Indian companies increasing automation budgets

Around 93% of Indian firms plan to expand automation budgets by 2023 and some two-thirds or 66% are boosting automation funding by 25% or more, a study says. The survey by Automation Anywhere, which was carried out across eight countries including India, noted that reliance on automation technologies, including robotics, AI/ML, edge solutions and IoT etc., has not only risen dramatically in the last one year, but has also become the key to navigate current market challenges and sustain business performance.

As per the study, 98% of Indian organisations believe automation is helping them address supply chain issues, and 86% of business leaders in India said that automation has helped them better address staffing shortages. Almost 99% surveyed agreed that collaboration between humans and intelligent assistants will play an important part in their future-of-work strategies.

The report further says, the consequences of the pandemic and political-economic volatility have disrupted business operations and hence, it is not surprising that of the 1000 global organisations surveyed more than 90% agreed that automation addresses the impact of supply chain and economic uncertainty.

The report further revealed that actual bot deployments in India surpasses those in the rest of the world, with 67% of companies having already deployed over 300 bots across their enterprise organisation (compared to just 21% in other global markets).

Moreover, the research found that cloud-based automations are becoming vital for future-proofing business transformation strategies, with 93% stating that they have already adopted a cloud-first approach for all new automation initiatives.

To complement, another study conducted by Forrester Consulting and commissioned by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company also said that Indian companies are using edge solutions, IoT applications, and networks as well as automation and robots to optimize their manufacturing processes and innovation.

In fact, nearly 70% of respondents said they were either piloting or already using cloud-managed networking and security solutions to benefit from improved flexibility, scalability, and defence capabilities. Similarly, the study by Zebra Technologies said that 90% of warehouse operators expect to leverage sensor-based technologies such as radio frequency identification, computer vision, fixed industrial scanning, and machine vision systems to become more prevalent over the next five years.

Automation has become a strategic priority for business leaders across India in the fallout from the pandemic, but it has also become core to digital transformation efforts.

Dr. Deepak Kumar Sahu, President & CEO, VARINDIA