Finding ways to automate vital processes is the key to improving efficiency for both time and finances. In fact, 92% of IT professionals say that business process automation (BPA) is vital to the Digital Transformation process. After all, the main selling points include reduced costs and increased productivity, all thanks to cutting-edge tech and evidence-based practices for the industry in question.
Process automation is typically responsible for a majority of these benefits, and understanding how businesses in specific industries are implementing this technology is an effective way to improve bottom lines while simultaneously positioning a business for sustainable growth.
Business process automation trends vary by industry. Let’s explore how different business types are leveraging this innovative technology.
General Business Process Automation Trends
Before examining industry-specific process automation trends, it’s important to understand the general direction in which firms in all industries are moving. To paint a broader picture of today’s automation landscape, let’s review a few of the process automation trends that span multiple industries.
Growing Demand for
Process Intelligence
Of the business leaders surveyed, 57% reported that they currently use a process intelligence/continuous intelligence tool to automatically analyze business processes rather than traditional process tracking, such as customer journey mapping.
Greater Focus on
Regulations and Compliance
With the introduction of generative AI and machine learning into most process automation tools, businesses increasingly use data-driven compliance strategies that include this technology..
Limitations of
Personnel Training
A total of 75% of organizations surveyed expect to engage in process optimization or automation, but only 57% say they have a clear strategy to do so. Only 8% require employee training with BPA tools.
“All-in-One” Consolidated
BPA Platforms
Increasing numbers of businesses want to simplify their software suites and are moving toward custom, end-to-end customer experience platforms with in-built BPA.
All of these shifts signal an overall normalization of AI tools for automating repetitive tasks and to proactively analyze and provide recommendations for process optimization. Such optimization may create a more streamlined customer experience, better data organization, more reliable compliance structures or all of the above – and businesses seem to be looking for all of the above. As a result, partnerships with firms that can create custom consolidated platforms that are tailor-made for their business have become the go-to option for many business leaders.
Medical Industry BPA Trends
The medical industry routinely makes unique use of many new tech tools due to the amount of high-tech hardware and the level of regulatory scrutiny that’s typical for most medical practices. As a result, we’ve seen the following trends emerge in the medical industry:
IoT Connectivity Tools
The Internet of Things (IoT) enables communication between the software that operates the many pieces of hardware that are in use in a medical setting. Medical practices value connectivity tools that permit their devices to interact on a unified network, while allowing for monitoring via a centralized platform.The end result: more comprehensive and responsive patient data management.
Self-Service Kiosks
To reduce wait times and improve overall access to care, increasing numbers of medical practices have adopted self-service kiosks in low-acuity environments.
Telemedicine
One of the biggest consumer-facing automation trends in medicine has been telemedicine/telehealth services. Investing in telemedicine has allowed many medical practices and insurance networks to increase access to care and improve in-person wait times by reducing overall in-office patient-related workload.
Finance Industry BPA Trends
Historically, the finance industry has seen significant benefits from process automation and similar tools that help reduce overhead and improve reactivity to different markets. Through the first quarter of 2024, we have noticed the following trends.
Fraud Detection
Automation helps detect fraud by increasing the dataset used to identify activities that signal fraud and automating responses to ensure damage is limited.
Increased Consistency
in Data Collection and
Organization
Automating data collection and organization helps mitigate the risk of erroneous inputs typically associated with manual data entry, increasing the overall reliability of a firm’s data workflows.
Incremental Savings
via Automation
The finance industry is all about margins, and the more money saved in operations, the less risk a financial institution needs to endure to meet its goals. Automated AI systems that reduce labor costs and the risk of expensive mistakes have the potential to save the finance industry $1 trillion globally.
Insurance Industry BPA Trends
The insurance industry benefits in many of the same ways as the finance industry, with a few notable differences. Although the following trends are similar, insurance providers that adopt BPA platforms may enjoy some unique benefits, as listed below.
Regulatory Compliance via
Cybersecurity Automation
Leveraging AI and machine learning to automate data security and organization enables insurance firms to easily maintain regulatory compliance without increasing labor costs.
Digital Claims Processing
Automation platforms allow for faster, more transparent digital claims processing. They also enable members to file more complicated claims – all 100% digitally.
Chatbots and
Virtual Assistance
Insurance firms are widely adopting chatbots and virtual assistants to ensure customers get the clarity they need on coverage terms, claim status and other relevant information.
Shipping and Logistics Industry BPA Trends
Shipping and logistics require significant amounts of data capture, route planning, and personnel coordination across extensive distances. Automation helps simplify much of the administrative work, so labor can focus on improving the speed of loading, unloading, and transit itself. We’ve identified the following industry trends to help meet these goals.
Back-Office BPA
One of the longest-standing trends in the logistics industry is administrative process automation, which improves the speed and consistency of data entry and organization, including indexing every invoice and bill of lading (BoL) for searchability and automatic data entry.
AI Route Optimization
AI and machine learning have recently been leveraged to improve route planning. This technology has also allowed companies to adapt more efficiently to the constantly-changing land and sea traffic.
Regulatory Inconsistency
One major barrier in the logistics industry is the quilt of differently-regulated areas throughout the supply chain. This makes it difficult to create unified platforms that are compliant with the wide variety of regulations that are in place.
The 7T development team is on the cutting edge of business process automation. Capitalizing on business process automation trends can offer higher efficiency, better margins, more accessible services, and more manageable employee workloads. For all of these reasons, we pride ourselves on the results we deliver for our clients across multiple industries.
Our world-class team of AI developers will work to identify challenges within your organization; then, we’ll create a value-generating solution with innovative technologies that align with your business strategy. This problem → solution approach to AI development is the key to our clients’ success.
7T is based in Dallas, with additional locations in Houston, and Charlotte, NC, but our clientele spans the globe. If you’re ready to learn more about business process automation, contact 7T today.
