The Dynamic Role of Collaborative Artificial Intelligence in Digital Transformation

You don’t have to choose between a manual approach and a purely AI-driven approach to business processes when pursuing digital transformation. The merger between humans and artificial intelligence (AI) can provide the best of both worlds, letting humans do what only they can do best while leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance efficiency and add value.

What is Collaborative Artificial Intelligence?

When AI and humans work together to achieve an optimized process, this is known as collaborative AI or collaborative robotics. 

In the past, some in the professional world feared that the rise of AI would ultimately lead to workers being displaced. After all, why employ humans at all if a computer or a computer-powered robot can do the same work more efficiently? 

Fortunately, that concern has not been realized. There are still plenty of tasks that are best left to humans, such as those that involve higher-level thinking, while other tasks are better suited to AI systems. So why not bring the two together?

Humans can benefit from more efficiency and value infused into the daily work they do with the help of intelligent automation. A study of 1,500 companies found it was when humans and machines worked together, the companies were able to achieve the most significant performance improvements. 

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in Digital Transformation

Spending on digital transformation is rising steadily and is expected to exceed $2 trillion in 2023. More and more companies are realizing how crucial it is to move from analog processes to more advanced digital systems. That includes converting paper documents into digital data — a colossal task, especially for companies with a long history of documentation.

The collaboration of humans and AI holds great promise for digital transformation because involving robotics in the process of digital transformation can save time and add value in several ways.

Increasing Efficiency

In a traditional process of digital document transformation, humans must do huge amounts of manual work. This includes tasks such as:

• Box decomposing (removing staples, binder clips, and other materials to prepare documents for scanning)
• Feeding paper into a scanner
• Trying to replicate the previous organization with the new digital files
• Manually entering data from paper files

With collaborative AI, the computerized system handles much of the time-consuming aspects of the digitization process. For instance, with Ripcord’s process, humans no longer have to keep track of how paper is grouped. They can simply set grouped papers on a tray, and the sensors and software keep track of groupings to create a digital twin of the complete paper file. 

Adding Value

Collaborative artificial intelligence for digital transformation doesn’t just save time, it also improves outcomes. For one, when humans handle repetitive tasks like the ones above, human error can easily creep in. The most advanced AI systems can greatly improve accuracy. Ripcord’s system can achieve up to 99.95% accuracy — a level virtually unachievable by human workers.

Ripcord’s collaborative system can add value to the digitization process in a variety of ways, including automatically:

• Classifying documents
• Extracting data 
• Organizing digital documents

These are all tasks that may not be feasible for human workers trying to scan thousands of documents.

Collaborative AI also adds value by freeing up humans to do what they do best. When they don’t have to spend their time performing tasks that could be automated, human workers get to spend their time on more complex, thought-based, high-value tasks.

Keep Up with Digital Transformation Trends

Manual work and robotics are not mutually exclusive approaches to digitization. Collaborative artificial intelligence in digital transformation allows both humans and robotics to do their part to empower a system that’s efficient and delivers maximum value to the organization.