UK risks falling behind other nations in Hyperautomation race, research finds

Businesses in the UK may fail to reach their full potential in the next 12 months, if they don’t embrace hyper automation at the same rate as other nations, according to research by analytics leader SAS.

David Shannon, Head of Hyperautomation, at SAS UK & Ireland, says that as interest in the AI-powered technology surges, British firms that fail to keep pace risk missing out on new opportunities.

“We know from our own research that companies are already using hyperautomation to drive efficiency, customer service and innovation,” he said.

“This is particularly true of competitive consumer-centric industries like retail, fulfilment, insurance and financial services, where it can give businesses the edge over their rivals.”

His comments come after research by SAS showed that while interest in the technology rose in some nations, British firms don’t appear to share the same appetite.  Google search data shows the UK ranked 12 out of 24 countries analysed, with 1.25 people in every 10,000 looking for ‘hyperautomation’ and related keywords between 2020 and 2021.

Leading the way was Finland, with 4.5 out of every 10,000 people searching for the term online, followed by Sweden with just under three per cent and Switzerland at 2.74. Ireland was also in the top five at 2.74 per 10,000 members of the population.

The term ‘hyperautomation’ was first coined by Gartner in 2019 and refers to the AI-driven technique of processing multiple large datasets from across an organisation in a cloud-based ‘always-on, always-connected’ system.

As part of its analysis, SAS also looked at how much interest had grown – based on the increase in online searches for ‘hyperautomation’ - between 2020 and 2021.

It found that the UK was languishing even further down the list, with a relatively modest rise of just over 20%. This contrasted with the leading nation, Turkey, which saw a 63% jump and Sweden at 51%.

More worrying was the fact that interest in Ireland dropped by just over a quarter.

David Shannon added: “While search data can’t tell us everything, it’s a useful barometer to test the mood of nations. Awareness has grown rapidly in some countries in just three years, indicating where demand could be strongest.

“Automation has enabled businesses of all sizes to transform their operations, and hyperautomation is the next step in the journey. Now is the time for them to build it, and other advanced technological solutions, into their digital strategies.”

Notes to editors

Using Google Keyword Planner, SAS looked at thousands of searches for 40 hyperautomation-related keywords in every country to discover which locations are searching the most for hyper automation.

Data correct as of March 21, 2022.