As the industry’s top provider of intelligent automation services, CTG has witnessed firsthand how automation technology can improve customer experiences and relieve employees of the burden of repetitive tasks, resulting in increased productivity, improved morale, and the ability for workers to concentrate on strategic tasks.
Almost all businesses spend time on mundane or repetitive tasks rather than those that have more strategic importance. Work like filling out forms, constantly responding to the same inquiry, or translating data from one system into another can stifle productivity. Additionally, these duties may impede workers from performing higher-value jobs like conversing with clients, conducting research, or deriving insights from data and taking appropriate action.
Intelligent automation provides more scalable, safe, and quick processes through the use of robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and test automation. Additionally, AI enables quicker insight gathering and decision-making across the company.
For businesses to thrive in a digital-first future, Gartner predicts that they will need to adopt a strategy known as hyper automation, which involves using tools like RPA and AI to quickly identify, validate, and automate as many processes as possible.
They even forecast that by 2024, organizations would implement at least three different types of hyper-automation software, which, when combined with improved operational procedures, will result in a 30% reduction in operating expenses. How can firms use intelligent automation to quicken the digital revolution, then?
STEP 1: DOCUMENTATION OF THE PROCESS
Any automation project should start by understanding the current business processes, both the individual tasks and the overall workflow. These processes may be documented and discussed consistently, and there are prospects for automation and optimization thanks to methodologies like Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) and tools like Nintex Promapp.
The automation journey can be specified after well-documented, highly scriptable procedures are in place. A successful business process automation journey recognizes early wins and incorporates strong change management. With a strategy in place, businesses can apply intelligent automation solutions employing software robots (like UiPath), workflow automation tools that can streamline processes (like Nintex and Microsoft Power Platform, including Power Automate, Power Apps, etc.), EDI integrations, or AI support (e.g., Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services).
AUTOMATION OF PROCESSES BY ROBOTS
RPA streamlines business processes by assigning repetitive, rule-based tasks to a software robot. Consider the scenario where a salesperson needs to enter a pursuit in a CRM system as well as a revenue forecasting system. The salesperson may complete a master deal sheet and press a button to automatically populate both systems rather than manually entering the information in each system. RPA performs best when given repeatable, well-defined tasks and organized data. An organization can gain from RPA by:
INTRODUCTION OF AUTOMATED WORKFLOWS
Workflow automation employs technology to connect various tasks in order to speed up and streamline an entire business process, in contrast to RPA, which concentrates on individual tasks. It might be used, for instance, to automatically handle the approval of pricing for a new opportunity, including sending the request, reviewing it, accepting or rejecting it, informing the requester, and changing the CRM record as necessary.
By ensuring that work is completed by the appropriate person at the appropriate time and reducing bottlenecks, this automation increases employee collaboration and productivity. It streamlines and boosts the productivity of work processes while removing human mistakes when used in conjunction with automation technologies like RPA. Organizations can save time and money and reallocate resources to other, more strategic goals by decreasing manual and paper-based operations.
Process streamlining for firms is now more straightforward than ever thanks to tools for workflow automation, such as Nintex. Users may now easily see their processes and automate workflows without having to have a deep understanding of code. These low-code and no-code solutions are saving organizations money by eliminating the need to engage a full-time developer and enabling them to undergo a faster digital transformation.
INTELLIGENCE COMBINED WITH ARTIFICIAL
RPA and workflow automation work well with repeatable, organized processes; AI is best used with unstructured data and ad-hoc inquiries. A salesperson might inquire about the commission implications of altering the form of a contract, for instance.
The sales person may have previously received an answer from operations. The same answers could be provided by a chatbot powered by AI.
In order for machines to process inputs (to “see” or “hear”), understand likely outcomes (via “learning”), and then act based on the accumulated “experience,” artificial intelligence (AI) combines a number of technologies. AI learns how to respond to queries, anticipate the future, and make decisions using reasoning, self-correction, and learning.
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