RPA: When Agentic Automation Dominates Business Strategy

In your quest for an RPA solution, don’t let yourself be sold automation features you don’t actually need.

Gartner nonetheless notes in the summary of its latest Magic Quadrant dedicated to this market. In the background, the dilution of the RPA brick within platforms encompassing technologies like iPaaS, IDP (“intelligent document processing”) or LCAP (low-code application development).

This trend is not new. The American consultancy has regularly highlighted it in the past. It takes on a different face with agentic automation.

Most major RPA vendors have developed functions that fall within this domain. And they do not hesitate to include them in their commercial proposals, even when the client did not request them. Two of the four Leaders have a note on this: Automation Anywhere and UiPath.

The former openly embraces its refocusing and has even announced reducing RPA-focused research and development. The latter follows the same strategy… with the same risks, Gartner says.

The drive to go beyond this core RPA was evident even in the responses to the questionnaires the American firm sent to vendors. A “surprising number” addressed points that “explicitly concerned RPA” by involving solutions that did not fall under it.

13 Vendors, 4 “Leaders”

These responses influenced how vendors were positioned within the Magic Quadrant.

On the “Execution” axis, reflecting the ability to effectively meet market demand, the situation is as follows:

On the “Vision” axis, which reflects strategies:

The development of natural-language workflows was optional. As well as OCR (native or third-party) and computer vision. The latter is likely to compensate, over time, for a historical weakness of RPA: the maintenance required when an UI changes. Its cost, especially with the help of generative models, could nevertheless limit its integration.

Meanwhile, at least five of the following tools had to be managed:

• Selenium IDE
• Microsoft Active Accessibility
• Microsoft UI Automation
• Java Application Connector
• SAP WinGUI
• Windows GUI
• Mainframe emulators

The Automation Anywhere pricing under the spotlight again

Gartner credits Automation Anywhere with a strong point on functionality. Notably for its catalog of “out-of-the-box” automations, its templates system and its use of computer vision.
Also a strong point for its vertical-market strategy, with accelerator programs, consulting services and a marketplace of prebuilt assets.
Another strong point: the support, judged thorough, with a customer-success program seen as “very well regarded” by the largest clients.

On its Enterprise bundle, Automation Anywhere is more expensive than competing offerings. Some customers have also reported renewal proposals including unsolicited agentic capabilities.
Gartner notes that while the average contract value has risen, the number of organizations using paid licenses declined between 2023 and 2024 across several geographic regions, including Europe and North America.
Given the focus on agentic automation, one should watch how the core RPA evolves, adds the American firm.

The Microsoft licensing model, subject to contradictory interpretations

Microsoft remains “often 30 to 50% cheaper” than its rivals. Many customers turn to the Power Automate offering for the low entry ticket and the preloaded—though limited—version on Windows 11.
The American group can also capitalize on integration with its products (office suite, CRM, AI assistant…) and on the breadth of its partner network.

Most customers coming from other RPA tools lament higher maintenance needs. Some point to a lack of training resources, the imperfect handling of long-running processes and updates that tend to disrupt automations.
Another pitfall: licensing. Gartner notes contradictory interpretations even within Microsoft’s own sales teams.
Moreover, large enterprises rarely make Power Automate their primary RPA tool. It is often reserved for automating Microsoft applications… or used as a lever in negotiations with competitors.

SS&C Blue Prism no longer draws as much interest

SS&C Blue Prism earns a solid point on the user experience, both for its implementation methodology and for its support.
Its product portfolio earns it another point, particularly for its process catalog and its computer-vision component.
Gartner also values the pricing flexibility, which includes, for example, concurrent sessions on certain offerings.

According to Gartner’s data, SS&C Blue Prism no longer generates the same level of interest as it did a few years ago.
Also keep an eye on its pace of innovation, especially in assisted automation and GenAI. On the latter front, its offerings—primarily focused on text modality processing—are less “versatile” than those of the competition.

UiPath, between price increases and forced bundling

UiPath remains the market leader in revenue terms. The vendor benefits from a global presence, a broad partner ecosystem and a multi-sector customer base. It claims a community of 3 million members and 380,000 people trained through its “academic alliance” with around 2,000 universities.
Unlike most competitors, UiPath provides automation-design studios tailored to different profiles (developers, business users, testers, hybrid teams).

As mentioned above, the focus on agentic automation could spill over into the core RPA.
They are added to this: perceived ineffective support and uneven delivery depending on the integrators.
Annual price increases are not uncommon, along with forced bundling and the addition, at renewal, of unsolicited agentic capabilities.