Australian RPA market grew to $52.3m in 2018

The Australian robotic process automation (RPA) software market is growing rapidly, having reached $52.3 million in 2018, according to Gartner.

While the Australian market is relatively small compared to leading countries, total revenue nearly doubled from the $27.4 million recorded in 2017.

Globally, the RPA software market is estimated to have grown 63.1% last year to US$846 million ($1.21 billion) and to climb to US$1.3 billion this year. This makes RPA the fastest growing segment of the global enterprise software market.

The top five RPA vendors — UiPath, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism, NICE and Pegasystems — controlled a combined 47% of the market in 2018. But the leaderboard is far from settled, according to Gartner Research Vice President Fabrizio Biscotti.

“Competition is intense, with nine of the top 10 vendors changing market share position in 2018,” he said. “The vendors ranked sixth and seventh (Kofax and NTT-AT) achieved triple-digit revenue growth. This makes the top-five ranking appear largely unsettled.”

The market is expected to be further shaken up by the moves by large software companies such as IBM, Microsoft and SAP to partner with or acquire RPA software providers to gain a foothold into the market, he added.

The biggest early adopters of RPA software are banks, insurance companies, telecommunications service providers and utilities. But RPA software is being adopted across all industries.

“The ability to integrate legacy systems is the key driver for RPA projects. By using this technology, organisations can quickly accelerate their digital transformation initiatives, while unlocking the value associated with past technology investments,” Biscotti said.

Image credit: ©Serg Nvns/Dollar Photo Club

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