What is Intelligent Automation?

Automation, the use of machines and technology to perform tasks normally done by humans, is now a familiar concept for businesses. Robotics and artificial intelligence are two examples of emerging technologies that can carry out human actions and act independently by making decisions or interpreting data. Intelligent automation is the convergence of these “smart” technologies with automated processes to elevate business process automation. Intelligent Automation (IA) can be broadly understood as an attempt to unlock the next level of operational efficiency by integrating robotics with other emerging technologies such as cloud, mobile, and big data. IT Support Los Angeles offers extensive resources for local businesses looking to integrate intelligent automation.

6 Key Benefits of Intelligent Automation

Automation is a key part of business today. It has many advantages and is used in almost all areas of business, from low-level tasks like accounting to high-level decisions such as forecasting sales. Since the technology is fairly new, you need to know which automation tools can help your company get ahead of its competitors. Intelligent automation provides many benefits to businesses including:

Significant reduction in running costs 

One of the primary benefits of intelligent automation is that you can reduce your business costs. In fact, it’s one of the main reasons many companies are turning to automation technologies in their workflows:

• Reduce expenses through eliminating human error – Human error is one of the biggest risks in any business that relies on manual processes. When these tasks are automated, the risk of costly mistakes is greatly reduced. This means fewer legal issues and negative impact on revenue and profits.
• Reduce cost of human labor – Apart from replacing human workers altogether in some tasks, automation will also enhance human capabilities in others so workers are free to seamlessly move from one task to the next with an automated program. This level of efficiency will lead to higher productivity levels and better job performance.
• Reduce cost of equipment – Many businesses require heavy machinery and equipment which can be expensive to buy if purchased outright (not including maintenance costs). By using software programs designed specifically for industrial applications such as welding machines or 3D printers; there will be less downtime due to mechanical failures (which occur often). 

Focus on higher order tasks

Intelligent automation can help you save time for more important tasks. Instead of having to manually check your email or moderate comments, a bot can do it for you. The bot will quickly scan the contents and let you know if there is anything urgent or harmful in the inbox, so that you don’t need to spend time checking every single email individually. This means that when there is an urgent matter requiring attention, it will be easy to spot because it stands out from all the other routine emails and messages.

Workers will also be able to leverage automation tools like virtual assistants (VAs) which are essentially artificial intelligence systems that perform tasks based on specific directives given by humans using speech recognition technology (SRT). VAs have been shown to improve communication between people through messaging services such as Slack or Skype. For instance, VAs can easily take over mundane tasks like scheduling meetings between multiple parties. This will allow everyone involved to focus on their core priorities instead of being distracted by scheduling conflicts or competing demands.

Minimize human error

Humans are prone to mistakes and errors that can sometimes cost your business millions of dollars. The ability of a human worker to meet customer service demands is dependent on their communication skills that can sometimes leave a lot to be desired. Humans also aren’t as consistent as machines because they tend to get tired after working for several hours. Automation is set to raise the bar on customer service as it is expected to significantly reduce delays, provide quicker issue resolutions and more. And machines never get tired or cranky.

Traceability for analytics and audits

Traceability is a critical element for analytics and audits. It’s also used for root cause analysis, which leads to process improvements that help improve quality and safety. For example, if an analyst wanted to know why an error occurred in a particular business process, he or she would need to be able to trace the issue back through all of its causes. With traditional manual processes, this can be difficult or impossible; with intelligent automation, it’s much easier—and more accurate—to find all of these links.

Automated systems can reconcile data from various systems

A “single source of truth” is a set of data that everyone in your organization can agree on. If you have multiple systems or databases storing information about the same thing (like customers), they should all be referring to the same master record. That way, when someone looks up customer information, they get the same answer regardless of which system they use. And if someone needs to make changes across many systems at once (like adding a new employee) those updates will automatically pull through all databases instead of having to be updated manually in each one.

Improve employee satisfaction

Intelligent automation can also improve job satisfaction by letting employees accomplish higher order tasks instead of mundane, repetitive ones. With the scope of menial work reduced, employees can leverage their strengths and passions by completing meaningful projects that matter to them. In addition to keeping employees engaged and feeling valued for what they do best, this allows for personal development opportunities that might not have been available with a traditional job model. Employees who enjoy learning new skills will benefit from the opportunity for professional development that intelligent automation affords. This is true regardless of whether workers are looking to advance within their current company or transition into another industry altogether.

Conclusion

We have barely started to scratch the surface of the potential of intelligent automation in business. To understand how intelligent automation can help your business stay competitive with early optimization, please reach out to DCGLA.

Post courtesy: Brent Whitfield, CEO at DCG Technical Solutions LLC