In a prior post, we initiated the discussion regarding the concept of Intelligent Automation (IA). We wrote about what it is and which Laserfiche tools offered IA-type functionality (LF Workflow, Forms, QFs). This blog post will explore why IA is important and how it works.
Why will it be essential to automate intelligently?
Data is being created at a volume and velocity that is astounding. For instance:
The average person generates 1.7 MB of data per second
The world has 64.2 zettabytes of data as of 2020
90% of the world's data has been created in the last two years
95% of businesses consider the need to manage unstructured data a problem they face
60% of that information is unstructured (like a contract or a conversation) or semi-structured (like an invoice or a form)
Agencies, or all organizations, require the ability to process and leverage unstructured data. The standard recognition, extraction, and organization processing sequence can be performed with tools like Laserfiche. Running business-as-usual will have a significant negative impact on the bottom line, such as:
No holistic view of data, diminishing business insight from analytics
The competitive disadvantage when compared with the opposition that is IA savvy.
Poor performance and dissatisfied residents or clients
How does intelligent automation work?
Successful IA implementations rely on planning and designing the solution, whether it's one platform or a combination of technologies. In ye olde days, you'd probably have to start with the application and design the solution based on its features and functionality, but we've advanced beyond that.
The first step to architecting IA is significant data gathering centered on the business issues you want to solve. This means the staff whose work involves these processes are now your stakeholders.
Once you've detailed the outcomes you want and accessed implications and risks, you should choose a technology partner to help you, pick a solution and build the solution. Some agencies like to divide the solution selection and design among two partners. If there are regulatory mandates regarding your ability to purchase technology, you may have to use two, one to help you with RFP and the other selected using the RFP.
Regardless of any IA tool(s) you choose, it will need to (at a minimum):
Integrate with or allow DB lookups from your LOB systems
Predetermine criteria, tasks, relationships, and related actions
Execute pre-built rules, such as "if-then" scenarios and confidence-level programming
Don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you are interested in learning more about IA or just plain automation.
