The mid-sized enterprises in the United States are set to automate their business process in a bid to remain agile, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage the economy.

In a survey commissioned by Inference Solutions, 64% of respondents stated that they would increase investment in automation technologies in the coming year. More than a quarter of organizations will increase their investment by 10% or higher, says the report.

When asked which automation technology will increase their resilience, 69% of respondents selected customer service automation, 54% chose employee service automation,39% named supply chain automation, and 37% flagged robotic process automation (RPA).

Many entrepreneurs appeared to be keener on increasing efficiency and productivity rather than reducing costs. Therefore, analysts say, tools that allow businesses to build and manage applications on their own will grow in demand over the coming months.

However, the companies eager to adopt automation are facing three major hurdles: reliance on professional services, cost, and development times.

Cloud-based, self-managed platforms that give businesses more control of their customer-and employee-facing self-service applications will be key to overcoming the barriers to adoption flagged in our research, saidCallan Schebella, Inference Solutions CEO.

More than 500 US IT decision-makers took part in the survey, which was conducted the last week of May this year.

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To Escape from the Effects of COVID-19, Mid-sized US Firms Turn to Automation - Nearshore Americas