Hyperautomation and Intelligent Automation
Hyperautomation is a term popularised by Gartner (reported in its 2020 strategic technology trends): a business-driven, disciplined approach to rapidly identify, vet and automate as many business and IT processes as possible. Intelligent automation is a near-synonym used by vendors and consultancies for combining automation with AI.
The idea in one picture
No single tool automates everything, so several are combined under one programme:
| Capability | Role | Where in this cluster |
|---|---|---|
| Process and task mining | Find what to automate | [[./process-mining |
| BPM / orchestration | Manage flow, state, people | bpm-suites-and-workflow-engines |
| RPA | Automate UI-level steps | [[./rpa |
| iPaaS / integration, low-code | Connect systems, build apps | [[../../../KB-AI/ai-automation/index |
| AI / ML / LLMs / agents | Handle documents, judgement, language | [[./ai-and-bpm |
| Decision logic | Externalise rules | [[./dmn-and-cmmn |
Use it as a discipline, not a product
The useful content is the order of work: understand and fix the process first (bpm-lifecycle, lean), measure, then automate, then monitor. Treat the label with caution: it is largely a marketing and analyst term, and implementations vary.
Related
business-process-reengineering, thomas-davenport, BPM hub
Open items
- Gartner’s original 2019/2020 definition wording was not read from Gartner itself; secondary sources used.
Sources
- Gartner glossary, hyperautomation: https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary
- Overview (secondary): https://www.oracle.com/cloud/hyperautomation/