Automation and digital transformation go hand in hand. Increasing numbers of processes are being automated, while at the same time, bots are evolving to take on a broader range of tasks across the organization.

And as automation platforms become essential to company operations, their strategic importance increases.

“We do want our customers to understand [that] we know this is a mission-critical platform,” said Ted Kummert (pictured), executive vice president of products and engineering at UiPath Inc. “It’s now integral to the work people do. It’s integral to the process. If it ever fails them, that’s a mission-critical failure.”

Kummert spoke with Dave Vellante and Lisa Martin, co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during UiPath’s Forward IV conference. They discussed UiPath’s vision for the future, including the company’s strategic partnership with cybersecurity company CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. (* Disclosure below.)

Robots need cybersecurity protection too

A glimpse into the future of automation was on show last week at UiPath Inc.’s Forward IV event, with the robotic process automation market leader revealing new products and strategic partnerships that expand and strengthen its platform. One was the partnership with cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

Just like their human counterparts, robot “employees” can be security weak points. In order to counter this, UiPath and CrowdStrike are developing an endpoint protection solution that understands robots, according to Kummert.

While existing end-point security solutions protect robots, they don’t separate robot actions from human ones. This is a problem, according to Kummert, because robots are unique and need unique security responses. Current end-point security solutions “can’t tell the security analysts that was an action a robot took versus a human. And it doesn’t know how to take specific mitigation steps,” he said.

UiPath knows about robots, and CrowdStrike understands security. “By working together, we can connect the dots,” Kummert stated.

The result is that UiPath’s automation platform is the first point security offering built for the robot workforce, he added.

“It would be fantastic if we ever got to a point where we felt like security was a solved problem, but it won’t ever be,” Kummert said. “It’s important to know that endpoint protection does provide protection for robots today.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of UiPath’s Forward IV conference. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the UiPath’s Forward IV conference. Neither UiPath Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE