In most futuristic novels or movies, artificial intelligence or robots operate factories and workplaces, leaving humans free to pursue bigger, better endeavors. Though human labor is still in high demand for a wide variety of different jobs and skills, more and more companies are beginning to eliminate the need for unskilled human labor.
Back in 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that in the near future human beings would only be working 15-hour work weeks due to increased productivity. Keynes theorized that as humans beings had more of their needs satisfied, we would choose leisure activities over long hours at the factory or the office. The average full-time American worker spends upwards of 47 hours each week at work, which is more than three times what Keynes had originally predicted.
WorkFusion is one other company offering intelligent automation platforms. This company offers a unique combination of RPA and machine learning powered cognitive automation. This allows a wide variety of companies who use their platform to bring together different work platforms.
Technology gains in recent years, however, especially in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI) and Robotic Process Automation (RPA), might hold the key to increasing productivity and potentially limiting the amount of hours human beings have to work. Below, we take an in depth look at four leading and visionary companies that are transforming the workplace through implementing AI and/or RPA in their operations.
What are RPA and AI in the Workplace?
Though seemingly futuristic, AI and RPA are, already, being used by the majority of enterprises to optimize workplace efficiency. RPA can add significant value to a wide variety of businesses and processes – IT and web applications are a prime example. Since much IT and internet-based work is repetitive, robotic process automation can automate many types of rule-based work. Furthermore, most RPA applications today are based on software and can be used for a wide variety of workplace tasks including queries, transaction records, calculations, etc. Many RPA software programs can be adapted to .NET, Citrix, HTML, Java, and other computer technologies.
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, can also be incorporated into the workplace. From virtual assistants (think Siri or Alexa as a business secretary) to facial recognition technology to help you identify that obscure business colleague on the other side of the world whose name you always forget, to virtual reality collaborative sessions, there are several uses for artificial intelligence to be integrated into different types of offices and workplaces.
Kira Systems
Imagine if your company formed a partnership with another business and part of the merger required your company to read thousands of pages of documents in order to understand the business trends of the other company you were partnering with. While in the past companies would usually hire a consultant or auditing company to scan through those thousands of pages of complex documents in order to extract the most essential and useful information, today Kira Systems has developed an artificial intelligence application that has the capability of reading and understanding thousands of pages of complex documents.
This artificial intelligence program can not only understand the documents, but extract and structure textual information in order to give you feedback on the key points, clauses, and other important and essential pieces of information that are buried within the mountains of papers.
Not only does this artificial intelligence application save time, but it also reduces the risk of missing out on some key piece of information. After scanning through documents for hours on end, even the most meticulous human poses the risk of simply missing an important piece of information, while this AI program will make sure you see and understand every important fact and clause within the document.
AI Sense: Call and Meeting Transcriptions
During those seemingly endless meetings, conference calls, or SKYPE sessions, it can be easy to forget who said what and under what context. AI Sense, together with ZOOM Video Communication Platform, today offers an artificial intelligence program that can provide a transcript of both phone calls, video chats, and live meetings.
Instead of frantically trying to write down what everyone is saying, this AI technology will allow people to be more attentive during the meetings. The technology will record the calls (or meeting) and subsequently transcribe those calls. Once transcribed, it also possible to later search for certain keywords instead of going through and reading the entire documents.
Lastly, this unique AI technology includes automatic speech recognition, deep content search, and even speaker identification and separation.
Walk Me for Training
Walk Me is another artificial intelligence application that is used by several companies to streamline their training procedures along with impacting the digital workplace and delivering next generation customer service experiences. CMS Wire reports that some companies even use this AI technology to help medical experts and professionals learn how to use different systems within a hospital setting.
Walk Me can also be used to enhance and monitor employee productivity. Because employees often have to manage several different online platforms, Walk Me will not only train them on how to use these systems, but it can also be used to help increase productivity through offering specialized on screen guidance.
Kyron Systems and Shortening Claims Payment Processing Times
One of the most frustrating things for several companies is waiting for clients to make payments for products or services that have already been delivered. Kryon Systems is one innovative company that has developed an RPA technology to help streamline claims payment processes.
One of the companies using the Kryon Systems RPA platform is a major insurance agency who has to monitor claims and payments across dozens of different bank accounts and during different dates across the month. The RPA platform allowed them to take away the probable human error and reduce claims payment time from days to hours.
Furthermore, not only did this technology make the claims payment process more efficient, but it also saved the company money by eliminating the need for long employee hours while also reducing human error.