Reduce the burden of manual tasks by adopting workflow automation in 2023. let employers take a sigh of relief from the overburdening repetitive tasks that hinder their productivity. A significant part of the business could be automated. According to directors and CXOs, a company can automate its processes by up to 60%. Moreover, 58% of managers estimate that 60% of business processes can be automated.
What is Workflow Automation?
Workflow Automation allows the completion of tasks by using the software. Businesses can use software to streamline, design, automate, and process tasks. The prime goal of the software is to reduce human errors and improve the speed of the work by automating all the repetitive tasks.
Technology has transformed the ways human beings perform tasks. They no longer perform things as before. There is a huge transformation from the era of the industrial revolution to the development of web 3.0. Technological innovation has brought about new tools and software that bring practical improvement to work. Workflow automation has simplified the activities of humans through software. Now the task can be carried out more easily with consistency. The workload for manual tasks shortens. It allows the companies to focus on more value-adding activities.
Workflow Automation Examples
There are several tasks that the business can automate. Let’s talk about some of them.
• When new employees are onboard, an automated email can be sent to welcome them and fill out the new hire
paperwork.
• The work is forwarded to the appropriate employee.
• Alerts are generated when a task is in progress or about to finish. It helps in defining the status of the job.
• In case of approval requests, notifications generate.
Problem With Manual Workflows
• It is rightly said that small things lead to big disasters. Such is the case with manual workflows. The tiny and identified
problems can accumulate into significant complications. A business needs to do honor to its system if it still uses manual workflows.
• The employees are using the inefficient system until an error strikes. The issues include data entry errors, and the
approval system needs to be faster.
• This slow processing causes a delay with a higher chance of human errors. The labor costs go sky-high.
• In addition to that, the manual process is short of accountability measures. There is a higher probability of losing the
paperwork. Once lost, it cannot be traced easily, leading to a bigger problem.
• All these problems affect the credibility of the business. Given these manual malfunctions, the company encounters
customer dissatisfaction and unhappy staff.
Benefits of Workflow Automation
Workflow automation allows the simplification of repetitive schedules for predictive tasks. Workflow automation revolutionizes business and comes with immense benefits. Due to the benefits of workflow automation, most business leaders are interested in it. Workflow automation can speed up the business and cut costs simultaneously.
Workflow Automation Increases Productivity
Productivity is an essential aspect of any business. The true success of a business can be known by its productivity. A company must save time to work on value-adding activities rather than wasting time on repetitive tasks. Employees are the asset of any business, and if they keep on working on something draining, they will get bored. This hinders their productivity. Therefore, it is essential to save them from such tedious tasks. Automating these tasks allows them to focus more on being creative.
Workflow Automation Saves Time
A study by Gartner shows that accounting teams spend 20% of their time on manual work. This time could be input into being productive by automating the system. Employees’ time on repetitive tasks needs to be inclusive of adequate time. This time will account for wastage.
Manual information can lead to a lot of blunders. For instance, manual information may have a handwriting mistake. The employee might need to correct a mistake while doing the same calculations repeatedly. Repetitive tasks become exhausting. Employers tend to finish them as soon as possible and end up making a mistake. Workflow automation nullifies all the data entry errors that humans can make. One of the most significant importance of automation is that the data gets on multiple platforms simultaneously. There is no need to update all the spreadsheets.
Find mistakes in automation software, the company can save money for a long time. The outdated legacy systems make the manual work cost a lot. Its deduction will help in saving money. By automating workflow, the business can save money spent on fixing mistakes. Therefore, an automated system comes with multiple money benefits simultaneously.
Handling documentation is a rigorous task; employers spend a lot of time moving their files and documents from the starting point to the destination.
There is more risk of errors coupled with wastage of time. Digitizing the process provides the solution. The request is sent to the proper authority as soon as the first step of the process is taken. The approval will also take little time as constant reminders are sent to the approvers.
Workflow automation allows the autofill of data for the forms that need information. The process is authentic, as auto-validation cannot produce any inaccurate data. This saves time, and the process becomes faster, which would otherwise be impossible in manual documentation.
Organizations report that it would take more than ten days to approve a manual contract process as multiple parties need to approve it. However, the approvals are sent to the authorized approvers by custom logic using workflow optimization. Statistics show the faster speed of the process. Business leaders believe workflow automation can save them 30 hours each month.
Workflow Automation Steps
There are five steps for workflow automation.
1. Identifying repetitive task
2. Define business goals.
3. Selecting the workflow automation solution
4. Training the users
5. Measure KPI to improve.
Identifying Repetitive Task
The first step in automating the business is to identify the repetitive tasks. The best way is to draw a visual representation of the workflow to help understand the system. After understanding the workflow, the business can now list the related tasks.
It will lead to creating an ideal process that helps automate the system, including the stakeholders and the employers involved in those tasks is essential.
After having complete exposure to the manual work of the business, it is easy to define the business goals. It will help the company set its priorities that shift from neglecting those tasks acquired that are not contributing to the business’s productivity. That means repetitive tasks are automated while the business can focus on more productive tasks.
Selecting The Workflow Automation Solution
After defining the business goals, the organization must decide on the right workflow automation solution. The business must consider the most appropriate tool that fits the business right among the great tools.
The ideal solution would be to filter out two or three of the best software and then study them in detail to get insights into their pros and cons. User-friendliness and easy navigation are the attributes of the best automation workflow.
Abandoning the manual process and adopting the automated workflow must be defined in clear steps to speed up the process. The next step is to train the users to use it. Involving the end users is mandatory.
After successfully running the automated system, it is essential to attain feedback and fix the shortcomings. Once a new system is in use, it becomes necessary to know it’s working to remove the possible milestones. It could be possible by measuring the Key Performance Indicators.
Workflow Automation with Microsoft Power Automate
• Power Automate is yet another software that helps to automate standard business processes.
• Power Automate aims to boost the business’s productivity by allowing every employee to use local drag-on-drop tools to automate processes. Multiple templates, Al assistance, and prebuilt connectors help do repetitive tasks.
• This system lets the employee who is not a developer create an app. It will eventually boost the confidence of the non-
developer employees.
• Microsoft power automates the product of the Microsoft family that helps businesses automate their processes. It can
connect multiple applications or any other business that wants to integrate. The company has the right to develop its
connectivity solutions.
• Power automation allows the creation of different customized apps with low code that enable actions to boost their
productivity. Various automation tasks can start with minimum coding.
Microsoft PowerApps Platform
Microsoft allows the development of power apps that align with the business’s requirements. The best part of this advancement is that the company can optimize its data source to build an app without acquiring the services of an app developer. Microsoft Power platform includes all the tools that help in digitizing the business. The tools include Power BI, Power automate, and Power Apps Development.
Automating workflow is a simple process. Automating workflows helps simplify processes. Business gets the chance to design them in such a way that they improve the existing processes. Automating workflow helps improve the tasks managed manually by the employees. Its automation gains many benefits, including efficiency, accuracy, productivity, accountability, audibility, and job satisfaction
