FEATURE
THE AGE OF INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION WHY DOES INTELLIGENT PROCESS AUTOMATION MATTER IN THIS DIGITAL-FIRST WORLD?
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ntelligent process automation is defined as automation powered by AI and encompasses new technologies such as machine learning and computer vision. While RPA is all about automating repetitive manual tasks, IPA leverages AI to accomplish high-value activities that require judgment and analysis. Historically, for many businesses, the entry gate to automation has been RPA. For them, the automation journey typically began with software robots automating isolated processes in one particular department where processes were digital – the socalled low-hanging fruit. Then, they 24
CXO INSIGHT ME
MARCH 2022
progressed towards intelligent automation by integrating AI capabilities. “However, we now know that enterprises that incorporate automation and AI into the very fabric of their business from the very beginning stand to benefit most from the fast advance of intelligent automation,” says Ashraf El Zarka, VP Middle East& Africa at UiPath. He says the next stage of the automation evolution will see businesses move towards semantic automation. Semantically enabled software robots are not only able to see and read what’s on the screen;
they also understand the relationships between and contexts around documents, processes, data, and applications. “Simply put, they are able to observe an activity and emulate it. By seeing, thinking, doing, but most importantly, understanding, semantic automation will start to move away from rulesbased approaches, widening the scope and impact of automation and reducing necessary development time. In addition, semantic automation will reduce the gap between how software robots currently operate and the capacity to understand processes the way employees would,” he adds.
