{"id":28495,"date":"2025-08-26T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/niet-gecategoriseerd\/what-is-the-difference-between-rpa-and-ai\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T22:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:39:22","slug":"what-is-the-difference-between-rpa-and-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/ai\/what-is-the-difference-between-rpa-and-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the difference between RPA and AI?"},"content":{"rendered":"

RPA and AI are often mentioned in the same breath, but those who confuse them are deploying the wrong tool. After 15 years of implementations in customer contact environments, we at Pegamento know exactly where each technology proves its value – and where it doesn’t. This article gives you an honest picture. <\/p>\n

What does RPA actually do?<\/h3>\n

RPA (Robotic Process Automation)<\/a> works like a digital employee who does exactly what you teach him. It logs in, copies data, fills out forms and generates reports – every day, error-free and without complaint. As long as the process is predictable and the input always looks the same, RPA is in its element. <\/p>\n

A classic example from our practice: processing thousands of invoices per day. The bot reads the invoice number, amount and VAT, and transfers everything to the accounting system. Fast, reliable and scalable. <\/p>\n

What RPA cannot do is deal with change. Does an invoice deviate from the expected format? Then the bot stops, or issues an error message. That’s not a shortcoming – it’s just how it works. And naming that honestly is part of a good implementation. <\/p>\n

And if we work with AI in our processes?<\/h3>\n

AI goes a step further. Instead of following fixed instructions, AI learns from data and adapts. It understands unstructured information such as free text, images or speech, and makes connections that are difficult for humans to see. <\/p>\n

Consider analyzing customer reviews: AI understands whether feedback is positive or negative, recognizes recurring complaints and can estimate which cases are urgent. Or predicting customer behavior in a webshop, based on historical patterns. <\/p>\n

What we have learned in recent years: AI is not hype, but it only works when applied from the right perspective. Many organizations start too big, with too little data or unclear goals. That’s exactly where it goes wrong. <\/p>\n

When do you choose RPA and when do you choose AI?<\/h3>\n

The choice is less complicated than it seems.<\/p>\n

Choose RPA if the process recurs regularly, the steps are fixed and the inputs are structured. Consider data entry, system integrations or administrative operations. RPA is relatively quick to implement – often within weeks – and delivers immediate measurable time savings. <\/p>\n

Choose AI if you are dealing with variable or unstructured input, complex decision-making, or if you want to discover patterns in large amounts of data. Expect a longer lead time and the deployment of specialists, but also insights that structurally move your organization forward. <\/p>\n

Together they are stronger<\/h3>\n

We see the best results when RPA and AI work together. AI understands and decides, RPA executes. In customer service environments – our area of expertise – AI analyzes incoming messages, determines urgency and categorizes them. RPA then provides the right routing: urgent questions to a specialist, standard questions to the knowledge base, automatic confirmations to the customer. <\/p>\n

At Pegamento, we call this approach Agentic AI: an evolution from executive bots to self-thinking assistants that not only follow instructions but take initiative independently. Not a buzzword, but a working approach that we put into practice every day. <\/p>\n

What does the deployment of RPA and Agentic AI provide?<\/h3>\n

RPA typically delivers measurable results within 3 to 6 months. Cost savings of 25 to 80%<\/strong> on automated processes are realistic – depending on the process and baseline. AI has a longer payback period of 12 to 24 months, but can fundamentally improve decision making and processes. To get an idea for yourself of what the use of AI brings to implementation in customer contact, try our AI calculator.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Our approach: start small, with a sharply defined process and a working bot. Grow from there. No grand promises, but step by step to a smarter organization. <\/p>\n\n

\"CSR<\/figure>\n\n
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Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
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\n Hoe snel kan ik een eerste RPA-bot live hebben? <\/h3>\n

\n Een eenvoudig proces is vaak binnen 2 tot 4 weken geautomatiseerd. Zijn er meerdere systemen of uitzonderingen bij betrokken, reken dan op 6 tot 12 weken. Onze ervaring: begin met \u00e9\u00e9n duidelijk afgebakend proces. Snel resultaat cre\u00ebert intern draagvlak voor alles wat daarna komt. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\n Wat moet mijn team kunnen om hiermee aan de slag te gaan? <\/h3>\n

\n Voor RPA heb je geen technische achtergrond nodig. Procesdenken en logisch redeneren zijn een goed begin \u2014 de rest is aan te leren. Voor AI is specialistische kennis vereist op het gebied van data en machine learning. Veel organisaties werken daarom in de beginfase samen met externe experts, ook wij adviseren dat regelmatig. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\n Waar gaat het mis bij de combinatie van RPA en AI? <\/h3>\n

\n Vrijwel altijd bij de basis: slechte datakwaliteit, processen die niet goed in kaart zijn gebracht, of verwachtingen die niet kloppen met de realiteit. De valkuil is te snel willen gaan. Begin met RPA voor de quick wins, zorg dat je data op orde is, en voeg pas daarna AI toe op de plekken waar het \u00e9cht waarde toevoegt. Dat klinkt eenvoudig, maar in de praktijk slaan veel organisaties deze stappen over. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\n Hoe overtuig ik mijn management? <\/h3>\n

\n Met cijfers \u00e9n een concreet verhaal. Bereken wat een proces nu kost aan tijd en mensen, wat automatisering oplevert, en wat de investering is. Start bij voorkeur met een kleine pilot \u2014 zonder grote voorinvestering, wel met meetbare uitkomsten. Dat is een veel sterkere business case dan een presentatie vol beloftes.
<\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\n Werkt RPA ook met oude systemen die geen API hebben? <\/h3>\n

\n Ja, en dat is precies waar RPA zo handig in is. Een bot werkt via de gebruikersinterface, net zoals een medewerker dat zou doen: inloggen, klikken, typen, kopi\u00ebren. Geen technische aanpassingen nodig. In de praktijk zetten wij RPA regelmatig in als brug terwijl een organisatie werkt aan modernisering van haar IT-omgeving. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n

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\n Wat gebeurt er met mijn medewerkers bij AI implementatie? <\/h3>\n

\n RPA en AI nemen het repetitieve werk over \u2014 niet de mensen. Wat je in de praktijk ziet, is dat medewerkers vrijkomen voor werk dat meer aandacht en inzicht vraagt: klantcontact, analyse, procesverbetering. Investeer daarom ook in omscholing. Teams die leren werken m\u00e9t automatisering, groeien daar in mee. Dat zien wij keer op keer bij onze klanten. <\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

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Our experiences with RPA and AI in customer contact environments<\/h3>\n\n

For the past 15 years, Pegamento has been active as a developer and implementation partner of RPA solutions for customer contact environments. This has resulted in a lot of knowledge and experience with such systems. So we also know where RPA (Agentic AI) will add something to the work process and where it will not. <\/p>\n\n

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Serge Poppes, CEO Pegamento<\/strong> – “Since the inception of AI in customer experience, we have been involved in this. This is how we know that AI is not hype, but can really add something, if applied properly. Our experience did show that there is a lot of talk about it, but that it is not always applied from the right perspective.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

That Pegamento knows what it’s about when implementing AI in the work process , our references show.<\/p>\n\n

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See our references<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) are two different technologies that are often mentioned together but work fundamentally differently. RPA is software that mimics human actions in digital systems for repetitive tasks according to fixed rules, while AI is technology that simulates human intelligence for pattern recognition and decision-making. The main difference is in how they approach tasks: RPA follows pre-programmed instructions like a digital assistant, AI learns from data and adapts to new situations. RPA stands for Robotic Process Automation and consists of software robots that mimic human actions in digital systems. These bots […] <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[501],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28495"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28508,"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28495\/revisions\/28508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pegamento.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}