SS&C Blue Prism Charts Path from RPA to Agentic Automation

For companies still deeply invested in the rules and structures of robotic process automation (RPA), the idea of transitioning to agentic AI as the next stage of automation can feel daunting. SS&C Blue Prism is ready to assist, guiding customers from RPA toward agentic automation at a pace that suits their comfort level.

As significant as this shift may seem, it's becoming essential. Today’s workflows have reached a level of complexity that goes beyond what traditional RPA was built to handle, according to Steven Colquitt, VP of Software Engineering at SS&C Blue Prism. Unstructured data flows in from multiple sources, reflecting unpredictable real-world interactions. “Inputs can change, outcomes may vary, and decisions must be made based on real-time context,” Colquitt explains.

Brian Halpin, Managing Director of Automation at SS&C Blue Prism, offers the example of analyzing a credit agreement where you might need to extract 30 to 40 answers. He intentionally uses the term “answers” rather than “data points” to reflect the reasoning capabilities of a large language model (LLM).

The idea of this being a gradual journey remains central. “We’re now telling an AI agent the outcome we want, but not the step-by-step instructions to get there,” Halpin says. “We don’t say, ‘follow steps one through five.’ Instead, we say, ‘review this loan’ or ‘onboard this customer.’”

“Ultimately, that’s the direction the market is headed,” Halpin adds. “Is it ready for that today? Not yet. Why? Because there are still concerns around trust, regulation, auditability, stability, and security. We know LLMs can hallucinate, their behavior can drift, and if you change the underlying model, outputs and responses can shift unexpectedly.”

“There’s still a great deal of learning needed before companies fully adopt autonomous, truly agentic workflows driven by non-deterministic logic,” Halpin states. “And by then, something new will emerge—another model, another advancement. So right now, everything is part of an ongoing journey.”

SS&C Blue Prism serves thousands of customers who have already automated processes—whether through centers of excellence (CoEs) or digital workers in daily operations—and aims to help them transition into what Halpin calls “the world of AI.” Sometimes, this means bridging separate parts of an organization.

“It’s been interesting,” Halpin observes. “In talking with customers, I notice a common pattern: many companies have set up AI as a separate unit. The process automation team, in some cases, isn’t even permitted to use AI tools.”

“So the challenge becomes: How do we help them gain that capability, integrate it into their process efficiency, and unlock the next 20–30% of automation gains across the end-to-end workflow?”

To support this transition, SS&C Blue Prism will soon introduce new technology that helps organizations build and embed AI agents into workflows, along with tools for orchestration. Attendees of TechEx Global on February 4–5—where SS&C Blue Prism took part in the Intelligent Automation conference—heard the full details and learned about the company’s evolving roadmap.

“SS&C Technologies is one of the largest RPA users worldwide,” Halpin notes. “We’ve deployed over 3,500 digital workers across the SS&C environment, delivering hundreds of millions in run-rate savings. We also have around 35 AI agents in production, working alongside those digital workers on complex tasks. We’re eager to share what we’ve learned on this journey.”

Watch the full interview with Brian Halpin below:

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash