IBM is the only vendor in the marketplace to deliver such a comprehensive set of capabilities. IBM is very confident that each of its Business Automation capabilities competes strongly with any of the Biz Automation vendors in the market. The core offerings (Document Capture, Content Services, Decision Management, Workflow) have been competing in the marketplace for years. All these capabilities have been brought together under IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation because IBM has seen how prevalent the need is to have integrated capabilities across these solutions.
This article delves into the 8 distinct features of IBM Cloud Pak for Business Automation available within this platform with easy & flexible licensing.
Image source: Mukesh Verma (mverma17@in.ibm.com)
FEATURES
Image source: Mukesh Verma (mverma17@in.ibm.com)
#1. Process mining and modelling: This capability provides an approach for process discovery and improvements. Process Mining takes a data-drive approach to analyse application log files to understand who did what and when. This data can be correlated to create a graphical map of the company's process and all the details on the historical actions that took place. Through process modelling, subject matter experts document process in a collaborative approach using a white board, sticky notes, or an online interactive modelling tool
#2. Intelligent Data Capture: This capability allows the conversion of handwritten text on paper-based and electronic documents into electronic information that can be easily consumed by any application for subsequent processing. For Example, IBM’s document processing technology allows to properly bind parts of a document as proper information, such as “First Name” “Address”, easily expose this information for other systems. This process requires no manual intervention therefore reducing the possibility of user error
#3. Content: This capability allows for the management of digital content. For example, uploading information for a loan application, submission of a picture of a car accident or other claim data, accessed tax information from your bank. Content allows for the classification, management, and access to these digital assets
#4. Workflow and RPA:
- Workflow: A Workflow is a sequence of tasks that processes a set of data and occurs across every kind of business and industry. Any time data is passed between humans and/or systems, a workflow is created. Workflows are the paths and steps that describe how something gets done, from processing an insurance claim to ordering a product. For example: building on top of the previous insurance example, the insurer has submitted a photo of the accident (i.e. Content), next, workflow determines the routing of the claim to the appropriate individuals for review/approval. Some of these routing will be determined automatically by the characteristics of the claims (i.e. Decision.)
- Robotic process automation “bots” are used to automate repetitive activities. Also, think in terms of the Fedex or UPS “Virtual Assistant Chat Bot” that allow you to query the status of your shipment without the need to talk with a “live” agent.
#5. Decision Automation: In the technical world, the use of the term If This than That (IFTTT) is commonly used. A thermostat is an example of this, if the temperature exceeds a certain value, then something is done. Decisions is about empowering the business with the ability to automate business decisions without the need to engage the subject matter expert (SME). Let’s look at car insurance as an example. Insurance companies calculate the premium based on a set of rules:
What is the age of the insurer?
Their gender
Does the insurer live in urban or suburban area?
Business decisions reflect your policies and can be easily/quickly updated by business people based on business imperatives, without involving lengthy IT/Development processes
#6. Low-code No-Code Tools:
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Low-code application development: A visual approach to building applications using drag-and-drop components, enabling business users and developers to create applications with minimal code
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No-code productivity applications: Automate internal processes, such as approvals, with no technical skills or ramp-up required
Image source: Mukesh Verma (mverma17@in.ibm.com)
#7. Intelligence (AI/ML/DL): IBM's pretty much all of the newer offerings have AI infused into it that reduced good amounts of work of knowledge/ workers. Augment your existing automation services with AI through built in integration and connectors
#8. Unified Single UI Framework and Operational and Business Intelligence:
- IBM CP4BA features Unified Single UI Framework is a
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Single authoring and development environment for IBM CP4BA platform
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Author apps and services with the help of discoverable, reusable assets
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Single sign-on (SSO), team mgmt, templates and toolkits
- Business Automation Insights (BAI)
It is important to have one single capability for Analytics/ Dash-boarding/ Reporting to gain insights from all capabilities.. Business Automation Insights is included in the Cloud Pak for Automation. It allows you to gain operational insights on the content that is added to capabilities with intuitive visualisations.
Operational Insights:
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- Collect: Capture business and operational data from multiple instances of DBA components. In a manner that is scalable, secure and non-intrusive
- Prepare: Transform events and data to format for use for Dashboards and AI. Correlate cross DBA Pillar events. Handle stateful and stateless sources of events. Enable application of data privacy.
- Visualise: Provide real-time visibility for business managers via pre-defined or user configured dashboards. This will provide full, real-time visibility into your operations
- Enable AI: Enables data scientists for AI/ML projects by infusing pre-curated set of operational data in a data lake. This enables making recommendations or automatic adjustments to workflows and decisions This is not BAI capability. It is ENABLED by BAI. This data serves as a foundation for machine learning and events are saved in Hadoop. You can capture information from multiple capabilities/ pillars from within the platform where you can analyse your process. E.g. Claims process might involve Capture, Content, Process, Decisions | With BAI you have ability to get Operational Insight s from E-2-E process
IBM has Decades of experience - So, customers buy with confidence knowing that IBM has helped thousands of clients achieve improved business performance. Twenty-five of the top 25 banks in the world, 25 of the top 25 insurance companies in the world and 22 out of the top 25 healthcare companies in the world have chosen IBM Business Automation.So there you go - this concludes the IBM differentiators for CP4BA with many feature and benefits!
Please connect with IBM Ecosystem Engineering - GSI Labs Business Automation Squad for proof-points and any specific engagements. Or reach-out to me for any queries. We will see how best we can help.
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