The astronomical volume of data produced and the nosedive in the price of commodity hardware have led to the rise of cognitive computing.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), which form part of cognitive computing have become the buzzword for many enterprises with a Digital Transformation agenda.
RPA for one has made Intelligent Automation easily accessible to all businesses.
Intelligent automation, a.k.a cognitive automation, refers to the use of AI and RPA to streamline operations across the organization.
From automating repetitive tasks to using analytics to spot areas for improvement, there is a lot of potential that intelligent automation offers.
Intelligent Automation: The Combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
When AI combined with other cognitive computing technologies like RPA, machine learning, natural language processing, etc. it creates intelligent automation.
Intelligent automation can be considered as the use of intelligent tools such as virtual assistants and chatbots that enable organizations to automate manual tasks, reduce manual effort, and find patterns in existing processes.
Based on the insights the processes can be further refined to reduce the time a specific process takes, the effort required, and so on.
Why Does Your Business Need Intelligent Automation?
B2C or B2B, value-led or volume-led, businesses belonging to industry can benefit from Intelligent automation.
1. Improve operational agility
What slows down operations in an organization?
Dependencies on people-led workflows. Even the absence of a critical personnel can keep files and approvals pending, even if it is just for a day.
There is also the risk of errors and misjudgments creeping in causing the operations to become error-prone and imbalance.
RPA can solve that challenge by improving operational agility.
With the help of automation steered by AI, machine learning, and other cognitive computing technologies, IA can improve operational agility.
It can perform with precision and accuracy repetitive and rules-based tasks that do not necessarily need the intervention of a human personnel.
2. Augment human workforce productivity
In any organization, there are several tasks that are performed by individuals. These tasks could often be repetitive, mundane, and based on certain rules.
They demand the unwavering focus of the individual.
While any individual can remain focused for a short while, in the long-term, when attention swerves, errors are bound to happen.
Such errors can create a cascading effect of introducing errors across the workflow.
Further, when the volume of such transactions is more, the human personnel have little or no time to focus on higher priorities that demand their higher thinking and brainstorming.
IA can put a stop to such unnecessary waste of human potential. It can augment human workforce productivity by automating rules-based tasks.
Thanks to image recognition, pattern recognition, and adaptive learning, they can perform repetitive tasks with the same (or even better) caliber than a human personnel.
3. Deliver positive customer experiences
The power of analytics and how it results in data-driven decision-making needs no introduction.
However, what is most often not spoken about is how analytics helps in delivering positive customer experiences.
Positive customer experiences stem from proactively identifying what customers want and delivering it promptly.
RPA helps with the same by giving a trove of data about historical information. Even analytical data of customer conversations on the website can give insights into their most pressing wants.
All said, Intelligent automation can help deliver positive customer experiences that go over and beyond traditional cookie-cutter offerings.
4. Ensure regulatory compliances
Across the world, countless data privacy protection and regulation statutes have come into place.
All of these were introduced during the past decade when data creation and publication has literally exploded.
The trickiest part of ensuring regulatory compliances lies in spotting junctures where there could be a conflict.
In other words, it is necessary for one to look at situations without bias and determine its legality.
Intelligent automation, with its ability to handle large volumes of rules-based transactions, is a perfect solution to ensure regulatory compliance.
It can ensure a consistent approach to compliance and ensure that no instances are allowed to slip through the cracks.
5. Maximizes organizational transparency
RPA is a rule-based system.
It cannot be tampered easily. Only admins and those in the managerial role can make changes that will allow the system to overlook anomalies.
This ensures that there is high transparency in the way that a business operates. It removes ambiguity around workflows and gives assurance that there is a logic behind approvals and revisions.
The end result is improved employee morale and organizational stability.
Final thoughts
Intelligent Automation forms the collective clout of AI and RPA.
As standalone technologies, AI and RPA can drive significant value.
The value created multiplied when both the technologies are saddled together to drive the digital transformation agenda of an organization.
Intelligent automation is the result when these technologies are merged.
Through IA, businesses can achieve significant reduction in costs, streamline their workflows, and also spare their human employees’ time to focus on strategically important activities that deserve their focus and attention.
