According to IDC research, global spending on automation tools will rise to $42.6 billion by 2025. Today, more organizations are transitioning to technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and even extending the boundaries of automation to more nuanced and complex applications. Reducing human errors, cutting costs, and improving overall business operations are cited as some of the main objectives behind these moves. 

In fact, to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives, enterprises are aiming to weave Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities into RPA. This is where intelligent automation comes to the fore. Let’s look more profoundly into the domain of intelligent automation, what it means for enterprises, and how computer vision can accommodate it.

What Is Intelligent Automation? 

Intelligent automation (IA) or cognitive automation leverages the power of AI, ML, and cognitive technologies like Natural Language Processing (NLP) to manage more complex processes and drive “smarter” business decisions. This technology is described as “intelligent” due to its cognitive abilities. In essence, IA accomplishes a lot more than simply automating manual or repetitive tasks.

According to IBM, intelligent automation is made of the following three components:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): The decision engine of the IA technology.
• Business Process Management (BPM): The IA component that automates business workflows.
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA): The component that leverages AI insights to manage more complex tasks.

IA can suffice several use cases across domains. For example, it can speed up production and reduce human error in the automotive sector, help with predictive maintenance across manufacturing facilities, speed up customer response times for the BFSI sector, etc.

Benefits of Intelligent Automation for Modern Enterprises

Implementing intelligent automation can bring several benefits to enterprises. Here’s a rundown of the most pertinent ones:

1. Augments Workforce Productivity

Most of the RPA and automation tools are sufficient to automate manual tasks, thus freeing employees to focus on more productive work. Through its AI component, intelligent automation now scales productivity to a higher level. 

By analyzing new and substantial volumes of data, IA can handle complex decision-making, thus complementing the workforce’s efforts in making sense of patterns and anomalies and taking proactive steps to capitalize on any opportunities that may transpire. The fact that IA systems can easily scale without incurring any risks further augments workforce productivity levels.

2. Improves Customer Experience (CX)

AI-powered chatbots are prime examples of how automation has influenced the customer experience. Today, the most basic chatbots can easily handle customer queries and reduce customer waiting time.

With NLP technology, IA systems can analyze textual information for its hidden sentiment and intent. For example, an IA-powered bot can analyze a customer support ticket to measure the level of urgency and the underlying sentiment. Accordingly, and as per the defined enterprise workflow, such a bot can route more empathy-entailing cases to human agents.

3. Enhances Process Efficiency

Using machine learning algorithms, IA-powered systems can analyze data to improve existing business operations, like sales processes. This data is useful to rectify any process-related inefficiencies, develop best practices, and forecast requirements. 

By feeding IA-generated data into business intelligence tools, companies can process their analytics insights to highlight areas of process improvements.

4. Improves Quality

Intelligent automation practically eliminates human errors in the form of erroneous data inputs, incorrect decision-making, and missed opportunities. For example, an IA testing system can scan software for any security-related vulnerabilities much faster and more accurately than a human tester. 

At the end of the day, this error reduction translates into enterprise-wide quality improvement, characterized by reduced defects, reduced recalls, less rework, and less waste.

How Can Computer Vision Enable Intelligent Automation?

With the ongoing explosion of visual data, extracting insights manually is both inefficient and time-consuming. Powered by AI, computer vision enables machines to seamlessly see and interpret images and videos.

That said, computer vision can enable intelligent automation across enterprise applications. Here’s how:

Invoice Processing

Companies receive invoices in various formats and through various channels, including email, fax, and postal mail. Using computer vision, IA systems can process invoices faster by “reading” its content, extracting the relevant information, and automatically processing the invoice for payment.

Payroll Processing

Besides invoices, payroll processing is another manual and repetitive task that typically includes tracking employee attendance, leaves, commissions (if any), and overtime. With computer vision, IA-based systems can keep track of employee time-in (and time-out) and automatically calculate the accurate salary to pay.

Document Scanning

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is ineffective when scanning documents in non-standardized or inconsistent formats. IA-powered computer vision is a “smarter” approach to scanning and identifying important information in any extensive document. Computer vision can easily identify “areas” of interest in any given document and then pass this information to the OCR engine for additional processing.

Workplace Safety

Be it a manufacturing facility or a sensitive establishment, computer vision-enabled IA can improve workplace safety. Such a computer vision platform approach can help identify real-time suspicious activities and alert security teams. Powered by computer vision, facial recognition tools can implement access control in highly sensitive areas within the premises.

Using KamerAI to Experience the Computer Vision Prowess

As elucidated above, organizations are moving beyond RPA and towards intelligent automation to improve their business efficiency. With the ongoing advancement of automation technologies, AI-powered computer vision can help organizations automate their processes for better results.

KamerAI is an intelligent, computer-vision-based analytics platform that helps enterprises experience the many benefits of intelligent automation and make proactive decisions to curb any wastage, threat, or operational inefficiency. See KamerAI in action here.

Wondering how computer vision can elevate your business automation to the next level? Get in touch with our consultants and get your questions answered.