RPA and IPA are some of the best-known automation technologies in the market today. RPA and IPA are different processes that are related, but serve two distinct purposes within automation. Knowledge of the differences is therefore very important especially for organizations who wish to improve their productivity. Read along to know more about both RPA and IPA.
What is Robotic Process Automation or RPA?
RPA is a software that does the manual and repetitive processes of a company. These bots mimic human actions and interact with digital systems, making RPA a powerful tool for tasks such as:
- Data entry
- Invoice processing
- Generating reports
- Customer onboarding
Key Features of RPA:
- Rule-based automation
RPA services work based on instruction sets, meaning that it is best suited to well structured tasks.
- User interface interaction
Users engage with bots in a similar way as they do with applications, though with deep system integration not required or preferred.
- Rapid deployment
UiPath RPA, Blue Prism RPA, Automation Anywhere are few popular RPA tools that provide the benefits of fast implementation which guarantees fast ROI.
This, however, only works when the environment is fairly stagnant and most processes are repetitive in nature.
What is IPA or Information Processing Automation?
IPA adds in elements of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and analytic solutions on top of IPA to embrace RPA. This allows the IPA systems to operate on the unstructured data, adapt from the patterns identified and then decide.
Core Components of IPA
- AI and ML
These technologies help IPA to identify trends, foresee outcomes and respond to changes. - Natural Language Processing (NLP)
Speaking of understanding, NLP assists IPA in integrating textual and even email content as well as voice commands. - Data analytics
From these data, IPA offers information on ways of improving the decision-making procedure.
Use Cases for IPA
- The classification of customer emails as soon as they come in through an intelligent application of natural language processing.
- Real-time monitoring for fraud with different types of purchases from various clients.
- Surveilling how customers feel through sentiment analysis.
Comparison between RPA and IPA
While RPA robotic process automation and IPA share some similarities, their differences lie in scope, complexity, and capabilities:
How RPA and IPA Work Together
While RPA and IPA may be used selectively, it is unlikely that they are used as competitors, and businesses leverage their synergies for automating endeavours.
RPA Role
Bots take orders and replicate other repetitive procedural activities such as migrating data from the client to the system.
IPA Role
The NLP innovations in IPA work with customer Email, extract the right details, and pass this information to the RPA.
This integration guarantees that all the responsibilities are easily and successfully automated ranging from the simpler tasks to the complex ones.
Choosing Between RPA and IPA
The choice between RPA services and IPA depends on several factors:
Task Complexity
Assist clients with automating rules-based processes, so processes like invoices can easily be automated.
Use IPA whenever there are circumstances that involve unstructured data or in case of a decision needed.
Budget and Resources
The lack of specialized human input and capital outlay makes RPA cheaper, faster, thus suitable for quick wins.
IPA needs more capital but has the potential to deliver greater added value through the concept of intelligent automation.
Scalability
RPA robotic process automation is used for routine processes in less dynamic environments.
In response to fluctuating requirements for business, IPA is designed to be very flexible in terms of its size.
Future Trends: The Integration of RPA and IPA
The future of automation is both in RPA and IPA together, RPA and IPA make for some of the key elements of automation for the future. Other top tools such as Blue Prism and UiPath are already incorporating AI characteristics that close the gap. For example:
UiPath RPA provides document understanding and process mining making it easy to automate complex working processes.
In decision making, Blue Prism RPA has cognition integrated into the software.
This evolution is leading from task-based automations to process automation and definitions of end-to-end processes.
Conclusion
The executives observe that both RPA and IPA are critical within the automation milieu. Although RPA captures the essence of High-Volume/Low-variability processes, IPA addresses High-Volume/High Variability processes and is flexible and intelligent.
The enhancement of RPA and IPA synergy for business performance, efficiency, cost control and decision making results in the right combination of both types of automation.
If you are intending to automate your business, taking sides with an experienced RPA development company is necessary. RPA development services are ready to offer the clients complex products developed with the use of such tools as UiPath, Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere, and others.
