RPA & AI—How they Differ and How they Come Together 

RPA consulting services in India are nothing new. They’ve been around for decades. But there are new capabilities that these providers are coming up with; capabilities like AI implementation, so much so that RPA and AI may have begun to sound synonymous to an awful lot of us. 

This post focuses at clearing this fog, and demarcating these two technologies as clearly as possible. Apart from that, we will also highlight how these two different technologies come together to do some great things for businesses. 

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What is Robotic Process Automation?
If we go by how process automation companies describe it in layman terms, RPA technology makes use of software robots or bots (contrary to the impression that these are physical robots) for performing tasks (like humans would) through a user interface of a computerized system. RPA works for performing tasks that are rule-based, repetitive in nature, and do not require human discretion. 

A few examples of task that can be executed through RPA are:
Sending out standard automated email replies
Formatting excel sheets
Data extraction from structured source documents
Sending out reports

As long as there is structured data and set rules for performing a particular repetitive task, these bots can do the job in a fraction of time taken by humans, and with more efficiency & accuracy, ensuring compliance. The idea is to free up these humans to do more discretionary jobs.

What Is Artificial Intelligence?
In an article published in Britannica, B.J. Copeland, describes AI as

“...the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.”

And that sounds so close to RPA. But the difference is that of exercising intelligence. AI is more of a human-like cognitive ability that helps in better decision decision-making. AI consulting services in India are helping businesses more than you may know or imagine. The chatbots that we interact with on an almost daily basis as we use websites or apps on our smartphones, it is AI+RPA that’s touching our lives. 

AI makes use of large data sets, repetitive processes, and the most important, intelligent algorithms to make the bots learn patterns of data as well as complex process behavior. 

A few examples of task that can be executed through AI are:
Sorting & managing from unstructured or semi-structured documents
Understanding and decoding human conversations through NLP
Automating complex tasks like customer care
Accurate forecasting, based on large data sets


AI & RPA Consulting Services in India
Automation is an enabler, but businesses could be leaving a lot of money on the table with siloed automation. The answer, in that case, is end-to-end automation. AI and RPA put together, help you achieve automation to scale for better operational efficiency. 

In simple terms, when businesses decide to make good use of RPA as well as artificial intelligence development services, they can automate even those processes which need human discretion. For example, you can not only automate the sending out of reports to stakeholders, but also making these reports from structured, semi-structured or unstructured data. 

When to Introduce AI into RPA?
A rather simple way to know this is to gauge if your processes and data sets are complex enough to need human discretion/AI. If yes, the best bet is to start small and scale up as you feel things syncing in. 

If you need more insight into the concept or if you are mulling over hiring artificial intelligence development services, we can help you choose the right trajectory. Simply get in touch with us. We’re happy to help.