UiPath’s vision for RPA and the future of automation in the spotlight at Forward IV, Oct. 5-6 

When UiPath Inc. was meeting with investors as part of a successful initial public offering earlier this year, it led with the following statement on the first slide of its financial presentation: “We make software robots, so people don’t have to be robots.”

That mantra captured the spirit of what propelled UiPath, yet it has also represented the guiding objective of the robotic process automation, or RPA, space. In an industry focused on the automation of a number of repetitive tasks, RPA has been red hot, as demonstrated by UiPath’s initial raise of $1.4 billion in its April IPO and a 23% jump in share value.

However, the company’s shares have been on a roller coaster since, rising and falling based on market concerns about growth potential in an increasingly competitive field. Where will UiPath and the rest of the RPA market end up in five years?

Industry observers will have an opportunity to find out more about the company and its plans for the future during theCUBE’s coverage of Forward IV, UiPath’s RPA event. TheCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media livestreaming studio, will interview company executives, IT decision-makers and partners at Forward IV starting October 5 at 9 a.m. PDT and ending at 5 PM PDT on October 6. (* Disclosure below.)

New partnerships and integrations

UiPath’s software-driven “robots” have proven to be adept at a wide range of tasks, ranging from data entry and form completion to voice transcription and numeric calculations. Some analysts believe that RPA will have even greater value in a post-pandemic economy beset by staffing shortages across a number of industries.

Over the past two years, UiPath has pressed its market-leading advantage through a string of partnerships. These have included integrations with Box Inc., Amazon Web Services Inc. and Udacity Inc., along with cybersecurity and cloud automation initiatives.

The competitive landscape for RPA was altered in late September when British startup Blue Prism Ltd. was purchased by a U.S. private equity firm for approximately $1.5 billion. UiPath’s primary competitors remain Microsoft, which has rolled out its Power Automate platform, and Automation Anywhere, a company that could pursue its own IPO in early 2022.

An analysis by SiliconANGLE earlier this year found that UiPath and its competitors were in a positive position in terms of customer spending trends, which will undoubtedly be a focus of interest for participants during the Forward IV event.

“Automation, along with cloud, AI and containers are the four areas of tech investment that show the most spending momentum with customers. UiPath is at the heart of these trends,” said Dave Vellante, chief analyst at SiliconANGLE sister market research firm Wikibon. “Bottom line, it’s a huge market, growing rapidly, and UiPath is leading into a frothy market that is benefiting from government stimulus, a rebounding economy and a new digital era.”

Livestream of UiPath’s Forward IV conference

UiPath’s Forward IV conference will be held at The Bellagio in Las Vegas, with additional interviews to be broadcasted on theCUBE. You can register for the event here. Plus, you can watch theCUBE’s event coverage here, as well as on demand after the live event.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch theCUBE’s live coverage of UiPath’s Forward IV conference, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube channel. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s event on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE Insights podcast

SiliconANGLE also has podcasts available of archived interview sessions, available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify, which you can enjoy while on the go.

Guests

During the event, theCUBE will speak with Leyla Delic, group chief information and digital officer at Coca-Cola; Daniel Boyd, automation leader at Merck; Irving L. Dennis, former CFO of HUD; Vicki Harris, manager of application platform engineering services at Chevron; and Brian Klochoff, head of automation at Dentsu.

TheCUBE will also speak with PWC’s Kevin Kroen, intelligent automation and digital upskilling leader, and Mike Engel, intelligent automation and process intelligence leader; as well as UiPath’s Bettina Koblick, chief people officer; Ryan Mac, SVP of growth; Thomas Hansen, CRO; and Param Kahlon, chief product officer.

Stay tuned for a complete list of speakers.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for UiPath’s Forward IV conference. Neither UiPath Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE