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Business Standard

Cos aim to boost revenue with AI, not just reduce cost: Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere, an agentic process automation (APA) company, is seeing more companies focus on business transformation and revenue growth programmes using agentic artificial intelligence (AI), rather than just cost reduction and efficiency gains. The company, backed by Goldman Sachs and SoftBank Vision Fund, said the focus is shifting to end-to-end automation—from back end to front end—instead of automating only certain mission-critical processes, as enterprises seek better return on investment from their AI initiatives. This marks a significant shift, as it implies companies are looking to move up the value curve in terms of automation. Enterprises usually derive value from AI and agentic AI through cost reduction, improvement in Net Promoter Score (NPS)—which reflects customer experience and service—and through risk protection and compliance. Revenue growth is the ultimate goal, where AI helps enterprises create new product offerings and, consequently, new revenue streams. When asked whether clients—including Petrobras, Nestlé and Cargill—are slowing discretionary spend and focusing more on cost-takeout projects, Kothari said revenue growth remains a priority. 'There is also the pressure for growth. If they can accelerate growth with technology, they can get the green light from the CEO faster. While cost takeout is very important, risk reduction and increasing topline are priorities too. When they pick transformation programmes, revenue improvement becomes a part of the discussion.' Kothari did not disclose how much growth customers have generated using the company's products or solutions but said Petrobras was able to save a few hundred million dollars using an AI-driven tax programme. Similarly, a law firm created an agentic tariff advisor that resulted in a new revenue stream. Infosys chief technology officer Rafee Tarafdar, in a recent interaction with Business Standard, said the revenue and growth vertical is evolving, as it requires some process re-engineering and business model redesign, which should take place in the coming months and years. Automation Anywhere started as a robotic process automation (RPA) company nearly two decades ago. It claims agentic automation can automate 40–80 per cent of work processes, compared to 20–30 per cent with RPA. While most of the company's revenue comes from the US, Automation Anywhere sees India as a key market, though it accounts for less than 10 per cent of its topline. Most of the India revenue stems from global capability centres (GCCs), but more Indian companies are now looking to adopt a combination of automation and AI for greater impact. 'Seventy per cent of our clients in India use AI plus automation now and we want to take it to 90 per cent in the next two years,' added Kothari.