Hyperautomation vs. Intelligent Automation vs. RPA: Explained
Automation has been a hot topic in the corporate world for years now. But it wasn’t until the pandemic hit when businesses realized the importance of leaning into the question of how we’re going to work in the future. Now, as the world shifts back into the office and companies rethink their business plans, automation presents itself as not just an option but a necessity.
A few critical components underscore the big picture of automation:
- robotic process automation
- intelligent automation
- hyperautomation
It’s important to understand these concepts separately to see what makes sense for your business.
Robotic process automation eliminates mundane tasks.
Robotic process automation or RPA was an early starter in the automation space and the foundation for intelligent automation and hyperautomation. In simple terms, RPA uses robots that interact with applications to automate repetitive, monotonous chores in the workplace.
While the apparent benefits of RPA include cost and time savings and improving the customer experience, there’s also the fact that it could also improve employee satisfaction. You see, RPA can essentially free up employees from doing mindless tasks to doing more meaningful and fulfilling work.
Note: While RPA has many advantages, implementation isn’t always easy. If you’re interested in leveraging robotic process automation to help you achieve your business transformation goals, talk to us.
Intelligent automation combines thinking with doing.
Intelligent automation (IA) is the next step forward after RPA. While RPA mimics human activities, IA mimics human behavior by linking the interactive capabilities of RPA with artificial intelligence to add a new breed of cognitive technologies such as recognizing handwriting, identifying images, and natural language processing.
A recent study by McKinsey found that, by implementing intelligent automation, organizations have reduced process times by 50% and achieved ROIs of over 100%. The study provides a great example of intelligent automation in action at an insurance company:
“With IPA, robots can replace manual clicks (RPA), interpret text-heavy communications (natural language generation (NLG)), make rule-based decisions that don’t have to be preprogrammed (machine learning), offer customers suggestions (cognitive agents), and provide real-time tracking of handoffs between systems and people (smart workflows).”
Another excellent example of intelligent automation is computer vision. To learn more about it and how USPS is using it in 2021, check out our blog post, More than Meets the Eye: How AI-Enabled Vision is Helping Deliver Your Mail.
Hyperautomation is the future.
For intelligent automation to truly work, it needs to be scalable. That’s why, as conversations around IA progress, so will the demand for an integrated approach where automation technologies can converge — and that’s where hyperautomation comes in.
According to Gartner (who coined the term), hyperautomation takes the concept of intelligent automation and extends it to include even more applications, including cloud computing. Hyperautomation is a comprehensive approach where businesses will automate everything that can be automated, and it’s a term that will encompass the increasing scope of automation in the future.
Where to start your automation journey...
Like all digital transformation journeys, implementing intelligent automation should start with setting clear goals — understand where you need it the most and why. Then, set future-focused goals to avoid short-sighted fragmentation in your automation journey.
Maybe you’re just starting to explore the possibilities of automation. Perhaps, you’ve already found success by applying automation ad hoc but haven’t been able to scale these benefits across the enterprise. Whatever path you’re on, you need an enterprise-wide approach that is supported by organizational change. At 10Pearls, we apply innovation with deep industry experience to help ensure your initiatives are deployed, embraced, and scaled to drive business.
Talk to us to learn more about how we can help you on your automation journey.
