AI and RPA – When they complement each other - A case study

We use many technical and business jargon to address a problem and derive a solution statement. Two of the most commonly used words in any organization going through Digital transformation are Robotic Process Automation aka RPA, Artificial Intelligence, and AKA AI. They are equally misunderstood and misused in business discussions. This article sets the proper context and how they can complement each other with a case study.

Artificial intelligence is building intelligent machines and components capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence. It is the endeavor to replicate or simulate human intelligence in devices. AI components inherently self-learning and get better with learning from examples and experience, recognizing objects, understanding and responding to language, making decisions, solving problems—and combining these and other capabilities to perform functions a human might perform, such as customer-facing bots and predictive analytics for support technicians. Think of artificial intelligence as the entire universe of computing technology, including both Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL). As many current-day applications focus on weak AI or Narrow AI is AI trained and focused on performing specific tasks, Strong AI or Artificial General Intelligence where few enterprises are making great stride such as Tesla with autonomous driving.

Robotic process automation is also s an automatic process automation solution that mimics a human business user's behavior to perform repetitive tasks. This business focuses on entering the world of automated digital labor and the digital workforce. 

Now you can see a clear relationship between the Narrow AI and RPA. Let me provide how we complemented the two great technologies with SAP in bringing a great value to an organization with a clear benefit realization statement.

Business drivers 

After implementing the SAP S/4 transformation, the organization realized that their journey did not end; instead started with new and evolving expectations. The Rise of innovative digital platforms and Artificial Intelligence has transformed customer expectations pushed the organization to keep customer focus to stay relevant and profitable. Customers now expect an accessible, instant, and seamless experience irrespective of a complex and integrated system.

To bring a seamless customer experience and the organization realized to embark on power automation with intelligence to eliminate manual and repetitive tasks. This way, they could deliver products and services to their customers faster and with accuracy.

Implementation

Implementation of Standard RPA tools interacts with core systems as if they were users, often using the same user interface. (e.g., Batch process input, Interface, blast emails, error handling report) whereas Intelligent RPA uses a combination of AI- and API-based access to create a stable connection to enterprise systems. (Chat, IVR, Mobile, Cloud Interfaces)

A combination of the use of the AI-based smart RPA and standard RPA for an SAP S/4 enterprise application.

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