Beyond the hype: Taking Gen AI mainstream with next-level automation

Although the term Generative AI (Gen AI) has been around since the 1960s, it's only over the past year that the application has truly taken hold in the mainstream consciousness. From business use to our personal lives, there are countless benefits that Gen AI can bring. 

Research suggests that 53% of Australian professionals are actively using or experimenting with generative AI at work in 2024 — a substantial increase from 36% in 2023. On top of that, the Tech Council of Australia has predicted generative AI could deliver between AU $45 billion and AU $115 billion in value to the Australian economy by 2030. But for businesses to get the necessary impact out of their investment and ensure a positive experience for all, Gen AI needs to be adopted in the right way.

There is no shortage of examples and applications where Gen AI can really make a difference. Organizations can automate faster and speed up process discovery and development by enabling users to write prompts to create processes, automations and other components. Gen AI can facilitate improved decision making by making it easier to access and analyze data. Complexity of automations can be reduced by seamlessly integrating more complex and nuanced use cases into existing processes, with minimal disruption or impact on quality.

However, behind success, there must always be robust data governance, security, and accountability. Any business adopting Gen AI for whatever process needs to ensure that trust and transparency come first and are 'by design', not just an afterthought. This is where the fusion of intelligent automation (IA) and Gen AI make for a winning combination. 

Automating responsibly  

Gen AI needs to be accountable and auditable. It needs to be instructed and learn what information it can retrieve. Combining it with IA serves as the linchpin of effective data governance, enhancing the accuracy, security, and accountability of data throughout its lifecycle.

Put simply, by wrapping Gen AI with IA, businesses have greater control of data and automated workflows, managing how it is processed, secured – from unauthorized changes – and stored. It is this 'process wrapper' concept that will allow organizations to deploy Gen AI effectively and responsibly. 

Adoption and transparency of Gen AI are imperative now as innovation continues to grow at pace. The past 12 months have seen significant innovations in language learning models (LLMs) and Gen AI to simplify automations that tackle complex and hard-to-automate processes. According to IDC, this includes large enterprises relying on AI-infused processes to enhance asset efficiency, streamline supply chains, and improve customer satisfaction.

Five years ago, AI tools and models were fairly limited and had narrow applications, but now, with off-the-shelf learning models and applications requiring low skills, the only barrier to entry limiting Gen AI adoption is data quality.

With 80% of tech leaders planning to adopt Gen AI within three years (Gartner), organizations across all sectors are chomping at the bit to utilize these exciting new technologies within their business processes. Maintaining data security and compliance is imperative. 

Future-proofing Gen AI investment

Whether you're a manufacturing powerhouse or global financial institution, summarizing vast quantities of unstructured data is a challenge for the C-suite and revenue teams alike. Forrester's AI Pulse Survey highlights how – as Gen AI adds pressure on systems – measurement becomes unpredictable, complicating insight delivery. 

Managing security, privacy, and consent adds another layer of complexity. Machine learning's random nature demands live data sets for measurement and monitoring, lacking a standard linking Gen AI models to source data, increasing uncertainty and risk – the single biggest barrier to adoption of Gen AI by B2B enterprises.

Before implementing any sort of new automation technology, organizations must establish use cases unique to their business and undertake risk management assessments to avoid potential noncompliance, data breaches and other serious issues. 

With the right guardrails in place via a process wrapper like IA to control data input, output and training models, Gen AI can transform how a business automates its processes. By combining Gen AI with IA as the process wrapper, organizations can ensure the security of their data management and transparency. 

With a surge of offerings from vendors, customers need to sift through the hype and realize actual business value. Cloud, data, AI, and automation software will continue to push boundaries and overlap with others to create unique applications. The combination of IA and Gen AI represents a powerful synergy by facilitating effective data governance and enhancing the accuracy, security and accountability of data throughout its lifecycle. Leaders can now be confident in harnessing the full potential of Gen AI to drive their business forward. 

As organizations continue to invest in these technologies and a digital workforce, they are not only future-proofing their data management but also ensuring that they can make well-informed decisions while maintaining trust and transparency in their operations by using IA as the process wrapper.