Workforce impact of RPA at SMEs

Ether Solutions market research conducted in March by Insight Engineers showed a difference in view of the workforce impact from RPA in SME organisations across the region.

In a survey of 500 SME business managers undertaken in March, respondents from London and the West Midlands gave the strongest belief that RPA will impact businesses in the future. Although there was a surprising low expectation of RPA being taken on by businesses in the South East.

Looking at how the workforce would be impacted, there was a marked difference in view between London which expects RPA to replace people, whereas in the East Midlands people are looking for RPA to work as “Personal Assistants”.

Although the attitude from London is likely to be influenced by the higher percentage of financial services companies, the expectation before the market research had been that an SME workforce would generally look to preserve jobs as there is more of a team spirit than is found in many global enterprises.

Ether Solutions believes that in most organisations there are likely to be opportunities for RPA to deliver benefits in the two areas. In the “Replacement” situation, where RPA is “Un-attended” and just completes activity as work arises. In the “Supplement” situation, RPA is “Attended” and is driven / instructed by people.

Ether Solutions would be pleased to provide more information on how RPA could be utilised for any individual business.

For more information please contact us.