Technology Working Group Final Phase 2 Report Technology Landscape

B. Technology Landscape

This section covers the trends, opportunities, and impact/risks of the following technologies and related issues: Robotic Process Automation (RPA), AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and data governance, including cybersecurity. Key ethics-related concerns arising from these technologies and issues are covered in the subsequent subsection entitled C: Potential Ethics Impact on the Behavior of PAs. The Working Group notes that most of the ethics-related impact/risks and key concerns are addressed by provisions in the extant Code and proposals in the Technology ED. Those that the Working Group believes can benefit from further guidance are outlined in Section III: Insights and Recommendations.
Stakeholders report that the most common emerging technologies and technology-related issues currently impacting business processes are RPA, AI (including intelligent process automation (IPA)),³² cybersecurity (including data privacy), and blockchain. It was consistently reported, however, that the uptake by organizations of AI and blockchain-related technologies is slower than expected and slower relative to the publicity these technologies receive. Based on stakeholder and TEG commentary, as well as desk research, it appears that most organizations are finding these technologies challenging to effectively implement as a result of process fragmentation, resources being allocated to other priorities, difficulties in establishing business cases (for example, a lack of understanding of the return on investment (ROI) arising from the technology or a belief that the ROI is too slow), and the general lack of maturity, and accordingly lack of understanding, of the technologies.
Nevertheless, accelerated implementation of transformative technologies has been observed – particularly in the past couple of years – often connected with mitigating business issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as RPA, cloud computing, tools to support remote working and access, and addressing cybersecurity concerns.

To learn about each individual technology, click on a topic below: