Recently, we participated in the annual Content IQ Conference from ABBYY. The conference helped illustrate the need for extending the value of “traditional RPA”. ABBYY Content IQ is a class of enabling technologies that help digital workforces understand and create meaning from enterprise content. Simply put, ABBYY extends the value of RPA by allowing automation to include semi-structured and unstructured content from documents to also be automated within the process flow. This is a significant value gain for organizations looking to automate the data flow, as a high percentage of data exists on documents at some point throughout the process.
Understanding the 3 categories of data and how RPA software interprets them
Data can come in three categories; structured, semi-structured and unstructured. Structured data is easy to automate and typically resides in tables (or Excel) where you know EXACTLY where to get it. Semi-structured data, like invoices or bills of lading, becomes a little more challenging because the data is basically the same format but just different enough from a format perspective that not all automation can grab it and identify it. Unstructured data is the most challenging and includes items like email, contracts and other communication where you really need to understand context to get the true meaning and intent of the communication.
Applications like ABBYY can assist in all three methods of reading data to better include in the automation process. At Ashling Partners, we are firm believers in the value of extended automation and true end-to-end process automation.
The next generation of RPA–HyperAutomation
We now have the term “HyperAutomation”, which deals with the application of advanced technologies, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), to increasingly automate processes and augment humans. Gartner calls Hyper Automation a Top 10 Strategic Technology trends for 2020. They also go on to warn organizations to make sure they drive business value…
“Rather than building a technology stack and then exploring the potential applications, organizations must consider the business and human context first.”
We are firmly focused on the business value organizations can achieve with automation. Especially as they extend that business value with the automation of document processing.
Moving forward in the Intelligent Automation space
Ashling Partners is focused on the growth of the combined space of RPA and Content IQ. So focused in fact, we received the “Growth Partner of the Year” award from ABBYY in 2019. We are certainly honored to win the award, but also humbled by the exciting activities others are doing in this space. We are very enthused by the value the combined solution can bring our clients and look forward to even better things to come in 2020!
