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Unlocking the Power of AI in IBM Business Automation Workflow

By Bibin Baby posted Fri December 13, 2024 09:00 AM

  

Introduction: 

In today’s fast-paced business environment, organizations are flooded with an overwhelming volume of tasks and documents that demand continuous attention. This relentless flow often leads to inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and burnout as teams struggle to manage and prioritize their workloads effectively.  

Unlocking the Power of AI in IBM Business Automation Workflow 

We are excited to announce that, as we reach the end of the year, we have achieved significant milestones and impressive enhancements for IBM Business Automation Workflow (BAW) 24.0.1.0 and IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation (CP4BA) 24.0.1. This release unites information, processes, and users to help automate digital workflows on-premises or in the cloud. With new AI capabilities introduced, productivity increases and total cost of ownership is reduced.   

Here is the summary of the three high-level capabilities:

The new features include:  

  • Gen AI for Processes enables automated business processes to include generative AI steps that can further reduce the need for manual tasks. 

  • *[Technology Preview] IBM Workflow Assistant: This revolutionary tool harnesses the power of generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) to transform task management for users interacting with automated business processes. 

  • *[Technology Preview] Integration with watsonx Orchestrate: This is IBM’s AI-powered task management platform, enabling BAW users to utilize Orchestrate’s wide range of skills to automate routine tasks further. 

*Note: Technology Preview This capability is currently available as a private preview only. If you're interested in participating in the technology preview, contact your IBM representative to sign up. Limited seats are available. 

Here is detailed information on each capability: 

  1. Gen AI for Processes: 

Executive Summary 
Modern application development is evolving with the integration of generative AI (gen AI) into automated workflows. This feature empowers developers to design workflows that seamlessly incorporate gen AI as a core part of their process logic. By integrating large language models (LLMs), businesses can now automate processes with intelligent, generative capabilities, enhancing efficiency and innovation. 

How Does the Solution Help? 
The solution leverages robust, enterprise-grade foundation models such as IBM Granite, Llama, and Mixtral to streamline operations. These models significantly reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) by automating content generation, enabling organizations to focus on higher-value tasks while minimizing manual effort and operational overhead. 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Gen AI for Processes 

 

 

Use Cases: 

1.  Automate Content Creation for Marketing Teams 
A marketing team needs to generate high-quality content quickly, such as product descriptions, advertisements, or email templates. Using workflows powered by generative AI, the team automates the content creation process, ensuring consistent, professional writing while saving time and reducing manual effort. 

2. Improve Customer Support 
Generative AI helps manage customer support tickets more efficiently. Workflows can analyze ticket content, understand the tone of messages, and prioritize issues. They can also send automatic notifications or direct tickets to the right teams, ensuring faster responses and better service. 

3. Streamline Document Review for Legal Teams 
A legal team needs to quickly review large volumes of documents. AI-powered workflows can automatically summarize lengthy contracts, emails, or reports, highlighting key points and identifying important details. By summarizing and organizing information, the team can make faster, more informed decisions, improving workflow efficiency. 

  1. IBM Workflow Assistant [Tech Preview]: 

 

Executive Summary 

Timely completion of tasks can be put at risk sometimes by limited availability of resources and a high volume of routine tasks, which can lead to delays and missed deadlines. 

Identifying, assessing, and prioritizing tasks is of utmost importance. While no job is 100% automatable, 62% of occupations could automate at least 30% of their activities with the 

technology we have today, including processing and collecting data done by knowledge workers (IDC: Worldwide Intelligent Process Automation Software Forecast 2023-2027.) 

 

How does the solution help?: 

 Use the guided experience with the new IBM Workflow Assistant, powered by watsonx.ai, to find, understand, and complete tasks in Workplace (Figure 2). The assistant helps you filter tasks, ask questions about tasks, create task summaries, manage teams, and generate content such as emails, feedback, and descriptions. 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2: IBM Workflow Assistant 

Use Cases: 

1. Prioritize and Find Tasks 
This use case focuses on helping users prioritizing their workload by allowing them to filter tasks using natural language queries. For example, an experienced insurance adjuster can look at high value claims by filtering claim requests over a certain amount. 

2. Understand Tasks and Cases 
Understanding the context of tasks or cases is crucial for effective decision-making. This feature summarizes the details, such as task history who worked on it etc. For example, a customer service representative needs to handle a complex case involving a client’s product issue. Before jumping into a solution, they ask the Assistant to provide context on the case. The Assistant quickly summarizes the task’s history, previous interactions, and key applicant details like their work status. 

3. Complete Tasks 
This feature helps users generate the necessary outputs to finalize tasks efficiently. For example, an HR coordinator is preparing for an employee’s onboarding process. Instead of manually drafting each document, they ask the Assistant to generate a new hire checklist and draft a welcome email. The Assistant pulls from existing templates, personalizes the content based on the employee’s role and department, and ensures all necessary steps are included in the checklist.  

  1. Integration with watsonx Orchestrate [Tech Preview] 

Executive Summary 

Workflow automation is essential for improving efficiency and reducing manual effort. This feature empowers application developers to create automated workflows by integrating watsonx Orchestrate skills directly into their processes. With a user-friendly, built-in interface, discovering and using these skills becomes effortless. Developers can access a wide variety of prebuilt watsonx Orchestrate skills to automate tasks for end users, reducing the need for manual work and streamlining operations 

How Does the Solution Help? 

Integrate a vast variety of watsonx Orchestrate skills that can leverage 1000+ out-of-the-box skills with common applications such as Gmail, Box, Twilio, Salesforce, Workday, Outlook in your workflow automation(Figure 3). Reduce your operational costs by using existing watsonx Orchestrate skills to develop your custom solutions. 

 

 

 

Figure 3: Watsonx Orchestrate Integration  

With watsonx Orchestrate (WxO) skills, organizations can speed up integration with essential business systems. 

Use Cases: 

1. Integrate Business Systems Faster for IT Teams: 

IT teams can quickly connect business systems to other tools using pre-built skills, without the need for custom coding. For example, workflows can integrate with platforms like Salesforce to open new campaigns or Twilio to send SMS messages, speeding up integration and reducing development time. 

2. Automate HR Operations for HR Teams 

Workflows can streamline HR-related tasks by integrating with Workday. This makes it easier to manage and process employee-related operations efficiently, saving time and reducing manual intervention. 

3. Leverage Generative AI & Document Processing for Finance Teams 

Finance teams can streamline their document processing by using AI-powered workflows to extract and analyze data from invoices, receipts, and financial statements. By leveraging generative AI and Document Processing capabilities, the team can quickly pull insights, improve accuracy, and make more informed financial decisions with less manual effort. 

  

The new AI capabilities in IBM Business Automation Workflow are transforming how organizations streamline operations, reduce manual effort, and boost productivity. With advanced features like IBM Workflow Assistant, Gen AI for Processes, and watsonx Orchestrate integration, businesses can unlock new efficiencies and smarter decision-making. Embrace these innovations to stay competitive and optimize your workflows for the future.

 

For a complete list of What's New in BAW 24.0.1.0 and IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation (CP4BA) version 24.0.1.0, visit our release documentation below: 

 


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