Generative AI & Automation Helping Businesses Today

NAPERVILLE, IL / ACCESSWIRE / September 28, 2023 / Generative AI (GenAI) is helping businesses today, either by working on its own or by combining with other automation technologies, such as machine learning, robotic process automation (RPA) and intelligent document processing (IDP), providing high impact business outcomes and value.

ChatGPT, a powerful GenAI tool, was launched in November 2022 with 153 million users. By March 2023, the number of users was 1.6 billion, making it the fastest growing application in history. The capabilities of this technology, and the fact that it can work with other mainstream automation tools and technology, has created interest from businesses of all industries from across the globe.

"GenAI is currently having its iPhone moment."

GenAI is quickly maturing, as more and more technology companies are offering GenAI solutions, making GenAI both accessible and affordable for businesses of all sizes. This creates opportunity, as businesses can streamline operations like never before.

This also creates challenges, such as having a mature AI & automation strategy in place in order to maintain a competitive edge, says Glenn Hoormann, Executive VP of eAlliance Corporation.

Growth of automation technologies

In 2015 McKinsey stated that the average business had 900+ business processes, and that 85% of those processes could be automated. This statement turned out to be a harbinger of things to come.

In 2016 Forrester Research did a forecast on the growth of RPA. They had to revise this forecast in 2018 because they underestimated growth, and RPA continues to exceed their forecasts.

Grand View Research reported that the global RPA market is expected to grow from USD 2.3 billion in 2022 to USD 30,850.0 million by 2030, at a CAGR (Compound annual growth rate) of 39.9%.

"Automation is the Golden Goose of AI."

According to Allied Market Research, the global IDP market was valued at $1.1 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $7.4 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 21.7% from 2022 to 2031

Grand View Research reported that the percentage of growth over the past seven years for machine learning helping with automation of business processes is approximately 232%. This means that the market for machine learning for business process automation has grown more than 2 times in the past 7 years.

Combining GenAI with automation technologies

As GenAI experiences explosive growth and automation technologies continue to grow, the ability to combine these technologies creates business opportunities with bigger business outcomes.

The combination of GenAI with other automation technologies has created the ability to provide true end to end business process automation, versus a one off, standalone automation. Business leaders need a seismic shift in mindset in order to accomplish this.

"Legacy mindsets are a bigger challenge than legacy technology."

A higher, broader view of business processes with the organization is required, considering downstream and upstream tasks that combined with the core business process will create greater productivity and efficiency, while also maintaining the ability to have a ‘human in the loop'.

Examples of GenAI working with RPA, IDP and machine learning, that deliver end-to-end automation:

• GenAI receives a query from a customer, then calls RPA to automate tasks such as searching for information in a knowledge base, retrieving data from a database or forwarding the query to a human agent if the chatbot is unable to resolve it.
• GenAI creates a template for IDP systems, then the template is used to identify and extract data from documents in a consistent and accurate way. Once the template is created, it can be used to automate the processing of documents.
• GenAI can generate labels for machine learning models. This can be useful for tasks where it is difficult or expensive to obtain labeled data, such as medical diagnosis or fraud detection.

Economic impact and industry transformation

McKinsey states that GenAI has the potential to add the equivalent of $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually to the economy.

Across the high-tech industry, the technology could deliver value of up to $240-460 billion annually, as technology speeds up and makes software development more efficient.

"78% of organizations are looking to use tools such as automation and AI to improve productivity."

The banking sector can benefit up to $200-340 billion annually if the use cases are fully implemented. In addition, the retail and the consumer goods industry could collectively benefit by up to $400-660 billion a year.

The business value of GenAI and automation has generated significant investments from businesses. According to Deloitte's Global Intelligent Automation survey in 2022, 87% of organizations surveyed have accelerated their investment in cloud-hosted automation services in the past year.

The future of work

The large picture coming into view is that GenAI and automation can and will do much of the work currently being done by humans, such as

• Creating high-quality content, such as blog posts, articles, social media
• Answering customer questions, resolving issues, and providing support
• Design new products, optimize existing products, and identify new market opportunities
• Lead generation, qualification, and nurturing
• Data entry, scheduling, and inventory management

"85% of organizations are rethinking how work is done."

The human workforce will increasingly focus on tasks they are already doing, but will now have more time and emphasis on, such as

• Creativity - GenAI cannot yet match the creativity of humans. Humans will come up with new ideas, develop innovative products and services
• Social intelligence - Tasks best performed with the human touch, interacting with customers, suppliers and team members on a personal level, building relationships, and resolving complex issues
• Strategic thinking - Setting goals and vision, developing strategies, and making tough decisions

In addition to the above, new jobs, roles and responsibilities will be created by GenAI and automation, such as AI trainers and engineers, AI ethicists, AI explainers, AI creative directors and AI strategists.

"Ideally, some of the organizations business analysts will evolve into the new roles created by GenAI and automation, as they have the institutional knowledge required to drive business value."

-Glenn Hoormann, Executive Vice President, eAlliance Corporation

A strategic plan for GenAI and automation

Senior leaders need to counter employees' prevailing fears of "replacement and loss" with messaging about GenAI and automation's potential for "augmentation and improvement", and its ability to significantly enhance the employee experience. Imagine, for example, a world with fewer meetings and more time to think.

These same leaders need to demystify the technology for others by taking a step back to assess the strategic implications of GenAI and automation, or the risks and opportunities for industries and business models.

In order to build a compelling narrative for the use of GenAI and automation, the business should be able to identify two or three high-impact applications to explore and include team members on a value-creating journey.

Senior leaders will also need to commit to building the required roles, skills, and capabilities, so they can continually test and learn with GenAI and automation in order to maintain competitive edge.

"Decisions on structure and operating-model design will vary from company to company, but discussions about value creation must remain at the center."

Senior leaders need to consider

• What are the organization-wide implications of GenAI and automation?
• Does the organization have the right technical talent and risk infrastructure in place?
• How can corporate culture enable or inhibit the adoption and usage of gen AI?
• How should organizations change their talent management approaches?

In closing, remember that GenAI and automation can empower an organization, but the organization is still driven by people.

The changes that are coming precipitated by the advent of sophisticated technology means that the organizational leaders need to lead differently and think differently. The organizations focus on the customer and employee experience might remain the same, but it's important to seize the opportunity that GenAI and automation provides to substantially improve this experience.

Read more from Glenn Hoormann here.

Media Contact

Glenn Hoormann, eAlliance Corporation
ghoorman@gmail.com
3147558176
https://ealliancecorp.com/

SOURCE: Glenn Hoormann