Exploring the gap between RPA and cognitive automation
The spectrum of office work comprises activities that require different degrees of cognitive skills. Software companies have developed automation technology to tackle one or multiple areas.
The following diagram shows the available technologies across the spectrum of office work:
RPA, application programming interface (API), ERP, and business process management (BPM) belong to a class of automation technologies that reduce the manual efforts of rule-based digital activities. AI, ML, and NLP belong to another class of automation technologies. They reduce the manual effort of activities that require cognitive thinking.
As you learned in the preceding section, almost all activities have rule-based and cognitive components. Until recently, there were no platforms that allowed for seamless integration of these different technologies. Businesses look...