Many organizations have embraced Intelligent Automation (IA) to streamline operations and reduce costs. Tools like Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), and conversational AI have helped automate repetitive, high-volume tasks.

But as companies try to scale these efforts across more complex workflows, they often hit a wall. That’s because automation alone isn’t enough.

Why Intelligent Automation Alone Isn’t Enough

IA is powerful, but it’s incomplete without process orchestration. Here’s why:

• Siloed tools: RPA bots, IDP engines, and AI models often operate in isolation.
• Fragmented workflows: Without orchestration, there’s no unified control over how tasks flow between systems, bots, and humans.
• Limited scalability: Scaling automation without orchestration leads to governance gaps, inefficiencies, and poor ROI

Process orchestration acts as the connective tissue, bridging discovery, execution, and optimization across the automation lifecycle to create a cohesive, intelligent system. Now, let’s check out four ways process orchestration can empower your intelligent automation and AI strategy.

4 Ways Process Orchestration Powers Smarter AI and Automation Strategies

1. Bridging Discovery and Execution

Process intelligence tools like process mining and task mining uncover inefficiencies. But insights alone don’t drive change. Orchestration turns those insights into action:

• Data-driven insights: Highlight inefficiencies and bottlenecks, like delays in invoice approvals.
• Governance and compliance: Meet regulatory requirements and maintain transparency across workflows with detailed audit trails, role-based access controls, and automated compliance checks.
• Process simulation: Test automation ideas before implementation to predict outcomes and minimize risk.
• Continuous monitoring: Track performance and adapt in real time to ensure ongoing process optimization.

2. Managing the Hybrid Workforce

When your workflows span digital workers (RPA, IDP), human employees, and enterprise systems, it gets complicated, and things don’t always run smoothly. Orchestration addresses this challenge, ensuring seamless coordination across all three, thanks to:

• AI-based task allocation: Assigns work dynamically based on skill, availability, and context, ensuring the right tasks reach the right resources for optimal efficiency.
• Centralized exception handling: Detects and manages errors or exceptions in real time, automatically rerouting tasks or escalating issues to keep workflows moving even when things go wrong.
• Workload optimization: Continuously balances workloads across teams and systems to prevent bottlenecks, maximize throughput, and maintain service levels even as demand fluctuates.

This hybrid approach allows you to make the most of every element of your workflows so you can unlock new levels of productivity and innovation.

3. Driving Continuous Optimization

At this point in your intelligent automation journey, you know how important continuous improvement is, from fostering a culture of continuous improvement to helping your business be more agile. Process orchestration helps you work towards just that, enabling:

• Real-time visibility into process performance: Continuously monitor key metrics and workflow health, enabling rapid identification of issues and opportunities for improvement.
• Ongoing refinement of workflows: Regularly analyze and adjust processes based on performance data and feedback, ensuring your automation remains aligned with evolving business needs.
• Integration of new automation technologies as they emerge: Seamlessly incorporate the latest tools and innovations into existing workflows, future-proofing your automation strategy and maintaining a competitive edge.

4. Generative AI + Orchestration: Stronger Together

Process orchestration also pairs well with generative AI.

Many leading platforms now offer features like natural language workflow creation, smart form and app generation, and conversational insights, although the availability of these features varies by vendor, so it’s worth checking into during platform selection.

When available, these capabilities make it easier for you to effectively integrate genAI into your organization’s processes, accelerating time-to-value and democratizing automation to improve your business users’ work lives. It achieves this with features like:

• Natural language workflow creation: Build processes by describing them in plain English
• Smart form and app generation: Auto-generate interfaces from documents or prompts
• Conversational insights: Use chat interfaces to query process data and generate reports

Real-World Impact Across Industries

Now, let’s take a look at a few of process orchestration’s top use cases across industries:

• Banking: Reduced loan processing time and improved compliance through automated workflows.
• Insurance: Increased claims processing speed and customer satisfaction by integrating systems and automating case assignment.
• Healthcare: Standardized clinical trials and accelerated approvals using automation and orchestration.
• Government: Improved public service delivery through automated scheduling and compliance tracking.
• Manufacturing: Enhanced quality control and reduced errors by digitizing and orchestrating inspection workflows.

Best Practices for Getting Started

Ready to get started? Here are a few tips worth focusing on in these early stages to avoid common pitfalls and ensure long-term success:

• Start small: Pilot orchestration in a high-impact area before scaling, allowing you to demonstrate quick wins, learn from initial results, and build momentum for broader adoption.
• Use process intelligence: Let data guide your orchestration strategy by analyzing current workflows and identifying automation opportunities that will deliver the greatest value.
• Align stakeholders early: Involve both business and IT teams from the outset to ensure buy-in, clarify roles, and minimize resistance to change.
• Define KPIs: Track performance from day one by establishing clear metrics for success, such as efficiency gains, error reduction, or user satisfaction.
• Invest in training: Equip teams to use orchestration tools effectively, fostering confidence and enabling continuous improvement as new features and capabilities are introduced.

Looking Forward

You’ve invested in intelligent automation, and that’s already a huge step for your organization’s future competitive advantage. But process orchestration can amplify that impact.

It transforms disconnected automation efforts into a cohesive, intelligent system that scales as your organization grows and changes. Want to learn more about what process orchestration could look like in your organization? Drop a question or comment in the chat below, we’d be happy to talk with you.