The most common real‑world robots make cars, unload ships, assemble products, even vacuum floors. But as we progress into the digital age, robots will be tasked less with physical labor and more with helping humans with knowledge work. Rather than replacing humans, they are augmenting uniquely human capabilities (like empathy and teamwork) to help smart people work smarter.

We call this “intelligent process automation”. Not only are robots automating processes, but they are also gathering data as they work and using artificial intelligence and machine learning to find new ways to improve how work gets done.

To understand what the future holds for intelligent process automation, Cognizant's Center for the Future of Work surveyed 537 North American and European organizations, ranging from banks and insurers, to healthcare payers. The following infographic reveals a few of our survey's insights about how smart robots are forever changing knowledge work.

Figure 1

To learn more about automating core business processes, read our white paper “The Robot and I: How New Digital Technologies Are Making Smart People and Businesses Smarter by Automating Rote Work,” and visit the intelligent process automation section of our Web site at http://cogniz.at/Softwarebots. Additional insight can be found at www.futureofwork.com.