Automation comes at the core of digital transformation. And, if you are a digital nomad like me, you must have used automation in day-to-day life.

You just came back from a long vacation and want to share your picture on your socials. So, you go to Instagram, select a picture, and put a great caption on it.

Once you have inspected it thoroughly, you hover over the option of sharing. But before sharing one step remains, you click on share on Facebook and other connected socials.

Above is a very simple example of automation in our daily lives. From sorting our news and emails to making our presentations and posting pictures on social media, automation is now ingrained in our lives.

Now, when we take this simple automation to the global business it becomes a lot more complex and a lot more intelligent. This gives rise to something called Intelligent Automation (IA).

Q1. What is Intelligent Automation?

Intelligent automation is a combination of automation and artificial intelligence. Unlike traditional automation, sometimes its called an Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) or cognitive automation, is the use of artificial intelligence (AI), business process management (BPM), and robotic process automation (RPA) to streamline decision-making across organizations.

Traditionally, automation was repetitive and required human guidance with is not the case for intelligent automation. It is mostly autonomous and required minimum to no human attention.

Q2. What are the 4 Pillars of Intelligent Automation?

Intelligent Automation consists of the successful and interconnected implementation of 4 key technologies:

· Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence is the most critical component of intelligent automation. It analyzes structured and unstructured data by using ML to develop a knowledge base and formulate data-based predictions.

Artificial Intelligence encompasses other technologies such as Machine Learning (ML), Deep Learning (DL), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Visual Recognition, and Big Data.

· Business Process Management (BPM)

Business Process Management, also known as business workflow automation, is a technology that helps automate workflow to provide greater agility and consistency to business processes.

· Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Robotic Process Automation uses software robots, or bots, to complete back-office tasks, such as filling out forms or extracting data. It complements and leverages artificial intelligence to handle more complex tasks.

Q3. What are the Challenges Addressed by Intelligent Automation over Traditional Automation?

Challenges give rise to innovation and intelligent automation is no different. Some business challenges created a demand for IA. Now, let’s see, how is going about resolving those challenges.

· Changing Talent Demographics

In some countries, the aging workforce has become a big challenge. Because in the aging workforce fewer workers can perform physically demanding tasks. Secondly, some sectors, such as agriculture and manufacturing, face a shortage of workers. Lastly, some markets are facing rising costs and scarcity of labor.

In such cases, many sectors are turning towards automation as it makes a good investment and economic sense.

· Increasing Complexity

We are creating data at an alarming rate. This has outstripped us of the ability to keep up with the information.

For instance, one study suggests that every five years, the medical information is doubling.

Similar to power tools, intelligent automation enables knowledge workers to process, understand, and effectively use volumes of information.

· Increased Focus on Efficiency, Growth, and Differentiation

In many developed and undeveloped countries, growth has slowed. In such places, companies face fierce competition.

Hence, many of them opt to apply intelligent automation to cut down on costs by improving efficiency.

IA also differentiates products and services with new features and experiences and helps them grow in new markets.

Q4. What are the Benefits of Intelligent Automation?

Automation in general has provided many benefits across industries. When it comes to Intelligent Automation, you will notice the striking similarity between the benefits of intelligent and traditional automation.

Just remember that the primary benefit of IA is that it enhances traditional automation to do what it already does—only better, faster, and with less human intervention.

Here, are the key benefits of intelligent automation (IA):

· Reduce Costs

Intelligently automating systems and processes can reduce costs drastically by augmenting the workforce and improving productivity. Companies can use data and analysis to ensure accuracy and accelerate production.

This provides businesses with the ability to scale quickly without compromising quality, increasing risk, or putting a strain on the existing workforce. Leaders can reap the benefits through higher production yields and improved ROI.

· Improve Accuracy

Intelligent automation can enhance quality and improve accuracy through consistent processes and approaches. The strength behind IA is the use of artificial intelligence to drive decision-making and bring a consistent approach to repetitive tasks.

· Improve Customer Experience

it can improve customer experience by providing a higher quality, reliable product to market in a short time, or get answers to queries faster. This also provides a richer, more positive experience for the customer. It, thereby, offers a competitive advantage for the company.

· Address Compliance and Regulations

We all know that every industry requires to adhere to specific types of regulatory policies. Intelligent automation can leverage task automation features to prove a more consistent approach.

Q5. What is an Intelligent Automation Application?

Intelligent automation streamlines processes that can be resource-intensive, costly, and prone to human error. The applications of IA span across industries and provides efficiencies in different business areas.

· Automotive

Intelligent automation has greatly impacted the automotive industry by making major improvements in the manufacturing process. Manufacturers can more effectively predict and adjust production with IA.

Robots have helped them reduce the need for manual labor and improve defect discovery. This, in turn, has provided a higher quality product at a lower cost.

For example, in Germany, a Volkswagen engine production plant uses collaborative robots to handle a physically demanding engine assembly process. This helps the company prevent injury, ensure accuracy, speed processes, and ease the physical burden on employees.

· Life Sciences

Drug production is a highly regulated process and requires a tremendous amount of data collection, collation, processing, and analysis. Besides, drug trial is not considered successful without trusted results.

Intelligent automation is helping the industry overcome the manual approach and demolish calculation errors.

For example, with the help of intelligent automation, the Covid-19 vaccines were produced in record time which is an example of how IA provides improved production speed and quality in automated processes.

· Healthcare

Intelligent automation, along with natural language processing (NLP), in the healthcare industry is providing a consistent approach to data collection, analysis, diagnosis, and treatment.

Besides, the use of chatbots in healthcare appointments requires often a shorter time to diagnose.

· Insurance

Intelligent automation can virtually eliminate the need for manual rate calculations or payments in the insurance industry. Furthermore, it can simplify paperwork such as claims and appraisals.

IA also helps companies adhere to compliance regulations easily.

Q6. What is the Future of Intelligent Automation?

Automation, since the very beginning, has had an impeccable impact on industries across the world. It has freed humans from doing repetitive and mundane tasks manually.

Now, with , businesses can completely remove the need for human intervention from repetitive tasks through IA. It has now enabled businesses to establish more consistency and simultaneously reduce their costs within the workflows.

In the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has expedited the digital transformation fueling investments within automation infrastructure. In the future, roles will continue to evolve as remote work also surges. Businesses focused on low-level work will be reallocated to implement and scale these solutions.

Integration of IA within the workforce expose skills gaps, and employees will need to adapt to the changing work environments. Businesses have to support these transitions to mitigates anxiety and ensure that employees remain resilient.

Lastly, intelligent automation is the future of work, and the adoption of IA will give companies a competitive edge in their respective markets.

FAQs:

Author Bio:

Shreeya Chourasia is an experienced B2B marketing/tech content writer, who is diligently committed for growing your online presence. Her writing doesn’t merely direct the audience to take action, rather it explains how to take action for promising outcomes.

The post Intelligent Automation (IA): A New Era of Innovation appeared first on Tech Research Online.

All these trends are primarily workplace-related.

What we are missing from this picture is that the impact the exponential development of the digital world had on industries like the Oil & Gas and manufacturing industry maybe even more profound.

So, much so, that in a couple of decades from now, the centuries-old cycle of legacy industrial facilities may finally be broken.

Let us examine this technological evolution in greater detail.

The higher level of automation brought by the internet of things

This development became inevitable ever since the corporate world recognized the unlimited potential of IoT.

To put it simply, not allowing the machines to collect the relevant data, pass the information between each other, and self-regulate their production processes ramps up operational costs, and leads to lower production efficiency.

This operational gap will become even wider as the IoT technology continues to develop and evolve. So, it is safe to predict that the legacy industrial tools will be gradually replaced with newer equipment produced with smart capabilities in mind.

The ongoing development of machine learning

Deep machine learning has always been considered one of the most promising AI trends. What does this technology bring to the table in terms of industrial production?

Well, the AI will inevitably hijack the management of IoT-powered facilities. Processing the abundant data collected in such an environment simply requires the speed and efficiency that can’t be achieved by human beings. This efficiency gap will only continue to grow in the following years.

Finally, human involvement in industrial production will be relegated to the following duties:

• Data analysis
• Critical and creative thinking
• Product development
• Sales and marketing
• Software engineering
• IoT development
• Programming for robotics for and automation

The e-commerce expands to the big industry sector

This trend may look insignificant at first glance, but it has the potential to move the mountains as time goes by. One of the main advantages the smaller industries had over their big clunky brothers was their nimbleness. For instance, the speed at which they can acquire the business assets.

The current expansion of e-commerce to the big industry sector is making this difference disappear. These days, for instance, the big O&G companies can find new oilfield equipment online and make large-scale purchases just as easily as small companies can restock printer cartridges.

Rise of cutting-edge employee tech

In the previous sections, we have painted a somewhat grim picture of the future involvement of human labor in the industrial sector. But, as we could see, human involvement will remain very relevant in areas like data analytics, decision-making, etc.

This focused employee participation opens up the doors for the rise of dedicated digital tools whit the sole purpose of improving the efficiency of these limited human resources.

What kind of tech are we talking about? Primarily the platforms aimed at optimizing workflows, data processing, mutual communication, and oversight of the on-site equipment.

Seamless communication leads to high-quality customer service

The on-site production may be one of the most important sectors of various big industries. However, all companies that are pushing some form of product on the market need seamless customer service to stay relevant.

Fortunately enough, recent breakthroughs in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning have made this job far simpler and more efficient as well.

As a result, the industrial conglomerates will be able to deliver personalized customer experience, automate most of the tiresome CS processes and move the focus of the customer experience to emerge grounds like Virtual Reality.

We hope these five developments gave you some general idea about tectonic changes the industrial enterprises are undergoing in this supposed heyday of the digital transformation. When this transition is over, the way we look at the industrial sector may be completely different from the outlook we have now.

The roles of humans in the production will, inevitably, continue to lose ground, but the adoption of new technologies will create new job opportunities for a qualified workforce. How fast we will come to this point, yet remains to be seen.

Author Bio: 

Mike Johnston is an avid blogging enthusiast and experienced content writer with a focus on business, technology, entrepreneurship, and real estate.

The post Digital Transformation : The new Face of Big Industrial Sectors appeared first on Tech Research Online.

Today’s customers anticipate personalized customer service at all times. What’s more, they expect this from both small and big companies.

Big businesses have enough resources enabling them to utilize technology to offer 24/7 personalized customer service. On the contrary, small businesses lack such resources and the in-house skills needed to leverage technological advancements.

Luckily, there are plenty of cheap or free technical solutions for the growth of your small business.

Here are five ways technology can help grow your small business.

1. Automation of Processes

Technology has made the automation of processes and services in businesses possible. These actions help your small business to save on both money and time.

Automation also allows you to offer a high-quality customer experience around the clock. With the advancements in the mobile app development process, close to 45% of business activities can be automated.

New automation technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning have taken over the business world.

For example, the use of AI chatbots has revolutionized the online customer service experience. Most businesses have now integrated AI chatbots into their websites and mobile apps to offer quality and timely customer service.

Similarly, your small business can utilize AI chatbots to automate online customer service for a better customer experience. Improved customer experience leads to more sales and increases customer-to-customer referrals to your business.

Your small business can also automate other processes, including collection, organization, and analysis of data. Ultimately, this will cut costs, save on time, and offer excellent services, resulting in your small business’s desired growth.

2. Digitized Marketing Campaigns

The conventional marketing strategies through Television, print media, and radio are expensive for small businesses. Using technology, small businesses can now employ digital marketing strategies that are either free or affordable.

Small businesses don’t require big marketing budgets to create pay-per-click or social media ad campaigns with technological advancements. Since such marketing campaigns get linked to the company’s sales pages, more sales are made, resulting in business growth.

3. Cloud Computing

In the past, manual storage of information led to many data challenges. Small businesses had issues with where to store their data safely.

However, with advancements in technology, data can be stored securely in the cloud as it allows encryption.

Also, passwords and other security measures are implemented to enhance data security. Small businesses can back up their data making it safe and easy to retrieve using cloud computing technology.

Cloud storage grants users access to business resources and digital assets from any part of the world.

Additionally, cloud computing enables users to collaborate when working on business projects and allows businesses to store much data. With all these benefits, cloud computing can play a crucial role in business growth.

4. Online-based Sales and Payment Systems

Technological advancement has made it possible for small businesses to integrate online-based payment systems into their commercial websites.

Because of payment flexibility, many small businesses have expanded their online market segments.

Currently, consumers embrace the convenience of placing orders and paying for them from their comfort zones. By integrating web-based payments systems, small businesses can attract such clients and realize extra sales.

5. Project Management Applications and Software

Small businesses can utilize project management software to organize and manage in-progress projects. With such technological advancements, business owners can centrally see who’s working on which task and their progress.

Project teams can view schedules and project calendars through the software. Markedly, this helps your small business to coordinate activities seamlessly.

Project managers can also share and communicate with teams important information through the project management software.

The utilization of these applications and software promotes timely communication and sharing of essential resources. These aspects promote effective and fast completion of projects.

Ultimately, your small business will expand and grow due to the streamlined and simplified execution of projects:

• Technology is a powerful tool at the disposal of small businesses. This tool can revolutionize their business processes.
• Technology is a low-cost business solution for enhancing brand awareness and boosting customer experience.

Conclusion

Whereas there are many ways technology can promote business growth, the five methods discussed in this post can be a good starting point.

You can begin by automating some of the processes in your business to realize efficiency and cut costs. Your business can also create digitized marketing campaigns, store data securely in cloud storage, and increase online sales through web-based payment platforms.

The post How Technology can Help Grow Your Small Business with These 5 Ways appeared first on Tech Research Online.