Enterprise software vendors often talk about artificial intelligence transforming the workplace. Fewer demonstrate what that transformation looks like at scale.

At Automation Anywhere, the shift toward AI-driven operations has become central to the company’s internal strategy—and that effort has now received industry recognition.

Kapil Vyas, Chief Information Officer at Automation Anywhere, has been named a 2026 CIO 100 Award winner by CIO, marking the third consecutive year he has received the honor. The award recognizes technology leaders who drive measurable business transformation through IT innovation.

For Automation Anywhere, the recognition highlights a multi-year transition from early experimentation with generative AI to what the company describes as operating as an “Autonomous Enterprise.” The concept centers on a hybrid workforce where human employees collaborate with AI agents embedded into business processes.

While enterprise AI adoption is accelerating across industries, the company’s internal transformation reflects a broader shift underway in how organizations deploy Marketing automation, manage workflows, and structure digital infrastructure.

From Early AI Experiments to Enterprise Autonomy

Automation Anywhere’s journey toward an AI-first operating model began several years ago, before generative AI tools became mainstream in enterprise software.

The first phase focused on governance and experimentation. In 2024, the company established internal frameworks designed to guide responsible AI adoption. An internal AI council was formed to evaluate use cases, assess risk, and ensure that automation initiatives aligned with business priorities.

Early deployments focused on low-risk, process-level automation. These projects tested generative AI capabilities in controlled environments and provided data to determine where AI could meaningfully improve operational efficiency.

By 2025, the company shifted from experimentation toward scaled implementation. Instead of isolated pilot programs, AI-powered automation began expanding across core business functions including finance, IT operations, sales processes, and customer service workflows.

At that stage, the company began redesigning end-to-end workflows rather than automating individual tasks. The shift marked a critical step toward integrating AI agents directly into day-to-day operations.

Today, the company describes itself as operating under a hybrid model where humans and AI systems collaborate across departments.

Agentic Automation Moves Into the Enterprise Core

The transformation underway at Automation Anywhere reflects a growing enterprise trend toward agentic automation—a new category of AI-driven systems capable of executing tasks, interacting with software environments, and making decisions within defined operational frameworks.

Unlike traditional robotic process automation (RPA), which typically follows fixed rule-based scripts, agentic systems are designed to adapt to changing inputs and complex workflows.

The company’s platform for Agentic Process Automation (APA) combines automation infrastructure with generative AI capabilities to create digital agents capable of supporting enterprise tasks.

Within Automation Anywhere’s own operations, those systems now support work across several departments:

Finance operations
IT service management
Sales pipeline processes
Customer support interactions

The deployment reflects a shift away from automation as a back-office efficiency tool toward AI systems that actively participate in business operations.

According to company data, more than 90 percent of employees now use AI-powered tools or agentic systems as part of their daily workflows.

More than 90 agentic automations have been deployed internally, supporting thousands of operational processes.

The Rise of the Hybrid Workforce

One of the most visible outcomes of the transformation is the emergence of what the company calls a “hybrid workforce.”

In this model, human employees collaborate with AI agents responsible for executing routine tasks, analyzing operational data, and managing workflow steps.

The approach reflects a broader shift underway across enterprise IT organizations as AI tools move beyond analytics into operational execution.

Automation Anywhere reports that approximately 20 percent of its workforce activities are now supported by AI agents, compared with roughly 6 percent in 2024.

The shift has returned hundreds of thousands of working hours annually through automation initiatives.

At the same time, the company says it has seen up to 15x return on investment from certain AI deployments, significantly higher than the 2–3x ROI typically associated with traditional automation tools.

The operational impact extends beyond productivity. According to the company, AI-driven automation has also enabled a 25–30 percent reduction in software licensing costs and IT spending, as AI systems take on tasks previously handled by standalone SaaS tools.

Automation Anywhere’s “Customer Zero” Strategy

Many enterprise technology vendors test their own products internally before offering them to customers—a strategy sometimes referred to as “Customer Zero.”

Automation Anywhere has used that approach extensively during its AI transformation.

The company implemented its automation and agentic AI systems internally first, using real business operations as testing environments before scaling solutions externally.

This approach allowed the company to address common enterprise AI challenges including:

system integration across legacy platforms
AI governance and compliance oversight
employee adoption and change management
demonstrating measurable ROI from automation investments

Lessons learned from these deployments led to the creation of an AI maturity model and a five-pillar operating framework designed to help enterprises scale AI initiatives beyond early experimentation.

The framework focuses on governance, operational integration, workforce collaboration, performance measurement, and long-term automation strategy.

For organizations navigating similar transitions, these operational models provide guidance on how to expand AI deployments across multiple departments without creating fragmented technology environments.

AI Adoption Accelerates Across Enterprise IT

Automation Anywhere’s internal transformation reflects a larger industry shift as enterprises move rapidly to adopt generative AI and automation technologies.

Large technology companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, and Adobe are integrating generative AI into enterprise software platforms ranging from productivity suites to customer data systems.

At the same time, automation technologies are evolving beyond traditional robotic process automation toward AI agents capable of reasoning and adapting to dynamic environments.

Research from Gartner suggests the shift toward autonomous and semi-autonomous systems could redefine enterprise operations over the next decade.

The firm estimates that by 2028, a significant portion of enterprise workflows will involve AI-driven decision systems operating alongside human employees.

Meanwhile, McKinsey & Company reports that generative AI could add between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion in annual economic value globally, largely through productivity improvements across knowledge work.

These trends suggest that enterprises will increasingly treat AI as a foundational operational layer rather than a standalone analytics capability.

The Bigger Picture: Automation and the Future of Work

The emergence of AI-powered enterprise systems is reshaping how organizations think about digital infrastructure.

In earlier waves of automation, companies focused primarily on reducing manual processes through scripting or robotic automation.

The current wave is different. AI systems can interpret language, analyze context, and interact with complex software environments, allowing them to support higher-level operational tasks.

As these systems mature, enterprise leaders are beginning to rethink how work itself is structured.

Instead of assigning tasks exclusively to human employees, organizations are exploring models where AI agents manage operational workflows while people focus on strategic decision-making, oversight, and creative work.

This shift raises new questions around governance, accountability, and performance measurement.

IT departments increasingly find themselves responsible not just for deploying technology systems but for orchestrating how work flows between human teams and digital agents.

For companies exploring similar transitions, Automation Anywhere’s internal transformation provides an early example of how enterprises may structure these hybrid operational models.

Top Insights

• Automation Anywhere CIO Kapil Vyas won the 2026 CIO 100 Award for leading a multi-year enterprise transformation centered on AI-driven automation and hybrid human-AI workforce operations.

• The company has deployed more than 90 agentic automations internally, with over 90 percent of employees actively using AI tools across finance, IT, sales, and customer support workflows.

• Automation Anywhere reports up to 15x ROI from certain AI deployments, alongside a 25–30 percent reduction in software licensing and IT spending through agentic automation.

• The company’s AI maturity model and five-pillar framework aim to help enterprises move from early AI experimentation toward fully scaled autonomous operations.

• The transformation highlights a broader shift in enterprise technology where AI agents increasingly augment employee workflows and reshape operational infrastructure.

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