INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION

Intelligent Automation (IA) is a combination of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies which together empower rapid end-to-end business process automation and accelerate digital transformation

IA is being employed in companies to overcome conventional performance trade-offs to achieve high levels of quality, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. All types of applications and use cases are coming into the mainstream from simple analysis of data to complex decision-making. Future holds promise in terms of autonomous vehicles and multi-purpose robots.

Over a period of time, this kind of automation shall change the way business is done in every sector of the economy. Intelligent automation systems can synthesize vast amounts of data and automate processes or workflows. In the process, these automated “bots” themselves become smarter as they learn and fine-tune themselves when in use.

Automation transformed by AI

Underlying basis of Intelligent automation is artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence is a vast field and includes natural language processing, machine learning and deep learning. Advances in machine learning, improved sensor technology, reductions in cost of compute have spawned a series of both hardware and software robots fulfilling simple to complex applications in each industry sector. Given the benefits, a growing number of clients are implementing or planning to implement intelligent automation in both physical and information worlds.

As intelligent automation is becoming broader it can be applied to a range of business problems which can be solved by voice recognition, natural language processing, and machine learning. Now AI and IA is open to everyone as these technologies are provided by some of the industry majors as open source or low-cost tools on a Cloud platform.

As intelligent automation redefines standards of quality, efficiency, speed, productivity, companies it is becoming a key differentiator and can help score over competition. So, no company can afford to ignore Intelligent Automation and we believe its time has come. Infact, we shall see more and more uses of the same for a variety of reasons each unique to a particular company in a particular sector.

Intelligent Automation can address scarcity of knowledge workforce and also automate away repetitive low-skilled tasks by making them more productive and help them value-add to their work. Data and information are exploding in volume and it needs to automation to even figure out a simple trend or pattern leading to an insight. IA enables knowledge workers—from physicians to investment analysts to plant supervisors—to process, understand, and effectively use data that is being generated.

Companies can gain competitive advantage over their peers if they apply intelligent automation to cut costs by improving productivity and efficiency, can create customer-centric products and services and even change their business models driven by data.

There are three primary forms of intelligent automation applications: deciders, doers, and movers.

Deciders are the highest form of application which helps analyse complex data like human speech or unstructured text. The automated analysis and decision process can be embedded in a workflow that includes humans reviewing and approving machine decisions.

Sector	“Decider” Applications
Financial Services	A large hedge fund automated its process of reviewing research notes for compliance and quality. Credit Suisse uses a technology from Narrative Science to analyze millions of data points on thousands of companies and automatically write English research reports that assess company expectations, upside, and risk
Health care	WellPoint, which provides health insurance coverage to nearly 40 million Americans, has implemented a utilization management system powered by IBM’s Watson cognitive computing technology.
Public sector	London deployed a citywide network of video cameras and employs intelligent technologies to automate the process of identifying crime suspects.
Technology	A high-tech manufacturer has automated the process of monitoring suppliers and customers for risks and opportunities, and for making decisions on customer credit

Doers are collaborative robot which automate physical tasks and are typically single-purpose i..e perform one task repeatedly. The evolution of these single-purpose robots are the “intelligent robots” that perform a wider range of more sophisticated tasks. Some can collaborate with human co-workers and even learn from them.

Sector	“Doer” Applications
Retail and distribution	Kiva Systems developed a “mobile-robotic fulfillment system” to automate retail distribution centers for companies such as Crate & Barrel and Walgreens. Its robots travel around a distribution center automatically transporting shelving units loaded with products to workers who prepare customer orders to be shipped out
Automobile	Volkswagen has implemented “collaborative robots” in an engine production plant in Germany. They work alongside people, taking over a physically demanding step in the engine assembly process.

Movers use sensors and artificial intelligence to automate transportation and bring capabilities to autonomous vehicles with applications in multiple sectors like defence, automobile and mining.

Sector	“Mover” Applications
Aerospace and defence	The US military uses intelligent automation to improve decision making as well as the safety and effectiveness of troops. For instance, Boston Dynamics has developed a variety of autonomous, quadruped robots that can climb, navigate rough terrain and run nearly 30 miles per hour, carry heavy loads, and follow commands of humans
Automotive	To position themselves for future growth, many automakers, including Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Volvo, are developing self-driving cars. BMW aims to have partly automated vehicles on the road by 2016. Google’s autonomous driving technology has already powered driverless cars over hundreds of thousands of miles on public roads in California and Nevada.
Energy and resources	International mining company Rio Tinto is using a fleet of autonomous hauling trucks developed with Komatsu to improve efficiency and worker safety in its Australian iron mines. Earlier this year, its fleet, which can move and navigate with limited human intervention reached the milestone of moving 100 million tons of material.

With time, cost of intelligent automation shall decline while its capabilities continue to grow. At this point, this capability shall be used by every company for its competitive advantage. However, few important considerations need to be taken into account for effective use of intelligent automation:

• Strategy: how to use IA i.e. to improve operations or boost growth or assist in innovation
• Technology selection: choosing and integrating the appropriate AI technologies
• Human capital: re-training staff as IA changes the skills, job descriptions and even the organization itself
• Next-generation algorithms: acquiring and creating information assets for machine learning and /or deep learning applications
• Risk management: mitigating risk from cyber threats and privacy breaches

Some companies may have control rich data assets but may need external help in artificial intelligence and data science to extract greater value. For others, they may secure rights to third-party data sources so that they could power a machine learning system in order to achieve intelligent automation. There will be new breed of commercial aggregators or from participants in the company’s own value chain who maybe able to provide the right data.

So, intelligent automation - a heady mix of artificial intelligence and robotics or robotic process automation shall revolutionize organizational performance in the coming years. It is imperative for companies in all sectors to understand and adopt intelligent automation or they shall risk falling behind or even perishing like many traditional companies who were forced to close shop as the digital age arrived.

Reference: Intelligent automation: A new era of innovation by David Schatsky, Vikram Mahidhar