What is Hyperautomation?

Automation is something many of us are no doubt familiar with, but what is hyperautomation and how can it be harnessed to support your organisation?

In their “Top Tech Trends for 2021” report, Gartner identified “Hyperautomation” as an emerging tech trend. For Gartner, Hyperautomation is defined as “a process in which businesses automate as many business and IT processes as possible using tools like AI, machine learning, event-driven software, robotic process automation, and other types of decision processes and task automation tools.”

Gartner go on to state that “As no single tool can replace humans, hyperautomation today involves a combination of tools, including robotic process automation (RPA), intelligent business management software (iBPMS) and AI, with a goal of increasingly AI-driven decision making.”

Application of Hyperautomation

Application of Hyperautomation can be generally grouped into three separate functions.

1. Workflow Automation
   Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is the application of innovative and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing to repetitive manual tasks in place of the human worker. Examples of RPA include large scale document processing and matching.
2. Process Optimisation
   Business Process Management (BPM) is a term used to refer to the analysis and modelling of business processes. BPM can take advantage of intelligent technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing in order to optimise existing workflows and to better support and enhance the ability of a human worker.
3. Search & Discovery
   The use of innovative and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing and Anomaly Detection to extract and identify patterns and insights from data that would have been otherwise impossible to identify.

Impacts of Hyperautomation

1. Increased efficiency
   Perhaps the most immediate impact of hyperautomation is its ability to significantly improve operational performance.Not only does Hyperautomation have the ability to perform repetitive tasks more efficiently than a human worker; It also frees a human worker from that task, enabling them to focus their time and effort on their core job function.For example, our solution, Cobalt Grant Manager, automatically processes large volumes of documents and data to extracts critical business intelligence that helps the Applications and Assessment Team at Innovate UK reduce “Four Days’ work to a matter of minutes”.
2. More comprehensive insights
   Hyperautomation also has the ability to process data at a volume that would be otherwise impossible for a human worker. As a result, Hyperautomation can also provide the human worker with more comprehensive insights into the data that matters to them.Our solution, Farsight Horizon Scanner utilises Natural Language Processing and Semantic Understanding to process data from over 40,000 news sites; Providing users with a comprehensive insight into global food fraud. The solution helps the human worker to secure their supply chain in a way that would have been otherwise impossible.

3. Improved Return on Investment
   By improving operational efficiency and by providing critical business intelligence, the application of Hyperautomation has the ability to significantly impact cost-effectiveness.Our solution, DATO, utilises machine learning, image detection technologies and accelerometer data to identify potholes in real-time and predict road quality over time. The solution has the potential to reduce claims for road user compensation against local authorities. According to the Asphalt Industry Alliance, claims in England cost a total of £22.5 million in 2018/2019.

Conclusions

Automation is on the way and it has the potential to completely revolutionise the business environment. Despite fears around artificial intelligence replacing the human worker, what we are seeing, in reality, is support, not substitution.

To discover how our solutions help organisation automate time and labour-intensive processes and to extract meaningful insights from their data more effectively, contact us using the form below.