Around the world, AI isn’t just reshaping business processes, it’s redefining what productivity, efficiency and strategic advantage mean in the digital age. In this exclusive interview, Mihir Shukla, CEO and Co-Founder of Automation Anywhere, dives into AI’s transformative role across enterprises – from its impact on competitive edge to its potential to streamline complex workflows and unlock new possibilities for non-technical teams.
What inspired you to start Automation Anywhere and how has the journey been for you?
Prior to founding Automation Anywhere, I was part of five multibillion-dollar ventures across various sectors, including the Internet, e-commerce and smartphones. These were remarkable technologies and I was fortunate to be part of the teams that shaped them. During this time, I travelled extensively for work and observed how tasks were carried out across different cultures and industries. What struck me was seeing millions of people stationed in cubicles, performing repetitive ‘swivel chair’ tasks and transferring information from one screen to another. It felt wrong to me. Surely, we weren’t destined to spend our days in such routines.
When people are given opportunities, their innate capabilities can truly shine. The concept behind Automation Anywhere emerged from this belief. If AI and automation could become our technology partners in handling repetitive tasks, we would be freed from mundane work. We could then direct our energy and talent towards meaningful human-driven pursuits. That vision is what led to the creation of Automation Anywhere and it remains at the heart of our mission today.
How does AI help businesses streamline complex processes across the enterprise?
Every business at its core is defined by its processes and how it serves customers. Whether you’re a bank managing mortgage processing, a healthcare provider handling claims or a retailer, business processes shape operations. For example, Petrobras, a leading oil and gas company in Brazil implemented AI across nearly all its departments – from HR to finance and supply chain. One notable application was in tax computation, a process that had always been traditional for the company. With thousands of tax code changes every year, it used AI to ingest the new laws and recompute taxes accordingly. In just three weeks, the company saved over US$100 million in taxes, highlighting the potential of AI for not just process optimisation, but for reimagining how processes function in the age of AI.
In the healthcare sector, AI is helping to reduce physician burnout. For instance, Boston Children’s Hospital, the top children’s hospital in the US, uses AI and automation to alleviate administrative burdens on doctors. Typically, physicians spend around 25% of their time on administrative tasks like capturing notes and managing pre- and post-visit duties and this takes time away from patient care. By automating these processes, the hospital improved both physician well-being and the patient experience.
In the banking sector, a bank like KeyBank automated over 288 processes across its operations to improve business efficiency. Similarly, PNC Bank automated hundreds of processes including those in its retail branch operations. At over 10,000 branches, AI agents now assist bank staff and help customers to reduce wait times.
These examples demonstrate the power of AI to transform industries by enhancing speed and efficiency. Across all sectors, the key to success is automation, not just to replicate current processes but to envision new business possibilities.
You offer an open platform that integrates with hundreds of enterprise applications across numerous environments. Tell us how this benefits customers vs. those who don’t offer this service?
Most businesses today rely on vast numbers of applications. For example, a typical Fortune 2000 company uses an average of 3,000 applications and to manage this complexity, they need a platform capable of integrating with all these applications. We currently support about 30,000 applications and there’s virtually no system we can’t work with. Our approach covers the entire business process and spans across all these platforms.
In contrast, many AI vendors focus on improving their own specific applications. While this is understandable given their responsibility to shareholders, it doesn’t address the broader customer challenge. By improving only these isolated systems, you don’t enhance the overall efficiency of the business process. This is where Automation Anywhere stands out; by integrating across all the applications a business uses we align with a business leader’s goal of accelerating operations. This approach enables us to deliver a ninefold return on automation, thanks to the open nature of our platform and its ability to seamlessly integrate with diverse systems.
How do partnerships like those with AWS and Google Cloud strengthen your platform’s offering?
We collaborate with over 200 partners in various capacities and leverage our open platform to integrate the best available capabilities. Our two key partners, Amazon and Google, provide us with unparalleled scalability. Thanks to their support we manage 300 million processes globally across 16 data centres and numerous private clouds. These hyperscalers play a crucial role in enabling such scale. In addition, they offer unique AI capabilities and models. For example, Amazon contributes through Bedrock and SageMaker, while Google provides tools like Vertex AI, Gemini and other innovations. All of these are seamlessly integrated into our platform.
When we manage end-to-end business processes, we combine the finest offerings from each partner and this would have been a complex task for customers to handle on their own. By bringing together these advanced capabilities from different providers, we ensure that customers benefit from the best solutions available.
How do you see Automation Anywhere changing the future of work for employees in large companies, especially for non-technical teams?
Why does change need to happen? Just because technology exists and offers solutions doesn’t mean we should automatically adopt them. The choice to embrace technology is a human one. For the past 16 years, productivity has stagnated, and the working population is declining globally. It’s only a matter of time before every country experiences productivity crisis. For the first time in human history, we are on track to see a 3% decrease in the working population over the next decade, meaning there will be fewer people available to work.
While other technologies may emerge, AI is the most impactful and immediate solution we have today. Our vision is for businesses to reimagine their operating models, automating between 40% and 80% of what is currently considered ‘work’. In its place, new business processes, market opportunities and ways of working will emerge. From an employee’s perspective, this transformation is exciting.
We already see a shift in employee preferences. Job seekers now consider AI adoption when choosing employers. No one wants to work for a company that relies on outdated manual processes, as it doesn’t contribute to career growth. Employees want careers, not just jobs. Employers will have to recognize this too and use AI as a competitive advantage that enhances their operations.
What measures do you take to ensure security, strong governance and compliance with AI in large organisations?
Our entire platform is built on a responsible AI framework that addresses these concerns. This framework helps mitigate issues such as hallucinations, which, as many are aware, occur when AI systems generate incorrect or fabricated information. To prevent this, we ground the AI in enterprise data. For example, Automation Anywhere’s AI model is trained on over 300 million automations. strengthening the foundational models to deliver results tailored to almost every industry. This approach elevates basic AI capabilities and ensures they’re fit for enterprise use and significantly reduces inaccuracies.
Our responsible AI layer offers several key features like the ability to select the appropriate model for specific governance needs, track inputs and outputs and establish guardrails. If something unexpected occurs, it is flagged, halted and sent for human review before being released. Additionally, we use predefined prompt templates to ensure consistency in the answers generated.
We are also actively engaging with governments as AI regulations evolve, sometimes helping to shape these regulations. As a result, we are at the forefront of AI governance and ensuring our platform provides our customers with the latest in AI governance capabilities.
What do you believe is one of the next big steps for AI and enterprise agentic process automation in reshaping work and offering companies a strategic advantage?
This will dramatically alter their operating model. It will open up new revenue streams and markets that were previously untapped. In the financial services sector, it will significantly lower operational costs.
When speaking with CEOs from companies of all sizes, I often hear them categorise their budgets into three areas: what it costs to run the business, what it takes to grow and what is needed for transformation. One common concern is that a large portion, sometimes as much as 80% of their budget, is consumed simply by maintaining day-to-day operations. Around 10-15% is allocated to growth, while just 2% is spent on transformation. This essentially means focus is on survival not thriving and while this is how most businesses function, it is still far from the most rewarding way to operate. The more fulfilling approach would be for businesses to spend only 50% on keeping things running smoothly.
With AI and automation in place, many more businesses could operate autonomously and will free up resources to direct 30-34% towards growth and another percentage will go towards transformation, thereby enabling the business to explore new delivery models. In sectors like pharmaceuticals, AI could help develop new treatments for diseases that affect us all while in healthcare, I’ll bring about new ways to improve patient care. With the right transformation, these sectors could provide such delightful experiences and foster the loyalty that every business seeks.