Top 5 Benefits of Process Automation

If, as a business owner, you're considering digitizing a process or workflow, you've probably reached the point where the current inefficiency is no longer workable. Errors in, for example, a registration, communication, or control process lead to various problems. It may be that a lot of time is needed to fix the errors, colleagues are saddled with incorrect data, or even customers become dissatisfied. Automating repetitive or time-consuming processes can offer a solution here. Below we discuss 5 benefits of automating processes.

Automating with applications

A workflow application is a software application that automates a specific process. These processes, also known as workflows, are usually business-related, but in fact this can be any process for which a series of steps can be automated through software. Every department has different needs, but everyone can benefit from a workflow application. Sales departments, for example, could automate sales contracts, HR could automate the employee onboarding process, and Production could manage the various inspection forms of a production line through a single application. Organizations that have made their processes more efficient through an application experience several business benefits. Below we highlight a few of these benefits:

✓ Time & cost reduction

It's fairly obvious but too important not to mention. As is well known, performing tasks manually costs unnecessarily much time. Think, for example, of retyping a paper form. These tasks are often carried out linearly by people, which creates a certain degree of error-proneness. Digitizing such a process allows you to reduce or even eliminate the time spent on repetitive actions. This means daily work gets done faster and employees can spend more time on other tasks.

✓ Create insight

If data isn't collected correctly or structurally, that information isn't reliable or available. Retrieving information and streamlining processes becomes a lot harder as a result. By automatically collecting data, you create the ability to make decisions based on correct data. For in-depth analysis capabilities, you can, for example, use a business intelligence tool like Qlik.

✓ One version of the truth

Automating business processes provides one version of the truth. Everyone knows who's responsible and what the next steps are. Perhaps even more important is that no one has to remember to tell someone else that it's their turn to complete a task. In an automated workflow, subsequent tasks are automatically triggered, and the person responsible for a task is informed about the action expected of them. So it's not possible to miss a step in a workflow application. For every action or task, it can be traced back who handled it, when, and which task.

✓ Less risk & administrative errors

Automated processes result in fewer administrative errors because manual data processing is (partly) eliminated. The chance of human error during the data entry steps of the process is minimized. In addition, connections can be made with current systems, so you can be sure that the correct data is being used.

✓ User access

With a workflow application, access to specific features, pages, or for example management information can easily be restricted per user. This way, an employee, for example, only gets access to a specific part of the entire process. This way the process is safeguarded and everyone only sees the information relevant to them. This is also very handy if an employee is involved in multiple workflows. That way they can provide input to multiple workflows within a single application, without it becoming a maze of irrelevant information.

Example of process automation

The image above shows a simple example of a workflow automation. At production companies it still regularly happens that structural checks need to be filled in on various forms. The completed forms are brought to the supervisor at the end of each shift, who then files them or manually retypes them into one of the systems. This situation is workable until the production line grows larger. When it grows and there are at least 30 employees on the production line 24/7, this repetitive and time-consuming work becomes too much. With an average of 3 shifts a day and 2 forms filled in per employee, this adds up considerably. The organization can save by digitizing this manual process, as shown in the situation below.

Ready to start automating processes yourself?

Which processes can be automated and which benefits such an application would deliver differs per organization. Curious what the effects of a workflow application could be for your organization? Then fill in your details below and we'll get in touch with you to see which benefits (and ROI!) automating processes could bring for your organization.

Written by Jasper Koenraad,
Account Manager