Recent news such as the Facebook whistleblower, antitrust investigations against tech giants, and the rise of fintechs in the bank-dominated space have put the tech world in the spotlight, and this is likely to continue for a long time to come.

But that is not the only reason the technology industry has stood out. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, enterprise tech has drawn attention for its role in generating innovation in virtually every sector during a digital transformation process that will not end anytime soon.

“I think every industry has a digital disruption scenario … there isn’t an industry, whether it is manufacturing or retail or healthcare or government, that isn’t going to get disrupted by digital,” said Dave Vellante (pictured, right), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. “And I think the unique piece of this is data, putting data at the core. That is what the big internet giants have done.”

Vellante was joined by Lisa Martin (pictured, left), co-host of theCUBE, during the Day 2 kickoff of UiPath’s recent Forward IV conference. They discussed the turmoil surrounding the tech industry, how innovation around data, automation and artificial intelligence is likely to dominate the business agenda for a long time, and examples of successful digital transformation journeys. (* Disclosure below.)

Traditional enterprises embrace data

Not only are startups focusing on data, but more traditional companies are also shifting to a data-centric approach. Centennial Coca-Cola decided to put data at its core. In partnership with UiPath Inc., the company is doing continuous process discovery to identify processes gaps and then figure out how to optimize and automate them.

“Can these 100-plus-year-old giants compete? I think they can, because they don’t have to invent AI; they can work with companies like UiPath and embed AI into their business and focus on what they do best,” Vellante said.

One major reason these legacy institutions are driving cultural changes to adopt a data strategy is the need to face smaller, nimbler and faster competitors, according to Martin. They have come to understand that in order to keep market share, they need to offer an exceptional experience for customers and employees, which is only possible by leveraging data and technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence and analytics, she added.

Semiconductor industry equipment supplier Applied Materials Inc. is another company in the process of digital transformation. Its finance leaders want to take costs out of the businesses, drive innovation and then improve the bottom line, according to Vellante.

“Of course, at the end of the day, it’s all about the bottom line, but they see technology as a way to get there,” he stated.

Training for upscaling the career

While automation is often associated with fears of job loss, over time it can actually create jobs, according to a IDC Research Inc. research commissioned by UiPath and released in September. As robotic process automation automates manual labor, economic growth driven by emerging markets generates new jobs, the research says. IDC estimates that two jobs are gained for every job lost to RPA, and based on how RPA advances, the ratio could change over time to four jobs gained for every job lost.

Addressing the short-term chasm, however, requires educational training so employees learn how to become more relevant to the organization, free themselves from mundane tasks, and begin to focus on strategic processes that impact business results, according to Martin. This can allow them to upscale their careers.

“You can’t protect the past from the future. This [automation] is inevitable,” Vellante said. “And we’ve seen this in terms of economic activity around the world. Countries that try to protect 100% employment and don’t let competition, they tend to fall behind competitively.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of UiPath’s Forward IV conference. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the 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