A quiet revolution with a potential impact on the IT workforce reminiscent of outsourcing may be under way in the form of robotic process automation.

Geared toward automating a variety of business and computing processes typically handled by humans, RPA will stir passions at organizations that deploy the technology, with its potential to slash jobs, shake up the relevant skills mix, and if implemented strategically, stave off the specter of outsourcing.

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The reason: Thanks to advances in software and artificial intelligence, automation has its sights on higher-value tasks than ever before -- and it’s already having an impact at organizations currently deploying these systems.