The worldwide market for technology that enables hyperautomation will reach $596.6 billion in 2022. Gartner forecasts hyperautomation to reach $532.4 billion this year, up from $481.6 billion in 2020.
“Hyperautomation has shifted from an option to a condition of survival,” said Fabrizio Biscotti, research vice president at Gartner. “Organizations will require more IT and business process automation as they are forced to accelerate digital transformation plans in a post-COVID-19, digital-first world.”
Hyperautomation is an approach that enables organizations to rapidly identify, vet and automate as many processes as possible using technology, such as robotic process automation (RPA), low-code application platforms (LCAP), artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assistants.
Tools such as RPA, LCAP and AI are considered process-agnostic software, meaning that they can be used in any organization across multiple IT and business use cases. Process-agnostic software will be most in demand as key enablers of the hyperautomation trend. The market is expected to see double-digit growth through 2022 (see Table 1).
Other software used to automate more specific tasks, such as ERP, supply chain and CRM systems, will also contribute to the growth of the market.
Table 1: Worldwide forecast for hyperautomation-enabling technologies (Millions of U.S. Dollars)
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | |
| Process-agnostic software that enables hyperautomation | 19,640 | 25,108 | 30,184 |
| Other software that enables hyperautomation | 462,030 | 507,316 | 566,433 |
| Total | 481,635 | 532,424 | 596,616 |
Gartner predicts that through 2024, the drive towards hyperautomation will lead organizations to adopt at least three out of the 20 process-agonistic types of software that enable hyperautomation.
“Organizations are transitioning from a loosely coupled set of automation technologies to a more-connected automation strategy,” said Cathy Tornbohm, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. “In response, vendors are developing integrated offerings that combines technologies like RPA, LCAP and business process management into one, packaged tool.”
The fastest-growing category of hyperautomation-enabling software includes tools that provide visibility to map business activities, automate and manage content ingestion, orchestrate work across multiple systems, and provide complex rule engines.
Technologies to automate content ingestion, such as signature verification tools, optical character recognition, document ingestion, conversational AI and natural language technology (NLT) will be in high demand. Organizations will need such tools to automate the digitalization and structuring of data and content – for example, automating the process of digitalizing and sorting paper records.
Gartner expects that by 2024, organizations will lower operational costs by 30% by combining hyperautomation technologies with redesigned operational processes.
“The shift towards hyperautomation will be a key factor enabling enterprises to achieve operational excellence, and subsequently cost savings, in a digital-first world,” said Tornbohm.
