In 2022, Europeans can expect less volatility than in 2021, but it won’t be smooth sailing. Brexit’s impact will become clear as Covid recedes, and regulators will draft new rules to protect Europeans as they work from home. And the combination of consumer demand and EU regulation will drive more European companies to invest in substantial sustainability efforts. Here is 2022 Forrester’s prediction prepared for European business, customer experience, marketing, and technology leaders and related to RPA and Intelligent Automation domain.
European businesses will invest between €2.4 and €3.3 billion in automation to boost productivity — including in lower-wage sectors. Forrester calculated that in 2020, European companies invested a total of €1.88 billion in employee productivity automation tools such as digital process automation (DPA), digital decisioning platforms, workforce optimization, conversational intelligence, robotic process automation (RPA), and AI-based text analytics. Forrester estimates that growth in 2022 will be at about 33% for RPA and 13% for DPA. Further, in 2022, European companies will invest in automation to boost productivity in traditionally low-wage sectors such as retail and hospitality. European retailers like ASOS, Sephora, and ZARA already complement labor with automation for personalization and predictive purposes.
The full Predictions 2022 guide reveals 12 key trends that, according to the Forrester research team, will have the greatest impact on businesses next year. The first three trends are the following:
- How the pandemic has shaped consumer expectations for next year – and beyond.
- Why greenwashing organizations will struggle to adapt to this new normal.
- Why one-third of companies will fail at anywhere work (and why it won’t be the virus’s fault!).
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