Modern Mainframe Development

Chapter 11. Robotic Process Automation, and Low-Code and No-Code Systems

Robotic process automation (RPA) allows for automating tedious and repetitive processes. This category is also one of the fastest growing in enterprise software. Based on research from IDC, the spending is expected to go from $17 billion in 2020 to $30 billion by 2024.

One of the biggest reasons for the success of RPA is UiPath, the dominant developer of software in the industry. For 2021, the company’s revenues were growing by over 60% and annual recurring revenue (ARR) was $653 million across UiPath’s 8,500 customers.

In April of that year, the company launched its initial public offering (IPO) and raised $1.3 billion. The market value of the shares was about $32 billion.

Yet the early days for UiPath were rocky. By 2015, the company was on the verge of going bust. But cofounder and CEO Daniel Dines did not give up. He set out to reimagine RPA by using technologies like computer vision to read screens for better automation and low-code systems to allow for developing automaton bots without having to be a coder. As a result, he was able to help enterprise customers better implement automation of their IT systems.

Keep in mind that—in the RPA category—many of the early customers had mainframe environments. The technology would prove effective in improving performance and lowering costs.

But this type of automation is still in the early phases. Other technologies like low code and no code will likely have ...