As automation superfans, we witness first-hand how it is transforming businesses, but it’s great when this experience is shared by others. We were really excited to read the recent Workato report which is a comprehensive review of their users and how they use automation in their businesses.
Workato is a platform which businesses use to connect their apps using ‘recipes’ or pre-built automations, much like Zapier. Their annual report collects anonymised customer data from over 900 organisations. The results are fascinating and support many of our own experiences, including the fact that you don’t need to be an IT geek to build automated workflows.
They do a deep dive into the types of processes being automated, the job role of the person creating the automation and which department they work for. They include inspiring insights into just how much automation is growing among their client base, and some of the results are astonishing.
Here are some of our favourite takeaways from the report!
How has automation grown since 2020?
Workato describes automation as ‘exploding’ and report that the volume of automated workflows is doubling year-on-year. What’s great is that business users are creating their own automations, rather than IT departments. In fact, over 70% of automations in marketing, sales and customer success teams are being created by the business users themselves.
Overall, the top industries which use automations are hospitality and telecommunications, followed by healthcare and pharma then aerospace and defence. Growth in automations for the top sectors is incredible, with an increase of 857% experienced by healthcare and pharma, and growth of 1518% by hospitality as the industry recovers from lockdowns and travel restrictions.
Which business departments have grown most in their use of automation?
Although automation has grown massively across the board, it’s the Data Ops department which has grown the most, by over 300%. In this department, 39% of automations are built by the business, with the rest built by IT staff.
Other departments which have grown their automations by over 200% in the past year are IT, Sales & Marketing, Finance & Accounting, Human Resources and Customer Support & Operations.
More departments than ever within organisations are building automated processes too. Nearly 30% of businesses have seven departments involved in automations and those with six departments stand at 25%. This is a significant increase in the past year and three times higher than in 2019.
Which are the most popular processes which are being automated?
The top processes being automated are those in the finance departments, under the ‘order to cash’ umbrella. This includes invoicing goods or services, fulfilling orders and delivering goods. It’s not surprising that these workflows are great candidates for automation as they are usually extremely manual and prone to user error.
Data Ops processes such as data warehousing, operations data storage and master data configuration are the most popular for automating, according to Workato.
48% of automated workflows within IT are for IT service management, whose tasks are perfect for automating. Things like managing customer tickets, routing them to the right teams, performing incident management and providing analytics are just a few examples.
Within the sales and marketing departments, the trending tasks for automation include campaign management and lead routing/management. Generating and managing sales contracts and managing the opportunity lifecycle are also big winners in terms of attracting and winning new clients.
Within HR, employee onboarding is the top process for automation, closely followed by recruiting, analytics and payroll. Apps such as Slack are perfect for onboarding remote workers, and DocuSign can be used for tasks such as sending out offer letters for digital signatures.
Within customer service, the types of processes which are most popular for automating include customer support, customer operations and returns/refunds. Customer experience is key, so automatically seeking feedback is a great workflow which can be performed using automation. Another trend is towards automations performed by virtual customer support agents, or chatbots.
What are the top applications used for automations?
When looking across all departments, the top three apps used for automation (globally) by the Workato customers are Salesforce, Slack and Microsoft SQL Server. This just goes to show what an automation powerhouse Salesforce is, for businesses of all sizes.
Other trending apps include Netsuite, Snowflake and Jira.
What does the future look like for business process automation?
We predict that business process automation will continue to skyrocket, and organisations which don’t jump on board simply won’t be able to compete. Scaling your business is so much easier when your teams are automating their manual tasks, and you will be so much more efficient and agile as a result.
It’s vital to be reactive when market conditions change, and with the cost of living squeeze, it’s never been more important to streamline where you can.
We would recommend reading the report in full, and a PDF version is available to download for future reference.
How do I get started with automation?
We have a wealth of information on our website to help you get started with automation. We also have a YouTube channel and free resources such as a 40-page e-book which is a great introduction to business process automation.
As well as our free resources, our chief problem solver, Kelly Goss, has written a book called ‘Automate It with Zapier’, which is available on Amazon. It takes you through everything step-by-step and includes some ready-made templates for various examples so you can get started really quickly.
The book is perfect for new Zapier users as well as seasoned pros. Here are links to Amazon (.co.uk) and Amazon (.com) to get yours now.
Solvaa: Strategy, Solutions, Support, Education
UK-based Solvaa® is a systems, process and automation consultancy specialising in improving business workflows. Solvaa® works with SMEs worldwide to implement digital tools, better processes, use business process automation and generative AI to boost productivity, enhance lead management, and remove unnecessary time, costs and hassles from stretched business owners’ days.
We help you simplify and streamline existing processes, integrate your business tools to make data transfer more efficient, and automate manual tasks. Our business process automation specialists have extensive experience using multiple cloud-based business tools, including Zapier, Pipedrive CRM, SmartSuite, Xero, Google Suite, ClickUp, Asana, Airtable, Hubspot, Active Campaign, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Quickbooks and many more. We are Zapier Certified Experts, SmartSuite Certified Partners, Pipedrive Certified Partners and Xero Certified Advisors. We also educate teams about using AI in their daily roles, mindset, governance and strategy in our Solvaa AI Academy.
Solvaa® was founded in 2016 by Kelly Goss, a no-code solutions architect, business process automation specialist and author of Automate It with Zapier (first edition) and Automate It with Zapier and Generative AI (second edition).
A thought leader on business process automation and digital adoption, Kelly attended an invite-only Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the UK government at No.10 Downing Street, providing insights and recommendations on how SMEs can benefit from productivity gains by using digital technologies, automation and AI. She has also been invited to speak at the House of Lords and at many other events.
Contact us today to find out how Solvaa can help your business make big savings on operational costs and time, and significantly increase productivity.
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