Dive Brief:

• AT&T employees are using software bots to automate some repetitive parts of their jobs, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

• The company said it’s using 200 types of bots across the company to free workers from the more mundane workplace tasks.

• The bots used at AT&T are cloud-based and made easily accessible so employees can see the bots others have created. They can also learn how to make their own.

Dive Insight:

"We are using bots in a pretty big way," said Candy Conway, vice president of global operations in AT&T’s global customer service organization in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. 

Conway said examples include entering information into legacy systems or automatically pulling sales leads from multiple systems.

The global IT robotic process automation market is expected to reach $4.98 billion by 2020, according to Transparency Market Research. Software bots can also be used to improve interactions between a company’s legacy systems and its newer cloud-based systems. 

Potentially, bots could mean the introduction of new forms of automation that lead to cost savings, innovative ways of engaging with customers or make some of the tasks businesses perform everyday easier and more efficient.