How RPA Is Shaping the Future of Business Automation: Insights from a Leading Expert

Recent years have seen explosive growth in the RPA market, with a projected 61.3% annual compound growth rate and a 181% increase in the Asia‑Pacific region in 2021, positioning RPA as a major emerging technology.

Q: What aspects of RPA are you currently working on?

Ren Rong, manager of the second development division at Haitong Securities' software development center, is responsible for RPA, blockchain, and related innovation projects covering account, marketing, and internal management applications.

Her team continuously explores RPA, collaborates with business units to identify automation scenarios, and drives platform governance. They are actively integrating AI—using natural language processing, deep learning, and process automation—to expand RPA’s capabilities (RPA+AI = Hand Work + Head Work).

Q: At what stage is your enterprise in RPA development?

Since 2016, Haitong Securities has deployed RPA in nearly 250 processes across 13 business departments and three subsidiaries, covering finance, clearing, valuation, reporting, monitoring, and daily management. Growth rates exceeded 37% in 2019 and 2020, delivering significant cost‑reduction and efficiency gains.

The firm also contributed to the RPA product capability standard and the "Robotic Process Automation Evaluation Specification," earning multiple industry awards and planning further AI‑RPA integration.

Q: What were the key characteristics of the RPA industry in 2020?

Despite the COVID‑19 pandemic, sectors such as online education, enterprise services, RPA, new retail, and AI experienced counter‑cyclical growth. RPA became a standard tool for digital enterprises, attracting capital and moving from a niche market to a mainstream industry. Gartner listed RPA among the top ten strategic technologies for two consecutive years, and its market share surged.

Digital smart‑operation transformation is now poised for rapid adoption, with RPA expected to permeate all industries as domestic technology localization advances.

Q: What future directions do you foresee for RPA?

1) RPA will increasingly fuse with AI, leveraging mature AI capabilities to handle more complex business scenarios and serving as a key vehicle for AI deployment.

2) RPA will migrate to the cloud and adopt a marketplace (SaaS) model. Major vendors like UiPath and Automation Anywhere have already offered cloud‑based RPA services, enabling cross‑domain, cross‑network access and fostering an RPA marketplace where developers publish bots for enterprise download and use.

Overall, continued RPA empowerment of business processes, combined with advancing cloud and AI technologies, will broaden application scenarios and drive expansive future growth.