Intelligent automation in simple terms is an advancement of Robotic Process Automation (RPA). It works by combining RPA and AI to create a solution that allows judgement-based decision making to be completed without human intervention. This goes a step further than basic RPA solutions that automate manual and repetitive tasks.
Although the use of RPA is very beneficial to a business that has a number of paper-based processes, Intelligent automation aims to streamline the more complex business processes. Therefore, any business embarking on an intelligent automation solution must digitalize their paper-based data first. If this is not done before the solution is implemented, the benefits of Intelligent Automation become very limited.
With the data digitalized, businesses can soon reap the following benefits of using Intelligent Automation.
1. Fraud Prevention
Thanks to the use of AI tools such as Machine Learning, Intelligent automation can be used to restrict and prevent the threat of fraud. With machine learning, large volumes of data are constantly analysed automatically to then go on to learn and predict patterns and outcomes. Examples of this analysis include calculating risks and the monitoring of suspicious payments/activity. Once implemented for a certain amount of time the machine learning tool can also have the ability to verify transactions with greater accuracy than a human.
If there was only a simple RPA bot, the process could still be automated but, the risks and suspicious activity may be missed. This reverberates back to the point that intelligent automation is an advanced solution and with that advancement comes greater detail and more beneficial results. A business may believe that their RPA solution is automating the process well but unbeknown to them actually be under the threat of fraud.
2. Enhanced customer service
Another benefit of the collaboration of RPA and AI is that overall customer experience is improved. This is thanks to the fact that with Intelligent Automation, chatbots and/or conversational AI can be implemented. These chatbots can be trained to answer customer queries before being put through to a human call-centre. From a customers point of view, it means that their experience is improved immediately as they receive a near-instant response after they make their initial contact. Many businesses that only have human manned call centres struggle to keep their customers happy due to the waiting time to get a response. With Intelligent Automation and chatbots, this is eradicated.
In further detail, the chatbot uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) which leverages statistics to learn, analyse and implement algorithms. For example, this can determine the level of urgency in the request.
3. Increased Process Efficiency
Moving deeper into businesses processes, intelligent automation can help increase process efficiency. This is mainly down to the advanced analytics provided by the AI tools which are then implemented by the RPA bots. Having AI tools such as machine learning, allows the bots to identify areas of the business that needs improvements as well as forecasting the future results.
This gives business owners a clear vision of the internal works of business processes and also allows for more detailed and useful reporting. Without getting this essential data, businesses run the risk of missing areas that need support which can lead to increased costs.
4. Lack of mistakes
As with the many benefits of RPA, intelligent automation goes a step further in helping to reduce the risk of transactional errors such as data inputs. Combining the automation of RPA and the intelligence of AI means if there are any errors, they can soon be identified and resolved without human interaction. On the rare occasion that an RPA bot has an error, it can usually not resolve without the help of AI. 5.Increased scalability
As mentioned throughout the piece, intelligent automation is an advanced solution. Because of this, it, therefore, has the ability to deal with a number of complex processes. It is scalable to the point that it can be used to automate an end-to-end process. The combination of digitalization, RPA and AI offers a solution that is self-teaching and self-sufficient while bringing a number of opportunities and benefits to a business in a digitally transformed world.
Businesses still sceptical of automation will soon be turned when they see first-hand the benefits intelligent automation can bring.