IBM to acquire WDG Automation
IBM has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Brazilian software provider of robotic process automation (RPA) WDG Soluções Em Sistemas E Automação De Processos LTDA (referred to as "WDG Automation").
The acquisition further advances IBM's AI-infused automation capabilities, spanning business processes to IT operations. Financial terms were not disclosed.
When AI-infused automation is applied to business processes and IT operations, it can help shorten the time between identifying an issue and responding. This is critical as unforeseen IT incidents and outages, for example, can cost businesses in both revenue and reputation.
By embedding WDG Automation's RPA capabilities into IBM's existing AI-infused automation capabilities across business processes and IT operations, business leaders including Chief Operating Officers (COOs) and Chief Information Officers (CIOs) will have broader access to intelligent automation through software robots.
The acquisition also will extend IBM Services' ability to transform clients' operations as RPA, analytics and AI bring more intelligence to the enterprise workflows that fuel adaptive and resilient businesses and helps to expand IBM's capabilities for delivering automation pervasively across client organizations.
Businesses will be able to efficiently re-engineer, optimize, and standardize operations, while eliminating business processes and IT operations that are redundant or unnecessary.
Available through IBM Services, organizations will be able to quickly identify more granular opportunities for automation, including tasks that have many steps, as well as help ensure consistent and accurate data is being used across all tools and business functions, including customer service, IT, finance, HR, and supply chain.
"IBM already automates how companies apply AI to business processes and IT operations so they can detect opportunities and problems and recommend next steps and solutions," said Denis Kennelly, general manager, cloud integration, IBM Cloud and Cognitive Software. "With today's announcement, IBM is taking that a step further and helping clients accelerate automation to more parts of the organization, not just to routine, but more complex tasks so employees can focus on higher value work."
WDG Automation is a software provider of RPA, headquartered in São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. WDG Automation provides RPA, Intelligent Automation (IA), Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and chatbots primarily to customers in Latin America.
This news will further extend the capabilities of the IBM Cloud Pak offerings on Red Hat OpenShift, starting with Cloud Pak for Automation. As part of the acquisition, IBM will integrate over 600 pre-built RPA functions from WDG Automation into Cloud Pak for Automation to help businesses turn insights from AI into automated actions.
For more information about this news, visit www.ibm.com.