An Introduction to Process Automation

Scratch the surface of every business and you will find manual and repetitive tasks that prevent a business from operating efficiently and reaching their potential. Organisations can use Process automation as a way for removing or reducing the burden of these manual and repetitive tasks across their customer facing and back-office operations

Process automation isn’t just about achieving efficiencies in large operations, it is also a powerful platform for businesses of all sizes to achieve what was previously impossible manually. Without the associated costs and barriers of manual operations, Automation can deliver new services levels, unlock new workforce potential and completely new services in ways and scales not possible manually.

50% of all business processes can and should be automated.

McKinsey 2020

55% - 65%

Automation delivers 55%-65% savings for onshore operations and 25%-35% for offshore operations – HfS Research

85% ...

of an average professional’s time in financial operations is spent Transaction processing – Aiim 2019.

35% ...

of Knowledge Workers’ time is spent every year on manual and repetitive administrative tasks – ITchronicles.

Components of Process Automation

Irrespective of the method of automation or specific technology used, Process Automation solutions typically include the following core components and capabilities. These are used to automate tasks and processes across a business and throughout the information lifecycle.

Click the image to enlarge it.

Components of Process Automation

Methods of Process Automation

The various methods for automating business processes and tasks are constantly evolving as new technologies such as cloud computing and AI emerge and are incorporated. Over time the difference between various approaches to process automation is blurring as they incorporate new ideas and technologies from one another.

Today, there are essentially 4 distinct and separate approaches to automating business processes & tasks:

Upgrade your core business management system - ie ERP

Upgrade your core business management system – ie ERP

Business Process Management (BPM) Solution

Implement a Business Process Management (BPM) Solution

Implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Bespoke Scripting and Application Development

Bespoke Scripting and Application Development

Find out more about these different methods of process automation here

The Benefits of Process Automation

It’s a common misconception that Automation is just about cost reductions, there are actually 9 major benefits of Process Automation:

Save Money

Lower direct operational costs & overheads

Faster Performances & Operational Excellence

Unlock workforce potential and retain the best talent

 Unlock opportunities for new business and customer satisfaction possibilities

Responsiveness & Business Agility

Simplify & remove operational complexity

Reduce risk and improve compliance, governance & end to end control

More informed, Data-lead decisions faster

Greater Customer Satisfaction and a more sustainable business

Find out how Process Automation delivers these benefits here.

Which Business Processes & Tasks to Automate? –  Common Tasks & Processes to Automate.

McKinsey 2019 estimates that about half of all business processes can be automated. However, some process & tasks are more suitable and easier to automate that others.  As a general rule of thumbs the easiest tasks and processes to automate have the following characteristics:

Repetitive and rule-based tasks

enterprise

Anything involving structured data

big-team

Manual tasks that need 2-3 full-time employees or more

Tasks/processes prone to human error

You can find a list of most common tasks and processes to automate here. The list isn’t exhaustive and we also specialise in custom task and process automation projects. So if your task or process isn’t listed, give us a call or contact us and we will advise.

Our Process & Task Automation Solutions

Kofax RPA

Kofax RPA

opentext generic

OpenText

hyland onbase

Hyland OnBase

ProcessFlows Intelligent Automation & Process as a Service

ProcessFlows Intelligent Automation & Process as a Service

ProcessFlows AP Automation as a Service

ProcessFlows AP Automation as a Service

Process Discovery Assessments

Process Discovery Assessments

M-files

M-Files

abbyy flexicapture

Abbyy FlexiCapture

kofax readsoft

Kofax Readsoft Solutions

ancora

Ancora

Hyland Brainware

Hyland Brainware

Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365

Our Customers

From global enterprises and government departments, to local small businesses, here are some of our customers that have partnered with us, using Process Automation to transform their business with digital and automated operations. Click the logos to download the Case Studies.

To read all of our success stories, visit our Case Studies page.

Why ProcessFlows for Process Automation?

We have a 35 year track record of success & expertise in Task & Process Automation, Digital workflows as well as Hybrid Automation and managed services.

Our structured & robust transformation approach based on partnership and supporting every step of the journey – from creating a vision and plan through to project managed implementation & transition to  continuous improvement & support.

Accredited end to end expertise from Business Process Analysts, Solutions Architects and Project Managers, through to Implementation Engineers and Multi-tiered Support.

We are independent. We partner with the leading automation solutions on the market such as Kofax, Hyland, Opentext, M-Files, Microsoft and more. We have also developed our own Intelligent Hybrid Automation and Service platform.

For these reasons and more, ProcessFlows should be your trusted partner to support your business transformation.
Find out more by clicking here.

More Information & How Can We Help?

We offer no-obligation, free of charge assessments and consultations to help you identify the right approach to automation for your organisation. To find out more or to book a consultation, please call +44 (0)1962 835053, email enquiries@processflows.co.uk, or fill in the form below.

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