IBM and Automation Anywhere are to integrate the two companies’ technologies in order to help businesses improve their processes, with the use of bots.
Automation Anywhere uses its Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform to create specific software robots that handle repetitive tasks. The bot platform will be integrated with software from IBM, such as the IBM Business Process Manager, to provide a more broad approach to automation.
Businesses that manage certain processes, such as routine and data-intensive tasks, through IBM software will be able to create bots to streamline those tasks with Automation Anywhere’s RPA platform. The joint venture will be available to businesses running their systems on-site or through the IBM cloud.
IBM and Automation Anywhere’s collaboration aims to improve business processes and “free employees to focus their time on more creative and customer-facing aspects of their jobs”, the release said.
Industries such as banking, financial services and insurance, which typically have employee’s manually completing routine tasks, will hugely benefit from the partnership, to save time and give more opportunities to workers.
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“The ability to smartly process and manage data is fast-becoming a competitive advantage,” said Denis Kennelly, general manager of IBM Hybrid Cloud solutions. “The combination of the Automation Anywhere and IBM process management platforms provides a powerful new way for companies to streamline business processes so employees can spend less time filling out forms and more time working with customers.”
Within the banking sector, an employee could use a bot to make it easier to process new loans or open new accounts, the press release stated. The bot could find and capture the relevant data required from other documents and bring it into the necessary forms.
Mihir Shukla, CEO and Co-founder of Automation Anywhere, supported this benefit saying, “The collaboration takes business process management to a new level, liberating employees to focus on the things they do best, while bots are focused on what they do best.”
Leading insurance provider, The Hanover Insurance Group, is said to use bots from the partnership to handle its back-office processes more efficiently. In addition to quickening task completion, such as underwriting and policy administration.
Ian Maher, vice president of strategic sourcing at the Hanover Group, said: “combining these technologies could be a starting point for adding more advanced cognitive capabilities into our business processes.”
