What is the difference between Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Intelligent Process Automation (IPA)?

In the fast-paced world in which we live, we must necessarily rely on the support of automated software to maintain operational efficiency. From scheduling social media posts to sending scheduled emails, we have learned to rely on automated tools by treating them as reliable collaborators.?

But there are different levels of autonomy we can give to software. That's why it's useful to understand the steps in the automation process and the differences between robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent process automation (IPA). Although both are automation tools, they have significant differences in their approach and functionality.

• The type of activity. On the one hand, we have RPA, which focuses on automating repetitive and regular processes, such as transaction processing or data extraction from structured documents. On the other hand, IPA is an evolution of simple automation in that it combines the power of RPA with technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). IPA is able to analyse and interpret unstructured data, such as unformatted documents or emails, and perform complex tasks that require some form of intelligence or decision-making. In essence, RPA automates well-defined tasks by following pre-defined rules without the need to understand or interpret the data, while IPA can learn from the data and improve over time, adapting to new situations and optimising processes.
• Scope. RPA is often used to automate specific processes within a single department or business function, enabling rapid implementation and tangible results. In contrast, IPA focuses on end-to-end processes that span multiple business functions and departments, enabling a more sophisticated level of automation and a holistic view of operations.

As we can see from the infographic, Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Intelligent Process Automation (IPA) represent two evolutionary stages of process automation. But what are the steps in between? Read the full article on DeltalogiX.

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