UK Enterprises Step Up Intelligent Automation Projects as Brexit, Pandemic Pose Long-Term Business Challenges

More enterprises in the U.K. are deploying intelligent business process automation, partly in response to the effects of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation – Solutions and Services report for the U.K. finds an increasing number of companies fast-tracking digital transformation. Many of these initiatives incorporate automation technologies such as natural-language processing (NLP), machine-learning-enabled optical character recognition (OCR) and conversational artificial intelligence (AI). These capabilities have met or exceeded U.K. companies’ expectations of higher productivity, lower costs, greater data accuracy and improved customer experience.

“Business process automation will play a major role in British firms’ responses to the long-term challenges emerging from Brexit and the pandemic,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “Even with these storm clouds over the economy, enterprises are investing more in outsourcing and in automation technologies.”

The report focuses on providers that offer proprietary platforms and related integration and delivery support services. Many customers prefer this type of solution, while others prefer to work with consultants and providers, such as ISG Automation, that are platform-agnostic and offer integration and support services across a range of platforms.

Declining revenue due to Brexit and COVID-19 has forced many large and midsize U.K. companies to do more with less, driving them toward automation and AI for IT operations (AIOps) to maximize productivity, the report says. Brexit may also create an acute skills shortage in the U.K. market, which is highly dependent on a skilled workforce from EU countries, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Enterprises have begun implementing AI capabilities, including conversational AI, to soften the impact of new regulations after Britain leaves the EU. Brexit is expected to lead to an increase in border checks and legal paperwork in the supply chain, and conversational AI could help to ease the transition for companies and their customers, ISG says.

As in other countries, enterprises in the U.K. are adopting intelligent automation to remain competitive, agile and effective – turning to service providers if they lack the in-house knowledge or skills to carry out transformation, the report says. While large enterprises are rapidly embracing the technologies, midsize companies also are gradually moving in this direction. Goals are shifting from cost-cutting through job elimination to improved productivity with automation of routine tasks.

Other trends identified in the report include enterprises embracing low-code/no-code development, so citizen developers can build conversational AI bots or virtual assistants, and integration of business process automation solutions with leading enterprise technology stacks, especially through application programming interfaces (APIs).

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation – Solutions and Services report for the U.K. evaluates the capabilities of 52 providers across four quadrants: Intelligent Business Automation, Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) for Large Accounts, Artificial Intelligence for IT Operations (AIOps) for Midmarket and Conversational AI. The report evaluates only those providers offering their own proprietary automation platforms; it does not cover independent providers, like ISG Automation, that offer solutions across a range of platforms.

The report names IBM as a leader in three quadrants. It names Accenture, Atos, Capgemini, HCL, Infosys, TCS and Wipro as leaders in two quadrants. Computacenter, Creative Virtual, Genpact, IPSoft, Mindtree and Mphasis are named as leaders in one quadrant each.

In addition, Cognizant and Hexaware are named as Rising Stars—companies with a “promising portfolio” and “high future potential” by ISG’s definition—in two quadrants each. Mindtree is named as a Rising Star in one quadrant.

A customized version of the report is available from Creative Virtual.

The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ Intelligent Automation – Solutions and Services report for the U.K. is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, the U.K., France, the Nordics, Brazil and Australia/New Zealand, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 700 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

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