Blueprint 
Thought Leadership

May 2, 2025

Blueprint Software Systems Announces Expert Roundtable on the Future of Automation and Agentic AI

Automation is evolving—and fast. As Agentic AI reshapes how decisions are made, Blueprint’s upcoming roundtable brings together top experts to explore the rewards, risks, and realities of this next era in intelligent automation.

May 2, 2025

Blueprint Software Systems Hosts Roundtable on Agentic AI in RPA

Blueprint Software Systems is bringing together a panel of industry leaders and AI experts for a high-impact virtual roundtable titled “Smarter, Faster, Riskier? Rethinking Automation in the Age of Agentic AI.” This exclusive event will delve into the evolving role of Agentic AI in Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and its implications for governance, enterprise agility, and responsible innovation. 

June 19, 2023

RPA Platform Migration: Do’s And Don’ts

While RPA migrations are becoming increasingly commonplace, organizations often have a difficult time determining what automated processes should be moved to their new intelligent automation platform and in what order.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

June 6, 2023 

Prioritizing Processes in RPA Migration

Frustrated by the high level of technical complexity and aggressively rising prices legacy systems require, more and more businesses are migrating their existing robotic process automation (RPA) estates to next-generation intelligent automation platforms.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

May 23, 2023 

Thoughts on the State of Robotic Process Automation Migration

The cost of automation and maintenance is driving organizations to migrate their RPA tools to cost-effective RPA platforms.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

May 10, 2023 

How to Reduce Automation Costs During a Recession

With worries about a down economy looming and mounting pressure on managers to do more with less, though, citizen development is now emerging to reduce automation costs while delivering business value in a recessionary economy.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

May 6, 2023 

How to Prevent Security Black Spots When Utilising RPA

Tony Higgins, Chief Product Officer at Blueprint Software Systems, explains what security measures insurers should take when utilising RPA and automation.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

April 17, 2023 

Automation Security: The Questions You Should Be Asking

To stay safe and keep their RPA bots up and running, credit unions should have answers to five critical questions.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

April 12, 2023 

Robotic Process Automation: Establishing Best Practices

Like virtually all technologies, robotic process automation (RPA) represents a potential target for outside threats if proper security measures are not put in place.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

April 5, 2023 

Using the citizen-development approach to automation to weather the recession

Given the high cost of ownership for robotic process automation (RPA), however, manufacturers have to find ways to lower automation costs while getting the most out of their RPA practice.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

March 4, 2023 

Digital twins could be the key to successful automation

The primary advantage of the digital twin is that it evolves as automation evolves. As a result, if any changes are applied to the automation in the RPA platform, those same changes are reflected in the twin, ideally in real-time or at least near real-time.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

February 28, 2023 

Is RPA Secure? Ask These Questions

What questions should your organization be asking to stay safe and keep your RPA bots productive and running?

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

February 19, 2023 

Introducing Robotic process automation (or RPA)

Despite RPA’s success to date, many organizations have been hesitant to move on from their outdated legacy systems to more cost-effective and powerful intelligent automation platforms.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

February 16, 2023 

The Pros & Cons of Low-Code/No-Code

Confronted with the shortfall in IT expertise, many businesses are turning to low-code/no-code platforms to enable employees with little or no IT training to handle the crushing demand for application development.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

February 9, 2023 

Challenges, Opportunities of Intelligent Automation in 2023

Is automation the future of manufacturing? As if there was ever any doubt, the past year affirmed that more manufacturers than ever before are turning to automation to accelerate the production cycle, reduce costs, and increase the bottom line.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

February 4, 2023 

The Pros & Cons of Low-Code/No-Code

To meet the unprecedented rate of change and rising market demands, it is perhaps fitting that yet another major leap forward in software development – low-code/no-code software development – is finally enabling the highly touted citizen development approach to become a reality.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

December 13, 2022 

What Does 2023 Hold in Store for Intelligent Automation?

Dan Shimmerman, the President and CEO of Blueprint Software Systems, outlines where intelligent automation technology could go in 2023.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

December 12, 2022 

Seeing Double: How Digital Twinning Can Optimize Your Automation Estate

Digital twinning has demonstrated an uncanny ability to overcome many of the challenges that traditionally plague automation programs, creating bottlenecks, stifling scale, and eating away at ROI.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

October 19, 2022 

Five Trends Are Driving Continued Automation Growth

Blueprint Software Systems surveyed 400 automation leaders from around the world to get a better fix on the current state of the automation market and where we can expect RPA to go next. That research revealed five key trends that are continuing to drive automation growth.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

October 18, 2022 

The Pros and Cons of Cloud Automation – Part 2

Companies looking to reduce the cost of on-premise platforms and their dependence on internal resources to host, maintain, and support that infrastructure, however, are increasingly opting for cloud automation.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

October 11, 2022 

Tackling Automation Overload with Value Mapping

Analysis helps manufacturers get a grip on which processes are being used, which are delivering business value, and which are losing money.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

September 30, 2022 

The Pros and Cons of Cloud Automation – Part 1

Does on-premise RPA, in which an organization purchases an automation software license and runs it entirely on its own premises, still make sense, given the options now available?

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

September 20, 2022 

The Pros and Cons of Cloud Automation Solutions

Companies in various industries are aggressively choosing cloud-first automation platforms and migrating their automation estates from on-premise technology to the cloud.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

September 19, 2022 

Fierce competition: Who could win the intelligent automation arms race

There is a quiet yet fierce battle being fought by technology heavyweights. They want to consolidate the exponentially increasing RPA (robotic process automation) market and the sizable investments users are making, which continue to grow.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

August 19, 2022 

Credit Union Look to Move to New RPA Solutions

There is a strong desire to automate more complex, end-to-end processes. This, in turn, would likely necessitate a transition from legacy RPA tools to a newer generation of cloud-based intelligent automation platforms.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

July 25, 2022

Banks and Credit Union Look to Move to New RPA Solutions

Banks, spurred by a strong desire to automate more complex, end-to-end business processes rather than smaller, rules-based tasks, are looking to shift from legacy automation tools to a newer generation of cloud-based intelligent automation platforms.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

August 4, 2022

"Automation is definitely evolving and becoming more sophisticated."

An interview with an Shimmerman, Blueprint Software President & CEO discussing findings taken from the 2022 Automation Report, robotic process automation, and different RPA platforms and their approaches.

July 25, 2022

Banks Need to Assess Automations Before Re-Platforming

Before ever considering what RPA platform (or platforms) represents the best fit for the organization, banks need to know exactly what is contained in their current automation estates.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

July 21, 2022 

What is boosting robotic process-automation?

Rising costs, coupled with a strong desire to automate more complex, end-to-end business processes as opposed to simply smaller, rules-based tasks, seem likely to drive more organizations to adopt newer-generation, intelligent automation platforms.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

July 8, 2022 

Establishing Intelligent Automation ROI Is a Moving Target

Big hopes for the ROI of automation projects don't always pan out. Here's how to gain a clearer picture of if your goals are in sight.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

June 27, 2022 

Calculating ROI for Automation Projects

The six factors manufacturers should always consider when trying to determine ROI on intelligent automation projects.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

June 6, 2022

CEO Perspective: Keep Your Eyes Wide Open When Re-Platforming

A recent survey of 400 IT executives at large organizations (1,000-10,000+ employees) in Europe and North America conducted reveals five key trends that appear to be dominating the current wave of automation re-platforming.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

June 2, 2022

Automation Is Not the Answer to Eliminating Process Debt

To increase returns, make better decisions and be more effective, CUs must first determine where their process debt exists.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

May 31, 2022

Get out of process debt—how to reduce waste in your workflows

As more manufacturers dive into business-process analysis and modernization efforts, many are quickly realizing they have accumulated a great deal of process debt—inefficiencies, waste and redundancies that have collected in their workflows over time.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

April 19, 2022

Executing the Right Process Improvement Strategy

Process improvement has long been top of mind for companies across all industries that want to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver greater value. Process improvement by itself, however, is simply a buzzword. It needs a structural approach to achieve its desired ends.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

April 6, 2022

Insights from Business Process Analytics

Linking a better understanding of business processes to reduced costs and improved efficiency may not be new, but the concept has attracted renewed interest in the aftermath of COVID-19 and its repercussions on the labor market.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

April 6, 2022

How to Execute the Right Process Improvement Strategies for Your Company

Enterprises should apply five analysis techniques to their BPA efforts to realize immediate results and make better business decisions regarding their business processes.

Written by Irina Lunin, Blueprint's Vice President of Research & Development.

March 14, 2022 

Distributors Are Turning to Business Process Analytics Tools for Structure Amid Disruption

Recognizing that the average distributor runs thousands of manual, automated, and outsourced processes over hundreds of systems that don’t necessarily work well with each other, BPA defines, documents, and visualizes all of the business processes currently being executed.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

March 14, 2022 

Worker Shortages Spurring Interest in BPA

At its most basic, BPA enables an organization to discover and understand how work is being done today, how that work is connected to higher-level business objectives, and how to improve those workflows for better quality and efficiency.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

April 1, 2022

Turning to Automation to Deal with The Great Resignation

As healthcare organizations move steadily toward hyperautomation, the more mundane, repetitive tasks which weigh down employees will gradually be taken over by automation.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

January 17, 2022

RPA Trends and Opportunities in 2022

Spurred by the success of those that already took the leap, more and more companies are expected to jump onto the migration bandwagon in the New Year in an effort to achieve the returns and scale originally promised by RPA.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

January 6, 2022

What Will 2022 Mean for RPA in the Financial Sector

With robotic process automation (RPA) fast becoming the industry norm, more and more banks and credit unions are already taking the next step in their digital transformation: RPA platform migration.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

December 6, 2021

Expect RPA to Continue Exponential Growth in 2022 and Beyond

Robotic process automation likely to flourish in service and other sectors as businesses struggle to fill job openings.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

November 30, 2021 

Prospects for RPA in Retail in 2022

Retailers believe the biggest issue they currently are facing is prioritizing and identifying in which areas of their business they should use process discovery.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

November 5, 2021

Task Capture is Key to Showcasing RPA's Strengths

Robotic process automation is most effective when it is applied to those business processes that showcase its strengths.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

November 5, 2021

Manufacturers Increase Focus on Process Discovery

With RPA expanding to new areas of the business, manufacturers experience a disconnect between benefits expected, achieved.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

November 1, 2021

Assessing the State of Process Discovery

Process discovery (also called process intelligence or process mining) has become an increasingly important part of the automation strategy for companies.

An interview with Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

October 20, 2021

While Process Discovery Remains Popular, Expectations Don't Always Match Actual Benefits

Many of the benefits organizations anticipated before process discovery deployment don’t necessarily match the benefits they actually realized.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

October 13, 2021

Identifying the Best Business Processes for Robotic Process Automation

The differences between task capture and process mining software and how they can help CUs with their RPA strategy.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint's Chief Executive Officer.

September 30, 2021

Survey Shows Digital Transformation Driving Process Discovery, Task Mining Implementation

Financial services firms are one of the largest users of process discovery and task mining tools according to a new survey conducted by Blueprint.

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

September 28, 2021 

The Expected Benefits vs. the Realized Benefits of Process Discovery

Many manufacturers are encountering a mismatch between the expected benefits/challenges of process discovery and those that are actually being realized.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

September 21, 2021 

Improve Productivity and Lower Monthly Costs with RPA

To be effective, RPA must be applied to the business processes that will showcase its strengths.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

September 21, 2021 

How Modern Retailers are Effectively Using Technology

Before jumping into technology implementation, retailers should start by having their SMEs and process owners identify their high-level processes.

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

September 6, 2021

Automating the Right Processes: Task Capture vs. Process Mining?

Organizations are turning to either task capture or process mining software to help them identify which processes are best to automate, but which technology is best for them?

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

August 6, 2021

A Guide to Continuous Process Improvement via Task-Capture Solutions

To have fundamental metrics about processes at their disposal, many manufacturers are turning to task-capture or process-mining software for help.

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

July 29, 2021 

Microsoft's Entry Disrupts Fast-Growing RPA Marketplace

Power Automate likely to open door for ease-of-use of robotic process automation by citizen developers.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

July 20, 2021

Far-Reaching Impact of Microsoft's Entry into RPA

RPA is the fastest-growing enterprise software market, so it’s only natural for a giant and powerful technology provider like Microsoft to get in on the action with the free inclusion of Power Automate in Windows 10.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint President and CEO.

July 12, 2021 

How Will Microsoft Power Automate Impact the Future of RPA

Microsoft’s foray into Robotic Process Automation (RPA) has disrupted the RPA market. What will it mean for RPA current users and vendors?

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

June 17, 2021

Why We Need a Set of Universal RPA Standards

Many of the challenges RPA programs are facing result directly from the automation being more complex than initially advertised.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint President and CEO.

June 4, 2021 

Guest View: The Time Has Come for RPA Standards

Despite all of this momentum behind RPA, one of the greatest challenges across the segment as a whole is the lack of industry standards for the way process automations are specified.

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

May 24, 2021 

The RPA World Desperately Needs Standards 

To better understand the kind of incredible impact industry standards can have, look at the example provided by the Portable Document Format, or PDF.

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

May 19, 2021 

Maximizing Your CU’s Robotic Process Automation Investment

Adopt a future-focused strategy that prepares your CU to use technologies that ultimately will shape the future of RPA.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint President and CEO.

April 28, 2021 

Despite Setbacks in RPA Implementation, Organizations Find an Exit Door

Organizations deploying RPA and industry insiders alike have begun calling for a standard way to describe what each process to be automated does in a way that all automation tools can understand.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

April 16, 2021

The Integral Role AI Plays in Intelligent Automation

The level of growth intelligent automation (which combines AI and RPA) is likely to see in 2021.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

April 16, 2021 

Establishing a Gold Standard for RPA

To better understand the benefits of establishing a set of RPA standards, look at what the PDF did.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint President and CEO.

April 15, 2021 

What Credit Unions Need to Know About Robotic Process Automation

Why robotic process automation (RPA) has caught on with so many institutions around the country.

Written by Dan Shimmerman, Blueprint President and CEO.

April 2, 2021 

C-Suite Spotlight: Blueprint's Charles Sword

The growing trends in RPA, common pitfalls for companies deploying RPA, and how a dynamic design environment ould benefit RPA users going forward.

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

April 2, 2021

Taking RPA to the Next Level 

Despite widespread deployment by processing companies, more than half of all users are failing to realize the lower costs, higher productivity and improved customer — and employee — experiences robotic process automation promises to deliver.

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

March 9, 2021 

How Robotic Process Automation Will Change in 2021

The worldwide pandemic helped spur unprecedented growth in the adaptation and use of RPA, but manufacturers are now struggling to scale these automation initiatives.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

February 11, 2021 

Maintenance Keeping RPA from Delivering Promised ROI

By tracking KPIs, manufacturers can increase transparency and their chances for RPA success.

Written by Charles Sword, Blueprint's Chief Revenue Officer.

February 8, 2021 

Robotic Process Automation

Recent growth of RPA is impressive. What has to happen next in order for technology to reach its full potential.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.

January 27, 2021 

New Solution Allows Financial Institutions to Easily Switch RPA Tools

Banks, credit unions, and others are only beginning to scratch the surface when it comes to the profound changes automation and RPA will bring to the financial services industry.

Written by Tony Higgins, Blueprint's Chief Product Officer.