By Boomi
Modern enterprise organizations often have hundreds of different processes involved in daily operations. And the number is continually growing. These processes range from clerical tasks to the routing of data, files, and more. Workflow automation can make many of them repeatable. More companies are beginning to realize the value of automation to accomplish tasks reliably and with much less effort.
What is Workflow Automation?
Workflow automation refers to automating processes via rule-based systems in a way that’s scalable and agile for businesses of all types and sizes — specifically, enterprise-level companies. These organizations often sync various systems together through an integration platform as a service (iPaaS), which makes it easy to structure even complex, multi-system enterprise workflow automation.
Regardless of the process or the systems involved, workflow automation helps businesses reduce the amount of time that employees spend on tedious and often inefficient tasks. It opens up new possibilities for productivity and can even improve employee satisfaction. Here’s how.
How Does Workflow Automation Work?
Workflow automation involves using rule-based logic to perform tasks that run on their own without human intervention. A programmer establishes the rules and logic that the automation system will follow. Then, the system carries out tasks designated by the programmer against these rules.
With a relatively small upfront time investment, automation can vastly reduce or even eliminate time demands of a specific task moving forward. Say it takes an hour to automate a particular workflow that otherwise takes 10 minutes to manually process. It only takes six instances of repeating that task before the investment in that automated workflow pays for itself. Not only does this save the business time and money, but repeatable processes help reduce errors and improve productivity.
Workflow Automation Example: Customer Activity Notification
The rules used to govern workflow automation generally come in the form of if/then statements, which trigger actions and additional criteria. Here’s an example of how automated form submission might work on a business website:
- A visitor submits their information via a form.
- The submission creates a user profile and sets its status to “new.”
- The system sends an email to engage that new lead with a welcome message.
- If the lead clicks through to schedule a meeting, they’re taken to a digital calendar.
- Upon an approved appointment request, the system sends an automatic confirmation.
- In addition to the confirmation email, there’s also a CRM task assigning it to a sales rep.
- At this point, the automated workflow concludes and the sales rep follows up personally.
This is just one, very simple example of workflow automation in action. Everything above happens before any human interaction takes place. By the time a human gets involved in the workflow, it’s already organized with pertinent information.
This form of automation can be used for more than just sales purposes. It also has valuable benefits for marketing, finance, operations, human resources, and executive-level tasks. As another non-sales example, workers in HR departments can benefit from automation when seeking job candidates or for onboarding new employees. A simple HR automation might involve:
- Removal of inactive candidates from a database
- Filtering candidates based on résumé keywords
- Automatically sending next-step or rejection emails
- Sending W2s and other tax documents to new employees
- Collecting feedback from employees about the process
In every situation, the ability to automate workflows allows employees to spend more of their time on tasks where human expertise is needed. It results in more meaningful use of important (and costly) employee time.
Benefits of Workflow Automation
Workflow automation brings numerous benefits to businesses, revolutionizing the way teams manage tasks and workflowss. By automating repetitive and manual tasks that consume valuable time and resources, businesses can unlock a multitude of benefits that propel them towards improved performance, enhanced collaboration, and significant cost savings, as well as the following advantages:
Improved Efficiency and Productivity
Workflow automation eliminates manual, repetitive tasks, enabling employees to focus on higher-value activities. Workflow automation also empowers employees with self-serve options, streamlining customization to align with business needs. By designing and automating workflows, tasks can be completed faster, leading to improved efficiency and increased productivity within the organization.
Reduced Errors and Enhanced Accuracy
Automation minimizes the chances of human errors that can occur during manual data entry or process execution. By eliminating manual intervention, workflow automation tools ensure consistency and accuracy in data handling, reducing the risk of errors and improving the quality of outputs.
Better Collaboration and Communication
Workflow automation tools often include features that promote collaboration and communication among team members. Through centralized platforms, employees can easily collaborate on tasks, share information, and track progress. This enhances teamwork, encourages knowledge sharing, and improves overall communication within the organization.
Time and Cost Savings
Automation reduces the time required to complete tasks, leading to significant time savings. By eliminating manual processes, organizations can reallocate resources to more strategic initiatives. Additionally, workflow automation reduces operational costs associated with manual labor, paper-based processes, and potential errors or rework.
Scalability and Adaptability
Workflow automation tools accommodate the evolving needs of organizations. They can scale alongside business growth, supporting increased workloads and handling larger volumes of tasks. Additionally, these tools offer flexibility in adapting to different business processes and can be customized to match specific requirements.
Improved Visibility and Reporting
Workflow automation provides enhanced visibility into the status of tasks, bottlenecks, and overall process performance. Real-time tracking and reporting features allow stakeholders to monitor progress, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions. This increased visibility leads to better accountability, transparency, and optimized workflows.
By leveraging the benefits of workflow automation, organizations can achieve operational excellence, improve overall productivity, reduce errors, foster collaboration, save time and costs, adapt to changing needs, and gain valuable insights for continuous improvement.
Impact on Customers and User Experiences
It’s not just businesses and employees that benefit from enterprise workflow automation. Customers stand to benefit from the automation as well.
Greater engagement: Customers want easy-to-use, adaptable interfaces. Workflow automation provides quick, efficient service. It can guide customers through a sales process that’s seamless and makes them feel like everything is right at their fingertips.
Efficiency: If we’re honest, human involvement in some interactions and tasks only muddles the process. For simple tasks that don’t require complex thought, workflow automation is a perfect solution.
Consistency: Building customer trust is everything for businesses. Automation helps deliver higher quality with greater consistency. Anyone who comes to a business using workflow automation will get the same level of service every time. Customers always know what to expect.
Better relationships: Workflow automation helps support ongoing customer interaction through scheduled emails and communications. Filling in the communication gap solidifies relationships, and shows the customer they’re valued.
Consumers want to do business with brands that provide enjoyable and efficient interactions. Enterprise workflow automation delivers that experience, which benefits both the customer and the company.
Features to Look For in Workflow Automation Tools
When evaluating workflow automation tools, it’s important to consider what features your organization needs to effectively streamline and optimize workflows.
Workflow Design and Configuration
A good workflow automation tool should provide a user-friendly interface that allows users to easily design and configure workflows. This interface should offer drag-and-drop functionality, pre-built templates, and customizable options to create workflows that match specific business processes.
Integration Capabilities
Integration capabilities enable seamless connectivity with other software systems and applications. Look for tools that offer a wide range of integrations with popular business software such as CRM, ERP, project management, and collaboration tools, as well as APIs for custom integrations.
Task Assignment and Tracking
An effective workflow automation tool should allow for the assignment of tasks to individuals or teams, along with tracking mechanisms to monitor task progress. This means the tool should include features such as automated task assignment, real-time status updates, and visual indicators to easily identify bottlenecks or overdue tasks.
Notifications and Alerts
Notifications and alerts keep users informed about important updates or changes in the workflow. Look for tools that offer customizable notifications via email, SMS, or in-app notifications to ensure prompt action.
Reporting and Analytics
Workflow automation tools should provide robust reporting and analytics capabilities to track key performance indicators and gain insights into process efficiency and productivity. Good reporting and analytics features include customizable reports, dashboards, and analytics features to measure and optimize workflows.
Security and Compliance
As workflow automation involves handling sensitive data and critical business processes, security and compliance features are crucial. Choose tools that offer data encryption, access controls, user authentication, audit logs, and compliance with industry standards.
Scalability and Flexibility
A good workflow automation tool should be able to accommodate growing business needs and scale as the organization expands. Look for tools that can handle a large number of workflows and users without compromising performance. Additionally, consider the flexibility of the tool in terms of customization and adaptability to different business processes.
Using Boomi for Workflow Automation
When it comes to enterprise workflow automation, there’s no substitute for seamless integration. It’s why the largest companies turn to an iPaaS for intelligent connectivity and automation between platforms, programs, and data systems. They’re also turning to robust tools that enhance the broad capabilities of rule-based automation.
The cloud-native unified Boomi AtomSphere Platform provides connectivity and automation. Boomi Flow automates workflows, so businesses can immediately deliver the user engagement that people expect today.
With Boomi Flow, businesses can consistently meet and exceed the expectations of their customers through simplified business operations while also reducing the manual work for employees. Businesses that embrace enterprise workflow automation through Boomi Flow stand to significantly enhance their productivity and improve customer relationships.
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