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RPA Calls for Understanding Nuances, Mapping Processes

  By Paula Bernier, Executive Editor, TMC

They say a picture paints a thousand words. But it turns out that words can paint a lot of pictures as well.

That’s why it’s so important for companies that implement and offer artificial intelligence- and machine learning-based solutions to understand the nuances of language and to map their processes. So says Fara Haron, CEO of Global BPS at Arvato.

In a recent interview with TMC’s The Future of Work Expo, Haron said businesses need to know what their customers are likely asking for – and the various ways they may ask for it.

As businesses work to get a handle on that, they’re finding it makes sense to start with the basics. That entails using AI and ML to address simple, repetitive questions and processes.

For example, she says, AT&T (News - Alert) is using robotic process automation to address customers’ basic billing questions. But, she adds, sometimes that kind of thing can be done just as easily by providing customers with an online list of FAQs and their answers.

However, Arvato offers business process services to help companies leverage technology in more sophisticated ways. And it helps with the advanced preparation to build the foundation for that. And it does research to show what’s possible.

Arvato has been working on robotic process automation for about five years. Some of its early work involved U.K. government clients that employed robotic process automation for document management and correction.

More recently, Arvato worked with the University of Munster to develop an IBM (News - Alert) Watson-based chatbot. Arvato has also worked in Germany on banking applications involving video-based, machine learning-enabled customer identification.