RPA and Test Automation

We are seeing an uptick in questions around RPA and Test Automation.  This is driven from a number of directions:

• vendors that are moving into both spaces
• service providers with expertise in test automation that can apply those skills to build RPA scenarios with a testing tool
• organizations seeking ways to either reduce RPA costs or utilize their internal automation skills

Like many other areas in software, we see that the market is filled with a lot of cross over products.  The move to adjacent spaces creates new market opportunities and lets a company leverage its current IP.  The big challenge we tend to see is: domain expertise(or lack thereof), use case design and how this drives the roadmap.  I am working with a couple colleagues to produce a new research document that will go into these areas in a little more detail.  We are interested in your input.  Have you looked at using your test automation tools for RPA?  Wondered about using RPA tools to do some test automation?  Been pitched by vendors?