Workflow Automation is a technology that automates tasks. This self-operating technology automates repetitive and manual processes, therefore, saving time and reducing error.

When some tasks are automated, productivity increases because employees have enough time to work on key organisational tasks that help the business to grow. As their output goes up, so does the business revenue. Workflow automation facilitates a smooth workflow, allowing your team to do their jobs better and faster.

Here are some of the business processes where workflow automation can be applied.

Hiring process

An automated hiring tool can significantly reduce the time spent by your HR team sifting through a bunch of applications. The tool can help them to quickly identify the best candidates by searching for specific keywords.

Once you have recruited the right candidates, an HR automation software can enter your new hires’ personal information in just a few minutes. 

Creating tasks

Workflow automation can ensure that your team does not miss tasks, especially those sent by email which tend to be forgotten. You can set up an automated workflow with a task management system that notifies the person who is been assigned to the task and checks back with them for updates.

To manage tasks and know what each team member is working on, we use the ClickUp Slack integration 

 Social media scheduling

You can automate repetitive tasks such as sending emails and posting social media updates. With a marketing automation software like Hootsuite, your marketing team can schedule their entire social media calendar and focus on other tasks.

Employee help desk support

Chatbots are becoming more intelligent and they don’t have to be limited to customer requests. An employee help desk chatbot can answer your employees’ internal requests such as leave policies, wifi passwords and the channel of communication, among others. 

atSpoke, a software that uses a smart bot to answer internal requests can be integrated to your Slack workspace where your employees can ask questions. The software uses artificial intelligence to draw insights from each request so that it can answer future questions faster.

Generating invoices

Creating and sending the same invoice periodically can be tedious. If your finance team periodically bills clients for the same amount, they can send the invoices using an automated invoice software. The software can also auto reconcile all the accounts, balances, paid and unpaid invoices. This saves your finance team the time of maintaining a register where they have to manually identify defaulters, active & inactive customers, the amount received and the amount pending.

Our finance department uses workflow automation by only allowing invoices to be sent through electronic means like emails. This ensures that they are imported and easily categorised, hence, cutting down on errors and providing a shorter turnaround time between submission and payment.

The other way workflow automation is applied in our finance department is through an automated payroll system which makes calculating our tax obligations easier and ensures that accurate wages are paid out to each employee.

Managing leads

Your sales can benefit from workflow automation by efficiently following up on leads. 

An automated workflow system can filter customer inquiries on your website, populate your CRM system with the relevant information, then route the lead to your sales team for follow-up. The system can also assist your sales team with automated follow-up emails. To better manage your leads, the automated system can transfer the created leads to an emailing list in Mailchimp.

Workflow automation in the sales department makes it easier for your sales team to move the lead through the sales funnel until they become your customer.

Leave requests

Rather than an employee emailing their manager or filling out leave request forms, they can easily request for leave in an automated system. Once the leave request has been approved, the system will notify other employees so that they don’t take the same time off.

We use TimeBot for Slack to manage time-off requests right from our Slack workspace.

These are some of the examples of workflow automation that makes work so much easier. Taking time to evaluate your processes will reveal the repetitive tasks that can be automated. Investing in workflow automation software poses huge benefits to both your organisation and your employees. 

We can help your business to drive growth through workflow automation, consult with us!