When we started using RPA in our organization, one of the major difficulties we faced was the need to process a large volume of documents. Since these documents and forms contribute to a bulk of the data in the enterprise, this is the experience of many early RPA practitioners. 

The traditional way to process documents with RPA was to use Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This technology has many limitations when it comes to different document formats, interpreting natural language, and detecting blurred and scanned text. Without intelligence, OCR is not accurate and impedes straight-through processing.

Now that we can use AI with RPA, we have the ability to perform Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), which uses ML to read, classify, and extract the data in these documents into structured data. The documents that usually need processing include emails, forms, PDF documents, and scanned documents. With IDP, we can use the generated structured data to automate more processes end to end. 

We will be looking at this option of using AI for IDP and enabling straight-through processing for our automation. Also, RPA with AI – Cognitive Automation - is one of the most promising areas in RPA. This is the reason we have included this topic – so that you can some experience in this evolving area. 

Both UiPath and Automation Anywhere offer IDP solutions. Let's take a look at them.