Can Artificial Intelligence Reduce Errors in Business?

Can Artificial Intelligence Reduce Errors in Business?

A deeper look into human accuracy and AI

So, robots are taking over the world, right? Sometimes I feel that way too.

Robots shopping for us. Searching for us. Replacing human tasks, right?

As bad as I don’t like to say it, robots and machines are very accurate, and when used correctly, can help businesses perform at higher accuracy and at a higher efficiency. So maybe there is a place for them in this world after all. And when I refer to robots in this article, I am referencing artificial intelligence (the robots inside our computers mimicking human work for us!).

If your businesses could use robots to assist employees with their work, improve their role, and provide the business with scalable growth for the future, should you investigate it more? Yes.

A question you might be asking yourself related to business efficiency – robots versus humans. So, just how normal is human error? Research suggests that regardless of the activity or task being conducted, humans make between 3-6 errors per hour and on average 50 errors per day (or at least, ‘per work shift’).

And related to the business world, what is the average human error rate for data entry? It seems to be a commonly accepted rule that in manual data entry, human errors will cause a 1 % average error rate.

What percentage of humans make mistakes?

Most industries would agree that 70 percent to 80 percent of mishaps are due to human error.

If we could reduce the daily occurrence of human errors in your business, would you be open to learning more?

Read on.

Here at DASH, we have found that businesses that automate tasks that are prone to human errors (not by their fault, it’s just human nature!) find they can improve accuracy and efficiency. Have you ever looked across your organization to see if there are more tasks you could automate?

• AP Automation?
• Inventory Control Automation?
• Produce Processes?
• Document Management Automation?
• Others?

Automation

Automation can prevent or at least minimize human error if it is set up correctly. Repetitive tasks are easy to automate because they are often easy for people to do. However, when a task is repetitive, the person doing it, again and again, can get complacent. It’s easier for them to slip up and get something wrong or to inadvertently make mistakes because they’re not concentrating. Automation can solve this problem. The robot doesn’t get tired, bored, or distracted.

Automation can also lead to higher levels of productivity. When processes and tasks are automated, there’s no need for every step to be carried out by a person. Your employees can focus on other things, and the only time you might need to have a human involved is when checking that everything is being carried out correctly. As well as increasing productivity, it’s possible to improve quality or to have more consistent quality through automation.

Automation & AI

Automation is closely linked with artificial intelligence (AI). Sometimes the two terms might be confused and even used interchangeably, but there is a difference between them. Whereas automation is the practice of making certain things run automatically, artificial intelligence is a technology that is designed to simulate human decision-making. Both automation and AI can “replace” humans in some way, although neither of them can do the same job that a person can in the same way.

Automation might make use of artificial intelligence, and both are driven by data.

Automation and AI can be used together to not just improve productivity and remove human error, but also gain a better understanding of various things, from manufacturing processes to customer behavior. Automation and AI complement each other, so they’re perfect to use together, especially when it comes to IT and computing. For example, one area where both automation and artificial intelligence can prove to be very useful is Accounts Payable (AP) Automation. You can use AI to match documents and information to automate entering AP invoices into your ERP solution.

To err may be human, but when it comes to data entry, why not free people up to do things people do well, like being creative, strategic, and problem solvers? For employees at most modern businesses, it’s the greatest gift they `could possibly receive. Let’s leave the computer work to computers, and let humans be more human.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can effectively combat human error by taking up the heavy lifting involved in parsing, analyzing, drilling down, and dissecting impossibly large volumes of data. It can also perform high-level arithmetic, logical, and statistical functions at a scale that would otherwise be impossible by human-led, self-service analytics alone.

Problems and Solutions: AI and Human Error

One reason for artificial intelligence to exist is to avoid direct human intervention, so human error is eliminated. And understandably so! Recently, human error was named the number one reason for manufacturing and production losses in a study performed by Vanson Bourne, an independent and specialist market research provider for the global technology sector.

Our partners at SYSPRO wrote an article about “How AI is transforming skills in manufacturing” and the job outlook for 2023 and beyond.

Save Cost & Time

Unlike humans, machines can work for 24 hours straight a day. They do not experience boredom or sleep, and they neither require a break. You can, therefore, depend on the machines to get a notification even at night. For instance, a chatbot can engage customers at any time of the day.

What’s more, is that artificial intelligence will take a few minutes to analyze a massive amount of data that would otherwise take hours of human labor to complete. This clearly saves time and simplifies onerous tasks.

Reduce Error

While artificial intelligence is not completely error-free, it is relatively more accurate than humans. It uses available data to make decisions without emotions or opinions. Also, if the system makes mistakes, you can easily fix them. Workers are prone to making errors, especially while doing mundane and repetitive tasks. Automation can help reduce errors that humans commit due to reasons such as fatigue.

Interested in learning more about AP Automation utilizing AI? Free 100-page FREE trial of the DASH AP Robot™ – click here to try it out! A member of the DASH team will reach out to you to get you started.

Let’s chat!

About the Author:

Stephanie is the marketing guru at Dash. For over 20 years, DASH has been authoring, delivering, and supporting DASH DDX™ and DASH AP Robot™, its ERP-integrated software to small and mid-sized manufacturing and distribution companies throughout the USA and beyond.

Let’s chat!