What is intelligent automation? 

Traditional Automation and its Limitations

Automation is not a new concept, but the emergence of artificial intelligence, particularly language models like ChatGPT, has marked a true revolution in this field. Historically, automation was synonymous with RPA (Robotic Process Automation), a technology used to automate repetitive tasks based on fixed rules. For example, RPA can be used to extract data from scanned invoices into a standard format and enter it into an accounting system.

However, despite its usefulness, RPA has its limitations: it heavily relies on data structuring. If data from one software needs to be transferred to another and the fields don't perfectly match, RPA can fail without manual adaptation.

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What Does AI Bring

The introduction of AI into automation brings unprecedented flexibility. Thanks to AI, it's possible to process unstructured data, such as email content, images, or PDFs. A concrete example would be automating customer complaint processing, where AI can extract and interpret sentiment and specific requests from received emails, even if their format and style vary.

Furthermore, AI can handle data that isn't perfectly structured. Take the example of a company that receives orders in various formats (emails, PDFs, text messages). AI can understand and process this varied information to create uniform entries in an order management system.

This capability significantly expands the possibilities for connecting everyday tools and opens new avenues for automation, not only transforming how businesses operate but also increasing their efficiency and responsiveness.

At Qolaig, we help you explore these automation possibilities, with or without AI, so you can focus your human resources where they have the most impact – freeing up time for innovation and thereby increasing your margins and revenue.