Intelligent Automation Tutorial

Intelligent Automation (IA) is a technology developed to automate repetitive tasks by making use of modern computing technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), business process management (BPM) and robotic process automation (RPA).

Today, automation is one of the most demanding technologies in business operations. Most of the enterprise leaders researching about how they can get advantage from this technology.

Intelligent automation (IA) is also referred to as Cognitive Automation. In this tutorial, we will learn about fundamentals of intelligent automation along with its applications in various fields.

What is Intelligent Automation (IA)?

Intelligent Automation (IA) is an artificial intelligence (AI), business process management (BPM), and robotic process automation (RPA) based automation technology used in business operations to streamline and scale the decision-making capabilities across the organization.

The primary objective of intelligent automation is to simplify the processes, reduce the cost involved in operations, free up resources, and enhance the efficiencies in various business operations.

Let us understand this concept through an example. Consider a laptop manufacturer who may use intelligent autom\ation to speed up their production and reduce the chances of human errors in manufacturing. This practice also reduces the costs and improves the resources efficiencies.

The most interesting fact about intelligent automation is that it enables systems to learn and adapt to changes, which is a greatest advantage over traditional automation. In IA, this is possible only because of the combined use of decision-making, cognitive technologies, and machine learning.

Therefore, we can state that intelligent automation does not just perform repetitive tasks, but it also learns and evolves. This is the main reason, why it is called "intelligent".

How Does Intelligent Automation Work?

Intelligent Automation (IA) works by combining various cognitive intelligence technologies like artificial intelligence, data analytics, process discovery and mining, etc. By combining these tools, we can automate different repetitive business tasks.

The working features of intelligent automation are given below −

Intelligent automation combines different cognitive technologies like AI, data analysis, process discovery and mining, etc. to perform business automation.
Intelligent automation improves the business automation by using intelligence technologies. These technologies can handle complete end-to-end processes in many operations without any human intervention.
Intelligent automation can be used to automate complex jobs that need high-order thinking and decision-making.
Intelligent automation evolves continuously by analyzing past data and actions and learning from them.

Advantages of Intelligent Automation

Some of the key advantages of Intelligent Automation are listed below −

IA streamlines and optimizes the business processes.
It reduces the overhead cost in business.
It also reduces the risks of human errors.
IA improves the customer satisfaction.
IA also improves the business efficiency and employee's productivity.

Technologies in Intelligent Automation

Listed here are some of the key technologies used in Intelligent Automation −

Artificial Intelligence (AI) − AI is responsible for making systems intelligent. It simulates human like intelligence in robotic systems, so that they can perform jobs like decision-making, self-learning, problem solving, etc.
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) − This technology is used in intelligent automation for automating rule-based, repetitive tasks. RPA enables IA to perform tasks without human intervention.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) − This technology enables intelligent automation systems to understand and interpret natural or human languages.
Business Process Management (BPM) − This technology is responsible for monitoring, optimization, and automation of business operations. It results in improved efficiency and outcomes.
Machine Learning (ML) − This technology enables intelligent automation systems to learn continuously and evolve without any external programming.
Process Discovery − It is a set of technologies that provides a systematic way to determine and map current business processes and identify the areas of improvement.
Process Mining − It is the technology responsible for analyzing business operations data to identify inefficiencies and improve the processes.

Applications of Intelligent Automation

Intelligent Automation is being widely used in the following industries −

In financial services, intelligent automation is being used for automatically collecting customer data and verifying their identities. It speeds up the processes and improves the accuracy.
Intelligent automation is used for fraud detection. In this use case, it identifies unusual patterns in real-time. This helps in reducing financial crimes.
In insurance sector, IA is used for automating claim processes. It provides automatic claim submission and verification services and speed up the entire process.
In healthcare industry, intelligent automation is used for managing revenue cycle by automating billing, payment collection, etc. It is also used for maintaining patient data in the form of electronic health records.
In utilities and energy industries, intelligent automation is used for real-time monitoring of the infrastructure. It helps in improving efficiency and reducing power outage duration.
In manufacturing industries, intelligent automation is used for predicting equipment failures. It helps improving the productivity through predictive maintenance.
In telecommunication sector, intelligent automation plays a vital role in cyber security through real-time threat detection. It helps reducing vulnerabilities in telecom networks.

What You Will Learn in This Tutorial?

This tutorial is a beginners resource on Intelligent Automation (IA) and covers the following key topics −

Introduction to IA − In this section, you will learn the fundamentals of intelligent automation such as its definition and how it is important for businesses.
Components of Intelligent Automation − This part will explain the core components of IA and their functionalities.
Role of AI in Intelligent Automation − In this section, you will learn how AI is integrated with the intelligent automation and simulates human like intelligence in machines.
Applications of Intelligent Automation − In this part of the tutorial, we will learn the use cases of intelligent automation in various real-world areas like financial institutions, manufacturing industries, insurance sector, healthcare, and more.
Tools for Intelligent Automation − This chapter will explain various tools and platforms used for implementing intelligent automation in business operations.
Challenges in Intelligent Automation − In this section, we will explore major challenges that businesses face while implementing intelligent automation in their operations.

Who Should Learn Intelligent Automation?

This tutorial on Intelligent Automation is suitable for the following audience −

Beginners in IA and its applications in business processes
Business leaders and managers
Business automation professionals
IT professionals and data analysts
Digital transformation business consultants
Industry experts

Prerequisites to Learn Intelligent Automation

This Intelligent Automation (IA) Tutorial is meant for absolute beginners. However, a basic understanding of a few concepts like what is automation, robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, business processes, and data analytics can help the readers to get the most out of this tutorial. An interest in Intelligent Automation and a basic knowledge of these foundational concepts can make this tutorial easier to grasp.

FAQs on Intelligent Automation

In this section, we have collected some of the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on Intelligent Automation (IA) followed by their answers.

Intelligent Automation (IA) is a technology developed for automating business operations and tasks and improving decision-making. It is a combination of artificial intelligence (AI), business process management (BPM), and robotic process automation (RPA). It streamlines the decision-making process across the business organization.

Some of the popular examples of Intelligent Automation (IA) include the following −

Automatic form filling by extracting data from digital documents and inputting then into relevant places.

Automatic data entry from documents in various formats.

Automatic employee onboarding processes like document verification, background checks, etc.

Digital assistants like Hey Google, Alexa, Siri, etc.

Intelligent automation in businesses is important for streamlining manual, rule-based tasks. Some of the key benefits that justify its importance in business operations include the following −

Increased operational efficiency

Reduced efforts to complete repetitive tasks

Reduced human intervention and errors

Lower business costs, etc.

Intelligent automation is primarily used where high-speed production, lower human errors, lower cost of operations, and higher resource efficiency is desired.

Some common areas of Intelligent Automation applications include financial institutions, insurance, pharma companies, healthcare industries, etc.

The step-by-step implementation of intelligent automation in a typical application is explained here −

At first, define the objective and scope of the automation application.

Identify the areas for automation.

Select right intelligent automation tools.

Implement data security.

Create AI models and integrate them with data sources.

Finally, select processes and automate them using AI models.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is a technology that mimics human intelligence in machines, whereas IA (Intelligent Automation) is a technology that builds on AI and other cognitive technologies to automate repetitive, rule-based business processes and operations.

RPA is a technology that uses software bots to interact with applications like a human user and it just automate tasks for which it is pre-programmed. In contrast, Intelligent Automation (IA) is an AI and ML based technology that can automate tasks and learn from actions and evolve.

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