7 advantages to automating your workflow
Workflow automation allows you and your employees to save time on administrative and repetitive tasks, so they can focus on more important business goals.
In addition, automating your workflow helps you avoid the issues associated with manual work, such as human error.
Many stages of workflows can be automated to speed up processes and cut back on costs. Developing an automated workflow for repetitive, laborious tasks, such as customer communication, can help your business grow. Automation can be applied to many different tasks while providing you with detailed record-keeping that's error-free.
About 67 percent of companies now see a positive return on their automation investment within 12 months, and 86 percent of employees say automation helps them do their work more efficiently. Here are the benefits of workflow automation.
| Advantage | In short |
|---|---|
| 1. Speeds up task management | Fewer bottlenecks, faster completion, less manual coordination |
| 2. Reduces labor costs | Smaller teams get more done with fewer wasted hours |
| 3. Reduces errors | Automation doesn't misread or mistype data |
| 4. Streamlines approvals | Documents route and get signed without the chasing |
| 5. Improves customer relationships | Faster, more accurate responses |
| 6. Happier employees | Less burnout from repetitive tasks |
| 7. Scalable | Gets easier to extend the longer you use it |
No. 1: Speeds up task management
Whether you're a SCRUM master or simply need help managing your task load to promote a better work/life balance, automation speeds up the management and completion of tasks. For example, without automation, a software development team might not be able to manage projects as effectively or meet deadlines. In this case, a workforce management system can automate insights to help team leaders identify bottlenecks and come up with creative solutions to advanced problems.
Not only can developers benefit from automation, but so can anyone. Does anyone in your organization perform data entry? Automation can automatically populate forms and spreadsheets from databases to ensure correct data. Not only will this save someone time, but it also prevents the risk of someone typing in the wrong number or letter.
Workflow automation itself has also evolved. Where older tools mostly just moved data from one place to another on a schedule, more automations today are built around triggers, real-time events like a form submission or a completed purchase, that kick off the right action the moment it happens rather than on the next batch run. Our explainer on what a trigger is in marketing automation breaks down how that works. DailyStory's own marketing automation platform is built around this same trigger-driven approach for customer communication specifically.
No. 2: Reduces labor costs
Automating essential tasks can lower costs because it reduces administrative tasks and repetitive tasks, ultimately decreasing the number of hours needed to perform those tasks. Not only that but digitizing documents can help boost productivity while automatic validation ensures incorrect data can't move through the workflow and prevent problems later on.
For example, if someone enters a wrong number, the problem might not be discovered until it's too late, which means hours upon hours of finding the error and fixing it. Automation prevents this by ensuring the data is correct at every stage of the process. Instead of letting the wrong letter throw your employees on a quest to find the right information and remedy the problem, you can save on labor costs by having smaller teams that can get more work done. Companies that automate report an average reduction in operational costs of more than 12 percent, according to Salesforce research.
No. 3: Reduces errors
As we've already mentioned, human error is always an accident, but it can be pricey. Manual processing means just one employee can throw off the entire workflow, no matter what you're doing. For example, suppose you're performing equipment testing, which requires employees to write down numbers and other types of information. In that case, the person who must type up the information can easily misread a calculation.
Automation can't misread calculations, especially when you use software that integrates with all of your processes to ensure every number and letter is in its proper place. Businesses that automate error-prone manual processes report error reductions of up to 80 percent. Errors lead to delays, unhappy partners and customers, and even compliance issues, so the fewer, the better.
No. 4: Streamlines approvals
If your business has a long approval process for anything, including purchasing products, then you already know how long it can take for a request to get approved. When using a manual approval process, staff members must deliver documentation to approvers and chase them down when they don't get a response.
Using automation can make the approval process quick and painless. It can send documentation to the right person based on logic while allowing approvers to sign documents digitally to prevent delays.
No. 5: Improve customer relationships
Automating workflows can help you quickly respond to customers with accurate information. With fewer errors and delays associated with automation, you can enhance the customer experience with products and services that can be promptly delivered.
Not only that, but automated workflows can help you quickly address customer concerns. As you know, customers expect a quick reply when they have a concern. To solve this problem, you can set up an alert for your customer service representatives that alerts them when a new issue needs their attention as soon as possible.
No. 6: Happier employees
Happy employees are more productive employees, making them more likely to help your business succeed. Sitting at a desk doing the same tasks over and over can lead to burnout and fatigue. Instead of relying on your employees to do manual, repetitive tasks, you can automate their workflows and allow them to do more exciting tasks every day.
By saving them time on the boring tasks that are just a part of the job, they'll be more excited to come into work to focus on achieving business goals.
No. 7: Scalable
Workflow automation requires you to understand everything you can do with it to make your business more efficient. However, the time you spend learning about automation can help you save time in the future because it's easily scalable.
As you know, every department has different responsibilities and needs, but all of them can benefit from automation. For example, accounting can automate invoicing while HR automates paid time off requests.
As soon as you design and implement a workflow, you can scale it and add more tasks to it. In addition, automation will become easier the longer you use it, which means finding and fixing issues within your business will, too.
If you're still using manual processes, then it's time to look into all of the different ways automation can help. Doing all of your work manually can cause bottlenecks and inefficiencies. These inefficiencies can force your employees to spend too much time on tasks that automation could be doing.
Manual processes are slow and require more people and more time. Not only that, but you can easily lose important documentation. You also can leave yourself open to human error, which can be detrimental.
Automating workflows allows you to do more in less time with fewer errors. With automation, your business can optimally function. Plus, your employees will be happy to spend more time on the parts of their jobs that matter. And on the marketing side specifically, automation pays for itself quickly: marketing automation alone returns an average of $5.44 for every $1 spent, according to Nucleus Research.
Matt Casadona has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Psychology. Matt is passionate about marketing and business strategy and enjoys San Diego life, traveling, and music.