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Process automation is defined as the use of technology to automate repetitive and manual tasks within a business process. Its goal is to reduce the need for human intervention in time-consuming, routine tasks, for more efficient and effective processes.
Artificial intelligence is the perfect complement to support a business process automation initiative. It’s become routine for businesses to use AI to turn a PDF into a digital interface or to generate an email response for an employee to review. But that is just a small part of what AI is doing for businesses every day. What else can AI do for process automation? Intelligent automation can significantly change process automation best practices.
1. AI augments process automation technology
Intelligent process automation technology is powerful: it helps organizations mold their business processes to increase their effectiveness, free up employee time spent on repetitive work, simplify complex tasks, and empower their operations to adjust to change.
But successful automation isn’t just about building and buying the latest tech tools; it’s about blending them into high-performance process automation such as a business orchestration and automation technologies (BOAT) platform. According to Gartner, BOAT represents unified platforms that orchestrate processes, AI agents, bots, APIs, and human actions together. Enterprises adopting AI often deploy multiple specialized AI agents, creating complications of uncoordinated agents operating in silos. BOAT platforms provide the central orchestration needed to coordinate and govern these multi-agented systems.
Technology spotlight: Generative AI
Before generative AI’s boom, AI had already played a role in process automation platforms like Appian, automatically tuning the data fabric for developers and automating intelligent document processing (IDP). Now generative AI has fueled even more productivity gains.
Generative AI capabilities paired with process automation technology helps organizations automate repetitive tasks and streamline their processes even more quickly, and Appian continues to innovate in the realm of AI-powered automation.
While it’s commonplace for developers to train AI to process and classify content which helps in automation workflows for tasks like invoice processing, accounts payable, and processing customer requests, Appian goes beyond this. Developers can use Appian Composer to rapidly turn requirements and documentation into an application plan that aligns business and IT, and then task Composer with building and implementing changes to that application using AI. We’ve also released powerful Model Context Protocol support (MCP) to provide easy access to Appian tools, data and intelligence to empower any agent with operational tools and context at scale.
2. Successful process automation efforts use the right tool for the job
Too often, companies limit the potential of their automation by using robotic process automation (RPA) or IDP as the only option in their process automation initiative. Simple website crawlers, email rules, or even RSS feeds can solve a lot of information-gathering problems. And now that AI can step in to augment or complement other technologies to automate business processes, it’s easier than ever to combine automation capabilities throughout a workflow. But that doesn’t mean an organization should lean on ChatGPT to solve every problem. The humble RSS feed still has its place and, unlike tokenized AI, costs next to nothing.
Going forward, automation capabilities will be further strengthened by AI.
Technology spotlight: Intelligent automation
Intelligent automation technologies automate manual tasks using AI. These cognitive automation technologies are especially useful for business operations that involve decision -making. Intelligent automation tools understand human language with natural language processing and make cognitive decisions based on data. Appian has a wide range of intelligent automation technologies that all work together in a unified platform.
3. AI process automation is only as good as the data supporting it
Any solid process automation initiative using AI requires a strong data management foundation. Because AI is only as good as the data supporting it, programs need to make data accessible and usable for AI process automation.
It’s good business practice to add strict user permissions around data access to protect sensitive information. By embedding AI into the process, you can give AI guardrails where actions can be tracked and audited. Innovations like these, which take intelligent process automation even further, are driving operational efficiency now and into the future.
Technology spotlight: Data fabric
Organizations should look past data warehouses and data lakes to more flexible data management strategies like data fabric, which allows IT teams to connect data in a virtualization layer. Data lakes and warehouses require data transformation and movement. Data fabrics, on the other hand, don’t require any migration at all. When a data fabric is embedded into process automation technology like Appian’s, it means you can use no-code connectors to bring data from different systems into one application so that the data can actually be put to use in real time.
4. Organizations should take a platform approach to process automation
Many organizations have invested piece by piece in various automation technologies. Without a unified automation solution to orchestrate the individual technologies, they end up with disconnected islands of automation. This can lead to challenges across both the employee and customer experiences.
Technology spotlight: Process automation platforms
Forward-thinking enterprises are moving toward automation platforms that unify technologies and help automate their repetitive processes. Adding in AI and its ability to evaluate situations, consider options, and choose the best course of action based on data distinguishes it from traditional automation tools. To avoid siloed automation while successfully operationalizing AI, organizations should adopt the platforms that unify automation technologies and AI in one place. BOAT systems do just that.
