Business Process Automation Exposes Value Hidden In Plain Sight

Describing Business Process Automation as a quiet growth market, Priscila Bernardes says there’s a simple reason behind a projected steep expansion trajectory: There’s value hidden in plain sight for almost every company. 

That’s something of a paradox, says Lancom Technology’s CEO, because while the overwhelming focus is on artificial intelligence – arguably the pinnacle of technology development – some of the best results can be achieved by focusing on the dullest aspects of daily work. 

“Whilst most businesses are concerned about leveraging AI as a strategy, they are also still dealing with the stress and inconvenience of repetitive administration, multiple spreadsheets, and people being the glue connecting manual processes,” she says.  

Bernardes says her view is further backed by double digit growth projections confirming strong demand for BPA services. In its assessment, Future Market Insights projects that Business Process Automation (BPA) will grow from USD 17.1 billion in 2025 to USD 52.2 billion by 2035, at a CAGR of 11.8%. 

Notably, the researcher says on-premises BPA software is expected to dominate with a 54.2% market share, and SMEs will lead adoption with 47.6%. 

“Both these observations are telling particularly for the New Zealand and Australian markets, and to a degree for the USA and elsewhere,” Bernardes says. “There’s a lot of inefficiency in the office that can benefit from process automation. Sometimes it is as simple as document routing. 

“And with most businesses defined as SMEs, there’s growing appreciation of and appetite for technology that improves workflows and personal productivity, which in turn creates capacity for humanising the exceptional. And that’s something we are passionate about.” 

Future Market Insights says BPA is driven by a quest for efficiency, reduced operational costs, and improved compliance by integrating digital workflows, artificial intelligence, and robotic process automation. 

“AI is at the pointy end, absolutely, and it can accelerate and accentuate BPA rollouts. But AI is a component of the solution, not the solution itself; more important by far is including your people, because their frustration with repetitive, manual work is quite often the fuel powering the BPA engine,” Bernardes notes. 

She says Microsoft Power Platform Release Wave 2 announcements (Oct 2025 – Mar 2026) across Power Automate, Power Apps, Power Pages, and Copilot Studio make advanced BPA more accessible, underpinning the double-digit growth anticipated by Future Market Insights. 

These releases include AI-driven automation through the Copilot Expression Assistant, AI Recorder for Desktop Flows, and generative actions from natural languages. “This essentially brings vibe coding to the masses as a step forward in the already proven low-code/no-code concept. Users describe what they want, and Copilot generates the correct syntax for Power Automate flows.” 

Crucially, Bernardes says the Wave 2 releases also accelerate process mapping and introduce return on investment dashboards. “We love talking value with BPA; now Microsoft makes it possible to quantify that value in terms of hours saved, cost avoidance, and payback periods from automation projects.” 

She says Lancom Technology’s BPA division is kept busy with strong demand for automations. Recent projects include a Power BI analytics data ingestion pipeline for an Australian project specialist, a bot giving hundreds of man hours back for a social services provider, and a Power Automate workflow creating executive insight workflows for HRV New Zealand. 

“While these are some of the more advanced and complex use cases, a little analysis usually exposes multiple opportunities for BPA-driven improvement in nearly every company,” Bernardes stresses. “The technology is available. Combine it with the right expertise and unlock hidden value for lasting gains.”