The Difference Between AI and IA

Have you ever found yourself getting totally lost when people around you talk about confusing tech terms like "AI" and "IA"? 

Well, today we're going to clear up the confusion around two terms: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Intelligent Automation (IA).

So let’s get started!

What Are AI and IA in Simple Terms?

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is all about creating intelligent machines that can perceive their environment and take action to achieve specific goals. 

It involves developing computer systems that are capable of performing tasks that would normally require human intelligence, such as:

• Visual perception (computer vision)
• Speech recognition
• Decision making
• Language Translation
• Problem-solving

AI systems are not anything but a type of complex machine-learning algorithm. 

AI keeps learning and refining itself, utilizing a provided set of data, patterns, instructions, etc.

Using these datasets, AI systems can easily make predictions or decisions.

The beauty here is that it doesn’t need to be programmed every time for different scenarios.

Here are some quick examples of AI:

• Virtual assistants like Siri or Alexa
• Auto-tag people in photos using the facial recognition feature. 
• Automatic spam filters in email
• Showing personalized ads according to customer behavior

Intelligent Automation (IA)

Intelligent automation is all about using special software to automate business processes and tasks that generally require repetitive tasks to be done. 

It can be combined with AI and other advanced technologies to get better outcomes.

IA tools can easily handle dynamic and complex processes that can’t be executed using regular robot automation scripts. 

IA and processes are specifically made to mimic human behavior. It can easily adapt to simple changes and make simple decisions.

Some examples of IA include:

• Robotic process automation (RPA) bots for data entry, invoice processing, etc.
• Chatbots and virtual assistants for customer service
• Automated workflow approvals and routing
• Intelligent document processing
• Marketing automation platforms

IA primarily focuses on speeding up manual operations that require continuous repetitive tasks to be performed in specific time intervals. 

On the other side, AI offers out-of-the-box solutions that might not be possible without the right resources.

The Difference Between AI and IA

Today, AI and IA are both heavily used in various types of industries. And both have tons of use cases.

To make it easier to understand the difference between both, we will define them in the context of digital marketing. 

The digital marketing industry leverages AI to deliver consistent and promising results.

They use specific AI software to analyze massive amounts of data to understand customer behavior, offer personalized experiences, and optimize marketing campaigns. 

For instance, Google Trends helps you discover topics that have the potential to go viral by identifying patterns and trends in real-time.

Apart from that, AI can help marketers predict their targeted customers' behavior. It further helps them execute effective campaigns that hit the targeted goals more precisely.

• Example:

Let's say you're an online retailer. You want to recommend products to your customers based on their browsing and purchase history. 

You just need to get help from a dedicated AI tool that can help you pick a set of customers who are likely to buy your recommended products.

It is much like becoming a mind-reader!

Now let’s discuss intelligent automation in digital marketing.

IA is specifically about streamlining processes and automating tasks that must be done in a specific way or method. 

Some quick examples of IA include scheduling social media posts, sending promotional emails regularly, generating reports and analytics, etc.

• Example:

Imagine you're running a social media campaign, and you are required to update different social media handles at specific times. 

It is quite a hectic process.

Well, IA can do it automatically. All you need to do is schedule your posts for all platforms. That’s it; you are done.

It is like having a virtual assistant. And the best part is that he never forgets or makes mistakes.

Which is the Best Artificial Intelligence or Intelligent Automation?

It is not possible to pick a clear winner. The reason being, that both come with their own set of advantages. Both are capable enough to take your marketing efforts to the next level.

Now, depending on your goals and requirements, you can pick 

AI (Artificial Intelligence) for activities like:

• Understanding customer behavior
• Data Analysis
• Predictive analytics to forecast trends 
• Personalizing content and product recommendations
• Optimizing ad targeting and bidding strategies
• Automating creative tasks like copywriting and design

The real strength of AI lies in its ability to process massive datasets and identify patterns that humans can't see.

AI uses that intelligence to make smart, data-driven decisions. 

Digital marketers can utilize AI to unlock hidden customer insights and enable them to create hyper-personalized experiences at scale.

 IA (Intelligent Automation) on the other hand, is quite useful when it comes to:

• Automating repetitive marketing workflows and processes
• Scheduling and publishing content across channels 
• Lead nurturing and scoring
• Campaign execution and reporting
• Data entry and integration across marketing tools

IA can seamlessly handle all the manual tasks. One can simply customize it according to its needs, as it combines automation with basic decision rules. 

It makes sure marketers can focus on more productive and creative tasks. 

If you want to get the most out of both, then don’t leave a scope to streamline the capabilities of both in your work. 

For example, you could use AI to analyze audience data and identify the ideal customer segments and messaging.

After that, you can simply use specific IA tools to automatically deploy hyper-targeted marketing campaigns across channels for each segment.

The AI will help you maximize effectiveness, while the IA maximizes efficiency.

We hope you understand the clear difference between AI and IA. Now, if you want to supercharge your digital marketing campaigns, then it is beneficial to use both of them. 

Meanwhile, that might not be easy for you if you don’t know how to use them effectively for your campaigns.

Don’t worry, you can hire a Softtrix-like digital marketing partner that leverages AI and IA to offer incredible solutions to their clients.