Joe Glines wrote: ↑30 Sep 2019, 14:05
1) Are Digital Workers a true automation innovation or just a new marketing term?
2) If they are a true innovation, how would you differentiate them from a bot / macro?
I see the term "digital worker" as just a marketing term (but a good one) and extension of the older term "digital workplace". Years ago, "digital workplace" was a pretty common term, to describe work that was beyond the traditional brick and mortar buildings that most offices were in. Many people are already familiar with that terminology and the description of people working from home or a distributed workforce, that could include people working for you in other countries. For many companies, it was about cheaper labor, justifying reducing wages, or not paying the rent and electricity of an office. Various companies no longer needed to pay for an office (depending on the type of business), as most or all of their workforce could be working from home or remotely. They just needed to rent a meeting room for whenever they need face to face time. Just like digital workplace was about saving money, digital worker is easily recognized as about savings and profits for various companies.
I think RPA and RDA are still terms that are difficult for people to understand clearly. When you say robot, people are often thinking of a real physical robot or even a Sci-Fi type android, or they have no idea about the meaning of the acronym. The conversation becomes fantastical for some people. Digital worker/workforce is quicker for non-technical types to figure out, and is much more grounded in reality and business. It's a much easier sell, if a company is talking about reducing hours or replacing office workers with computer software programs.
Bot has arguably a negative connotation to it and is often associated with hackers or gamers. Macro is often thought of as a small and simple program that a person will use, not as something sophisticated that will be used to replace flesh and blood workers. Also, people tend to incorrectly think of a macro as something very specific and restricted. Like something just used with Excel or Word.