INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION: Learn how to harness Artificial Intelligence to boost business & make our world more human Paperback – October 10, 2020

This remains an excellent book on automation even though technology and culture exploded with generative AI, and agentic AI since its publication. Autonomous AI is rapidly going to be mainstream in the next 24 to 36 months from recent reports and tests. Automation and Autonomous AI are not the same disciplines. This book is a a unique baseline textbook for executives and managers to have as reference as they manage people and processes for these 2 creative and dynamic areas.

This book really highlights the sheer evidence that companies (especially large enterprises with many competitors) must adapt fast and effectively or face certain disruption. The research is quite evident in the ample reference library at the end. As a professional with some experience in the industry, even I found many data points and stats that were new to me and quite useful to keep in mind. From what I can tell, the authors clearly have a good grasp of all the technologies involved and extensive experience working with companies on these sorts of initiatives. The various frameworks discussed seem like they would be useful for any executives or leadership looking to apply these concepts themselves.The book consists of four main sections, paraphrased myself:1 - Applications of IA, including a lot of actual cases in various areas of work.2 - An explanation of the facets of IA technology: what they do and how each component (whether it's machine learning or chat bots, etc.) contributes value. They are categorized across four main capabilities: Vision, Execution, Language, Thinking/Learning.3 - Challenges and trends in the implementation of IA (useful for those in the business world looking to broaden their expertise in the wide swath of IA services and needs).4 - Predictions, analysis, and scenario-planning around how our society might transition to the future of work (important for any policy makers and employees who will play a role in this in the years to come).(In my opinion each section is quite dense in terms of concepts/examples, but was happy to see that at the end of each one is a 'takeaways' list of bullet points for reference and summarization.)I thought these four sections were structured in coherent way to set the stage for the reader through the value propositions and exciting use cases first, before diving into the tech later in the book. There are also many many case studies and company examples described throughout the book. There were accompanying real-world examples for most if not all of the tech concepts.Due to it's recency, the book also incorporates things like GPT-3 (very powerful NLP model recently in the news) as well as the recent epidemic into it's analysis - including highlighting several ways that automation could mitigate future social and economic losses in similar crisis situations.I agree with the authors on this concept of IA-enabled resiliency, although one could also argue that today's reliance on technology also creates it's own share of tail-risks and troubles down the road (thinking about things like 'technical debt' and security/privacy issues) - maybe a topic for a future book if anyone wants to take it on!

According to Mckinsey's ' Future of work report' approx 30% of work ( up to 800 million jobs globally) will be automated. This book provides wings to the above argument

This is a must-read for anyone interested in business development and the impact of AI on our lives. The authors have predicted the convergence of AI technologies like ChatGPT and Lensa AI, and explain how these technologies and their descendants will revolutionize the business world.This book provides a unique insight into the future of AI, with two alternative futures presented in a compelling manner.If you're looking to stay ahead of the curve and understand the role of AI in shaping our future, this book is a must-read.Put down any other business books you may be reading, and give this one your full attention immediately.

Everything that is written you can see was well researched and reviewed.I read the book in 2020 during the pandemic when everyone was rushing to remote work.I have read it again in 2022 and you can see now how automation has grown just in 2 years.Learning about intelligent Automation opens my eyes on how wrong we are automating processes and how we can do so much better.I recommend this book to anyone just starting or already into your automation journey.

My feedback on the book:• Essential book for aligning knowledge about IA.• Very accessible and understandable language on all points covered.• I think the book has set a bar for new publications on the subject.• I believe that the main point to be highlighted in the book is the impact that software automation will have on business and employment that will be more immediate than hardware automation (robots), something that needs to be more publicized and explained.• Like any transformation, people (employees and leadership) remain the pillar of success. Governance and change management is necessary.• Congratulations to all authors and contributors. I believe that the AI ecosystem should be built on bases that allow the democratization of knowledge and the participation of all, experts, and users.

I found this book very readable and very useful. The explanations are clear, the statistics are staggering.“Intelligent Automation” (Bornet, et al.) has an appendix listing over 500 use cases. The book provides use cases in the corporate functions of finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, IT, customer service, marketing, and sales; all very helpful for those of us who are enterprise Chief Information Officers. The book also lists use cases in the health and life science, banking, telecommunications, and insurance industries and in the public and government sectors. A great jumping off point to understand cognitive automation and further applications of artificial intelligence.

Intelligent Automation provides a comprehensive look at the future of work and how emergent technologies will be leveraged to fundamentally change how we work, and the potential impacts it will have on society as more and more jobs are done and supported by IA operating models. Great read for business and tech leaders. Johnny Mac