What are the types of process automation?
As automation solutions evolve, we like to remember Sir Isaac Newton’s observation: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
Process automation can employ a range of automation technologies, from relatively simple to highly advanced, including today’s most modern technologies that use AI. It is important to remember that your organization’s use case and requirements will often dictate the right automation solution. The good news is there are many available options. There is the right tool for every job, and some jobs may even require several automation technologies working together.
Let’s take a look at some of the options at your disposal:
Business process automation (BPA)
Business process automation (BPA) helps unify and automate repeatable business activities and services. It improves the accuracy, efficiency, visibility and compliance of core business tasks on a day-to-day basis.
Intelligent process automation (IPA)
Intelligent process automation (IPA) revolutionizes organizational processes and eliminates users' daily robotic tasks. Instead, AI-infused bots complete that rote work. IPA speeds up work, decreases manual errors and simplifies interactions.
Intelligent document processing (IDP)
Intelligent document processing (IDP) is an AI-powered digital solution that goes beyond the fixed capabilities of RPA and optical character recognition (OCR). IDP uses AI to read and understand the text and formatting within semistructured and unstructured content. This ability enables forms and documents to be processed automatically.
While legacy IDP applications used machine learning (ML) technology to “teach" the IDP software how to make sense of documents, next-generation IDP solutions leverage Large Language Models (LLMs) to go from basic text recognition to deep document understanding and reasoning.
Workflow automation
Workflow automation is the process of automating manual tasks, documentation and data flows using rules and logic. A workflow itself is a sequence of tasks that must be completed in a specific order to achieve an objective.
> Learn more | A guide to digital asset management workflows