Blog 8
What is intelligent process automation (IPA)?
Florian Poniewaß I 06.11.2020
Florian Poniewaß I 06.11.2020
What is intelligent process automation (IPA)?
IPA, short for intelligent process automation, is the interaction of artificial intelligence with related technologies such as RPA (Robotic Process Automation), computer vision, or deep learning. Intelligent process automation is basically an advanced form of robotic process automation.
IPA imitates the activities of human employees and learns over time to complete them even faster and more efficiently. Human intervention is no longer necessary. Until now, only clearly defined processes with structured data could be automated using RPA. However, these requirements are rarely met. With the help of IPA, much more complex decision-making processes can be mapped. IPA can convert unstructured data into structured data for subsequent use of RPA technologies. For these reasons, the technologies are not mutually exclusive, but can work together to optimize business processes.
An example: Reading semi-structured documents from emails
IPA is able to recognize incoming emails, "read" them and forward them to a suitable specialist. The intelligent process tool recognizes any attachments, such as PDF files and Word documents, extracts relevant data and enters this into a system, e.g. a customer relationship management (CRM) system. Using computer vision, a type of virtual sensor, IPA recognizes whether opened pages have been fully loaded and reacts to system errors. The process tool also reads system loads and throttles the robots if they are overloaded.
Compared to traditional RPA, Intelligent Process Automation enables a huge increase in flexibility. Process changes can also be adapted and implemented very quickly. In addition, decisions can be made based on previous experience. IPA is practically a further development of Robotic Process Automation.
