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Should your company use AI or RPA?
Should your company use AI or RPA?
All businesses, from large enterprises to emerging startups, rely on technology and its core functions. Many companies are using technology in the form of artificial intelligence (commonly known as AI) or robotic process automation (also known as RPA).
Each of these technologies is essential to creating smooth automated processes. But what's the difference between the two? How are they similar? Should your business use AI or RPA? Let us explore further to make your business decision easier.
Each of these technologies is essential to creating smooth automated processes. But what's the difference between the two? How are they similar? Should your business use AI or RPA? Let us explore further to make your business decision easier.
Why should you consider AI?
Artificial intelligence is taking the technology world by storm. It is an extremely exciting technological innovation, and everyone seems to want to be a part of it even though it is still in its infancy.
The sooner you jump on the AI bandwagon, the more benefits you can reap as you operate your business « ahead of the game » so to speak. Traditional innovators love AI, and tech startups are developing their own AI software to gain a foothold in the industry..
This makes sense because virtually any business activity can be synchronized with AI software or AI tools. For example, if your business regularly uses a chatbot to assist with online customer service, artificial intelligence can run the chatbot and learn how to better help customers with each interaction.
AI can also be used to schedule activities, analyze data and content, drive lead generation, detect suspicious activity, automate mundane work processes, and more. The options on how AI can help your business are endless.When determining whether your company should use AI, remember this. Investing in AI software is like gaining a new employee, metaphorically speaking.
The software is designed to mimic the thinking and learning process of a human brain, which means your AI technology is similar to an employee performing activities and reflecting on the task as it's being done, then later analyzing what happened and how to improve. Now that's smart technology.
Compared to RPA, AI is much more expensive simply because of the complexity of the technology. If your company is focused on integrating software that « rights wrongs » in business processes, checks facts, looks for errors, and optimizes workflow, you should consider using AI for your business.
The sooner you jump on the AI bandwagon, the more benefits you can reap as you operate your business « ahead of the game » so to speak. Traditional innovators love AI, and tech startups are developing their own AI software to gain a foothold in the industry..
This makes sense because virtually any business activity can be synchronized with AI software or AI tools. For example, if your business regularly uses a chatbot to assist with online customer service, artificial intelligence can run the chatbot and learn how to better help customers with each interaction.
AI can also be used to schedule activities, analyze data and content, drive lead generation, detect suspicious activity, automate mundane work processes, and more. The options on how AI can help your business are endless.When determining whether your company should use AI, remember this. Investing in AI software is like gaining a new employee, metaphorically speaking.
The software is designed to mimic the thinking and learning process of a human brain, which means your AI technology is similar to an employee performing activities and reflecting on the task as it's being done, then later analyzing what happened and how to improve. Now that's smart technology.
Compared to RPA, AI is much more expensive simply because of the complexity of the technology. If your company is focused on integrating software that « rights wrongs » in business processes, checks facts, looks for errors, and optimizes workflow, you should consider using AI for your business.
Why should you consider RPA?
Robotic process automation is a close competitor to artificial intelligence. They are built similarly with similar functions, but they are very different.
For starters, RPA is a much more affordable alternative to AI. The reason, as mentioned earlier, is that it is not a machine learning technology; RPA is designed for robotic processes that do not require robotic change or thinking.
You simply configure the software, put it into action and the process will run continuously until you stop it or it encounters an error.
You should consider using RPA instead of AI if you want repetitive tasks to be performed consistently and without dynamic process changes - the same activities repeated in the same way over and over.
Many companies are choosing to integrate their processes with RPA to free up valuable employee time. Instead of one employee doing everything, RPA can take the pressure off by handling automated email responses, payroll, invoice processing, refund processing or other mundane tasks. That's not to say that RPA can't mimic the human brain in some respects, because it can. It just doesn't have the capabilities to learn and improve.
The user interface is an important factor to keep in mind when considering RPA for your business. The technology behind repetitive process automation is highly dependent on the stability of its user interface. Any change in the software or user interface will cause immediate problems.
The only other challenge for RPA may be too much unstructured data, but this can be easily overcome with better data organization.
For starters, RPA is a much more affordable alternative to AI. The reason, as mentioned earlier, is that it is not a machine learning technology; RPA is designed for robotic processes that do not require robotic change or thinking.
You simply configure the software, put it into action and the process will run continuously until you stop it or it encounters an error.
You should consider using RPA instead of AI if you want repetitive tasks to be performed consistently and without dynamic process changes - the same activities repeated in the same way over and over.
Many companies are choosing to integrate their processes with RPA to free up valuable employee time. Instead of one employee doing everything, RPA can take the pressure off by handling automated email responses, payroll, invoice processing, refund processing or other mundane tasks. That's not to say that RPA can't mimic the human brain in some respects, because it can. It just doesn't have the capabilities to learn and improve.
The user interface is an important factor to keep in mind when considering RPA for your business. The technology behind repetitive process automation is highly dependent on the stability of its user interface. Any change in the software or user interface will cause immediate problems.
The only other challenge for RPA may be too much unstructured data, but this can be easily overcome with better data organization.
So what are the benefits of RPA for businesses?
A large majority of companies (nearly 50%) use RPA to automate their repetitive tasks, making their employees' lives easier. Here's a breakdown of the benefits of RPA and how you can implement it to keep your employees from doing mundane work.
Project implementation time is greatly reduced.
Maximum consistency is maintained since RPA always runs without change.
RPA and AI can be used together if required.
Makes operations scalable; it can be combined with other RPA systems.
Performance-based data can be collected to determine process efficiency.
Overall, there's a lot to consider when deciding whether RPA or AI is right for your business. Ultimately, it comes down to cost and what you want to achieve with process automation . Determine your budget, your business needs, your usage strategy and go from there.
