What is IPA?

What is Intelligent Process Automation (IPA)? The only IPA I knew about was craft beer.

That was until this morning when I was reading a VentureBeat article about Abbyy Software.

https://venturebeat.com/2021/05/15/marlin-bets-big-on-abbyys-digital-intelligence-initiatives/

According to the article, "This Marlin partnership is a major milestone in Abbyy's pivot from a document-oriented, product-centric vendor to a major player in the larger market around IPA tools."

"IDC estimates the global IPA market will reach $30.5 billion in 2024. IPA is a diverse market area that includes multiple capabilities around capturing process data, automating them, and then measuring the results."

I know about RPA (Robotic Process Automation), and I know about BPA (Business Process Automation).

I thought it would be a good idea to do some research and gain a better understanding.

I went to Wikipedia for some definitions.

"Intelligent Processing Automation" does not exist. That made me feel better.

Wikipedia did have BPA and RPA.

Business process automation (BPA), also known as business automation or digital transformation,[1] is the technology-enabled automation of complex business processes.[2] It can streamline a business for simplicity, achieve digital transformation, increase service quality, improve service delivery or contain costs. It consists of integrating applications, restructuring labor resources, and using software applications throughout the organization.[3] Robotic process automation is an emerging field within BPA.

Robotic process automation (or RPA) is a form of business process automation technology based on metaphorical software robots (bots) or on artificial intelligence (AI)/digital workers.[1] It is sometimes referred to as software robotics (not to be confused with robot software).

In traditional workflow automation tools, a software developer produces a list of actions to automate a task and interface to the back-end system using internal application programming interfaces (APIs) or dedicated scripting language. In contrast, RPA systems develop the action list by watching the user perform that task in the application's graphical user interface (GUI), and then perform the automation by repeating those tasks directly in the GUI. This can lower the barrier to use of automation in products that might not otherwise feature APIs for this purpose.

My Google Search results

McKinsey

In this March 2017 article from McKinsey, titled "Intelligent process automation: The engine at the core of the next-generation operating model," they talk about five core technologies that make up IPA.

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/intelligent-process-automation-the-engine-at-the-core-of-the-next-generation-operating-model

IPA in its full extent encompasses five core technologies:
• Robotic process automation (RPA): a software automation tool that automates routine tasks such as data extraction and cleaning through existing user interfaces.
• Smart workflow: a process-management software tool that integrates tasks performed by groups of humans and machines (for instance, by sitting on top of RPA to help manage the process)..
• Machine learning/advanced analytics: algorithms that identify patterns in structured data, such as daily performance data, through "supervised" and "unsupervised" learning.
• Natural-language generation (NLG): software engines that create seamless interactions between humans and technology by following rules to translate observations from data into prose.
• Cognitive agents: technologies that combine machine learning and natural-language generation to build a completely virtual workforce (or "agent") that is capable of executing tasks, communicating, learning from data sets, and even making decisions based on "emotion detection.".

What might IPA look like in action? Let's take an insurance company where a human claims processor pulls data from 13 disparate systems to provide a "business as usual" service.

With IPA, robots can replace manual clicks (RPA), interpret text-heavy communications (NLG), make rule-based decisions that don't have to be preprogrammed (machine learning), offer customers suggestions (cognitive agents), and provide real-time tracking of handoffs between systems and people (smart workflows).

UiPath

UIPath has an Intelligent Process page. They talk about Artificial Intelligence and new technologies like Computer Vision, Cognitive automation, Machine Learning, and Robotic Process Automation.

https://www.uipath.com/rpa/intelligent-process-automation

They mention ABBYY as one of the third-party cognitive services.

Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) refers to the application of Artificial Intelligence and related new technologies, including Computer Vision, Cognitive automation, and Machine Learning to Robotic Process Automation. This convergence of technologies produces automation capabilities that dramatically elevate business value and competitive advantages for our customers. UiPath creates IPA solutions by using artificial intelligence (AI) to amplify the power of our RPA technology in three ways. UiPath's IPA is based on advanced computer vision, unattended robotics, and integration with third-party cognitive services from Google, IBM, Microsoft, and ABBYY.

IBM

They talk about Intelligent Automation (IA). (Another acronym).
https://www.ibm.com/cloud/learn/intelligent-automation

The 3 components of intelligent automation

Intelligent automation is comprised of three cognitive technologies. The integration of these components to create a solution that powers business and technology transformation.

1. The most critical component of intelligent automation is artificial intelligence, or AI. By using machine learning and complex algorithms to analyze structured and unstructured data, businesses can develop a knowledge base and formulate predictions based on that data. This is the decision engine of IA.
2. The second component of intelligent automation is business process management (BPM), also known as business workflow automation. Business process management automates workflows to provide greater agility and consistency to business processes. Business process management is used across most industries to streamline processes and improve interactions and engagement.
3. The third component of IA is robotic process automation (RPA). Robotic process automation uses software robots, or bots, to complete back-office tasks, such as extracting data or filling out forms. These bots complement artificial intelligence well as RPA can leverage AI insights to handle more complex tasks and use cases.

Nice

https://www.nice.com/rpa/rpa-guide/what-is-intelligent-process-automation-ipa/

What is Intelligent Process Automation (IPA)?

The pace of change in the digital workplace shows no signs of slowing down. One of the next waves to look out for is the rise of intelligent process automation, or IPA. In a nutshell, IPA brings together robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to take automation of business processes to the next level.
How, exactly, does IPA differ from RPA? RPA is the use of computer software 'robots' to handle repetitive, rule-based digital tasks, with the robots interacting with applications and information sources in much the same way as human workers do. These robots are quick, reliable and excel at doing the same repetitive tasks over and over again. But they do not continuously 'learn' and improve.

On its own, RPA is highly efficient at automating processes that are driven by structured data. However, many business processes are fed by or generate large amounts of unstructured data such as scanned documents, emails and letters. That's where more advanced cognitive solutions come into play – IPA makes it possible to automate these processes, too.

Digital Workforce

Intelligent Process Automation (IPA): What exactly does it mean?

https://digitalworkforce.com/rpa-news/intelligent-process-automation-ipa-what-exactly-does-it-mean/

– Intelligent Processes Automation – means maximising business value with the help of process automation. The role of an IPA-service company is to figure out to what extent, and with which tools, the client's processes can be automated in efficient and high-quality manner.

The automation of a single process may require the use of multiple different technologies: RPA, image recognition, chat bots, machine learning… the list goes on.

The term 'Intelligent Process Automation' refers to the ultimate goal of applying several technologies rather than a specific technology.

Cognizant

.
https://www.cognizant.com/intelligent-process-automation

Cognizant's website quotes:

"To lead in the experience economy, you need to rethink how your business operates. Intelligent process automation (IPA) supercharges your organization for speed, productivity and innovation. Anticipate the future and adapt faster with greater intelligence. This is IPA."

And from their page they show "Earning a leader position in 2021 Everest Group PEAK Matrix®f IPA report."

From what I read, the report assesses 27 leading IPA solution providers.

https://www.cognizant.com/Resources/everest-group-peak-matrix-for-intelligent-process-automation-ipa-solution-providers-2021-focus-on-cognizant-march-2021.pdf

Infor

https://www.infor.com/technology/intelligent-process-automation

"Organizations across the globe look to IPA in order to increase efficiency and add value to their applications. Intelligence, and automation in general, is now seen as a 'must have' rather than a 'nice to have'.

Infor's Executive Brief – "Infor's intelligent process automation approach vs. traditional robotic process automation" is helpful.

https://www.infor.com/resources/infors-ipa-approach-vs-traditional-rpa

https://webassets.infor.com/resources/executive-briefs/Infor%E2%80%99s-intelligent-process-automation-approach-vs.-traditional-robotic-process-automation.pdf?

My Summary

IPA is a service. The companies that provide this service use various tools/technologies depending on the needs of the customer. The tools and technologies encompass AI, document management, OCR, RPA, machine learning, and more.

It doesn't seem like it is it's own category. They say that the global IPA market will reach 30.5 billion by 2024. Other reports say that RPA will be 7.64 billion by 2028 and machine learning will reach 117.19 billion by 2027. Sounds like some good marketing hype to me. Many of the tools mentioned already exist.

Debby Kruzic - President of Records and Data Management, Inc.
Founder - Teckedin.com and Teckedinmarketplace.com