What is Intelligent Automation?

In today’s evolving digital landscape it’s hard to have a discussion about operational optimisation without mentioning the terms Artificial Intelligence (AI), Robotic Process Automation (RPA) or Intelligent Automation (IA). Fact is, it’s quite easy to get these technologies confused on what they are and exactly what they do. But for the focus of this conversation we will be highlighting 6 operational benefits of intelligent automation for your business.

IBM describes intelligent automation as the practice of automating business processes that require decision making via the use of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and RPA to increase operational efficiency.

Intelligent automation combines these cognitive and artificial intelligence technologies to build smart processes and workflows that learn and adapt as they go. This combination of technologies expands the possibilities of almost all business scenarios — cognitive bots can reason and make decisions, learning on the job to become valuable resources in your human-digital workforce.

According to recent markets analysis reports from Fortune Business Insights, the automation market size is expecting a steady growth over the years to come, with RPA market size to hit $63B and AI market size to hit $4.3T by 2030.

The transformative potential of intelligent automation creates the opportunity to reimagine how businesses operate by seamlessly integrating technology, work processes, and people.

Here are 6 operational benefits of intelligent automation and how they can significantly improve sectors within your business.

1. Minimise human error

Employees who execute the same mundane and repetitive tasks over and over can very often get complacent. Although these task errors may seem small scale on a singular basis, if done consistently by a number of employees, this can create big issues with process inefficiencies.

According to management consulting company Gartner, robotic process automation can save finance teams as many as 25,000 hours of redoing work due to human error, totaling a cost saving in the ballpark of US$878,000.

Reducing human error in the workplace leads to lower costs, less risk, and fewer limits to growth.

2. Increase process efficiency

All organizations are seeking to improve the efficiency of their internal business processes and intelligent automation is a super applicable way to achieve this.

In fact, 74% of respondents of a Deloitte survey said automation helped their workforce work more efficiently.

Intelligent automation procedures will always operate to the same high quality, and can complete, measure, audit, and monitor process execution while also suggesting ways to enhance it.

3. Reduce your business costs

According to a study by KPMG, RPA has the potential to cut costs in the financial services sector by up to 75%. Roland Berger also found that companies could save 40% each year, while reducing time spent on processes by 40–70%.

By automating tasks in your businesses core value chain, not only will you save money by reducing the amount of time your employees have to spend on these processes, but you’ll be able to redirect your employees to more value-adding tasks that can yield greater ROI, taking on more clients on customers. Having RPA in place provides long-term cost savings as your scale your organization.

4. Afford time for high-value tasks

Leveraging intelligent automation to handle all repetitive tasks can shift employee efforts to tasks that yield greater ROI. At CA Labs we call this ‘affording humanity the time to be inspired’.

Gartner research has found that the average amount of avoidable rework in accounting departments can take up to 30% of a full-time employee’s overall time. This equates to savings of 25,000 hours per year at a cost of $878,000 for an organization with 40 full-time accounting staff.

“Accounting leaders who fully embrace RPA go beyond simplistic metrics and view the technology as a boost to their employee value proposition,” said Dennis Gannon, research vice president in the Gartner Finance practice.

Most employees will welcome the opportunity to avoid tedious rework in favor of the more strategic activities that only a human can do.”

5. Increased employee satisfaction

According to the 2019 Forbes Insights research, 92% of companies experience significant employee satisfaction after RPA technology is applied.

Humans are built to do purposeful work, build mastery in our crafts, and reserve time to think creatively and be inspired. By leveraging intelligent automation to tackle mundane and repetitive task work, your employees will have the opportunity to take on more intellectually challenging, stimulating tasks.

It’s no surprise that people prefer not to be stuck at their desk mindlessly processing data. Intelligent automation gives your staff more freedom for creativity and growth, which intern makes them feel more productive and fulfilled within their role.

6. Improve customer experience

Time is money, and if your customers aren’t getting the assistance they require quickly, they will go elsewhere and you’ll lose potential income.

Example: The Amazon Search team develops machine learning (ML) technology that powers the Amazon.com search engine and helps customers search effortlessly. To deliver a great customer experience and operate at the massive scale required by the Amazon.com search engine, this team is always looking for ways to build more cost-effective systems with real-time latency and throughput requirements.

Over 10 years ago, Amazon calculated that 100 milliseconds cost them 1% of their annual sales and in 2022, the Amazon Search team leveraged intelligent automation to reduce their inference costs by 85%, under heavy traffic and demanding performance requirements.

To reiterate, intelligent automation creates the opportunity to reimagine how businesses operate and can optimise many facets of a company with both internal to external benefits.

If you are curious about leveraging the benefits of intelligent automation to optimise your business, reach out and let the team at Cognitive Automation Labs know. We’ll be happy to discuss a digitsation plan that uniquely fits your goals and requirements.

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