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Ah, I see.

I wouldn't say API orchestration is the "new RPA", though. It's rather the "old BPM", and "current IPaaS". That is, we already have tools for API orchestration. It's nothing new. RPA is something different entirely.

And it's benefit isn't just for automating legacy systems. Automating the UI they're already familiar with is a much more intuitive experience for lots of people than going out of band to integrate with APIs.

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That's the thing MSFT is trying to solve for with things like Power Automate and Apps.

Sure, getting an API schema and then writing a GET request in C#, Node, etc to get invoice data out of your financials system is out of band for a business user, selecting the action "Get invoice by number" from the "IBM Cloud Financials" connector in Power Automate is well within band.

That's easier than writing a GET request, but the easiest would be never leaving your native application, which AFAIU, RPA lets you do in theory (though practice is a different story).

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