By 
Ashraf El Zarka, the Regional Vice President and Managing Director of MEA and Pakistan at UiPath, says many organisations are keen to bring AI to the workplace in a way that is safe, compliant, and aligned with mission-critical business goals and objectives
How did the industry and your company fare in 2024, and what were the key highlights?
In 2024, the major players engaged in an ‘AI arms race’ to develop and launch AI products, in a bid to capture a growing market. At the same time, businesses around the globe acknowledged even more the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to reshape how we design and execute business processes. In particular, many organizations were keen to bring AI to the workplace in a way that was safe, compliant, and aligned with mission-critical business goals and objectives.
In this process, many discovered that, when deployed via an automation platform, AI can be utilized to its full potential to replicate and elevate the benefits brought by consumer AI tools and scale them at the enterprise level. At UiPath, we’ve seen many of our customers benefit from our suite of enterprise automation solutions — from cutting down automation development time by an impressive 75% to reducing manual testing by 50%. With millions of dollars saved and massive returns on investment generated, our customers are proof of how impactful automation and AI can be.
We’ve seen accelerated adoption of automation and AI in our region, and are proud to have supported our customer base in the public and private sectors to successfully implement customer and employee-centric strategies powered by AI. Dubai Health Authority, Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Dubai Police, and the UAE Federal Tax Authority, are just some of them. Also this year, we’ve signed a much-valued partnership with The Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications Office in the UAE government.
What opportunities do you foresee for 2025, and how do you plan to leverage them?
We believe strongly in the potential lying ahead of us in terms of the latest step in the evolution of enterprise automation: Agentic automation. This is a progressive leap from RPA that combines AI agents, robots, people, and models to deliver AI transformation enterprise-wide for end-to-end processes. The value of Agentic Automation lies in its potential to efficiently tackle the long tail of complex and differentiated use cases across industries while offering previously unseen potential for customization, adaptability, and cost-savings.
With the dawn of agentic automation, the merging of AI and automation will reach new heights. Poised to be a catalyst of tech-driven innovation, this type of AI uses large language models (LLMs), generative AI (GenAI), and large action models (LAMs), among other advanced AI. It allows software agents to perceive their environment, reason out, and, ultimately, learn to adapt to changing conditions — all in a bid to achieve goals tailored to the customer using the tool. Driving a new era of transformation, Agentic AI will also enable agents, software robots, and human workers to seamlessly work together to boost efficiency and handle complex tasks.
What major challenges did you encounter in 2024, and how did you address them?
We’ve been busy working on behalf of our customers to counteract possible challenges before they occur. Amid a huge wave of development and adoption of AI solutions in the enterprise, orchestration has become very important. Flexible and powerful process orchestration is a must-have, especially when governance ranks high on the priority list. To be truly effective, orchestration capabilities should be cross-enterprise and agnostic—capable of working across the entire enterprise technology ecosystem. Failing to prioritize orchestration could prove a challenge down the line and halt the pace of innovating with AI if not addressed proactively.
In parallel, we’re noticing an increased demand for employees with sound AI skills who can leverage specialized tools in their day-to-day work. That is why, we’re continuing to invest in developing the most up-to-date training courses in automation and AI offered through UiPath Academy. Our open platform has gathered around two million users since its launch in 2017 and continues to be a driving force in support of our mission to address the automation and AI skills gap.
Similarly, our Academic Alliance offers higher education institutions and workforce development organizations the opportunity to develop automation and AI skills for students enrolled in their institutions. Failing to address the skills gap could create challenges for both employees who want to be a part of the AI revolution and for businesses looking to attract the best AI talent.
Which emerging technologies do you believe will be in high demand in 2025, and why?
Apart from agentic automation, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and knowledge graphs are promising technologies to watch out for. These innovations can substantially transform how organizations manage vast amounts of data. Knowledge graphs refer to graphical representations of real-world entities. These could be events, documents, or concepts. Meanwhile, RAG is a type of tech that allows GenAI to access real-world data when giving responses.
These technologies can enhance data relevance and accessibility. Any entity that will leverage them can benefit from the competitive advantages that these tools offer — most prominently, efficiency and better data-driven decision-making. But to fully realize these benefits, there must be robust governance frameworks in place. These frameworks will ensure secure and transparent data management.
What will be your primary focus areas and strategic priorities for 2025?
Our primary focus will be to enable our customer base to take advantage of the enormous potential that Agentic Automation is bringing along. Combining agents, robots, AI, and people, Agentic automation can automate even the longest, most complex processes end to end. Working effortlessly across multiple systems, it will deliver transformational outcomes across the enterprise.
This will make businesses more autonomous and productive while boosting the experiences of customers and employees. While agents will be taking on work that can be delegated to them, employees will continue to expand their roles as supervisors, decision-makers, and leaders.
Are there plans to explore new markets or introduce new products/applications to your portfolio in 2025?
2025 will be a pivotal year, with Agentic AI and Agentic Automation expected to push the boundaries of innovation. And we, at UiPath, are keen to lead the charge on this front.
Comments