Intelligent automation isn’t just a buzzword. As new intelligent automation examples and use cases continue to pour in, this advanced business process automation technology is truly becoming a reality that is transforming the way organizations operate and deliver value to their customers.
Intelligent automation combines the power of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and traditional automation to enable smarter, faster, and more agile processes. It can help you automate manual, error-prone, repetitive tasks, augment human capabilities, and improve decision-making, human error rates, and other outcomes. And with more streamlined processes comes an enhanced customer experience, so everybody wins.
But definitions aside, intelligent automation comes in many forms, prompting the question, “What does intelligent automation actually look like in practice?” To answer that question and get the inspiration flowing, let’s dive deeper into 5 of the most popular intelligent automation technologies and their most tried-and-true use cases.
5 Examples of What Intelligent Automation Could Look Like for Your Organization
1. Intelligent Capture
One example of intelligent automation tools is intelligent capture, which is the process of capturing, extracting, and validating data from various sources and formats, such as paper documents, emails, invoices, forms, images, and more. Intelligent capture uses AI technologies, such as optical character recognition (OCR), natural language processing (NLP), and machine learning (ML), to automate and enhance the data capture process. This ability to automate manual tasks can help you reduce manual data entry, improve data quality and accuracy, and speed up data processing and delivery.
One of the most common forms of intelligent capture you’ll see in organizations today is intelligent document processing (IDP). This intelligent automation technology lets you automate high-volume, paper-heavy manual processes like invoice processing. It can scan and digitize invoices, extract key data fields, like invoice number, date, amount, vendor name, and more, validate the data against predefined rules and databases, and route the invoices to the appropriate workflows and systems, like your ERP or CRM. The result: you can finally eliminate paper-based and manual invoice processing, which saves significant time. And since its scanning and data extraction abilities are so accurate, it can reduce your risk of human errors and fraud, improving cash flow and vendor relationships along the way.
2. Optimizing Content Management with AI
AI-driven intelligent automation technology is also making waves in the content services space, making these enterprise solutions more efficient than ever. For one, AI algorithms can analyze and tag content automatically and with high accuracy levels, making it easier to organize and search for specific information. AI can even be used to automatically transform content, whether it’s translating text or converting file formats. This way, your content can be more accessible and a breeze to use for whatever purpose is necessary.
But AI is also revolutionizing the way organizations search for content. Content services solutions have long offered text search capabilities like OnBase’s full-text search. As powerful as these tools are, intelligent automation technology is fueling the next generation of search with even more accurate and relevant search results. With this advancement, organizations are finding information within large volumes of content quickly and easily.
3. Robotic Process Automation
Robotic process automation (RPA) is the process of automating rule-based, high-volume, repetitive tasks that are performed by humans using software robots or bots.
RPA can mimic human actions, such as clicking, typing, copying, and pasting, in effect automating routine tasks across multiple applications and systems. RPA can help you free up your human resources, improve productivity and quality, and reduce errors and delays.
One example of RPA is the use of bots to automate payroll processing. Bots can collect and validate employee data, such as hours worked, leaves, bonuses, and deductions, from various sources, such as timesheets, attendance systems, and HR systems. Bots can also calculate salaries, taxes, and benefits, generate pay slips, and transfer funds to employee accounts. RPA can help you simplify and standardize payroll processing, ensure compliance and accuracy, and improve employee satisfaction and engagement.
4. Intelligent Process Automation
Intelligent process automation (IPA) is the process of automating complex and end-to-end business processes that involve multiple systems, data sources, and human interactions. And beyond just automating, this process also involves taking a closer look at the processes in question and finding ways to make them more efficient. IPA uses a combination of automation technologies, such as business process management (BPM), workflow automation, robotic process automation (RPA), and AI, to optimize the execution of business processes. It can help you increase operational efficiency, reduce costs and risks, and enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty.
One example of IPA is automating customer service using both chatbots and RPA. Chatbots can interact with customers via natural language, answer common queries, provide information, and collect feedback. RPA can perform backend manual tasks, such as updating customer records, verifying identity, processing transactions, and sending confirmations. Together, these technologies can help you provide 24/7 and personalized customer service, reduce wait times and errors, and improve customer retention and advocacy.
Then, for more complex cases that your IPA team can’t handle, your employees can step in. That way, your customers get the support they need, but your employees’ days don’t have to be consumed by simpler requests and FAQs.
5. Automated Retention and Destruction of Documents and Records
Organizations manage vast amounts of documents and records, which is a daunting task given all the legal and regulatory requirements they face. Not to mention the need to optimize storage use and manage data efficiently. That’s where intelligent automation tools can help: Automated retention and destruction of documents and records is the process of managing the lifecycle of documents and records, from creation to disposal, according to predefined policies and regulations.
This technology scans and indexes documents and records, assigns metadata and retention schedules, stores and organizes documents and records in a centralized and secure repository, and deletes or archives them when they expire. This way, you can ensure compliance and security, reduce storage and maintenance costs, improve data governance and quality, and enhance data accessibility and usability.
Discover the Power of Intelligent Automation Systems Today
These are just some of the examples of how intelligent automation benefits businesses that can inspire you to start or accelerate your own intelligent automation journey. As we’ve seen, intelligent automation tools can help you transform your organization’s business process management and achieve significant benefits, from improved efficiency and quality with automated manual tasks to a transformed customer experience and the ability to innovate. No matter which intelligent automation tool or use case you lead with, it’s sure to help your business’ digital transformation thrive.
