Business Process Automation (BPA).
The broader category that includes workflow automation, RPA, and AI agents — using software to handle business processes that humans currently do manually. Modern BPA increasingly means "AI plus traditional automation."
In plain English
Business Process Automation (BPA) is the umbrella term for using software to handle business processes that humans currently do manually. It covers everything from simple Zapier-style integrations through RPA (robotic process automation — software that clicks through user interfaces like a human would) to modern AI agents.
The BPA category has evolved through several waves. First wave: workflow software (custom-built or off-the-shelf workflow tools). Second wave: RPA (UiPath, Blue Prism, Automation Anywhere) — bots that mimic human clicks. Third wave, where we are now: AI-augmented automation, where LLMs handle the variable bits and traditional automation handles the deterministic bits.
The practical implication for SMBs: most of the processes worth automating involve some variability — different invoice formats, different customer enquiries, different document types. Pure RPA struggles with variability because it relies on the screen looking the same every time. AI handles variability natively but needs traditional automation around it for reliability. Modern BPA combines both.
What's worth automating: high-volume, repetitive work with clear inputs and outputs. What's not: bespoke creative work, complex customer-facing decisions, anything that requires real judgement. The best BPA implementations leave humans doing the judgement work and let software handle everything around it.
Real examples
What this looks like in practice.
- Invoice processing: traditional automation pulls the email; AI extracts the invoice; traditional automation posts to Sage.
- Customer onboarding: AI drafts personalised emails; traditional automation handles scheduling, document collection, system setup.
- Reporting: AI generates narrative summaries; traditional automation produces dashboards and distributes them.
- Supplier ordering: AI predicts demand; traditional automation handles the PO generation and supplier portal interaction.
See in action
Where we deliver this for clients.
Related terms
Adjacent concepts.
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