Ah, automation. The sweetest of words in the vocabulary of a busy business owner. Say goodbye to tedious manual tasks and welcome intelligent automation into your daily life! Automation is using technology to create intelligent systems that can automate manual workflows and processes – meaning less time doing mundane tasks and more time for you to focus on the real nitty-gritty of running a successful business.
This ultimate guide to intelligent automation will give business owners an in-depth look at the latest AI automation technology, focusing on how it can help businesses automate tedious manual tasks and free up their time for more important things. Intelligent automation is key to modernizing businesses; it enables them to become more efficient and productive while saving money and time.
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Capacity’s customized AI Assessments can help:
- Identify opportunities for using AI
- Prioritize use cases that fit your goals
- Build an action plan for implementation
What is intelligent automation?
Intelligent automation (IA) is the perfect combination of artificial intelligence (AI), Business process management (BPM), and robotic process automation (RPA) technologies – working together to bring maximum efficiency in decision-making throughout organizations. IA has countless applications that can help streamline processes and free up resources, enabling companies like pharmaceuticals or life sciences to save costs while gaining resource efficiencies on repetitive tasks. By leveraging intelligent automation, an insurance provider can effortlessly calculate payments, derive predictions for rate calculation purposes, and ensure compliance.
What is the best way to describe automation?
Automation is the process of making a machine, device, or system operate automatically. In most cases, it refers to replacing human labor with machines or computers controlled by software.
Automation has been widely adopted in many industries, increasing efficiency and productivity. The benefits of automation far outweigh the risks, and it is sure to play a significant role in our future economy.
How does robotic process automation differ from intelligent automation?
Despite some similarities, robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent automation are distinct entities. Think of AI automation as the more advanced version of RPA. This AI automation tech takes RPA to another level.
Both solutions can automate tasks and save teams valuable time; however, intelligent automation entails a more significant initial investment in programming knowledge. As businesses such as finance or healthcare must abide by precise accuracy standards for data entry processes, AI automation is more customizable to those specific demands.
RPA and intelligent automation may appear similar on the surface, yet there is a distinct difference; RPA automates tasks only after it has been instructed to do so, whereas intelligent automation learns how to automate through observation of an individual already performing said task.
Here are the main differences at a glance:
- RPA is better for automating repetitive tasks, whereas intelligent automation uses machine learning technology to make decisions based on information gathered from documents, software, and other databases.
- Robotic Process Automation can be used to automate certain aspects of a business process, whereas Artificial Intelligence can fully automate the entire procedure from start to finish.
- Due to its advanced nature, intelligent automation costs slightly more upfront but will pay dividends in the long run.
4 benefits of intelligent automation
AI automation offers businesses a range of benefits. Here are some of the top ones:
1. Increased Efficiency
Intelligent automation helps streamline complex processes, enabling businesses to do more in less time and with fewer resources. Companies can reduce human errors, save time and money on repetitive tasks, and focus on making strategic decisions to help the organization grow.
Not only does intelligent automation increase efficiency in terms of workloads, but it also helps companies stay competitive in a rapidly-changing digital landscape where staying ahead of the competition is necessary. By simplifying processes and making them more intelligent, organizations can gain a competitive edge in their industries and stay ahead of the curve.
2. Improved Accuracy
As machines are better at handling large amounts of data quickly and accurately than humans, intelligent automation can help reduce errors and ensure accuracy in essential processes.
Improved accuracy is paramount in processes that involve making decisions, such as risk assessment and fraud prevention. Intelligent automation can help detect fraudulent activities faster, allowing organizations to take corrective action quickly and preventing potential losses. Improved accuracy can also help businesses make better decisions on data-driven insights, leading to more accurate predictions. This can improve customer service satisfaction, reduce costs and enhance overall efficiency.
3. Reduced Costs
Intelligent automation can significantly lower costs for businesses. It’s important to note that AI automation and humans work together to streamline workflows. Business automation strategies involve both humans and bots to accomplish goals.
In addition to reducing labor costs, intelligent automation can also reduce costs associated with materials and resources. Since AI automation takes care of tedious manual tasks, businesses can reduce the need for costly materials and resources. This can be especially beneficial for small businesses, as intelligent automation does not require additional personnel or materials and can save the business money in the long run.
4. Increased Innovation
Intelligent automation allows companies to devote more time and energy to developing innovative new products and services by freeing up resources. This helps them stay ahead of the competition in a fast-changing market.
With AI automation, businesses can devote more time and energy to developing innovative new products and services without worrying about exhaustive manual tasks. AI-powered intelligent automation saves time and reduces errors, meaning businesses can focus on innovating. This enables them to create new products faster and more effectively, staying ahead of the competition in a rapidly-changing digital landscape. By leveraging intelligent automation for innovative breakthroughs, businesses can open up new opportunities for growth and success.
What is the simplest form of automation?
At the rates at which technology and software are improving, many types of automation are now available to users. The simplest form of automation is setting up workflows and support automation.
Workflows are crucial in business because they help automate tasks, processes, and approvals. According to Mckinsey, 45% of tasks can be automated by adapting intelligent automation tech.
Companies can also use them to manage and monitor projects. Creating a workflow is simple — it just requires you to map out the steps involved in a task or process. Once you have done this, you can add automation rules to each step to make the workflow run automatically.
Support automation is another type of automation that can streamline support operations.
This involves setting up canned responses, status updates, and ticket assignment rules. Canned responses are pre-written replies that support agents can insert into tickets. This saves time, as agents do not need to write a response each time a ticket hits an inbox. Agents can use status updates to keep customers updated on the status of their tickets. It’s handy if a ticket takes longer to resolve than expected. Ticket assignment rules can automatically assign tickets to agents based on specific criteria, such as skill set or location.
Both workflows and support automation can help improve efficiency and productivity within a business.
5 intelligent automation use cases
Intelligent automation can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and increase innovation. Let’s take a look at a few of the most common ones:
1. Simplified Customer Support
Intelligent automation can significantly improve customer service by streamlining the support process. AI-powered automation can provide customers with fast and accurate answers to common inquiries and intelligent call-routing solutions that direct customers to the right person or department.
It can also automate ticketing systems so that tickets are automatically assigned to agents who have the appropriate skill set. By using intelligent automation to automate customer support tasks, businesses can provide a superior customer experience while reducing costs and improving efficiency.
2. Employee Onboarding and Intelligent Automation
HR professionals understand that new employee onboarding and training have many tedious steps and procedures. These hairy workflows can be simplified with AI automation. Intelligent automation solutions can automate document creation, employee record-keeping, and notification management for training projects.
AI chatbots can provide employees with personalized answers to their questions quickly and accurately, while welcome emails are automatically sent straight to new employees.
Learn how Capacity’s HR and Finance Teams automate tasks using AI and automation.
3. Intelligent Document Processing and Data Extraction
Businesses can use AI-powered intelligent automation to automate the processing of documents, such as invoices, contracts, and reports. This can help reduce manual labor and improve accuracy by eliminating human error.
Intelligent document processing (IDP) offers an automated way to extract meaningful information from documents and hand-written data. AI technologies allow IDP solutions to read, interpret and analyze large amounts of data quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively. Documents are scanned for relevant keywords or patterns before the data is extracted and stored in a database. This process can save businesses time and money while providing accurate information to make better business decisions.
Get Started with AI
Capacity’s customized AI Assessments can help:
- Identify opportunities for using AI
- Prioritize use cases that fit your goals
- Build an action plan for implementation
4. Automated Logistics and Intelligent Automation
Orgs can use intelligent automation to automate the logistics process, such as route optimization, automated dispatching, and smart inventory management. This can help businesses save time and money by reducing manual tasks.
Intelligent automation can help businesses optimize their logistics processes by automating the dispatching of shipments, intelligent inventory management, and route optimization. Automated dispatching allows companies to quickly and accurately assign the most efficient transportation routes for their shipments. Intelligent inventory management helps ensure products are stocked in time and the correct quantities. Route optimization uses AI algorithms to determine the most efficient route, assisting companies in reducing delivery costs and increasing customer satisfaction.
5. Automating Business Processes
Intelligent automation can automate many business processes, such as marketing campaigns, sales tasks, and event organization. AI automation solutions can help businesses optimize their operations by automating mundane tasks requiring manual efforts, such as data entry or document processing. AI Professionals can use intelligent automation tools to automate customer segmentation, personalized campaigns, and intelligent routing of leads.
By leveraging AI automation, businesses can streamline their operations and improve efficiency across multiple functions.
Artificial intelligence vs intelligent automation – What’s the difference?
On a fundamental level, artificial intelligence functions as an issue-solving resource, while intelligent automation strives to consolidate multiple tools to address more complicated problems.
AI and intelligent automation differ in how companies leverage them. AI, while highly useful on its own, could be used to deploy image recognition technology for quality control processes across manufacturing or production lines. Intelligent automation initiatives then take it a step further by utilizing the output of such decisions and automating touchless workflows which assess quality levels, check fault rates, and alert if something is amiss.
Top 10 business automation software
Business automation software helps businesses streamline operations and improve efficiency across multiple functions. Popular business automation software includes intelligent document processing and data extraction, automated logistics, workflow systems, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and AI-powered intelligent automation tools.
Here are a few of the best:
Capacity
Capacity is an intelligent automation platform that helps businesses streamline their operations and save time and money. It provides intelligent document processing, data extraction, automated logistics, and more. Capacity’s AI-powered solutions enable companies to reduce manual labor and improve accuracy for teams. Plus, it’s free to get started!
UiPath
UiPath is an AI-powered automation platform for automating end-to-end business processes. Its features include intelligent flows and AI capabilities. Depending on your package, they require a significant financial investment to get the full features.
Automation Anywhere
Automation Anywhere offers automation solutions for streamlining enterprise operations and increasing productivity. They don’t provide free access to automation services like some competitors.
Microsoft Power Automate
Microsoft Power Automate is an intelligent solution that helps businesses automate repetitive tasks. Features include workflow creation and automated notifications. However, it can be complex to set up and a lack of customizable options can be a challenge for businesses with limited technical resources.
ServiceNow
ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform designed to help businesses automate their IT, customer service, and HR processes. A significant downside of ServiceNow is its high cost, which can quickly add up for companies with many users.
Get Started with AI
Capacity’s customized AI Assessments can help:
- Identify opportunities for using AI
- Prioritize use cases that fit your goals
- Build an action plan for implementation
Nintex
Nintex is an intelligent automation platform designed to help businesses automate complex business processes quickly and easily. This company is often criticized for having a steep learning curve, making it difficult for inexperienced users to get up to speed with the platform quickly.
Zoho Flow
Zoho Flow is a cloud-based automation solution for automating department business processes. One downside of Zoho Flow is that its AI-driven insights and intelligent bots require a lot of user input to be effective, which can take up valuable time.
Appian
Appian is a cloud-based intelligent automation platform that helps businesses streamline their operations and optimize their processes. A downside of Appian is its high cost, making it difficult for small businesses with limited budgets to benefit from intelligent automation.
Pega
Pega is an automation platform that helps businesses build intelligent applications for automating customer experience management processes. The platform can be expensive for larger companies with more complicated operations.
WorkFusion
WorkFusion is an automation solution designed to help businesses automate complex tasks quickly and easily. Although WorkFusion offers intelligent automation solutions, it can be expensive and difficult to set up for businesses with limited technical resources.
Meet Capacity: Your Intelligent Automation Platform
Capacity is an all-in-one intelligent automation platform that will revolutionize how businesses handle support operations. Its AI-driven solutions offer intelligent document processing and data extraction, automated workflows, a robust ticketing system, and more. Capacity employs a team of experts who can help you customize intelligent automation processes to fit your unique needs.
4 out of 5 executives said that after implementing conversational AI automation tech, customer satisfaction, service delivery, and the overall quality of agent performance improved significantly.
Stop wasting time, money, and resources on manual processes, and start automating with Capacity today! Take back control of your business operations and unleash the power of intelligent automation with Capacity!
