For all the discussion in the blockchain solution industry around platform selection (are they choosing Fabric or Sawtooth? Quorum or Corda?), you’d be forgiven for thinking that every provider’s first stop is the open-source infrastructure shelf. But the reality is that blockchain is more a concept than a fixed architecture, and the platforms mentioned do not encomp[...]

  2017 brought a surge of RPA deployments across industries, and in 2018 that trend has accelerated as more and more firms begin exploring the many benefits of a digital workforce. But even as some firms are just getting their RPA projects started, others are beginning to explore the next phase: cognitive automation. And a common challenge for firms is the desire to begin planning for [...]

  Over the last several years, the public IaaS market has grown rapidly, with major public IaaS providers growing at 45% or more annually, as estimated by NelsonHall. However, large enterprises are only moving a small portion of their application landscapes to public cloud, maintaining larger application footprints in private cloud or on-premise environments. This hybrid approach re[...]

  Kryon has today launched a new brand presence, along with a new strategic perspective on RPA focused on delivering business benefits. The former Kryon Systems (now simply Kryon) will now be organized around a three-pronged approach the company refers to as ‘Discover, Automate, Optimize’. As part of this brand migration, several aspects of Kryon’s go-to-market app[...]

  Over the last year, Zalaris has markedly stepped up its geographic and service expansion journey –  first fuelled by the acquisition of Germany-based Sumarum AG and then with the acquisition of U.K.-based ROC Global Solution Consulting. It’s important to note that Zalaris’ success in the wider Nordic market was also a result of two acquisitions soon after it[...]

  Today, Redwood announced a new pricing model for its RPA software in which users pay only for units of work completed, and on a cost basis equivalent to efficient human work on the same task. As a result, if a Redwood robot sends an email, or retrieves specific data, or performs reconciliation work, the organization is charged on completion for specific amounts relevant to the parall[...]

  This morning, UiPath announced that the company will be receiving $153m in Series B funding from a consortium including the company’s existing investors, with two new names involved – Kleiner Perkins and Capital G, the late-stage growth venture capital fund financed by Alphabet Inc. The latter is of note as this arm of Google focuses on profit-centric investment rather[...]

  With every new software release from RPA sector leaders, there is always much to be excited about as vendors continue to push the technological boundaries of workplace automation. Whether those new capabilities focus on cognition, or security, or scalability, the technology available to us continues to be a source of inspiration and innovative thinking in how those new capabilities c[...]

  As a follow-up to our research project focused on SAP HANA and S/4HANA services that was completed last fall, NelsonHall recently had a briefing with Infosys to take an in-depth look at components of their migration toolset and understand how it is automating the activities of existing SAP clients migrating to HANA or S/4HANA. SAP is focused on speed and agility in HANA and S/4HAN[...]

  The RPA sector is defined as one of rapid technological evolution, and every year it seems like what we thought to be bleeding-edge capability in January turns out to be proven and deployed technology long before year’s end. With this rapid pace of growth and maturation in mind, where might the RPA sector be by the end of 2018? Here are seven predictions. The first wave[...]

  To date, many digital transformation initiatives have been primarily focused on customer-facing technologies. Changing customer preferences and the rise of new digitally native competitors have driven incumbent firms to see customer experience as a source of competitive advantage or as table stakes to maintain relevance. In NelsonHall’s recent survey of IT service buyers across[...]

  As 2018 begins, the RPA sector is starting to produce more segment specialists from within its vendor base. Whereas just two years ago the sector was still finding its footing in addressing common back- and front-office application automation, enterprise customers today have the luxury of building best-of-breed solutions that often incorporate two or more vendors working in concert t[...]

  David McIntire, IT Services Research Director, talks about NelsonHall's recently completed project looking at the attitudes and intentions of IT services buyers. Based on interviews with ~1,000 buyers across 17 industry sectors, the project analyses buyers' key business and IT priorities, digital initiatives, IT spending projections, and the characteristics they look for in&n[...]

  At the Intelligent Automation (IA) event in New Orleans, December 6-8, snow in the Big Easy air was not the only surprise. As expected, there was plenty of technological innovation on show in the exhibition hall, but the event also played host to some energized discussions on human-centric gains to be realized from RPA implementation – suggesting that we are indeed moving into [...]

  It has been 10 months since the announcement that Aon was divesting the businesses within its Outsourcing segment to private equity firm Blackstone, and 6 months since Alight was formally launched as a new company, which makes it an ideal time to review its progress and where it is headed in 2018. By all accounts, it was a smooth transition, with client retention remaining high.&n[...]

  In my last blog, I laid out 2018 predictions for two areas of talent management: recruiting and learning (see here). This blog looks at what to expect over the next year for payroll services and benefits administration. Trending topics in these areas over the last year included cloud, compliance, configuration, and consumerization. Payroll The payroll landscape has shifted away[...]

  NelsonHall is conducting an analysis of the needs of IT services clients to understand their IT and business priorities and how the growth of digital is impacting their business. In a survey of ~1,000 IT services clients across 17 industries and every region of the world, NelsonHall has identified distinct patterns of user intentions, both in terms of how clients plan to change their[...]

  As 2017 comes to a close, it’s an ideal time to reflect on key developments and innovations within HR services, and what to expect in 2018 by HR service line. This week, I’ll discuss specifics around two aspects of talent management (recruiting and learning), and next week I’ll explore payroll and benefits administration in more detail. Overall, the level of 2017[...]

  RPA software offers users the tantalizing possibility of being able to simply 'hit record and go' at the beginning of an enterprise automation initiative. But organizations that are seeing the greatest returns are slowing the initial process down, and framing their initiatives as they would treat any major technology migration. At UIPath’s recent User Summit in New Y[...]

Relative to other HR services, the application of intelligent automation in benefits administration is lagging, but is slowly making progress.  With respect to RPA, Conduent and Alight are among the first movers, with both using bots for manual calculations in pension administration. In addition, Alight has deployed bots for low-level transactional work that is typically offshored, and in[...]