In today’s rapidly evolving digital world, enterprises are under growing pressure to optimize their operations. As businesses push for greater efficiency, the importance of integrating various automation technologies has become more apparent. This is where Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (BOAT), a concept coined by Gartner, comes into play. BOAT unifies essential automation tools into a cohesive platform, allowing for the smooth coordination of business processes, which in turn boosts productivity and operational efficiency.
What is BOAT?
BOAT, or Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies, refers to the integration of four key automation technologies that were once treated as separate entities:
- Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
- Low-Code Application Development (LCAD)
- Business Process Automation/Management (BPA/BPM)
- Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS)
As organisations recognise the need for seamless coordination across these technologies, BOAT emerges as a solution that brings them together. Its goal is to establish a unified platform that efficiently orchestrates business operations. It does so by creating an end-to-end system that overlays existing enterprise applications and systems. This will result in driving greater efficiency and coherence throughout the organization.
What about IDP and AI?
While the BOAT framework centers around the convergence of RPA, LCAD, BPA, and iPaaS, Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) play crucial supporting roles.
Though not considered core technologies within BOAT, IDP functions as an essential “intelligence” layer, enhancing nearly all automation scenarios.
By extracting, interpreting, and processing unstructured data, IDP seamlessly integrates into the BOAT ecosystem, enabling more accurate and informed decision-making across various automated processes.
In addition, Gartner predicts that AI Agents will soon become a core component of BOAT. These AI-driven agents will elevate decision-making and enable autonomous task execution. This will allow businesses to orchestrate complex processes with minimal human intervention. As this framework continues to evolve, the integration of AI is expected to drive the next wave of automation innovation, making it a critical factor in advancing business efficiency.
Start your BOAT journey with Dots & Arrows
At Dots & Arrows, we specialise in helping businesses navigate the complexities of Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (BOAT). How? By providing expert guidance and tailored solutions. Our deep expertise and collaboration with key partners in technologies such as RPA, Low-Code Application Development, BPA/BPM, and iPaaS ensures seamless integration and orchestration across your automation landscape. Additionally, we incorporate advanced Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) and AI capabilities, empowering organizations to optimize decision-making and streamline operations.
