With major advances in artificial intelligence and automation, keeping track of technology’s rapidly changing landscape is a formidable challenge for any business.

Everest Group, the global research firm, has made analysis of the widespread impact of automation and AI its bread and butter for the past three decades.

“Organizations worldwide have now realized the benefits of bringing together AI and automation,” said Vaibhav Bansal (pictured, left), vice president at Everest Group, who compares automation to the limbs of the body and AI to the brain. “Bringing them together really brings the best out of both.”

Bansal and Harpreet Makan (right), practice director at Everest Group, spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Rebecca Knight and Dave Vellante at the UiPath FORWARD event, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the effects of automation on enterprise technology and the future of AI in business. (* Disclosure below.)

Covering the spectrum of automation

Everest Group takes pride in being one of the earliest organizations to cover robotic process automation. They analyze what Bansal labels the “entire spectrum” of business technology, from informational technology services to AI-powered automation.

“We are seeing the emergence of intelligent automation platforms as a whole,” said Makan, who draws upon Everest’s recently published continuous discovery and automation playbook, which encourages organizations to embrace AI. “The belief in AI is much higher today than it was five years ago. And I think that belief is probably pushing everybody to explore things that they were scared of or they were skeptical about.”

Companies will use a combination of newly developed large language models and standard ones to develop software, predicts Makan. Everest’s enterprise surveys show that many consumers believe AI will enhance certain technologies while disrupting others.

The process of transitioning to full automation and digitization across the industry continues to be gradual but will likely accelerate, according to Bansal and Makan. Regulated industries, such as banking and healthcare, have begun to implement new automation systems, Bansal said.

“More and more organizations are realizing that need to move their data to the cloud and … have their intelligence automation solutions over cloud,” he added, estimating that more than 50% of automation solutions are on the cloud right now.

Looking toward the future of AI, the biggest impact—up to 70-80%—will be on productivity and labor savings, according to Bansal. However, he believes that more innovative solutions with AI are on the horizon.

“A lot of thinking still hasn’t happened on net new use cases … which would emerge just because of generative AI. So probably those are the places where we could see greater revenue generation opportunities,” he said.  A large part of the market for automation can still be tapped, Bansal said.

When it comes to automation, “[AI]’s going to make existing solutions better, more accurate, more efficient,” predicts Bansal. According to Everest, the “summer of AI,” as Bansal calls this new period of investment in AI and automation technologies, is looking bright.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the UiPath FORWARD event:

(* Disclosure: This is an unsponsored editorial segment. However, theCUBE is a paid media partner for the UiPath FORWARD event. UiPath Inc. and other sponsors of theCUBE’s event coverage have no editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: Silicon Angle