Santa Clara, Calif. – Sept. 16, 2009 – Automation Anywhere, a leader in desktop and enterprise automation software, asked leading IT professionals around the world the question, “What would you do with 30 minutes extra?” The question led a survey conducted to learn where automation software can help today’s IT professionals and how to address the concerns of companies that are hesitant to implement an automation program. With responses ranging from insightful to amusing, the campaign proved successful in shedding light on where automation stands in today’s business environment.

Of the nearly 160 IT professionals asked “What would you do with 30 minutes extra?” 75 percent said they would focus on completing tasks that were shelved due to lack of time. When survey participants were asked what they would do with this extra time, they consistently chose work related tasks over social and recreational tasks. Close to 70 percent of respondents currently spend from 30 minutes to more than an hour each day doing tasks that could be automated. 

When asked what tasks they would automate that are currently not available to do so, respondents answered in a variety of ways ranging from the humorous “make my wife happy,” and “hang up the laundry,” to the ambitious “world domination.” The most popular answer, however, was “IT automation,” with 16 percent of respondents indicating that as the highest priority, with “web automation” and “automated testing” following with roughly 10 percent of respondents each.

 “It is invaluable to know that IT professionals are just as interested in the ease with which anyone can use our product as they are in its implementation costs,” said Mihir Shukla, CEO, Automation Anywhere.  “The survey results demonstrate that automation software can lead to dramatic increases in productivity across all industries. If every employee at a 100-person company automated an hour of work every day, that would free up approximately 25,000 hours for additional productive tasks across the business.”

Many of the survey respondents do not currently utilize task automation applications. When asked what prevents them from incorporating automation solutions to daily tasks, 50 percent of respondents responded “a lack of time.” This was followed closely by the lack of budget dedicated to implementing an automation program with 33 percent of responses. Automation Anywhere executives have long known that the high cost of other automation software packages have created a barrier to entry for many potential business process automation customers, but the knowledge that many feel automation processes take too much time to set up will prove extremely valuable in customer communications moving forward.

“Implementation time has been a concern and led to the development of services like our ‘Getting Started’ package to alleviate that, but we see now that it is considered the major issue for a number of customers,” said Shukla. “Our customers want to know that our product is plug-and-play, and that it requires no special training or programming skills.”

The “What would you do with 30 minutes extra?” survey was conducted from Aug. 4, 2009 to Aug. 10, 2009 through Automation Anywhere’s database of IT professionals and visitor’s to Automation Anywhere’s website from around the world. 158 IT professionals, from entry level to senior executives, participated in the survey. For detailed survey results, please contact Damion Martin at dmartin@wonacottpr.com.

About Automation Anywhere

Automation Anywhere is a leader in Automation Software, with customers in more than 90 countries. The company’s user-friendly automation software technology enables fast automation of simple and complex tasks, without any programming. The company’s loyal customers include a full range of Fortune 500 companies, thousands of medium and small business, entrepreneurial startups, financial and healthcare companies, city, state and federal governments and leading educational institutes. For more information on Automation Anywhere, please visit www.AutomationAnywhere.com.

WComms secured two trade magazines, CRM Buyer and E-Commerce Times, to publish a bylined article by Automation Anywhere’s CEO, Mihir Shukla.   Both trade publications contribute directly to Automation Anywhere’s audience, as well as IT professionals alike.  Read below to see what Shukla’s expert advice is regarding automation in a struggling economy.  His advice helps communicate the automation upside in an economic downturn.

EXPERT ADVICE
Automation: A Lube Job for a Sluggish Economy

By Mihir Shukla
CRM Buyer & E-Commerce Times
Companies are breathing a little easier now that it seems the worst of the recession is over. That doesn’t mean they’re any less interested in achieving greater efficiencies. In fact, cutting costs and streamlining operations are efforts that are now viewed as essential, rather than as extreme, temporary measures. Automating a slew of cumbersome processes is key to long-term success.

Companies are now in the third stage of “economic downturn syndrome.” Having passed through Panic and Denial, they’re firmly in Acceptance. Panicky knee-jerk responses such as cost-cutting, layoffs , tightening budgets and resources are a thing of the past. Most companies have had a quick breather and segued to the stage of a more carefully considered response: monitoring processes and taking steps to improve efficiencies and productivity.

The pings and misses in the old economic engine are more noticeable, now that the flurry of Panic has subsided. It’s time to tune the system, clean out redundant processes, and make the machine run more efficiently and smoothly. So long as we’re at it, why not also gear up for the rebound, and be ahead of the curve when the economy rises?

Automation technology offers practical ways to reduce costs, at a price that’s surprisingly well-tuned to the times.

Please click here to read the full article.

Automation Anywhere released a Server edition of its namesake software that allows for accessible IT automating anywhere.  WComms recently secured an in-depth product review with Mark Gibbs, a writer for Computer World.  Gibbs was more than satisfied with his experience using Automation Anywhere Server.  The story was picked up on multiple sites around the world within the IDG family.  See below for some highlights from his product review of Automation Anywhere’s unique software capabilities. 

I tested Automation Anywhere Server 6.0.3 (priced at $6,000) and was very impressed. Amongst its huge feature list Automation Anywhere Server can send and receive e-mail, run tasks on schedules or launched via events or “triggers”, run and track the use of VBS and JavaScript scripts, and attempt to resolve platform differences with SMART technology so that tasks execute correctly on different Windows versions and different individual PCs.  This SMART technology appears to mostly work, though a file creation operation that worked fine on Windows 2008 Server failed on Windows Vista Ultimate because of Vista’s enhanced security. An additional problem that you have to work around is that in this case the failure didn’t get reported (this will be addressed in a future release).

To create an automation task there’s the Web Recorder, which monitors your browser’s interactions with a Web site and creates a task that can be edited and run. The only situation where this recording technology doesn’t work is when a Web page contains ActiveX controls. Then you have to manually add to the script specific mouse actions (e.g. “go to these coordinates in this window and click”).

The full review can be read here.

Santa Clara, Calif. – May 26, 2009 – In an effort to further align its corporate identity with its leading line of business automation software, Tethys Solutions announced today that it would now do business as Automation Anywhere.  With the growing need for automation, virtualization and efficiency, the Automation Anywhere suite of products has demonstrated that it is the core of Tethys Solutions’ business and brand.

With immediate demonstrable ROI, increased focus on scalability and the ability to roll out implementation in stages to suit budgetary concerns, Automation Anywhere provides companies of all sizes the opportunity to drastically improve productivity at a low cost compared to other enterprise business process automation software packages. 

 “Automation Anywhere has grown to be a wonderful solution for companies of all sizes and types where business processes take up valuable time and energy,” said Mihir Shukla, CEO, Automation Anywhere.  “With Automation Anywhere products, IT departments now have the option of segmented implementation, rather than the costly ‘all or nothing’ approach CIOs have been confronted with in the past.”

Automation Anywhere has seen global success with Fortune 500 companies across multiple industries with its easy to use, no programming required enterprise automation software and will continue to provide these products at costs well below the competition.  The only change customers will see is that now the Automation Anywhere branding is carried across all aspects of the business.

The Automation Anywhere suite of products includes Standard, Premier, Enterprise and Server versions that all provide companies with the means of staying competitive by automating simple and complex tasks across applications.  Users realize a quick ROI by saving both time and costs, increase business and IT process reliability and speed while reducing the possibility of human error.

Santa Clara, Calif. – May 5, 2009 – Automation, centralization and collaboration just got easier for teams, offices and even entire companies thanks to the new Automation Anywhere Server software. Tethys Solutions, a global leader in automation software, today released the latest automation application in its industry-leading product line for business processes and IT tasks. AA Server is an intelligent automation solution that allows multiple users to automate business and IT processes effortlessly, intuitively and reliably. 

Automation Anywhere Server extends the horizons of automation, both in terms of capabilities and ease of use. The application utilizes the rich Automation Anywhere client to develop complex automation processes and simultaneously provide centralized security, user management, collaboration, deployment, backup and other benefits of a server.  AA Server provides features like Windows object recorder, email automation, terminal emulation, SFTP and more, each in itself extending the reach of automation like never before.

“With the release of Automation Anywhere Server we address numerous key requirements of IT executives as their virtualized environments increase in complexity in IT automation,” said Mihir Shukla, CEO, Tethys Solutions.  “With Automation Anywhere Server incorporating visualization and collaboration, entire teams can work more efficiently while maintaining the highest quality standards for their organizations. If you are looking for an automation solution for an entire division or a team, this is it.”

Automation Anywhere Server is available directly from Tethys Solutions for an introductory offer of $6,000 at the official Web site, www.AutomationAnywhere.com, where visitors can purchase the application or download a free trial version.