A Developer's Guide to Intelligent Workflow Automation

Whether an organization is enterprise-level or just starting out, manual tasks can burrow into all departments like a parasite. You may not even notice they're there until they become critical process bottlenecks or efficiency-draining hold-ups. What once worked fine can quickly become frustrating with repetitive tasks, mistakes, and delays.

Although more than 50% of organizational work today is automatable, many organizations still delay adopting automation and wait until inefficiencies become too costly to ignore. Relying too much on manual work wastes time and costs money, impacts customer satisfaction, and stalls business growth.

Intelligent workflow automation steps in by combining automation with the power of AI, allowing your organization to streamline and optimize complex processes, reduce manual effort, and scale operations effortlessly.

Intelligent Workflow Automation: What it is and Core Components

Intelligent workflow automation uses AI and ML to streamline complex workflows. It consists of three main components:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI allows systems to analyze large datasets, recognize patterns, and make data-driven decisions.
• Low-Code Platforms: Low-code platforms enable teams to design and implement automated workflows with minimal coding knowledge. These platforms provide features like user-friendly drag-and-drop tools, pre-built templates, and seamless integrations with existing systems.
• Robotic Process Automation (RPA): RPA performs routine tasks governed by rules such as data entry, approval of requisitions, status updates, etc. 

Industries such as finance, healthcare, retail, and manufacturing are already leveraging intelligent workflow automation to optimize operations and deliver better customer experiences. For example, a retail company accepting online orders can use intelligent workflow automation to improve its operations in a few ways: 

• AI models can predict stock demands based on previous sales data and customer trends.
• Low-code platforms can quickly build and adjust workflows for order processing, including managing order confirmations, inventory updates, and notifications.
• RPA can automate repetitive tasks, such as sending order confirmations and updating shipping statuses.

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Why Intelligent Workflow Automation is an Advantage for Your Business

Intelligent workflow automation comes with benefits for both business and user levels.

Business Benefits

Automating repetitive, rule-based tasks allows businesses to:

• Significantly reduce errors and ensure that processes are consistent.
• Handle increased workloads without hiring additional staff, making it easier to scale operations as the business grows.
• Analyze data in real time and provide organizations with valuable insights to make more informed decisions and optimize processes.
• Ensure workflows follow predefined rules and regulations, reducing the risk of human error and improving adherence to compliance standards.

User Benefits

Intelligent process automation supports users, too, by: 

• Freeing time for employees to focus on higher-value work that requires creativity and strategic thinking.
• Reducing the burden on individual team members, improving job satisfaction, and reducing burnout.
• Completing tasks faster and more efficiently, improving overall output.
• Adjusting workflows quickly, ensuring processes stay aligned with changing business needs.
• Improving team communication to reduce bottlenecks. 

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3 Use Case Examples of Intelligent Workflow Automation

1. Access Management Requests

If a team member requires temporary permissions, intelligent workflow automation can allow users to easily send requests through a platform like Slack, manage the approval workflow, and grant the necessary permissions.

2. Organize Your Emails 

Intelligent workflow automation streamlines team communication, preventing important emails from being overlooked. For example, AI models can analyze incoming emails, categorize them based on content, and notify users through channels like Slack and MS Teams.

3. Prepare Data for Analysis

Another excellent workflow automation use case is automating data ingestion and processing tasks. This approach ensures data is readily available for analysis. For example, you can set up a workflow to monitor an AWS S3 bucket for new data files. When a new file is uploaded, the workflow processes the data and stores it in a database.

How to Implement Intelligent Workflow Automation in 7 Simple Steps

Intelligent workflow automation is not easy and requires a great deal of planning, implementation, and optimization. Here are the steps to fully automate your company's workflow.

Step 1: Identify and Prioritize Processes to Optimize

Start by identifying processes that are repetitive, time-consuming, and prone to errors. For example:

• Processes like receiving orders, updating inventory, and sending shipping notifications.
• Tasks like document verification, account creation, and onboarding emails. 

Actionable Tips

• Use the Pareto principle: Focus on automating the 20% of processes that create 80% of the inefficiencies.
• Rank by ROI: Assess the time and cost for each process to prioritize effectively.
• Involve stakeholders: Work with department leads to identify the most pressing bottlenecks.
• Review metrics: Measure task frequency and manual effort to determine which processes will deliver immediate results.

Step 2: Map and Document Workflows

Before implementing intelligent process automation, map the existing workflows step by step. It helps to identify inputs, outputs, dependencies, and bottlenecks to create a clear blueprint of the automation process. For example, an invoice processing flow can be mapped like this:

1. Receive invoice
2. Validate data (e.g., amount, vendor details)
3. Approve payment
4. Update accounting systems
5. Send payment confirmation

Actionable Tips

• Use visualization tools: Use tools like Lucidchart or Microsoft Visio to create clear workflow diagrams.
• Include key stakeholders: Engage team members who handle the process daily to ensure accuracy.
• Identify bottlenecks: Highlight inefficiencies or delays in the current process.
• Review end-to-end flow: Map processes from start to finish, including inputs, decisions, and outcomes.

Step 3: Define Automation Objectives

Defining what you want to accomplish with intelligent process automation is important. You need to align automation objectives with broader business goals to maximize value. However, each organization may have different objectives, such as:

• Reducing errors
• Saving time
• Cutting costs
• Improving customer experience

For instance, when automating an order management workflow, you can set a goal to cut order shipping time by 50% and provide inventory counts in real time.

Actionable Tips

• Set SMART goals: Ensure objectives are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
• Align with KPIs: Define success metrics such as reduced error rates, faster task completion, or cost savings.
• Focus on business impact: Prioritize objectives that address critical pain points.
• Track progress: Continuously monitor the objectives to measure how automation improves efficiency.

Step 4: Choose the Right Platform

Next, you need to select the right automation platform for your requirements. It's a good idea to select easy-to-use tools like low--code platforms, which offer high flexibility and scalability and allow teams to build and customize workflows with minimal coding experience.

For example, AutoKitteh is a great low-code workflow automation and orchestration platform tailored for developers. Simply by writing the business logic, you can create intelligent workflow automation for unlimited organizational requirements. AutoKitteh takes care of everything under the hood, such as scalability, secrets management, and monitoring.

Actionable Tips

• Evaluate integration capabilities: Ensure the platform integrates with your existing tools and systems.
• Prioritize user-friendly tools: Choose low-code platforms with drag-and-drop interfaces to speed up adoption.
• Test for scalability: Select platforms that can scale with your organization as it grows.

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Step 5: Test and Optimize the Workflows

Start by running thorough tests on a small scale before full deployment. This approach allows you to gather real-world feedback and refine automation without impacting business operations.

Actionable Tips

• Simulate real scenarios: Run tests under real-world conditions to ensure workflows operate smoothly.
• Track KPIs: Measure performance metrics like task duration, error rates, and success rates.
• Iterate and improve: Use feedback to make incremental improvements before scaling.

Step 6: Deploy the Automation

Once testing is complete, roll out the intelligent workflow automation across the organization. This stage involves careful monitoring to ensure the automation performs as expected and delivers the desired benefits.

Actionable Tips

• Gradual deployment: Roll out automation in stages to reduce risks and allow for adjustments.
• Communicate rollout plans: Keep stakeholders informed about deployment timelines and goals.
• Establish monitoring metrics: Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to track the effectiveness of the automation. The KPIs may include time saved, error reduction, or cost savings.
• Performance analysis: Regularly analyze the monitoring data to identify areas for improvement and optimization, such as fine-tuning the automation rules and adjusting workflows.

Step 7: Train Employees

Provide clear and concise training sessions to help employees understand and manage the new automated workflows. Focus on the benefits of automation, such as saving time on repetitive tasks, improving accuracy, and freeing up bandwidth for higher-value work.

Actionable Tips

• Interactive training: Use workshops or simulations for hands-on learning. 
• Express value: Put as much value and emphasis on automation training as you would for other sessions like phishing awareness. 
• Create resource guides: Develop easy-to-follow manuals, videos, or FAQs for ongoing support.
• Gather feedback: Continuously collect feedback to improve training and workflows further.

Create Any Workflow with AutoKitteh

Intelligent workflow automation is the ultimate driver for your organization's future success. Although creating an automation workflow from scratch can be challenging, selecting the right platform can make your work much easier.

AutoKitteh stands out as an ideal choice for businesses with complex automation requirements. With its serverless architecture, AutoKitteh takes care of infrastructure, scalability, and monitoring so you can focus on building workflows tailored to your needs.

AutoKitteh enables developers to create durable, long-running workflows that automatically resume after failures. It also handles secrets management, authentication, and logging under the hood, simplifying workflow creation without sacrificing power or flexibility.

Try AutoKitteh's capabilities today to future-proof your business operations.