The Future Of Physical Automation

May 31st, 2023

Craig Le Clair Vice President, Principal Analyst

Renee Taylor-Huot Senior Researcher

Paul Miller Vice President, Principal Analyst

With contributors:

Glenn O'Donnell , J. P. Gownder , George Lawrie , Naveen Chhabra , Natalie Schibell , Audrey Lynch , Diane Lynch

Summary

This report compares 10 physical automation categories. Each can be disruptive to employee experience (EX) and customer experience (CX); organizations shouldn’t force physical automation on either group prematurely. Simply put, humans will play the leading role in when and how a category becomes acceptable. We used a six-stage human adoption model to show how a physical automation category can evolve from unthinkable and creepy to acceptable and popular, then placed categories across a near-term, medium-term, and long-term timeline. Enterprises can use the timeline to review their physical automation investments.

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