Co-Author: Phil Fersht, CEO and Chief Analyst, HFS Research
Organizations that use intelligent automation technologies to amplify human potential will stay ahead in the game, while those that don’t will lag behind.
The world is on the cusp of interesting technological advancement, with artificial intelligence (AI) revolutionizing everyday social touch points.
Intelligent machine learning (ML)-driven chatbots are transforming social networking platforms, internet of things (IoT) is changing the very nature of supply chain management, while robotics paves the way for lights out production lines.
That being said, advancement of artificial intelligence cannot be seen in isolation. The emergence of intelligent automation (IA) and its sustained maturity over a period will have to be seen alongside AI’s evolution to get a clearer picture of where we stand in terms of technological progress.
Automated Intelligence: A Step Ahead of Artificial Intelligence
However, with IA in the picture, industries stand to gain from myriad business benefits. The starting point is the potential freeing up of resources from mundane and routine tasks by adopting intelligent tech, a consequential benefit of which is better workers and workflows, both human and digital.
To put this into perspective, consider the sheer fact that we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day.i All thanks to an ever-increasing digital infrastructure, this data and information is everywhere. For organizations that thrive on data, this happens to be both a boon and a bane. Humans alone are rather insufficient to handle these large sets of data. And this is precisely where artificial intelligence comes into being.
Virtual assistants and intelligent chatbots, used by millions of people worldwide, is revolutionizing customer service. Self-driving cars will soon take over the automobile sector, while the medical industry increasingly leverages smart diagnostics tools.
Intelligent automation can assist industries out here— it can enable the large-scale deployment of data analytics while ensuring productivity. With IA solutions, companies stand to amplify their ability to utilize data, taking the heavy load off the shoulders of human resources.
Achieving Scale and Unlocking Business Value
Organizations that ultimately adopt IA will lead the way in their respective fields of work. This technological marvel, in essence, enables large-scale data analysis and improved productivity. After all, it is substantially ahead of straightforward process automation. IA understands which processes are relevant to an organization’s modus operandi and is capable of executing itself in accordance.
However, that being said, to make the most out of IA, it should be in sync with the defined orchestration architecture, where machine-made decisions are reviewed by humans to yield better outcomes.
Consider this case of a global banking and financial services industry (BFSI) major. The company was struggling to identify and recruit the right talent and come to terms with an accurate pace to scale upward. With a customized and scalable IA solution in place, not only did it scale efficiently, but also opened up newer business avenues, while fuelling consistent growth.
HFS Research states that the leading concern about deriving value from IA is the ability to scale. However, organizations also opined that they are confident of being able to achieve enterprise-wide IA scale within two years, despite deep-seated fears about a lack of talent, data quality, and the ability to drive effective organizational change. HFS would like to point out that even with the increased adoption of IA technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA), permutations of AI such as machine learning or natural language processing, or smart analytics (a.k.a. the Triple-A Trifecta), there is a still a substantial gap between the reality of what you’re achieving versus the rhetoric of what’s possible. We agree that there is exponential potential in IA; the outcome is the achievement of the Digital OneOffice™. But if you keep applying the same linear, technology-centric thinking to achieve your objectives, you will just have more technology rather than a competitive advantage.
Let’s remember that intelligent automation is not just new technology — it enables enterprises to fundamentally change how business operations are executed, creates new ways to work with a hybrid of digital and human workforces, and enables new business models. The ability to unlock this potential requires both the fundamental belief that there is massive change afoot and a practical, proven way to embrace the change.
Click [here to download the report published by Elena Christopher – Research Vice President, HFS Research.]
Where Does the Current Pace of Change Stand?
The complexity of today’s digital landscape makes comprehensive analysis and processing through manual workflows impracticable. Ergo, depending on manually intensive processes makes outcomes rather slow and error-prone, notwithstanding the inefficiency associated with it. IA outdoes these impediments and enables consistent, accurate analysis of the mode of operations, thereby reducing the challenges of a human operator.
Companies are keen on adopting IA like never before. Consider another scenario where an investment banking major of repute had difficulties identifying the right toolset that was compatible with derivatives contracts to address relevant growth opportunities. They leveraged state-of-the-art IA technology to effectively enhance customer experience, improve risk profile, fortify controls, and streamline workflows.
Do you think that the industry is ready for the next wave of automated technologies? Let us know in the comment section below.
