Introduction

In recent years, organizations have been working on automating processes that allow them to use technology to save time and money, as well as to promote more qualitative and strategic tasks and actions in their teams.

According to a study conducted by Gartner, the automation of processes and activities can save up to 30% of working time, allowing the worker to take on higher value tasks.

Intelligent Process Automation, or IPA for short, uses Artificial Intelligence to improve processes in different areas of companies in different economic sectors.

To delve deeper into this topic, we have created this guide together with Dost, where you will find not only information, but also success stories around the application of automation processes with AI.

What is Intelligent Process Automation?

Intelligent process automation is a growing trend, as is hyper-automation, a concept that includes IPA.

IPA (Intelligent Process Automation) encompasses Robot Process Automation and Artificial Intelligence. It is a trend for the future, a type of process automation that is beginning to be applied as it is something that companies must value in order to survive in the long term.

Among the main characteristics of intelligent process automation, we find the ability to be replicated in different companies, without the need to go through a period of uncertainty, a process that is understood as similar and with common characteristics can be applied in a first and a second company.

In terms of productivity, it works every day of the week, every hour of the day. In addition, these automation brains have globalized improvement, a concept that means that the more times a repetitive task is faced in different situations, the smarter it becomes, applying improvements captured from stimuli in different companies.

We have to access information, we analyze different documents taken from document repositories and make different sweeps. Here we are looking for the employee to work on the selection of documents from the digital brain, thus collaborating closely with the person. This has a positive impact on companies, making the employee feel more valuable in terms of productivity, leaving aside the manual introduction of data into the ERP and generating a sense of competitiveness.

Technologies with IPA

Several technologies can be used in the intelligent automation of processes, here are some of the most relevant ones.

RPA, Robotic process automation

It is a software that allows to automate certain routine tasks. There the robot follows rules that allow it to perform certain tasks.

Among the activities that can be automated with RPA are performing calculations, creating basic documents, creating reports based on specific data, verifying data or files, among others.

Intelligent workflows

The concept of workflows is primarily how a job is performed; intelligent workflow focuses on managing artificial intelligence with automation, analytics and human skills in an end-to-end process.

El concepto de flujos de trabajo se refiere principalmente a cómo se realiza un trabajo; el flujo de trabajo inteligente se centra en la gestión de la inteligencia artificial con la automatización, la analítica y las habilidades humanas en un proceso de extremo a extremo.

Machine Learning

This refers to the learning capacity of machines without being programmed, thanks to algorithms that, with the input of new data, identify patterns that allow them to generate predictions based on previously known patterns.

Natural Language Generation NGL

NGL is the production of texts or narratives from data using artificial intelligence.

It thus relates to human-machine interaction and includes NLP natural language processing and NLU natural language understanding.

This technology will allow the machine to generate processes or elements based on the reading of the data entered, such as the generation of a report.

Cognitive agents

These agents take machine learning and NGL to perform communication and even decision making tasks based on the emotions they detect according to the analyzed data.

An example would be virtual contact by chat or telephone.

Benefits of IPA

Cost and time reduction

We know that time is money. With the IPA, organizations will be able to increase their productivity and generate new contributions and ideas from their employees that will lead them to improve innovation processes.

Improve customer experience

This can be seen from different points of view. For example, the agility of data processing allows a faster response to the customer or the reduction of errors during data handling is a guarantee to deliver a better customer experience.

Improves worker productivity

Employees will have the advantage of moving away from repetitive and routine tasks to develop higher-value skills that technology cannot cover.

Instant and constant learning

This process is made possible by machine learning algorithms that instead of following rules, recognize patterns that allow them to make better decisions.

TalentFY case study

From TalentFY we use Artificial Intelligence to automate the selection processes of different organizations looking for the best digital talent in the areas of IT and Digital Marketing.

For the digital sector it is not easy to carry out the selection processes of profiles that fit 100% to the technical requirements and organizational culture. With what our platform, its AI and the human team manage to guide companies in all stages of the process to get to find the best candidate.

This is done through the selection of specialized recruiters who are chosen with AI so that according to the needs of the company they have the best knowledge to find the ideal profile. At the same time, the skills of the candidates are analyzed by the platform so that the match between the company and the future employee is perfect.

Can you imagine that you have to lead a selection process for a cybersecurity expert and you are not sure where to find the best profiles, what tests to do, how to qualify their skills and all this in the shortest possible time? Well, in this type of situation the use of Artificial Intelligence to recruit talent is the best option as TalentFY does.

The main steps to make the experience a success is to have a very clear job description, which will be the most relevant information for the IPA to find the recruiters, who in turn will discover the best candidates.

Additionally, it is important to be clear about the process that the organization needs to evaluate the candidate, whether it is through interviews, tests or both, in order to schedule in the platform all the necessary stages from the search to the hiring process.

Dost Case Study

Lasercor is a company that specializes in industrial laser cutting, engraving, welding, metal bending and 3D printing services. They help companies and professionals with a comprehensive service with the most advanced technology.

The challenge Lasercor was facing was mainly based on suffering many delays when closing the month or quarter and also when paying their suppliers, due to the large amount of invoices that their accountant had to process manually. They started to face many duplicate payments due to duplicate invoices, which made them lose money, so they decided to look for a solution.

Lasercor chose Dost as the solution to their problem because of the software's simplicity of use, ease of implementation within their existing workflows, and because it goes live in minutes.

Lasercor tried other solutions such as RPA and OCR, but it was not very successful. They see Dost as a key player in the market because of the data mining function we use to extract invoice data using AI, as well as the simplicity to automate the whole process, which made the difference.

The company had a return on investment after 3 months. All the money saved by eliminating duplicate invoices and duplicate payments plus the cost of the solution versus the cost of the time spent by their accountant.

The cost of processing supplier invoices has been reduced by 79%. Doing it manually cost approximately €5 per invoice, now with Dost it costs Lasercor €1 per invoice. Lasercor saves 48,000 euros per year.

Diagnostic questions for your company

• Which areas of your organization require automation processes?
• Which automation processes would you like to generate in your company?
• What are the benefits of IPA that most interest you?
• Do you still verify the data entered by your OCR for security?
• Do you still make human errors when processing invoices manually?
• Do you use different tools without having the data sources connected?