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by monkeydust
2021 days ago
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Was chatting to someone yesterday who ran a RPA startup for last few years to automate repeatable desktop activities. Essentially automation anywhere, UI path got to big for them to compete with, they also did not raise enough at the right time, but - more interesting to me - was that the founder said larger corporates were moving away from RPA to more structured api integrations to support automation. They had an OK offering (I tried it) and managed to build up a client base of 20 or so corporates but now they are winding down and founder is looking for a job. The quick ROI bang for buck through RPA has probably been exploited enough I feel and limitations are being exposed... My view but curious to hear others on state of automation software. |
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1. Web-first consumers too dumb to use more modern, structured interfaces, or migrate away from platforms that don't offer them.
2. Business units in large enterprise companies with dysfunctional IT that can't develop.
3. 40+ year old industries with a heritage of legacy computing systems, complex enough that migrations are measured in decades.
#1 doesn't have much money. #2 is eventually going to get their act together. And #3 is services-heavy, because they want you to support their kooky tech stack.
But essentially... if you can't fully support legacy Windows (mainframe + Java + Powerbuilder et al.), don't get in the game.
Which is a long way of saying it's winner-take-all, due to the volume of business required to amortize that custom Windows work over. UiPath realized this, which is why they pushed the pedal to the floor to goose growth.
(Also, Automation Anywhere's architecture and core tech is a kludged-together joke)