What is process automation and how can AI help?
by Carlos Estrella and Mike Smith
Process automation uses software and technologies to automate corporate processes and functions to achieve organisational goals. These goals can include manufacturing a product, hiring an employee, or providing customer service. It is especially useful in automating more complex procedures, helping to centralise information and reduce the need for manual interventions. The main objectives of process automation are to remove bottlenecks, reduce the occurrence of errors, and prevent data loss.
“A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities … are managed
as a process.” (ISO 9000: Quality Management Principles)
Within this field is intelligent automation, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to simplify and assist in decision-making within organisations. These advanced technologies can be used to make your operations more efficient, speeding up your company’s processes. So keep reading to learn what process automation is, its importance, and how AI can help you be more efficient than ever!
Importance of process automation
After analysing which processes can be automated and which cannot, you will be able to take advantage of the benefits that automation brings to your corporation.
Here are the main advantages of implementing process automation in your company:
- Cost reduction. Process automation helps your business reduce its operational costs and increase profit. This is especially beneficial for teams that traditionally use paper-dependent manual processes.
- Greater transparency. You can use automated dashboards to collect data, create reports, and analyse crucial information for your organisation. From there, you can have better visibility of ongoing initiatives, allowing you to make more informed decisions.
- More satisfied customers. Process automation allows you to have access to more accurate and consistent customer data. With this, you can customise your product or service to better align with their expectations.
- Having automated procedures will make it easier for your organisation to stay compliant. If well applied, this technique will allow you to set strict guidelines to limit who can make changes or update documents.
- Document management. When your teams use manual processes, they risk losing control of written documents, spreadsheets, and emails. With automated processes, all your documents are stored and organised in just one place, making file management much easier.
- Greater efficiency. By applying process automation, your company practically eliminates the chance of errors occurring. At the same time, you eliminate bottlenecks and speed up decision-making processes.
Business Process Management (BPM)
Standardise your business processes, automate workflows,
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With so many advantages it’s not surprising that process automation has so many advocates. In particular, automation is recognised for allowing teams to perform quickly and efficiently in executing their tasks.
All this creates an environment conducive to innovation, with faster business cycles and a higher success rate in your processes. To top it off, process automation also allows for real-time collaboration across the organisation, including between both on-site and remote teams.
Types of process automation
There are essentially four types of process automation that have evolved over the past decades.
1. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
The best known among the types of process automation, Robotic Process Automation (RPA), performs repetitive tasks so that humans do not need to execute them. This can include things like data entry or routing customer support requests.
Ideally, RPA is used in simple, repetitive, and high-volume activities – especially those that would require manual intervention from an employee. Since robots never need to sleep, this allows workflows to be streamlined and errors to be avoided.
But don’t think that RPA is a perfect solution that will solve all your problems. After all, it is not capable of making cognitive decisions and needs human assistance to solve more complex issues and set guidelines.
RPA is not an Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) technology, so it is unable to learn over time. This means it cannot be used to optimise an entire process from start to finish. Instead, it should be applied only to very specific parts of a given workflow.
2. Business Process Automation (BPA)
Business Process Automation (BPA) is an older term that was once synonymous with process automation. Today it denotes only one type: the one that uses computer systems to automate corporate workflows and the tasks within them.
This technique allows individual activities to be automated, allowing humans to focus only on high-level decisions or exceptions. It is usually part of a broader Business Process Management (BPM) strategy of a company.
BPA is not just a single tool, but a set of resources and techniques for process automation. Through it, your company can combine the strengths of people, information, resources, robots, and artificial intelligence.
Some of the most common methods and technologies used in Business Process Automation are:
- Process orchestration. By using data management tools, data fabric, no-code system integrations, and governance software.
- Process development. Including resources that facilitate the development of initiatives, such as low-code applications and artificial intelligence. Can also include the optimisation of aspects such as user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).
- Process automation. As expected, BPA includes things like process modelling, business rules, and case management. They will allow you to organise and track your processes.
- Process optimisation. Deals with process mining and health checks. These tools can help you visualise and analyse your corporate processes by extracting data from your business systems. Additionally, they allow you to monitor the performance of your procedures, detect anomalies, and ensure compliance with regulations.
3. Integration Automation
The method of connecting various software applications and different systems to facilitate communication and data exchange is called Integration Automation. It ensures that different tools can operate together efficiently.
The goal is to reduce the need for manual data entry and improve the accuracy of this information. Integration automation can involve the use of APIs, middleware, or integration platforms to automate workflows across various systems.
4. Hyperautomation
Hyperautomation is considered complete automation, a final stage where various technologies are integrated in order to optimise business processes. This can include technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA), artificial intelligence, machine learning, Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), Business Process Management, and low-code.
“SoftExpert Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) transforms
complex documents into relevant data with just a few clicks”
The term was coined by the consulting firm Gartner, which stated in a recent report: “Hyperautomation refers to the effective combinations of complementary sets of tools that can integrate functional and process silos to automate and augment business processes.”
Within this method, companies are able to automate corporate processes from start to finish. Additionally, they can implement intelligence technologies based on AI and ML, favouring more accurate decision-making.
Furthermore, the Hyperautomation phase serves to provide insights related to the return on investment (ROI) of automation in pursuit of continuous expansion of the initiative. With this, managers can empower their workforce with the right tools and information to perform their tasks.
How AI can help in process automation
As can be seen, some types of process automation use artificial intelligence or machine learning technologies. This is because the use of these tools helps simplify processes, free up resources, and make your operations even more efficient.
For example, a pharmaceutical and life sciences company can use AI technology to reduce manufacturing costs or use its raw materials more efficiently. Meanwhile, an automobile factory can use ML tools to reduce the risk of human error or identify optimisations to speed up car production.
Three cognitive technologies
Also called intelligent automation, this field is centred on three cognitive technologies. The most important of these is AI itself, using complex algorithms to analyse both structured and unstructured data.
From them, it is possible to create a knowledge base and make predictions, creating a decision-engine driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The second aspect is Business Process Management (BPM) which works by automating workflows and making your processes simpler and more straightforward.
The third component is Robotic Process Automation (RPA) itself, which will use specialised software to automate back-office tasks. It is primarily responsible for extracting data and filling out forms. As a result, less intelligent robots can complement artificial intelligence, while AI provides insights for you to optimise the use of RPA.
All this generates enormous value for companies across all industries, allowing employees to take care of high-level tasks, while artificial intelligence increasingly automates low-level processes.
The role of middle managers can then be redirected, to be able to focus less on optimising their teams’ tasks and more on their motivation and other psychological aspects. The rest can be left to the robots.
Conclusion
Process automation represents a milestone in the evolution of corporate operations, especially when driven by artificial intelligence.
It allows organisations to reach new levels of efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction, all while freeing employees to focus on strategic and creative activities.
By integrating technologies such as RPA, BPA, and Hyperautomation, companies have the opportunity to transform processes, connect systems, and create more agile and effective workflows. Artificial intelligence plays a crucial role in this journey, providing data-driven insights and assisting in complex decision-making.
In a competitive and constantly changing scenario, adopting process automation is no longer a differentiator but a necessity to maintain business relevance and sustainability. Whether for small improvements or structural changes, automation is the way to go for any company with the desire to innovate, grow, and prepare for future challenges.
Looking for more efficiency and compliance in your operations? Our experts can help identify the best strategies for your company with SoftExpert solutions. Contact us today for a free demo!
About the Authors
Carlos Estrella is a Content Marketing Analyst at SoftExpert. With a degree in journalism, he has dedicated the last few years to mastering the fields of SEO and content marketing. He has experience with blog articles, YouTube videos, podcasts, videocasts, webinars, and creative writing.
Mike Smith is a highly experienced Business Management Systems Consultant whose portfolio includes having worked with CEOs, management, engineers, consultants and staff at all levels across a broad range of disciplines and industry sectors. Mike is currently engaged by Rifle-Shot Performance Holdings (RSPH) as the lead consultant for SoftExpert Excellence Suite.
