To make intelligent automation easy, we have compiled a glossary of key terms to help you navigate this new landscape. We’ll be expanding our list over time. If you’d like a key word adding, let us know on businessinsights@kpmg.lu.
Chatbots: AI software designed to simulate human conversation thanks to natural language processing
Cognitive automation: automation which mimics human activities such as recognizing, guessing, gathering evidence, hypothesizing and reasoning
Algorithm: a set of rules a computer must follow to solve problems
Artificial Intelligence (AI): an umbrella term for technologies that enable a computer to perform tasks that usually require human intelligence
Deep learning: a sub-category of machine learning which enables models to reach new levels of understanding through different layers of neural networks
Machine learning: algorithms created to solve problems, and which also have the ability to build new pathways of understanding and self-develop over time without human intervention
Natural Language Processing (NLP): a field of computer science focusing on interactions between human languages and computers
Neural networks: a circuit of artificial neurons that functions like the human brain and imitates behaviors such as pattern identification
Robotics Process Automation (RPA): tried-and-true technologies that leverage business capabilities including workflow management, rule engines and screen scraping to automate existing manual processes
Structured vs. unstructured data: structured data simply refers to any information that has been organized (for example, spreadsheets, relational databases or anything with rows and columns). Unstructured data is the opposite: it is information that has not been organized (e-mails, social media content and text messages, for instance)