who will be interviewed on theCUBE’s UiPath Live: Post Event Analysis include UiPath executives Bobby Patrick, chief marketing officer; Ted Kummert, EVP of product and engineering; Tarek Madkour, director of product management; and Brandon Nott, SVP of product. 

TheCUBE’s Dave Vellante will also present a “breaking analysis on RPA,” discussing the latest demand picture for the RPA sector.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the UiPath Live: The Release Show: Post Event Analysis. Neither UiPath, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE