CIOs and top management leaders have gone through an unprecedented level of stress and challenges in the last couple of years. The pandemic hit the world at an alarming speed shutting down businesses worldwide. 

Even when the businesses started recovering from post-pandemic challenges, the year 2022 saw yet another set of unfamiliar challenges such as the Great Resignation, shortage of chips, securing devices in fragmented workplaces against cyber threats, and so on. Let’s dig into some of the challenges. 

Challenges CIOs are facing today

According to Fobes, CIOS will continue to face new challenges pushing them out of their comfort zones. The top challenges include:

1. Evolving technology and outdated infrastructure – Most large enterprises are struggling to maintain obsolete infrastructure. Legacy systems do not support the latest technologies. This is the most challenging piece of the puzzle for CIOs trying to adopt new technology and move toward innovation and digital transformation.
2. Securing hybrid workplaces – Thanks to the global pandemic, the majority of businesses need to support and secure a decentralized workforce. It is a major challenge for CIOs as they need to continue to redesign data privacy and security systems to ensure the highest level of security at all levels and protect data integrity.
3. Finding and retaining a talented pool of employees – Finding new talent is a challenging and resource-intensive process. Uncertain economic conditions might force employers to initiate layoffs but they also need to be agile enough to scale up as the market conditions improve and consumer behavior changes.

These challenges might seem daunting at first but there is no need to despair. Read on to find out how Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) can help you overcome these challenges and stay ahead of the competition. When competitors are struggling to solve the challenges using outdated means you can employ IPA to transform existing processes using RPA, Machine Learning, AI, NLP, and Computer Vision.

How can Intelligent Process Automation help

Hyper-automation, intelligent automation, or intelligent process automation refers to the combination of RPA (Robotic Process Automation), automated process discovery, analytics, OCR/ICR, AI, and machine learning algorithms to create intelligent process automation solutions that can learn on the go, train itself based on data, and adapt to changes on its own.

For example, you can design a Robotic Process Automation solution to automate the task of identifying email ids from a form and populating the relevant database field with the customer’s email id. This RPA solution will work provided the customer entered the data correctly, in the right field and format. But if that’s not the case the RPA solution may not work. That’s where IPA comes in. So IPA starts where RPA fails.

IPA is designed to think like humans and handle tasks as a human would. So in the above example, the IPA solution will identify the email id entered in the incorrect field or format and will complete the task just like a human will. Over a period of time, it will train itself to do the task even better than a human being. As you can see the possibilities are unlimited. 

Benefits of Intelligent Business Process Automation

CIOs can leverage intelligent business process automation to develop innovative solutions. According to a report by McKinsey, one large enterprise automated 60-70% of its tasks, and another saved over £175 million annually using IPA. 

There are many benefits of Intelligent Process Automation solutions such as-

• Improved worker productivity
• Better response time
• Enhanced efficiency
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Reduced cost

All these benefits help the CIOs find appropriate solutions to their challenges. For example, using IPA you can improve employee productivity and create better working conditions for your employees. Thus solving the challenge to retain a talented pool of employees. 

Similarly, IPA can be embedded in cybersecurity solutions to implement security policies for all devices, people, and at all levels. Using ML algorithms, business owners can find new ways to optimize existing business processes so that even with existing infrastructure one can enhance efficiency and productivity.

Use Cases of Intelligent Automation 

Intelligent automation allows you to seamlessly integrate business processes, people, and technology to reimagine new ways your business can operate. Popular use cases include-

1. Automate business processes end-to-end
2. Eliminate errors and exceptions
3. Strengthen cybersecurity
4. Ensure compliance
5. Reduce operational barriers
6. Organize and process unstructured data

FAQs about IPA

Qu. 1) What are some examples of intelligent process automation?

Ans: Some great examples of automation are –

• Automated automotive pedals by Porsche
• Automated social messaging services
• Automated scheduling apps

Qu. 2) What technologies does intelligent automation utilize?

Ans: Intelligent automation uses RPA, AI, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, and Natural Language Processing to create innovative intelligent solutions that can mimic human workers.

Qu. 3) What are the challenges in designing intelligent systems?

Ans: Intelligent automation is a continuous process that may encounter many challenges.  Major challenges are – Resistance from workers to change, lack of clear vision while designing and planning, fragmented processes, and lack of IT readiness.

Qu. 4) Is intelligent automation the same as RPA?

Ans: The answer is NO. Sometimes RPA and IPA are used interchangeably but that’s not correct. RPA automates rule-based repetitive tasks and uses bots to complete those tasks. IPA or intelligent automation goes beyond that. It adds advanced cognitive abilities to these bots and makes them smart using AI and machine learning to mimic human behavior and have decision-making abilities.

Conclusion

If you are a CIO, CEO, or top management leader, you already know that change is the only constant in this ever-evolving business environment. You must be looking at some or the other factors affecting the bottom line.

Great leaders are always thinking ahead of their peers and brainstorming ideas to employ the latest technology to their advantage. Intelligent Process Automation is one such tool in your arsenal to overcome business challenges. Contact our technology experts to engineer a unique solution to modernize your business processes.