Three-quarters of business leaders say remote working will drive the use of automation technologies

• 78% of organisations worldwide agree that remote working will increase the proportion of their organisation's workforce using automation in their roles – up from 65% in 2020;
• More than half (55%) of organisations say that the biggest barrier to implementing a wider range of intelligent automation technologies is a lack of skills and experience.

Three-quarters (78%) of business leaders agree that remote working and the reconfiguration of the workplace will increase the amount of people in their workforce using automation, according to the latest findings of Deloitte’s Global Intelligent Automation report.

Deloitte’s survey of 479 executives across 35 countries shows the influence of hybrid and remote working on digital transformation and how this is rapidly changing the roles of workers and the skills required to manage these technologies. Around 71% of organisations are now using automation technology to some extent, with 13% using automation at scale.

More than half (55%) of business leaders say that a lack of skills and experience is a significant barrier to implementing a wider range of intelligent automation technologies in their organisation.

David Wright, partner in Deloitte’s Intelligent Automation team, said: “We know that the question is no longer about whether automation will change ways of working, but rather how. With organisations adapting to a changing business landscape, remote working for many has become the ‘new normal’. Automation is playing a crucial role in enabling greater productivity, no matter where a workforce is based. Whether it’s responding to basic queries or streamlining workflows to allow more time for collaboration, intelligent automation is here to stay. The task now will be upskilling and training the workforce to adapt to these new technologies so that everyone can benefit from them.”

Businesses feeling the benefits of automation

With 71% of organisations now using automation, many are beginning to feel the benefits of what these technologies can provide for their businesses. 89% of organisations that are already implementing or scaling automations agreed that the implementation of their intelligent automation strategy had met or exceeded their expectations of improved productivity. 86% say increased productivity has been the biggest benefit to scaling automation in their organisation.

Wright added: “Adoption of new technologies may be seen as daunting for some organisations who are facing a big change to the way their business operates. However, we are seeing positive feedback from business leaders who say that automation is already having real-time benefits in scaling, productivity and improving resilience. There are also high expectations for further improvements as a result of implementing intelligent automation strategies, which we will hopefully see developing across all sectors and organisations in the near future.”

Automation-as-a-service attracting attention

Automation-as-a-service (AaaS), when automation is provided as a service rather than a one-off process, allows for research, analysis, design, development and ongoing support and maintenance of automated processes. Organisations are increasingly adopting an automation-as-a-service approach, with 79% agreeing that it will become an important way of delivering intelligent automation over the next three years.

More than three-quarters (77%) of organisations say that they expect to achieve scalability (ability to adopt more tools) by making use of automation-as-a-service, while 75% say AaaS will help them to achieve faster deployment.

At present, 63% say they have already achieved faster deployment as a result of automation-as-a-service, and 61% say they have already achieved scalability.

Wright concluded: “Good progress is being made with organisations adopting automation and scaling their applications to new heights. However, intelligent technologies are rapidly developing and increasing in number, so business leaders will need to remain agile and open to adaptation in order to stay up to date with the latest tools and techniques. Nurturing a learning culture is also crucial to support the future development and implementation of automation.”

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Notes to editors

To obtain a global view of how organisations implement and scale intelligent automation technologies, Deloitte surveyed 479 executives from 35 countries and a wide range of industries. Of the respondents, 48% were from Europe and Africa, 47% from the Americas and 5% from Asia-Pacific. The range of participating executives included heads of automation (19%), CFOs or finance directors (19%), CIOs or IT directors (19%), shared services leaders or global business services leaders (6%) and COOs or operations directors (13%); 19% held ‘other’ roles.

The full report is available online here.

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