The Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant for 2023 has finally been released. Offering an insight into the major players of the evolving Robotic Process Automation space, this detailed report is designed to assist companies in choosing the ideal vendors for their needs.
According to Gartner, the market for RPA software reached a value of $2.8 billion in 2022, up from only $2.3 billion the year before. The analyst notes the market’s annual growth of 22% exceeded the average growth of the software segment at 11%. However, the RPA market’s expansion also seems to have slowed slightly in recent years, dropping from 39% in 2020.
Gartner believes part of the reason for this is that the space is growing more consolidated and competitive. Gartner’s insights into the Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, and Niche Players in the transforming space should provide businesses with a more succinct view of the segment today.
Gartner’s Definition of Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Before we evaluate the 16 players in this year’s Gartner RPA Market Quadrant, it’s worth examining how the analyst defines the world of Robotic Process Automation.
Gartner sees “RPA” software as the technology used to automate tasks within IT and business processes. Companies can use software scripts in the RPA environment to emulate human interactions with an application interface. This means manual tasks can be automated through efficient “bots” or “robots” in the ecosystem.
Gartner notes Robotic Process Automation is used in various industries, for multiple business functions. IT users leverage RPA solutions to move data in and out of applications without the need for human interaction. However, companies can also keep the “human in the loop” with attended automation. RPA systems can extract information and prepare it for human consumption.
Notably, Gartner states the RPA software space has changed significantly in the last 5 years. Increasingly, application leaders are moving beyond tactical automation to deliver greater efficiency, agility, and business efficacy.
What’s more, Generative AI and Large Language Models are now entering the market. Gartner says virtually every RPA vendor is either currently experimenting with AI, or plans to do so in the future. By 2025, the analyst predicts 90% of RPA vendors will offer generative-AI automation.
The 2023 Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant Leaders
The Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant splits vendors into four distinct sections. Leaders in the Quadrant demonstrate a clear understanding of market trends and opportunities. They have an excellent record for delivering solutions based on customer expectations. They also demonstrate an incredible ability to innovate and experiment. This year’s leaders are:
- UIPath
- Automation Anywhere
- SS&C Blue Prism
- Microsoft
- NICE
UIPath
Maintaining its leadership position from 2022, UIPath provides an end-to-end set of hyperautomation capabilities for the modern RPA market. According to Gartner, the company serves every buyer segment with a global “Business Automation Platform”. The brand benefits from exceptional brand visibility, product strategy, and a diverse customer base of over 10,000 enterprises. It also stands as the largest RPA vendor on the Quadrant by revenue.
Automation Anywhere
Rebranding its RPA product to the “Automation Success Platform” for 2023, Automation Anywhere is expanding beyond basic robotic process automation capabilities. Gartner notes the company has a strong focus on innovation, and has developed intuitive features for its platform, such as “AISense” for computer vision, and an IQ bot for AI/ML. What’s more, the brand has an excellent customer success strategy, and a strong understanding of the needs of its target audience.
SS&C Blue Prism
Despite almost slipping into the Challenger category in 2021’s Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant, SS&C has surged ahead in 2023. SS&C Blue Prism offers a wide range of RPA capabilities, as well as connectors for enterprise applications. It also provides customers with opportunities to bundle solutions like an orchestrator, bot licenses, and development studio tools. The company now has more than 168,000 active RPA users worldwide.
Microsoft
Though Microsoft slipped down slightly in the rankings for 2023, it still maintains its leadership position with Power Automate. The Azure-powered solution includes reusable UI element collectors and powerful cloud connectors. Gartner drew attention to the integration of Microsoft 365 Copilot as a strength for Microsoft this year. It also commended the company’s robust ecosystem, and it’s affordable pricing and sales strategies for new businesses.
NICE
Further down in the leadership list this year, NICE is the only leading CCaaS vendor in the 2023 Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant. It’s NICE RPA product consists of various “NEVA” branded solutions for attended and unattended automation in the contact center. Gartner acknowledged the company’s AI-based augmentation tools for agents this year, as well as it’s focus on targeting global enterprises and contact centers with a specific vertical/industry strategy.
The 2023 Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant Challengers
The Challengers in the Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant have a strong global customer base, and have demonstrated exceptional success in delivering solutions for specific use cases. However, Gartner notes these vendors generally cater to particular segments of the market. This year’s only challenger replaced “WorkFusion” from 2022. The only challenger is:
- Cyclone Robotics
Cyclone Robotics
Moving up from the “Niche players” segment in 2022, Cyclone Robotics achieved its Challenger status with a selection of AI-amplified enterprise-level tools this year. Gartner commended the company’s mature portfolio of capabilities for various RPA needs. Plus, the analyst highlighted the organization’s growing focus on artificial intelligence and GPT style solutions. Cyclone Robotics also differentiated itself in 2023 with a clear understanding of it’s target market in the Asia/Pacific region.
The 2023 Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant Visionaries
The Visionaries in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant focus heavily on innovation, with a unique approach to Robotic Process Automation. Though they frequently grow into market leaders, visionaries have yet to fully demonstrate their “ability to execute”. This year’s Gartner RPA Magic Quadrant visionaries include:
- Pegasystems
- Appian
- SAP
- Salesforce
Pegasystems
Benefiting from exceptional growth this year, Pegasystems’ RPA platform integrates closely with it’s wider enterprise software portfolio. The company offers solutions for end-to-end automation, real-time bot resource allocation, NLP solutions and more. Gartner applauds the company’s innovative approach to development, and its patented automation technology. However, the analyst still believes the platform suffers from excessive complexity.
Appian
The Appian RPA product demonstrates the company’s exceptional understanding of its target market. Appian’s solutions provide a comprehensive toolkit for hyperautomation, and allow companies to leverage comprehensive end-to-end strategies for innovation. Additionally, Gartner notes that Appian benefits from an exceptional partner ecosystem. The Appian marketplace also has an AppMarket of over 600 components, frameworks, and extensions for RPA development.
