KPMG China, in association with ACCA Hong Kong, has launched Hong Kong’s Automated Future – a survey that analyses the current take-up of automation, with a particular focus on Robotics Process Automation (RPA) implementation within finance functions.

The survey features 388 responses from senior Hong Kong executives, as well as finance and accounting professionals and it reveals that Hong Kong companies may lose their competitive edge if they fail to invest in and adopt automation.

Automation is an opportunity that cannot be missed as senior executives demand greater and faster insights as well as value from finance functions.

It is now a good time for organisations to think through their automation strategy, with the government introducing a number of initiatives to establish Hong Kong as a regional innovation and technology hub. This includes the recent HKD50 billion earmarked for the development of innovation and technologies.

The report revealed a number of key RPA investment drivers, including refocusing resources on value-added tasks, minimising errors associated with manual processes, as well as cost-savings. Respondents, however, also highlighted challenges such as perceived benefits do not outweigh costs, lack of knowledge and having sufficient manpower to cover manual or routine work.

In addition, the survey findings showed that the technology, telecommunications, banking and finance sectors were among the leaders in RPA adoption, while the manufacturing sector was identified as one of the laggards.