Blue Prism Addresses Global Digital Skills Gap with Successful Academia Program

@Blue_Prism, a global pioneer and market leader in intelligent automation, has partnered with over 200 academic institutions across the globe, within 18 months, as part of its successful Academia Program. By closely supporting institutions throughout each partnership, the Academia Program is able to address the ever-widening digital skills gap between education and industry by providing training in Blue Prism’s innovative, AI-enabled enterprise-scale intelligent automation software.

With the rapid emergence of new technologies, slow adoption from traditional institutions, and some socio-economic barriers, demand for tech talent is outpacing supply globally. It’s no surprise that almost 90% of executives said they were experiencing skill gaps in the workforce or expected them within a few years. Blue Prism University’s Academia Program aims to tackle this by equipping educators and students across the world, with robotic process automation (RPA), intelligent automation and other digital skills required to fuel the future of work.

Blue Prism’s input doesn’t stop at providing training. It works closely with each academic institution to ensure a continued understanding and involvement of intelligent automation training within the context of their curriculum and against an ever-changing job landscape. The success of this approach has enabled academic institutions to train over 32,000 students in Blue Prism technology by the program’s second year, with 200% year-on-year growth of students trained and 135% of institutions onboarded.

Blue Prism’s success is exemplified by The Ministry of Education in India, which Blue Prism will be working closely with to train over 500,000 students in intelligent automation technologies by 2025, via a virtual internship program. These students, and others like them across the globe, will have the opportunity to gain employment opportunities as a result of acquiring in-demand, highly desirable skills.

For instructors at academic institutions the program delivers authorized Blue Prism courses in a variety of settings. Students can jump-start their intelligent automation career with coursework through a global network of colleges and universities, via online certification opportunities, hands-on labs and other Blue Prism learning resources.

Post-education, professionals and businesses that operate Blue Prism’s AI-enabled enterprise intelligent automation software can benefit from the additional support of the Blue Prism Community. This comprehensive platform enables users to share best practices, knowledge and insights around Blue Prism and RPA, and is available to help individuals along every step of their RPA journey.

Academic Alliance Manager at Blue Prism, Manjunath Chandrashekar, said:

“We’re at the early stage of addressing a massive global skills shift to narrow the gap in RPA and intelligent automation capabilities over the coming years. The partnerships that grow from our University Academia Program will seed the next generation of innovators, disruptors and digital business leaders. It will help meet the growing demand for intelligent automation skills and equip future business and IT leaders to capture the benefits of these innovative technologies – for their employees, customers and communities.”

By blending intelligent automation and artificial intelligence capabilities, Blue Prism digital workers are changing the way enterprises view their labor portfolio to achieve highly valuable business outcomes across their front-to back office operations. Free software, courseware and online training, combined with the opportunity for students to acquire industry-leading “gold standard” Blue Prism certification, are included in the Academia Program.

Free training, free learning editions, and access to a 12 month training license, offer an even greater number of learners essential starting blocks for training and upskilling, enabling them to operate within the workplaces of the future. Blue Prism Training helps individuals, businesses, academia and governments develop the knowledge and skills critical to success in any RPA or intelligent automation role, while accelerating job-readiness for aspiring automation professionals.