How do digital workers differ from other types of digital labor solutions?

Digital workers (03:00) share similarities with other automation software you may already use to increase employee productivity, such as RPA bots and chatbots. But they’re different.

Three things make digital workers unique:

1. Context
A digital worker can have memory, allowing it to recall previous work interactions. When you turn it off, it doesn’t forget who you are or what you were working on.

2. Identity
A digital worker can have its own credentials, existing as a member of your team and interacting with multiple people simultaneously. It knows with whom it’s interacting and can follow security protocols so that no one accesses or changes anything they shouldn’t.

3. Planning
A digital worker can sequence different skills based on a work request without additional training because it’s able to understand that request (to a certain degree). If you asked a coworker to do a task they’ve never done before, they would rely on the skills they already have while asking for information or clarification when needed. Similarly, a digital worker can largely intuit the best way to get work done based on prior experience and knowledge.

All of these unique capabilities come together to create a technology that enables teams and individual employees to streamline their own work.
Where are digital workers being used?

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RPA bots vs. chatbots vs. digital workers

RPA bot What is it? Software programmed to do simple, repetitive, and predefined tasks When is it typically used? When simple tasks that can be precisely documented need to be done much faster than a person is able to accomplish, without errors Read article: Digital Workers vs. Chatbots vs. Bots: What’s the Difference? Digital Workers vs. Chatbots vs. Bots: What’s the Difference? IBM Robotic Process Automation
Chatbot What is it? Software that simulates a chat — generally through a website, email, SMS or other messaging. When is it typically used? When customers or employees need answers to questions anytime they’re online. Read article: Digital Workers vs. Chatbots vs. Bots: What’s the Difference? Digital Workers vs. Chatbots vs. Bots: What’s the Difference? IBM watsonx Assistant
Digital worker What is it? Software-based labor that can independently execute meaningful parts of complex, end-to-end processes using a range of skills. When is it typically used? When employees need time back from performing largely manual business processes — not just single tasks, but end-to-end operations, such as invoice processing. Read article: Digital Workers vs. Chatbots vs. Bots: What’s the Difference? Digital Workers vs. Chatbots vs. Bots: What’s the Difference? IBM watsonx Orchestrate
[HiRo – IBM’s HR digital worker] can engage with multiple people, of different roles, at the same time. It remembers what you told it yesterday and can apply that information to actions today, where applicable. Once the rules are set by humans, HiRo will uniformly apply them. And it lets you build its skills: you can train it do certain tasks within one process, but you can easily have it apply those same skills to other processes. So you can build use case after use case. It really is changing our understanding of the future of work. Jon Lester VP IBM HR Technology
Next chapter

Learn about HR and procurement use cases for digital workers.

 Read chapter 3
Ch. 1: What are digital workers and why are they important? Ch. 3: Where are digital workers being used? Ch. 4: What should you look for in digital worker technology? Ch. 5: How can you ensure digital workers are embraced by your employees? Ch. 6: How will digital worker technology evolve?