Intelligent Automation

Intelligent automation combines automation technologies such as RPA, workflow and orchestration with AI, including machine learning, natural language processing and document understanding, so processes can handle unstructured data and judgment-based steps.

RPA follows fixed rules to imitate user actions on existing applications. Intelligent automation adds AI so automations can read documents, understand language and make or support decisions. See the RPA Software page.

The terms overlap. Intelligent automation usually emphasizes adding AI to automation, while hyperautomation emphasizes combining many technologies, such as RPA, process mining, low-code and AI, to automate as many processes as possible. See the Hyperautomation page.

Intelligent document processing uses OCR, machine learning and language models to extract structured data from documents such as invoices and forms. See the Intelligent Document Processing section and the OCR Models page.

Vendors increasingly describe AI agents that plan and carry out multi-step work inside automated processes, alongside robots and workflows. See the Agentic AI Platforms and AI Workflow Automation Tools pages, and check each vendor for governance features.

Usually by discovering and modeling the processes, using process mining or task mining, and then choosing among workflow, RPA, document processing and AI tools. See the Process Discovery and Process Mining pages.

Links were checked on 31 October 2026. EdgeVerve and SAP return 403 to automated checks and may need a manual click. The IBM, UiPath and Automation Anywhere explainers are vendor views. Descriptions follow each source's own pages and are not rankings.