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Intelligent automation: A comprehensive guide
Intelligent automation leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to sort and analyze huge quantities of data
Intelligent automation: A comprehensive guide
Intelligent automation: A comprehensive guide
Intelligent automation can help you turn raw data into valuable business insights. If your company has embraced digitalization, you’ve probably already automated some of your workflows. Once you add artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to the process, you have intelligent automation. In effect, computer programs can analyze data and usually perform simple tasks with minimal human oversight. That means your staff can focus on their work while automated systems sort, process, and even analyze your digital files.
With the right setup, intelligent automation can streamline clerical tasks by gathering and applying relevant, accurate data. In this guide, we’ll explore how automation, AI, and ML working together can help your business run more efficiently.
Intelligent automation is the process of using computer algorithms rather than people to complete simple, repetitive tasks. This is also called intelligent process automation (IPA). Other forms of business automation rely on rigid rules. IPA, on the other hand, uses AI and ML to “learn” from your data over time.
Which industries use intelligent automation?
- Retail: IPA can create and send invoices to product vendors.
- Medicine: Intelligent automation can help to capture information from patient intake forms, then organize digital records accordingly.
- Finance: With enough client data, IPA can help you to approve or deny account applications and loans faster.
Intelligent automation: Related technologies
- Robotic process automation (RPA): Like IPA, RPA can capture data from documents and categorize files afterward. However, RPA can’t diverge from the set of rules it was preprogrammed with. IPA can adapt to new information as it “learns” from data sets over time.
- Intelligent document processing (IDP): Intelligent document processing, or IDP, is a specific kind of IPA. This process recognizes text within digital documents. Then, it makes that text indexable and searchable. Optical character recognition (OCR) can play a part in IDP.
- AI and ML: Artificial intelligence (AI) is a broad term for any computer program that does what a human would usually do. Machine learning (ML) is how AIs “learn” how to parse and analyze information over time. All intelligent automation technology generally involves some AI and ML elements.
To learn more about the basics of IPA, read What Is Intelligent Process Automation?
Did You Know? Ricoh can help your company automate its workflows. Our high-quality document scanners, robust scanning software, and innovative file management work together to streamline everyday operations. Click here to learn more.
Automation has been part of the business world since the Industrial Revolution. However, until recently, only humans could process and analyze documents. Intelligent automation changes all of that. By entrusting your documents to IPA, your business can run more effectively, keep data more secure, and give your employees more time to do fulfilling work.
Intelligent automation features
- Data extraction: Intelligent automation systems can recognize and copy text from digital documents. File organization: Instead of manually naming and sorting your files, an algorithm can help you streamline the file organization.
- Database management: After an IPA extracts data, such as names and addresses, it can add that information to a database.
Benefits of intelligent automation
- Increased efficiency: Human workers need a lot of time to copy, sort, and analyze data. Computer algorithms can often complete the same task in seconds. IPA speeds up data extraction considerably.
- Cost savings: With the right IPA tools, you can get more done with fewer workers. Your existing staff can also spend more time working on assignments that machines can’t replicate.
- Fewer errors: People get tired of doing repetitive tasks and may be prone to mistakes. Intelligent automation has a generally consistent output, whether it’s processing a dozen records or a thousand.
Read 5 Benefits of Intelligent Automation Making Big Impacts in Business for even more ways IPA can improve your company.
Examples of intelligent automation
Intelligent document processing is estimated to be roughly a $3 billion dollar business. Within the next few years , it could exceed $11 billion. That’s because intelligent automation can help employees work faster while saving money for companies overall. From scrappy startups to well-established industries, IPA can contribute to almost every professional field.
How to use intelligent automation with paper documents
- Invest in a document scanner with high image resolution.
- Use OCR functionality to convert the text into digital information.
- Let IPA tools organize and analyze the data.
Intelligent automation use cases
- Invoice processing: Just about every industry deals with vendor invoices. IPA can identify and extract relevant information from these documents. This includes names, dates, and dollar amounts. Some IPA tools can even process these payments automatically.
- Customer onboarding: Before they patronize your business, customers often have to provide clerical details. IPA can make it easier for them to share names, addresses, and credit card numbers. It also helps prevent transcription errors when you store this information in a database.
- Loan and mortgage applications: Loans and mortgages are complicated processes. Customers must provide reams of financial data. Analysts have to evaluate acceptable levels of risk. Intelligent automation tools can streamline the process, finding patterns that identify good candidates, as well as potential fraud, subject to requirements and restrictions in applicable laws and regulations.
Check out 5 Intelligent Automation Use Cases for Modern Business for more industry-specific IPA applications.
Did You Know? RICOH Document Scanner Programs help match your company with the right hardware for the job. Find the best fit for your business here.
Intelligent automation can be a vital part of your business’s growth strategy. Companies that invest in IPA can operate more efficiently than before. They can also save money while increasing employee satisfaction. Ricoh’s products and services can help you accomplish these goals.
Ricoh document scanners can convert physical records to high-quality digital images. The RICOH fi-8170, for example, can scan up to 70 pages per minute at 600 dots per inch (DPI) resolution. Clear image capture (CIC) technology helps preserve text as you scan it.
Ricoh scanners are also fully compatible with the PaperStream Capture Pro software. This is where you’ll get a lot of the features you need for IPA, including metadata tagging, file sorting, and data extraction. Routing files to specific folders is also helpful for training proprietary AI models.
Finally, our technology partners offer solutions for document capture, database management, information retrieval, and more. Book an appointment with us today to see how automated workflows could transform your company.
Note: Information and external links are provided for your convenience and for educational purposes only, and shall not be construed, or relied upon, as legal or financial advice. PFU America, Inc. makes no representations about the contents, features, or specifications on such third-party sites, software, and/or offerings (collectively “Third-Party Offerings”) and shall not be responsible for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of such Third-Party Offerings. Please consult with a licensed professional regarding your specific situation as regulations may be subject to change.