Back @ IT: Automation without Boundaries with Robocorp

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is expected to grow with a compound annual growth rate of almost 33% by 2028, and there is no stopping in sight.

However, the pendulum is finally settling towards the middle now. Low-code/no-code solutions were the shiny new toy when they burst onto the scene a few years ago. And, this created a surge in citizen developers who were creating things everywhere.

On the other end of the spectrum, professional developers need a flexible solution to democratize RPA. And, they need a way to create reusable components across their ecosystems.

In this "Back @ IT" podcast episode, I’m joined by Antti Karjalainen, CEO and co-founder, and Peter Steube, Head of Content Marketing and Partners Ecosystems for Robocorp.

We’ll chat through Robocorp’s unique differentiators, the Robots as a Service (RaaS) concept, the future of RPA, and much more.

Highlights

00:24: Antti introduces himself and states that, since 2018, he has been "building on this vision of open ecosystem in RPA". Next, Peter introduces himself and outlines his responsibilities for global partnerships and alliances.

02:26: There is a non-profit foundation, formed in 2015, that Antti is a part of that is built on an open-source project.

06:45: The need for a balance between citizen developers and professional developers is needed. There are people who want to go deep with RPA while others like the low-code approach.

08:51: Robocorp is seeing huge growth across its Partner Ecosystem. The growth has been organic and has seen healthcare as a big driver of adoption.
In June 2021, Robocorp closed on a $21 million Series A investment round to fuel its continued growth.
Source: https://robocorp.com/blog/robocorp-closes-21-million-series-a

10:11: Peter outlined their approach with the Partner Ecosystem to "win at both ends of the marketplace". This enables organizations to massively complex needs backed by "10 years of libraries and keywords".

13:42: Larger companies want to create a Center of Excellence around RPA. The CoE provides a way for automation leaders to target specific use cases within their organization.
The vision was that that these [RPA] bots are going to be leveraged by companies of all sizes, not just enterprise - Antti Karjalainen | co-founder/CEO | Robocorp

18:03: The focus of Robocorp is to deliver bots that can do routine work, but that can also be infused with intelligence. People are utilizing the bots for hyper-science, document processing, and robocalls, for example.

21:17: Specific industries, such as healthcare, are looking to RPA to streamline processes. Additionally, the bots can run on-premise, in the cloud, or through independent software vendors.

Robocorp's goal is to fuel the creators, the experimenters, the thinkers, and the doers. Makers of things with a noble cause — liberating humans to use their energy on what’s important at work.