At its Imagine 2024 customer conference this week, Automation Anywhere showcased big AI advances through partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft. These collaborations aim to change the way businesses work by using conversational automation and AI agents to automate complex tasks, boost efficiency, and deliver compelling business results.
The company also introduced a new GenAI process model that it says will dramatically accelerate development and deployment of AI-powered automations.
Conversational Automation With Amazon Q
Automation Anywhere has partnered with AWS to unveil a conversational automation system leveraging the Amazon Q GenAI assistant. The companies aim to simplify complex business workflows by translating everyday language commands into efficient automated tasks. Integration of Amazon Q into Automation Anywhere’s Automation Success Platform offers customers the ability to swiftly develop and automate complex processes, speed decision making, and drive new business outcomes efficiently.
“By making conversational automation available enterprise-wide with Amazon Q, we’re arming every employee with the potential to automate and transform their challenging process workflows, reducing the time it takes from days and weeks to minutes,” said Mihir Shukla, Chairman and CEO of Automation Anywhere.
Rahul Patet, Automation Leader at Alight, a cloud-based provider of digital human capital technology, emphasized the transformative potential of AI in business processes. “We believe the power of AI-based process automation has the ability to transform the way companies operate in the future,” he said. This sentiment was echoed by other industry leaders who anticipate that the integration of AI-driven services with enterprise process automation will enhance efficiency and agility across diverse business processes and use cases.
Automation Anywhere and AWS are working on GenAI tech that goes beyond basic infrastructure: By making use of AWS AI and ML services such as Amazon SageMaker JumpStart and Amazon Bedrock, this collaboration aims to transform how companies interact with their customers, process documents, and manage their contact center operations.
Microsoft Partnership For Azure OpenAI Integration
Automation Anywhere has further strengthened its AI and automation features by teaming up with Microsoft. By integrating Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service with Automation Anywhere’s software, businesses can now automate processes across enterprise applications by building advanced AI agents on GenAI models from Azure OpenAI Service.
“With Automation Anywhere’s new Automation + AI Enterprise System, enterprise customers can rapidly build and deploy AI-powered process automations combined with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in a secure way for large enterprises across key functions including customer service operations, finance, IT and HR,” said Marco Casalaina, Vice President of Products, Azure AI.
The new improvements and features are set to roll out in the second quarter of the year, while a wider range of models from Azure OpenAI Service will be available in the third quarter.
Second-Generation GenAI
Automation Anywhere also introduced the AI + Automation Enterprise System featuring what it calls “second-generation” GenAI Process Models, aiming to speed up the process of creating and implementing AI-driven process automations. These models can help customers cut down the time needed for tasks from hours to minutes as they build workflows in customer service, finance, IT, and HR.
A set of developer automation tools built on GenAI Process Models 2.0 include Automator AI to accelerate the automation lifecycle. These include a fallback capability that reduces downtime, and an Enhanced Autopilot that converts process documentation into draft process automation with GenAI.
One key aspect of this system is the AI Agent Studio, which lets developers craft personalized AI Agents that can learn from the data within a customer’s business and address complex cognitive work. The AI Agent Studio comes with a built-in Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) service; it lets developers use foundational models from AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.
The AI Agents include security and governance features to protect and monitor both AI and company data. These enhancements include monitoring agent and model performance, establishing guardrails for consistent usage, human validation and prompt testing to limit hallucinations.
“Every enterprise today is facing the same inescapable growth and productivity mandate to work smarter, not harder — to be more productive, more efficient, and more innovative,” Shukla said. “Automation is the foundation that’s gotten us partway there. But AI Agent-powered automation is the breakthrough that will take us beyond — to automate the seemingly impossible, create a new operating model for business, and drive enterprise transformation with stunning results.”
Closing Thoughts
The partnerships and products detailed by Automation Anywhere this week represent a major step forward as the company aims to transform enterprise automation by giving customers the most advanced tools to boost efficiency, scale up, and drive innovation in powerful new ways.
Automation Anywhere is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with AI and automation. Teaming up with powerhouses AWS and Microsoft raises the odds the company can deliver on that agenda.
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