Why AI-infused intelligent automation is Quebec’s next frontier
It’s time for Québec to lead!
In my role as IBM Technology leader in Quebec, I regularly talk with IT and business leaders across both the public and private sector. As they grapple with high costs and economic uncertainty, several common threads emerge from these conversations.
Across the province, business and IT leaders are looking for ways to enhance the customer experience, boost revenue growth and market share, improve productivity and efficiency, and find people with the right skills to leverage the latest technology. Quite simply, they are looking for ways to stay ahead of their competition.
As organizations in Quebec make strides in their digital transformation, the need for better business outcomes is driving technology investment decisions. For both business and IT, AI-infused intelligent automation, addresses many of these priorities.
Unfortunately, many companies in Quebec are struggling to implement AI-infused intelligent automation at scale. Yet, there is an urgent business need for them to do so if they want to free up business and IT resources, retain clients and top talent, and accelerate their digital transformation.
If companies are not yet using AI-infused automation, they could be putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage when compared to their peers. They may also be missing important product innovations opportunities. As Craig Le Clair, Principal Analyst at Forester Research and an internationally recognized expert in automation and AI says: “Companies that get automation right will outperform those that don’t.”
How automation creates new business value
Intelligent automation combines artificial intelligence (AI) together with robotic process automation (RPA), analytics, process mining, and other advanced technologies to create end-to-end business processes that “learn” and make decisions based on past situations they have encountered and analyzed.
By freeing up employee time, AI-infused intelligent automation results in new business value across the enterprise – through improved operational efficiency, revenue growth, employee productivity, and customer satisfaction.
For example:
- Virtual agent technology is available 24/7 and can reduce the number of calls going to an agent by 70 percent, while reducing the average cost of call from $7 to $1.50.
- Automation of an industrial asset inspection process using AI-powered visual inspection can detect potential anomalies, increase security, and reduce knowledge worker inspection time.
- Field technician technical publication and operational support using natural language processing, AI-powered classification can reduce maintenance delays, errors, and the cost of training new technicians.
Collaboration between IT and business functions is required to assess the effectiveness of an existing processes, then integrate systems to drive sustainable change throughout the process framework. A partner like IBM can help.
IBM Technology collaborates with clients in Quebec and across Canada, drawing on an ecosystem of business partners and service organizations to provide the resources and capabilities to help our clients create a more streamlined, productive organization.
It’s easy to get started
A popular misconception is that automation requires a significant IT investment of time and money. Not so. The IBM approach is iterative. We start with just one piece of one process, then build from there. Our automated tools scan business and IT processes to pinpoint areas where intelligent automation can be added to everyday tasks to deliver high-value opportunities.
Intelligent automation supports the design and creation of the end-to-end processes that make flexible, resilient, modern business operating models possible. For example:
- Optimize IT infrastructure: Most companies have multiple clouds – public and private – and they’re using resources across these different platforms. IBM Turbonomic automates the analysis to discover how resource usage and application performance can be optimized across these varied platforms while minimizing cost.
- Enhance customer engagement: Customers will always gravitate to organizations that offer a fast, frictionless experience. Automation creates a seamless, integrated experience across all channels in real time. For example, BMO customers can pay their bills six times faster with IBM Content Analyzer on Cloud.
- Reduce costs and improve productivity: We can engage and retain current employees and reduce the costs associated with manual work by automating lower-value tasks and processes. Employees can spend more time on higher value tasks they find most rewarding. For example, Deloitte employees work faster with fewer errors with the IBM Robotic Process Automation
A bright future for Quebec
Quebec is a unique market in Canada with a rich tapestry of business and technology leadership. Whatever brings value to our clients in Quebec is what drives us. We meet you where you are, with the tools you already have, to help you achieve the best business outcomes from intelligent automation.
Our clients trust IBM Technology to address their business and IT challenges with enterprise-grade, trustworthy, AI-infused automation solutions. With the broadest set of automation capabilities on the market, IBM Intelligent Automation solutions are open and integrated.
Perhaps it’s no surprise that many of the world’s most successful companies rely on AI-infused automation solutions from IBM – from airlines and banks to government and industry. Recently, IDC named IBM a Leader in Canadian AI Services, building on IBM’s recognition as a global market leader in AI.
My goal is to see Quebec organizations become leaders in operational productivity, client experience and IT simplification. AI-infused intelligent automation delivers the business and IT advantage that makes that possible.
Nathalie Le Prohon, President, IBM Quebec Technology
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