AI vs. IA: What's the Real Difference and How They Benefit Your Business

Let's break down their meaning in simple terms, clearing up the clouds of confusion, and explore where each technology shines. 

What is AI (Artificial Intelligence)?

AI has been a hot topic for years now. It is the technology that makes machines and software learn, reason, and answer like humans to complete tasks that usually require human intelligence. Since this intelligence is artificially introduced into them through model training, we call them artificial intelligence.

Siri, Alexa, Netflix, and Amazon use AI to provide the best experience. They learn from your actions, for example, if you like an adventurous movie. The video streaming app will suggest more such movies. All AI apps or solutions might be designed for different purposes, but they are similar in terms of these features.

Key Features of AI

• Learning: Learning is the key characteristic of any AI solution. They feed on both historical data and real-time data to learn patterns and use that knowledge to create responses and make smarter decisions in the future. Think of a 5-year-old kid who is new to this world. The way he understands the world through observation and interactions with others, AI learns the same way.
• Decision-Making: Data is the food for AI. It uses the information to decide how to perform the task given to them or their next move or make future predictions. For example, they can determine the best time to send an email or which product a customer may buy based on the customer's active time or shopping history.
• Human Interaction: Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the bridge through which AI interacts with the world. Using NLP, AI can understand and even respond to human language, whether through text or speech. That’s how chatbots answer your questions over call or text.

Also Read: How AI is Changing the World of Customer Experience

Why AI Matters for Business

• They are Faster than Humans

Imagine doing a task as simple as filling data on the Excel sheets, but there are over 1000 rows and columns to fill. Simple but time-consuming, right? AI can do that in seconds without making a single mistake.

• They can See Through the Data

Behind numbers lie important insights that can find sales opportunities for your team or analyze customers' next moves. It's hard to view these insights even with a data analytics solution because it only gives you reports. You have to analyze the meaning of those reports. AI not only analyzes the data but also helps you understand its hidden meaning.

• They Can Deal with Customers Every Time

Customers judge their experience with your product, service, and team. One single inconvenience and they jump to other competitors. That only happens in some cases, but customers' expectations are taking a massive shift, driving them to choose a business that responds faster. 

As humans, we have a limit. There are thousands of customers per 10 or 20 agents. Handling all feels like a never-ending goal. AI chatbots make this easy without compromising the way your customers are served.

Artificial intelligence is a breakthrough in customer experience and innovative business solutions. But IA makes things interesting. Let's see how.

What is IA (Intelligent Automation)?

What's intelligent about automation? Traditional automation only gets things done. IA, or intelligent automation, goes to the next level. It makes an automation tool or solution intelligent enough to decide the next step in automation.

Take an example of a chatbot interacting with a first-time customer on your food ordering app. A traditional chatbot only takes orders from the customer or connects them with customer service to report about the food delivery service.

On the other hand, a smart chatbot will also help customers customize their meals. In short, IA doesn't just automate tasks, it makes them smarter.

How IA Can Benefit Your Business

• Boost Efficiency: IA saves your time on both routine tasks and decision-making.
• Cost Savings: IA can automate simple tasks as well as more complex ones. Minimum human intervention means less error and fewer employees.
• Scalable Growth: IA can help manage the increase in tasks and data without requiring a proportional increase in human resources.

AI vs. IA: Do You Still Think They Are the Same?

You are not alone. Things get tricky because both sound the same and closely related. However, they have different purposes 

Scope of Function

• AI is useful for tasks that require judgment or analysis, such as diagnosing diseases or predicting sales trends. Since AI systems can learn and adapt, they are adept at such tasks. 
• On the other hand, IA uses AI to automate business processes to improve efficiency and decision-making. 

Task Complexity

• Complex tasks like recognizing patterns in data or making predictions are the forte of AI.
• With IA, you can automate those complex tasks, ensuring that AI's learning capabilities continuously improve the process.

Learning and Adapting

• AI focuses on learning from data and adapting over time. The more data it gets, the better it becomes at generating responses.
• Unlike AI, IA focuses not on data but on improving efficiency over time. 

Where to Use AI and IA Together 

Now that we've broken down the difference between artificial intelligence and intelligent automation, let's look at how to work with them.

Enhancing Existing Processes with IA and AI

Combine the repetitive power of automation with AI's intelligent capabilities. Integrating AI into automated systems allows you to perform more routine tasks faster. 

For example, in customer service, IA can handle the initial wave of customer inquiries through chatbots, addressing common questions or processing basic requests. However, AI takes this further by enabling these bots to analyze past conversations, adapt to varying customer contexts, and refine their responses over time. 

End-to-End Automation

You can create an end-to-end automation system with AI and IA. For example, when an order is placed, IA can automate the process-checking stock levels, processing payments, and shipping the product. Meanwhile, AI analyzes purchasing trends to predict future demand, helping you to keep demanded stocks in advance. 

Smart Decision-Making

Mixing IA and AI can help you make smart decisions. For instance, IA systems in healthcare can automate patient data entry while AI analyzes medical records, identifying patterns or red flags that might go unnoticed. 

In finance, AI can help detect unusual transactions that might indicate fraud, and IA can take immediate action to stop it. 

The Bottom Line

The beauty of modern business technology is that you don't necessarily have to choose between them. Intelligent automation and artificial intelligence are two gems in the tech world that can do wonders for businesses. Where one revolutionizes the way we automate the business process, another adds the touch of human intelligence. There is a great value in combining AI and IA to create smarter, more efficient workflows that respond to their changing needs and scale over time.