Intelligent Process Automation: Best Bet for Easing Business Transformations

C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

• Intelligent process automation (IPA) is the natural evolution of business process automation when coupled with AI, low-code and RPA solutions, and intelligent business process optimization.
• IPA is used by operations teams, business users, and developers to significantly reduce repetitive tasks associated with the deployment of modern apps in a multi-cloud environment.

A new breed of AI-infused automation technology, referred to as intelligent process automation (IPA), is the result of enterprise operations teams citing complexity and the lack of automation as key barriers to cloud-native app development and modern application deployments. GlobalData defines IPA as the natural evolution of business process automation when coupled with AI technologies (e.g., machine learning and natural language processing), low-code and RPA solutions, and intelligent business process optimization. It is used by operations teams, business users, and developers to significantly reduce repetitive tasks associated with the deployment of modern apps in a multi-cloud environment.

COVID-19: Using Mobile User Location Data to Understand and Mitigate the Pandemic

J. Marcus

Summary Bullets:

• Mobile operators have been offering aggregated location data for several years, with limited uptake from sectors like tourism, retail, and transportation.

• Those big data analytics solutions could be very useful to authorities and essential services in fighting COVID-19.

Telecom providers are finding their networks used in different ways since the start of measures being taken to limit the spread of COVID-19. For mobile operators, that now includes the use of user location data analytics to help governments and other entities to understand—and fight—the spread of the virus.

In the last three or four years, mobile network operators have been investing in big data analytics technologies in order to leverage the potential value of the vast amount of network and user data they collect. Accessing the technology was the easy part: the availability of open source tools, hyperscale cloud platforms, and investments already being made in the telcos’ own digital transformations led to innovative solutions launching as early as 2014. Some players in Europe went further, acquiring analytics start-ups and digital consulting firms, helping them to offer both standardized solutions providing insights on visitors, events, and journeys, as well as customized projects.