"Embracing the Future: Understanding the Role and Impact of Intelligent Automation in Businesses"

Imagine walking into your office to find that repetitive tasks, such as data entry and customer service responses, are being smoothly and efficiently handled 24/7. Without a human in sight. Welcome to the world of Intelligent Automation (IA). Increasingly, IA is transforming businesses globally, freeing human workers from mundane tasks and significantly improving operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. However, it also poses certain challenges and ethical questions which will be discussed later in this blog. Intelligent Automation is a combination of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). RPA mimics human actions to carry out repetitive tasks, while AI adds the abilities to learn continuously, predict outcomes, and make decisions. Together as IA, they are truly a game changer in today's tech savvy workplace (Chui, Manyika, & Miremadi, 2016). Recently, there have been several advancements in IA. As stated by Mckinsey, the software robot market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 60%, reaching $5.4 billion by 2024, indicating the rapid adoption of IA (Bughin, Hazan, Lund, Dahlstrom, Wiesinger, & Subramaniam, 2018). One of the significant innovations is the evolution of RPA into cognitive automation. A step further from simple rule-based tasks, cognitive automation can understand natural language, make judgments, and handle exceptions. Real-world applications of IA are abound. For instance, in the healthcare industry, IA is being used to analyze large-scale patient data for predictive analysis, thus, aiding in early disease detection and personalized treatment plans (Esteva, Kuprel, Novoa, Ko, Swetter, Blau, & Thrun, 2017). Similarly, Amazon leverages IA to improve its warehouse efficiency, while Netflix uses it to analyze user behavior and suggest personalized shows and movies. Intelligent automation comes with its list of benefits and challenges. On one hand, companies that have successfully implemented IA achieved a reduction in operational costs (up to 60 percent in some cases), enhanced service quality, and improved compliance. On the other hand, the ethical implications cannot be overlooked. AI and automation lead to significant job displacement and data privacy concerns (Arntz, Gregory, & Zierahn, 2016). Moving forward, IA is set to permeate all business functions and sectors. Experts predict that businesses will adopt a 'people plus robots' model where humans will supervise and work in tandem with robots. It is also expected that the technology will evolve further, integrating emotional intelligence for customer interactions (Daugherty & Wilson, 2018). In conclusion, while there's no denying the indispensable role of IA in enhancing efficiencies, it's essential to manage the ethical implications and ensure a smooth transition to a more automated world. Now, the question that arises is: Is your business ready to co-work with bots? References: Arntz, M., Gregory, T., & Zierahn, U. (2016). The Risk of Automation for Jobs in OECD Countries: A Comparative Analysis. OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, No. 189. Bughin, J., Hazan, E., Lund, S., Dahlstrom, P., Wiesinger, A., & Subramaniam, A. (2018). Skill Shift: Automation and the Future of the Workforce. McKinsey Global Institute. Chui, M., Manyika, J., & Miremadi, M. (2016). Where machines could replace humans--and where they can’t (yet). McKinsey Quarterly. Daugherty, P., & Wilson, H. (2018). Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI. Harvard Business Review Press. Esteva, A., Kuprel, B., Novoa, R. A., Ko, J., Swetter, S. M., Blau, H. M., & Thrun, S. (2017). Dermatologist-level classification of skin cancer with deep neural networks. Nature, 542(7639), 115-118.