From RPA to AI: How Hyper-automation Increases Efficiency and Reduces Costs
Post written by Eneas Lemos Dos Santos, Global Outsourcing Division Manager at Gi BPO
At Gi BPO we are already thinking about 2026 and the strategic challenges the new world economic order is creating for companies operating in all sectors. When it comes to the search for the increased operational and financial efficiency that companies need in order to remain competitive, hyper-automation services are some of the most potent business process outsourcing (BPO) tools that specialists like us can offer our partners.
Hyper-automation refers to services that use multiple automation technologies in combination – including AI and machine learning – to analyse and automate business activities quickly. These tools can speed up processes like data extraction, document processing and compliance reporting, thereby freeing up human resources to focus on complex and strategic work that creates enduring value for companies.
One of the key elements in hyper-automation is Robotic Process Automation (RPA), This is a type of software that replicates human interactions with digital systems – entering data, copying files and sending emails requesting information, for example – in order to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks. “Basically,” says Eneas Lemos, Gi BPO Global Outsourcing Division Manager, “it’s like a subroutine created to speed up the tasks and reduce the steps needed to complete a process”.
The technology can be applied to almost any “manual” process – for example, opening and recording invoices, extracting data and entering this information into a spreadsheet, sending confirmation emails – and once you teach the ‘robot’ the exact sequence, it can run the processes round the clock, more rapidly and without mistakes. This enables employees to focus on more important tasks.
If you put these processes together, the result is hyper-automation, which is becoming even more powerful, thanks to AI.
“When we have processes that require repetitive tasks, we use technology to automatise them,” Eneas adds. “Today it’s common to have many different software programmes that carry out separate tasks. For example, at Gi BPO we have created a hyper-automated system that manages our billing process. Our Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software contains lots of data, fed from different departments – human resources, invoicing, travel, operations – and we have created many RPAs to handle these tasks as part of a broader workflow, thus speeding up the process dramatically.”
Hyper-automation also leads to hyper cost savings (well, not quite, but you get the picture). “Companies can reduce costs by between 30 and 35%, thanks to hyper-automation,” Eneas points out. And while the most savings occur when a company performs the hyper-automation activities internally, not every company is in a position to do so. In these cases, companies refer to external BPO organisations – like Gi BPO – to help them implement and run these systems.
Why can’t companies handle their own hyper-automation implementation? For Eneas, the answer is simple: “Many companies – especially large ones – have IT departments that could develop these technologies, but the development costs are high and they prefer to allocate their budgets to more value-generating areas.” By way of example, Eneas cites financial and back-office areas. “These aren’t priorities for most IT departments, who tend to focus their efforts on supporting sales. So, in these areas companies can have problems, since they don’t have sufficient budgets and don’t have IT developing programmes to facilitate their workflows.”
One of the many advantages of hyper-automation is that it can be widely applied. This means that there are lots of opportunities for BPO organisations – and customers – to partner with each other in projects. Indeed, pretty much all back-office areas – HR, procurement, finance, travel expenses and facility management – can benefit from hyper-automation. “They have lots of people working on different systems, spreadsheets, emails… this is the perfect area for implementing hyper-automation,” Eneas points out.
So, what developments are on the horizon? Eneas believes that over the next few years the big push will come in the form of “Agentic AI”, whereby autonomous computer programmes (‘agents’) decide and act without direct human input, leading to highly scalable, reliable automation.
Indeed, according to the “State of the Shared Services & Outsourcing Industry Global Market Report 2025”, which was published by SSON Research & Analytics (SSON R&A), this is an area that’s still being explored by businesses. The Report, which cites a survey carried out during the 2025 SSON Digital Webinar, argues that while only around 45% of Global Business Services (GBS) teams were “somewhat familiar” with the concept of Agentic AI (and 20% were “unfamiliar”), approximately 70% of organisations said they wanted to learn more and 81% said they planned to invest within the next year.
So, if you’re not investing in hyper-automation, you’re not doing yourself any favours. It’s time to find out how Gi BPO’s hyper-automation expertise and other advanced, AI-powered solutions can help your company unleash the next phase of growth and drive the results of your business.
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