What is Workflow Automation? Benefits, Guide, Examples, and More

Workflow automation is a method of automating repetitive manual tasks, activities and processes using digital tools and software based on businesses’ defined rules. Workflow automation can be applied across various industries, from automating invoice processing in finance to streamlining customer support through chatbots in service sectors. The ultimate goal is to optimise resources, improve accuracy, save time and costs, and significantly boost organisational productivity, enabling employees to focus on more strategic and creative tasks.

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Examples of workflow automation

Automation in the workflow in not restricted to certain area or department. It spans all functions of your business. Here are some examples of automated workflows that are commonly used across various departments:

HR workflow automation

HR workflow automation reduces the administrative burden on HR teams, enabling them to focus on more strategic initiatives, such as employee development and retention strategies. Tasks like collecting employee documents, sending onboarding emails, scheduling training sessions, and assigning tasks to HR team members can all be automated using workflow automation tools.

Invoice processing

Automation in invoice processing accelerates the entire accounts payable cycle by routing invoices through the approval process based on predefined rules. This eliminates the need for manual data entry, reducing errors and operational bottlenecks. Automated systems flag duplicates and ensure compliance with tax regulations. With efficient tracking and reporting features, workflow automation enables you to gain better control over cash flow and informed financial decisions.

Inventory management

Automating inventory management assist you in monitoring real-time data, predicting demand trends, and triggering automatic replenishment orders to prevent stockouts. These systems help to avoid overstocking, which can result in excess storage costs. Furthermore, by integrating seamlessly with sales and supply chain systems, automated inventory management tools provide a holistic view of inventory, enabling businesses to make informed decisions and improve operational efficiency.

Risk management

Risk management automation tools proactively identify and assess potential vulnerabilities across projects, processes, and systems. By leveraging data analysis and predictive algorithms, these tools flag risks before they escalate. They also generate detailed risk reports, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and reducing the likelihood of human error.

Sales Pipeline

Sales pipeline automated tools can track leads in real-time, assign follow-up tasks to the right sales representatives, and update the status of leads based on customer interactions. They simplify the entire lead management, ensuring a smoother customer acquisition process. Moreover, by providing valuable insights through analytics, these tools enable sales team to prioritise high-value leads and forecast revenue with greater accuracy.

How does workflow automation work?

Workflow automation follows a set of predefined rules and logic to execute tasks, eliminating the need for manual intervention. To better understand how it works, let’s explore an example of an employee onboarding process:

Streamlining job applications automatically  

Workflow automation starts when a candidate applies for a job through your careers page. For example, when an applicant submits their resume and fills out the application form, the system immediately captures their details and creates a record in your applicant tracking system (ATS). This eliminates manual data entry and ensures no qualified candidate slips through the cracks.

Initiating a candidate nurture sequence

After capturing the applicant’s information, the automation system sends an acknowledgment email thanking them for applying. It could also include additional resources, like a guide to the hiring process or company culture, keeping the candidate engaged while they await feedback.

Scheduling an interview

If the candidate moves to the next stage, the workflow triggers an automated email inviting them to schedule an interview using an integrated calendar tool. This eliminates back-and-forth communication and makes the scheduling process seamless for both parties.

Confirming interview details

Once the interview is booked, a follow-up email is automatically sent to confirm the time, date, and format (e.g., virtual or in-person), along with any necessary instructions or links. This ensures clarity and professionalism while minimising miscommunication.

Assigning HR tasks

Behind the scenes, the workflow notifies the HR team and assigns tasks, such as reviewing the candidate’s resume and preparing interview questions. This ensures the HR team is fully informed and ready for the next step.

Personalising candidate engagement

After the interview, automation continues to support the process by sending personalised follow-ups. For example, if the candidate is selected, they receive a pre-designed email with the offer letter and onboarding instructions. If not, they are sent a polite rejection with an invitation to stay connected for future openings.

With this end-to-end workflow, you can understand how automation can simplify the hiring process, saving time for HR teams while creating a positive candidate experience.

Why is automated workflow important for business?

According to our last year Annual Trends report, 50% of manual work is expected to be automated by 2030. This is because workflow automation doesn’t only allow businesses to automate manual tasks but also empower them to reimaging how they can operate to become more agile, resilient, and customer centric. Here are six key benefits of workflow automation that you can enjoy.

Save time and money

Automating tasks like data entry, invoice approval, progress tracking, and report compiling can help you save a significant amount of time and effort. An example is OneAdvanced’s workflow automation tools save customers an average of 3,300 hours annually on administrative tasks. Furthermore, by reducing manual tasks and avoiding human errors, they allow you cut expenses associated with labour and protect your business from huge financial loss.

Deeper visibility and transparency

Leveraging automation in workflows offers a comprehensive view of every stage involved in the project, allowing employees, and stakeholders to monitor advancements, pinpoint obstacles, and know the real-time status of projects. In short, it provides you clarity and visibility of tasks and how tasks are competed.

Better productivity and efficiency

Automated workflows can reduce repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing employees to dedicate their time and efforts to valuable activities and become more productive. Moreover, this strategic approach can enhance the quality of work by minimising human errors and executing work with accuracy and consistency.

Enhanced collaboration and communication

When it comes to improving collaboration and communication within a business, workflow automation plays a critical role. Automated workflows lead to seamless flow of information across departments and teams. In project management, for instance, automated processes can notify team members about task assignments, deadline, and project milestones. This streamlines communications and ensures everyone is on the same page by coordinating among teams and departments.

Engaged workforce

No team or employee wants to be burdened with obsolete technologies or processes, as these can hinder their decision-making ability, reduce efficiency, and breed dissatisfaction. Workflow automation can equip employees with the cutting-edge digital tools to simplify their tasks, enhance their productivity, and increase their engagement and satisfaction.

Satisfied customers

A satisfied and happy customer is the cornerstone of a successful business. By automating work processes, your employees can focus on what truly matters – delivering exceptional results and meeting deadlines with greater efficiency. That way, they can create excellent customer satisfaction. enhance your brand’s credibility, attract new clients and foster long-term relationships.

How can you automate your workflows?

Now that you have deep understanding of what is workflow automation and why it is important for your business, let’s dive into the step-by step process of automating your workflow.

1.  Assess your current workflow

Inefficient workflows, outdated tools, and tedious manual tasks are fundamental causes of poor productivity in the workplace. To address this, analyse your existing workflows and digital systems, identify all the elements involved – such as people, documents, data, systems, applications, and time and gain a complete visibility into the work. Furthermore, if you want to explore the three simple steps on how to analyse your workflows and system, download our eBook today!

2. Map out the process

The next step after analysing your current workflows and identifying blockers is to map out your workflow processes. This involves creating a visual representation of tasks (from initial stage to the final stage) in the form of flowchart or diagram to understand how tasks are being executed and completed. Remember, your aim is to find the bottleneck! By mapping out workflow processes, you can identify inefficiencies and redundancy in the workflow and decide where automation can help in the best possible way to enhance your work efficiency and productivity.

3. Define clear goals and objectives

Now that you know where the slowdowns are, you can’t jump into the automation process straightaway. You need to establish a clear automation goal. Instead of taking business -centric approach and asking yourself questions like “how can automation help your business?”, adopting customer-centric strategy can be a prudent decision. Understand how can automation improve customer experience and make your company a reliable partner for customers. Once you define your goals, communicate the same to your team. They can then put their efforts in the right direction and select automation tools keeping customers at the centre.

4. Choose the right automation software for your needs

Workflow automation is more than just a trend; it’s essential tool for boosting workplace productivity. With wide array of automation software available, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when selecting the right workflow automation software. Therefore, see a solution that not only automates your specific workflows but also integrated smoothly with your existing systems. Additionally, ensure that it is customised to meet your unique needs and is supported by exception customer service.

5. Implement, test and, validate

Rolling out an automation tool all at once is not advisable. Once you have the right workflow automation tool in your toolkit, the next step is to implement it into your task. Remember not to choose the entire project at first. Select a small section of the project where automation is highly required. Thoroughly test and validate the automation to identify any potential issues or errors that may arise before starting a smoother transition for the entire team.

6. Train your workforce

Implementing the right automation tools to streamline your work and enhance productivity will only be worthwhile if your workforce knows how to use them efficiently. Train your employees on how to use workflow automation tools to gain maximum benefits. At OneAdvanced, we believe in continuous learning and help our customers achieve the same. We not only offer digital workflow automation software but also provide necessary resources, guides, tutorial videos, and other essential materials to train and make your employees efficient in fully utilising the new digital tools.

7. Monitor and improve

Your job doesn’t stop here! It’s crucial to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of automation tools and make necessary adjustment if required. Gather the feedback from employees, teams, and departments on the performance of automation tool you have implemented. Collect data related to time required to complete tasks, error rates, cost to execute the task completion, and any extra advantages that automation can offer. Compare the results before and after automation. Finally, note the area of improvements and tweak your systems for further optimisation.

Who benefits from workflow automation?

If you rely on apps or software in your work, workflow automation is a game-changer. No matter the industry, implementing automation can simplify tasks, enhance efficiency, and drive productivity. Here’s a look at how different roles can gain value from adopting workflow automation:

In short, any role that involves repetitive or time-consuming tasks can benefit from workflow automation. This allows employees to focus on more valuable work that requires critical thinking and creativity. Additionally, businesses of all sizes can benefit from workflow automation as it helps them become more efficient and competitive in their industry.

Best practices of workflow automation

To harness the full potential of workflow automation, here are a few best practices you should consider. These can help you to avoid common mistakes and maximise the benefits.

Understand the process completely

Before implementing workflow automation, it’s important to understand the concept of workflow automation in detail. Research and explore different tools and resources available to gain knowledge about how they work and what are their benefits and features. This can help you determine which task you can prioritise to automate and where the benefits can be maximised.  

Avoid overlooking employee training

Though automation can bring efficiency, it’s crucial to make sure that your employees have a clear understanding and are well-trained on how to use new automation tools. This will ensure they utilise them properly and achieve maximum benefits. Furthermore, employee training can also help in smooth adoption of new technology and reduce resistance to change.

Regularly review and update you processes

Automated workflows are not a one-and done deal. They need regular maintenance to ensure they operate at peak efficiency. Regular reviews will help identify areas for improvement and keep your operations in tune with the dynamic business environment. You might discover, for example, new best practices to automate your workflows that were not implemented earlier.

Start with small task then scale up

When it comes to workflow automation, it’s wiser to start with small tasks and then gradually scale up. Identify a few simple, repetitive activities and implement the automation. It’s also important your team to get comfortable with new tools and processes on a smaller scale. As you gain confidence and understanding, you can gradually expand the application across the entire processes.

Automate your workflows with OneAdvanced

At OneAdvanced, we’ve spent years understanding the diverse digital workflow management required within the sectors that we serve. We have developed eight sector-focussed software portfolios that automate your end-to-end processes to enhance the productivity of your employees and clients. Our portfolios encompass Financial Management, Spend Management, Workforce Management, People Management, and Governance & Risk, all underpinned by a resilient cloud platform providing common services for data & analytics, security and AI.

Through these sector-specific portfolios, we are committed to support your digital transformation journey and achieve full potential to success in the digital era. Want to explore the latest insights into technology trends across various areas? Download our Annual Trends Report 2024/25 and get yourselves updated with the latest technological advancements.