Three Top Business Priorities Intelligent Automation Can Address Right Now

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A lot of businesses have started using automation technology to unburden their workforce of repetitive tasks – about 60% in the UK, according to our research. Yet the extent to which the technology can address some of today’s biggest business challenges is still vastly underappreciated.

Whether it’s tackling rising costs, overcoming a skilled labour shortage, meeting sustainability goals or maximising the value of employees’ time and talents, intelligent automation – the combination of AI and automation technologies – has a vital role to play.

The IDC 2022 Worldwide CEO Survey found that business process automation was among the top five priorities for technology investment. But the reality is that deploying intelligent automation effectively can also support the other main priorities the study identified. Let’s take a look at a few of these in more detail:

Security

IDC found that the number one priority for tech investment among global CEOs was security technologies, selected by just over half of respondents.

At a basic level, by offloading routine tasks, intelligent automation enables cybersecurity teams to focus valuable human expertise where it is needed most – but the applications can be much more sophisticated. This includes isolating threats by user, device, or location (then initiating appropriate notification and escalation measures) and even anticipating new attack vectors.

To put this all into perspective, IBM’s own research found that data breaches within organisations that fully deployed automation and AI in their security systems cost over $3 million less on average,  compared to businesses that did not leverage these technologies. 

Customer and employee experience

It’s no surprise that both customer and employee experience ranked highly in the IDC survey, with both elements identified as priorities for just over 43% of CEOs respectively. Our own research found that 30% of global IT professionals say employees at their organisation are already saving time with new AI and automation software and tools.

Often, when intelligent automation works effectively, the two can be married together well. Take for example our work with East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust. We helped to deliver an intelligent virtual assistant to provide customers with fast, consistent answers to their queries and in the process hugely reduced the administrative burden of the Trust’s HR employees.

And when it comes to expediating and simplifying processes, there’s countless applications across industries. One example is claims processing in the automotive insurance industry and using automation to request a picture of the damaged car. AI can be applied to that uploaded image to verify the brand and model of vehicle along with estimated costs, and then find the closest body shop to the customer—all within minutes or hours.

Data management and analytics

Getting data management and analytics right was a priority for over 40% of CEOs who responded to IDC’s survey. Yet, for many enterprises, data complexity is the number one challenge stopping them from fully leveraging intelligent automation and AI more broadly. This usually takes the form of data siloes or inefficient business processes, which can slow response times, increase risk or jeopardise customer satisfaction.

At IBM, we’re very focused on helping clients overcome this data complexity so that their intelligent automation initiatives are set up for success. One of the key first steps we work on together is process mining. This is where clients can use data from key business systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning and Customer Relationship Management, to get a view of how the processes operate, where there are inefficiencies and where intelligent automation can have the greatest impact.

Another foundational step in addressing the data complexity challenge is establishing a data fabric IT architecture. A business cannot reap the full benefits of AI and automation without it. A data fabric is the connective tissue that unites all data sources in an organisation via a hybrid cloud platform and ensures the right people can access they data they need, when they need it, as well as automating data governance, security and compliance controls.

Working with the right partner

IBM has the tools, insights and expertise to help organisations identify and execute high-impact automations to get better outcomes and enable teams to focus on areas that are uniquely human. Wherever you are on your automation journey, we are here to help you succeed.

To find out more about how IBM can help you with automation, please visit ibm.com/automation or reach out to me directly.