The terms RPA, BPA and IA are quite a hot topic at the moment. With everyone talking about them, it can be quite hard to keep up if you don’t fully understand what they mean. To your surprise, you might actually be aware of what they mean, you might just know them worded differently. Let us help you make some sense of it all.

RPA (Robotic Process Automation)

• RPA is simple automation that is performed by software or “Bots”
• It is broader in scope, performing more routine tasks. This consists of tasks that are repetitive or that are based on a predetermined set of rules.
• An example of a use of RPA would be data entry. Instead of having a person take a set of data and keying it into different fields, a “bot” would be able to take that data and key it in automatically, reducing human error and speeding up the process.

IA (Intelligent Automation)

• IA is a more complex automation that is performed by software
• It encompasses RPA, Workflow, Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, as well as Language processing
• IA is for non-routine tasks that require some thought and judgement (from the “bot”)
• An example of use of IA is workflow. If a document has to be routed through to different people based on certain criterias, IA would be able to do that. It would look at the document, evaluate what information is on the document, and then send it to the right person accordingly.

BPA (Business Process Automation)

• BPA is the all encompassing term for using technology (such as RPA and IA) to automate processes in a business environment
• Automating your AP process is an example of a BPA. It is designed to save companies time and money and making their process as a whole a lot more efficient.

Interested in learning more about Business Process Automation? Learn more about it on our Workflow Management page.

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