What is workflow automation? Workflow automation lets business owners use digital tools and programs to manage routine tasks without frequent human oversight.
Taking care of routine tasks can be time-consuming for businesses of all sizes.
Workflow automation aims to eliminate the stress of completing those tasks while freeing employees to do more valuable work. But before you can start finding ways to improve workflow, it’s helpful to understand exactly what workflow automation is. Let’s take a closer look.
Jump to:
Workflow automation might sound overly complicated, but its goal is to relieve stress from day-to-day operations. It works by letting a digital tool or program take on the tasks that your team ordinarily needs to handle.
A quick overview of how workflow automation:
Think of workflow automation as a customizable system that’s useful for businesses of all sizes and at all stages of growth and development.
Once you’ve signed up for a workflow automation tool, you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and automate your very first business process. We’re going to walk through six steps to make this happen.
Here are the steps you’ll want to take to automate your workflows.
Once you automate your first workflow, you’ll notice several different business processes you could streamline. Automated workflows can help across different departments in just about every sector, including human resources, finance, marketing, and more. However, to understand how it could benefit your company, it’s helpful to see how automating workflows can help businesses in more true-to-life scenarios.
We’ve rounded up several common workflows that can easily be automated. This list is not exhaustive, but it’ll get you started and highlight all the ways automation can save you time and hassle so you can focus on growing your complex business.
Automated workflow systems can streamline the customer service experience for both team members and your customers. The process makes it easier to send help tickets to the appropriate agent based on the concerns or requests expressed in the ticket. Depending on the system you use, it can also ensure that customers receive automated email updates for their requests.
Tracking your customers throughout their buying journeys can be tough, but workflow automation can help take the legwork out of the process. With the right systems, you can create automatic email prompts to encourage customers to return to the site and complete their purchase if they leave items in their cart.
You can also analyze leads and assign them to specific sales representatives based on your reps’ skill sets and knowledge of each lead's interests. For example, you can do all of this within Mailchimp, which can be integrated into Intuit Enterprise Suite.
The goal is to close deals, but the right automated workflows can also improve customers’ buying experiences.
Running out of products when you least expect it and tracking all of your backstock manually can take a major toll on your gross margins and bottom line. Your team has to invest hours in inventory management, and that’s hours they could better serve your business in other ways.
Workflow automation lets you track inventory levels, receive stock level alerts for items that are low, and monitor the replenishment process. And you’ll be able to do it with minimal human oversight.
Having a solid social media presence can help keep customers engaged and coming back for more. However, managing different channels, posting different content, and tracking the performance of your posts takes time.
Workflow automation can help analyze customer sentiment to see what your followers think of your brand. It can also help you monitor industry trends and schedule future posts across all of your key platforms automatically.
Accounting tasks can take time, and if you’re trying to do everything on your own without the help of a dedicated payroll and accounting team, it can take away from your ability to do other tasks. Accounting automation takes the stress out of those routine tasks.
Once set up, the workflow will run most of your daily accounting efforts on its own without forcing you to oversee every step of the process. Even better, automation can help whether you’re worried about accounting for a single business or have multiple subsidiaries and need to implement multi-entity accounting processes to track the performance of each organization.
Workflow automation is a useful tool that businesses can use to improve efficiency, especially if you are setting up automation as part of your enterprise resource planning system. Here are a few things you can do to set your business up for success from the beginning:
As long as you monitor your workflows and are willing to make changes as needed, you’ll set yourself up for long-term success.
Keep track of your system’s processes and progress as you implement workflow automation. The more information you have, the easier it will be to make changes on the fly so systems can continue working properly.
Choosing the right workflow automation tools can dramatically impact your experience. Here’s what to consider when you’re looking for a system that can meet your needs:
You may need to try different tools to find the best choice for your business’s needs.
Automated workflows can be a powerful tool for growing and complex businesses, especially when combined with a powerful suite like Intuit Enterprise Suite. They help you spend less time on repetitive, manual tasks and more time on the responsibilities that move the needle for your business.
Disclaimer: Intuit Assist and certain other AI features and functionalities are currently available at no additional cost to certain QuickBooks users. Pricing, terms, conditions, special features, and service options are subject to change without notice. Intuit reserves the right to discontinue the feature at any time for any reason in its sole and absolute discretion.
Disclaimer: This content is for information purposes only and the information provided should not be considered legal, accounting, or tax advice or a substitute for obtaining such advice specific to your business. Additional information and exceptions may apply. Applicable laws may vary by state or locality. No assurance is given that the information is comprehensive in its coverage or that it is suitable for dealing with a customer’s particular situation. Intuit Inc. does it have any responsibility for updating or revising any information presented herein. Accordingly, the information provided should not be relied upon as a substitute for independent research. Intuit Inc. cannot warrant that the material contained herein will continue to be accurate, nor that it is completely free of errors when published. Readers should verify statements before relying on them.
Call Sales: 1-877-683-3280
