5 Insights for Tech Marketers About Automation

When it comes to automation and global enterprises, there are lots of opportunities for tech marketers—if they know where to look. 

The automation market is rife with opportunities, especially for organizations in the tech space. From streamlining internal business operations to improving customer experiences, global enterprises are exploring myriad ways to take advantage of automation’s promise.

Definitions of automation vary, but for the purposes of this blog, automation is defined as taking a task that people do and consigning it to software or hardware, thereby reducing or eliminating the manual (i.e., human) steps.

Remember the last time you abandoned a shopping cart online? Whether you wanted it or not, you probably got an email within 24 hours reminding you about the abandoned cart. That electronic nudge was automatically generated by email marketing software, not by someone in customer sales.

For tech marketers, there’s plenty of positive, actionable news in a recent automation trends survey, courtesy of Salesforce and Vanson Bourne. The survey is based on the responses of 600 CIOs and IT decision-makers at global enterprises.

It highlights enterprises’ demand for automation, and because you might not have the time or inclination to read such a relatively in-depth survey, I’ve assembled 5 valuable insights for you, such as which departments are slow-moving when it comes to embracing automation in their operations and might represent a big sales opportunity.

Insight #1

Enterprises’ appetite for automation is healthy—and growing

The good news: Nine in 10 organizations say the demand for automation from business teams has increased over the last two years.

This finding is consistent with a recent Gartner survey in which more than 80% of organizations say they will “continue or increase” automation spending this year.

Insight #2

The demand for automation varies significantly among departments

Where can you find receptive buyers for your automation solutions? According to the respondents, the demand for automation is being driven by business teams in:

• Research and development (39%)
• Administration/operations (38%)
• Customer service (33%)
• Marketing (26%)
• Finance and accounting (26%)

Within these top five departments, the thirst for automation varies greatly. Nearly 4 in 10 R&D departments are investing in automation solutions, while one-quarter of finance and accounting departments are.

Insight #3

Looking for low-hanging fruit? Target Sales and HR

Where can tech marketers find departments with low automation adoption rates? The answer is Sales and HR, according to the survey.

The appetite for automation in Sales is only 21%. And in HR, it’s just 15%. That’s a lot of open territories—and a lot of opportunity.

Insight #4

Hyperautomation is driving the demand for automation

More good news: Hyperautomation is on the technology road map for 80% of respondents within the next two years. For tech marketers, that means these global enterprises will need the capability to build and modify automated processes as a step toward achieving hyperautomation success.

Hyperautomation is the next step in automation and a real game changer. Automation is about automating a task. Hyperautomation is about automating an entire IT or business process.

An example is hyperautomation is Equinix, which automated its accounts payable processes and now saves more than 14,000 hours per year in manual labor for the finance team. AI-based optical recognition technology extracts data from Equinix’s vendor invoices and handles the mundane yet essential work. The finance team handles only exceptions and data extractions with low statistical confidence. Automating accounts payable processes has freed Equinix’s team to perform higher value and more rewarding work (like persuading their bosses to adopt a four-day work week).

Insight #5

Automation and hyperautomation are ongoing journeys

Tech marketers must remind their customers and sales prospects that automation and hyperautomation are continual processes. Some people, especially ones on the business side, sometimes think that once a process is automated, it’s done. That’s simply not so.

Like every significant digital transformation involving business and operational processes, automation and hyperautomation are journeys, not final destinations. There are plenty of mileposts ahead for you and your clients, so settle in for the journey and feel confident about automation’s prospects.