AI-powered intelligent process automation (IPA)

International Data Corporation (IDC) defines Intelligent Process Automation as "a collection of software tools and platforms used to simplify, automate, and manage processes and to coordinate, connect, and control distributed processes."

ABBYY customers who have implemented ABBYY Intelligent Process Automation technologies have seen results, such as 85 percent faster reporting, 30 percent shorter cycle time, document processing throughput increased by 5 times, and up to 95 percent of document processing automated.

No, IPA complements the work of human resources. Tasks like finding and extracting data from physical documents are automated by RPA and intelligent document processing, but this doesn’t mean that employees no longer have a role. Automating these processes frees them to focus on more stimulating and value-adding tasks like building relationships with customers, analyzing data for new opportunities, and creative problem-solving.

While robotic process automation does use technology to automate simple tasks, Intelligent Process Automation expands automation further. For example: With RPA, you could employ a robot to perform a task such as data entry. But with IPA, you could use process discovery to determine more opportunities to use robots, and then you could upskill the robots to be able to understand the data that’s in documents and process it intelligently.

IPA does not require a significant infrastructure investment upfront. Getting started can happen in a matter of weeks. Our cloud-based process mining platform ABBYY Timeline and intelligent document processing platform ABBYY Vantage are ready to use when you’re ready.

Intelligent process automation comprises the following advanced tools and technologies:

• Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) applies AI-based document processing “Skills” to make the information contained in documents immediately available and accessible for business processes.
• Task and process mining uses process event log data to discover and map process operations, helping decision makers uncover root causes of any efficiencies and reveal opportunities for improvement.
• Predictive analytics uses data, statistical algorithms, and machine learning to determine the likelihood of future outcomes, enabling businesses to perfect process performance and optimize the use of resources.

IPA can apply to a broad array of use cases across several industries, including the following:

• Banking and financial services: IPA improves performance and efficiency in customer onboarding, trade finance, and Know Your Customer (KYC) processes.
• Insurance: IPA reduces the risk of manual errors in claims processing, policy administration, and forms processing.
• Healthcare: IPA improves patient and employee experiences in processes such as scheduling, billing, and patient registration.
• Transportation and logistics: Shipping and supply chain organizations use IPA to avoid costly delays in data entry, order management, and invoice processing.

IPA leverages artificial intelligence in two capacities:

• IPA’s intelligent document processing component uses AI to make human-like decisions about documents as they flow through processes.
• Its process mining tool uses AI to build an interactive digital twin of a process, revealing inefficiencies and bottlenecks and enabling businesses to apply automation where it will have the greatest impact.

IPA can support scaling of robotic process automation in several ways:

• IPA can reveal additional opportunities for implementing RPA.
• IPA can help organizations understand in advance which processes would benefit the most from RPA.
• IPA can help businesses automate more complex processes by supplementing RPA with intelligent document processing and process mining.
• IPA can help improve RPA efficiency and accuracy by automating tasks such as bot monitoring, process discovery, and exception handling.
• IPA can provide a centralized platform for managing and deploying RPA bots across multiple departments and locations