The digital business era has spawned countless innovations in IT technologies that have revolutionized enterprise business models into what we now know as the modern digital business. Among them are two technologies – hybrid multi-cloud architecture and robotic process automation (RPA) – that seem singularly different (indeed, operating at extreme ends of the IT spectrum), but actually share common ground.

There are several important factors that are and will continue to drive organizations to re-think how work is done going forward.

On December 9th, 1968, Doug Englebart—American engineer, inventor, and early computer pioneer—catapulted computing into the modern age with a jaw-dropping and highly influential computer demonstration now widely known as “The Mother of All Demos.” Englebart’s extensive research proved that computers could do much more than crunch numbers—they could actually augment the intelligence of workers to make them more effective.

“With all of this discussion of automation technology, however, one fact remains steadfast: Business processes are mostly about humans and the work that they do. Process automation technology will continue to improve as it has for centuries, but the real story here is a human one.”