The Rise of RPA & Its Impact on The Workforce

Will RPA have an impact on your workforce and reshape the labour market in years to come?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is growing rapidly. As more and more organisations are adopting this crucial tool along their digital transformation journey, seeking the unprecedented benefits of elevated productivity and value that automation provides. It is becoming increasingly important for leaders to understand the impact this will have on their workforce and the labour market.

RPA is growing rapidly

While the RPA industry is still in its early stages, this innovative technology is being widely implemented across a number of businesses in various industries. The 2019 Robotics and Automation Report recently published by Raconteur in The Times (supported by Centelli) notes that RPA has grown by 63% in 2018 and is expected to grow a further 54% in 2019 – making it the fastest-growing enterprise-software category.

Download: Robotics and Automation Report

Benefits of RPA on the workforce

However, with these benefits comes an element of change that you can manage effectively. The rise of automation and RPA is expected to change the current split in type of work carried out by the workforce. Experts agree that the change will bring about a major increase in the need for social/emotional and technological skills.

Trending skills for a human-robot collaborative workforce

In a survey of business leaders, results show that the key skills that will be in demand in 2022 for a workforce that embraces human-robot collaboration will be:

• Analytical thinking and innovation
• Active learning and learning strategies
• Creativity, originality and initiative
• Technology design and programming
• Critical thinking and analysis
• Complex problem solving
• Leadership and social influence
• Emotional intelligence
• Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
• Systems analysis and evaluation

Embracing the future of a digital workforce

Rather than fearing the inevitable change that will continue to come from the rise of RPA, we encourage organisations to view transformation and automation as a major opportunity that will benefit both organisations and employees alike. Robotics and automation are not here to take away human roles or make your current staff redundant. Instead, RPA is an effective solution for creating additional capacity within your teams to carry out more value-adding tasks. These will benefit your business quality of work and customer service. In addition, it will also create more engaging and fulfilling roles for your employees.

Centelli RPA

RPA is about more than just technology; it is about empowering workforces and organisations. At Centelli, we too are about more than just technology. With strong expertise in process optimisation and business operations, our team offer a service that goes far beyond simply providing a technological solution. We help organisations foster an environment suitable for effective human-robot collaboration and help businesses to make the most of a digital workforce. Get in touch to speak to one of our experts.