What is intelligent automation and why is it important?

Organizations require a comprehensive, advanced automated solution to help them increase agility, improve customer service, and enhance productivity in an era of rapidly changing business, with Intelligent Automation (IA) currently changing the way businesses operate in virtually every sector of the economy.

Intelligent automation is the practice of automating business processes that require decision making using advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and RPA to improve operational efficiency.

IA combines cognitive and artificial intelligence technologies, including natural language processing and machine learning, with automation to create intelligent processes and workflows that learn and adapt as they are implemented.

Intelligent automation helps to fully automate processes that involve non-routine tasks that often require human intervention to complete a business transaction. These systems can process semi-structured data (purchase orders, invoices, etc.) as well as unstructured data (videos, emails, voice messages, etc.) and learn from observing human behavior.

IA Technologies

In today’s hyper-competitive global economic climate, organizations expect to do more with less. Intelligent automation offers the opportunity to reshape organizational structures and simplify complex processes.

IA is not a standalone solution, but rather a set of advanced technologies that work together to achieve desired business results.

Below are the main technologies used:

Smart workflow

A business process management system should provide for modeling, development, editing and execution of a company's business processes, as well as data collection and analytics.

A business process management tool enables the integration of human and machine tasks. This helps automate workflows to improve efficiency, transparency, and consistency of business processes.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial intelligence is what enables the brain to automate processes. AI enables digital, automated processes to make better decisions based on analytics. The technology analyzes data faster than humans and learns from past decisions.

Other categories of artificial intelligence include machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing (NLP), visual recognition, big data, and so on.

The use of cognitive technologies helps to analyze both structured and unstructured data, as well as improve the decision-making process based on such data. It can be considered the BRAIN of intelligent automation.

Robotic process automation

RPA is the use of computer programs known as software bots, with advanced capabilities such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, to automate manual and repetitive human actions based on business rules.

These bots are a great complement to AI, as RPA can leverage AI knowledge to solve more complex problems and use cases.

Employees can use these tools to record themselves performing various manual and tedious tasks using many digital systems. Automated bots can then mimic the reported behavior, communicating with programs in the same way a human would, but more efficiently and reliably.

Software robots never get tired, are always consistent and do not make mistakes.

Bringing all these RPA tools together with seamless integration will help businesses streamline operations, increase agility, and become more knowledgeable.

Computer vision

The software component is used to automatically extract text from images without any human intervention with high accuracy using OCR tools. This is necessary for managing document-oriented processes using a full automation mechanism.

Benefits of Intelligent Automation

The benefits of intelligent automation include improved customer service, increased process efficiency, cost savings, improved management, and increased employee productivity.

Key benefits of intelligent automation:

Improves decision making

One of the main benefits of intelligent automation is the ability to improve decision-making.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning play a vital role in the ecosystem, helping to conduct data analysis at scale and create value.

Moreover, the technology can learn from previous data-based judgments and strive to always improve.

Improved compliance with regulatory requirements

One of the most significant benefits of intelligent automation is the ability to improve compliance with various rules and regulations.

Most sectors are governed by various government laws and industry regulations. Business rules and regulations such as record retention and document destruction can be automated using intelligent automation.

Provides faster customer service

Chatbots, also known as conversational artificial intelligence, are a great illustration of how intelligent automation can improve the customer experience.

Customers will be more loyal to your business if they get the help they need quickly. Customers will receive significantly faster responses if customer service is improved with chatbots or if the relevant procedures are automated.

Reducing costs and risks

Cost reduction is considered one of the main benefits of intelligent automation.

Automating your business processes will save money by reducing the time employees have to do work manually. Additionally, compared to humans, bots make fewer mistakes when performing a task. Not to mention, they work non-stop 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Human error, no matter the industry, can be costly and time-consuming to fix. You won’t have to deal with these errors anymore if you automate your company’s operations.

Improving process efficiency

All organizations strive to improve the efficiency of their internal business processes.

Automated procedures will always work with the same high quality, will not miss any steps and will improve transparency.

The benefits of intelligent automation include the ability to measure, audit, and control process performance, as well as suggest ways to improve it.

Increasing employee satisfaction

When this is implemented correctly in your business, employees will be able to focus on more important responsibilities.

Manual, repetitive tasks are mechanized using AI and RPA, giving people more time to develop their capabilities.

Examples of Intelligent Automation

Intelligent automation is already being used in the information management space, helping companies solve the problems they face in managing their data.