Microsoft buys robotic process automation vendor Softomotive

The rumors were true. Microsoft has acquired U.K.-based Softomotive, a robotic process automation (RPA) vendor, for an undisclosed amount, the companies announced on May 19.  Microsoft plans to incorporate Softomotive's products, including WinAutomation, into its Microsoft Power Automate (Flow) tool.

In a May 19 blog post, Microsoft officials said Softomotive has more than 9,000 global customers already automating business processes across legacy and modern desktop apps. Microsoft is planning to use WinAutomation in combination with Power Automate to provide additional options for RPA desktop authoring. That way, officials said, "anyone can build a bot and automate Windows-based tasks."

The combined offering also will enable RPA connectivity for other apps and services, including SAP and traditional green-screen terminal apps, Microsoft execs said. And Softomotive's technology will help Microsoft customers who want to do more low-code bot development in general, officials said.

Microsoft says more than 350,000 organizations are currently using Power Automate every month. Power Automate is one the pieces of Microsoft's Power Platform family of low-code/no-code tools.

Starting today, all existing Power Automate customers can use WinAutomation to automate legacy tasks in the cloud or their desktops. Microsoft is making the capability available at no additional cost to customers with an RPA attended license in Power Automate.