As intelligent automation solutions evolve and improve, organizations that made early investments in the software often evaluate newcomers and find their current solution doesn’t meet their needs anymore. But migrating to a new solution—even one you think is better—is difficult. Legacy systems become “legacy” because the challenges of moving to a new one—primarily cost and time requirements—are daunting.
A new report from Blueprint Software Systems examines why companies might want to change their automation technology and how to navigate the complex challenges and logistics involved.
The company’s second annual State of RPA Migration Report found nearly 60 percent of organizations currently using RPA are considering, in the process of or have already undergone migration to a new platform. On average, businesses that have already changed platforms spent $300,000 doing so and those considering a switch have budgeted an average of half a million dollars.
“RPA adoption has accelerated and scaled considerably over the years as organizations take advantage of the cost-reduction and increases in efficiency that automating business processes provides,” says Blueprint CEO and President, Dan Shimmerman. “However, as organizations’ RPA estates expand, so too does their total cost of ownership for automation, maintenance, and complexity of designing and delivering automated processes—all of which are driving organizations to migrate their RPA estates from expensive, complex RPA platforms to more modern, cost-effective RPA platforms.”
Reducing licensing fees was cited by those polled as the primary driver for the switch, which hasn’t changed from last year’s inaugural report. Nor has the fact that, from a departmental perspective, IT is driving the demand for migration.