Business automation is the use of technology to automate processes and functions within an organization. Also known as business process automation, business automation can deliver massive productivity gains by helping a business transform traditionally manual processes into automations across the entire organization.
An automated business process takes a multi-step, multi-system or cross-departmental process and gives the task to software to simplify and manage. There are countless processes that are capable of automation to support the specific goals of an organization. For example, sales orders, customer relationships, vendor management or employee onboarding are traditionally manual processes suitable for automation.

Manually running repetitious tasks greatly disadvantages an organization. Manual tasks leave room for human error, time-sensitive processes are susceptible to delays and employees are often forced to juggle multiple applications and communication channels in order to carry out everyday duties.

However, business process automation eliminates these issues.

Automated and streamlined business processes are standardized, ensuring complete accuracy and consistency. All employees inside an organization are granted a more efficient and enjoyable experience as they are freed from tedious, time-sensitive and resource-intensive duties, allowing them to focus on higher value work.

On a wider scale, business process automation is a major step in an organization’s digital transformation. Implementing a strategic approach to business process automation allows organizations to operate with agility, adapt to new requirements and introduce new processes faster and more successful 

If you’re ready to get started with business process automation, here’s how to begin your strategy and implementation process.

1. Identify your processes
Identifying the bottlenecks and potential improvements in how your business runs is the foundation for automation opportunities. Considering what tasks are repetitive, frustrating for employees, time-consuming, time sensitive or involve many elements of your business is a good place to start.

Process Mining
The process identification step could require a massive amount of manual work considering the amount of process data that needs to be reviewed. This is where process mining software can help.

Process mining software is a tool that quickly and easily analyzes all of your process data and then identifies bottlenecks and opportunities for automation. It can help identify so-called “happy paths” across supply chain, customer service, procure-to-pay or order-to-cash processes.

With process mining, detailed data is captured and translated, allowing you to fully understand your processes and their dependencies. This allows you to find patterns, anomalies and opportunities for improvement—transparently revealing the landscape of your business operations.

2. Identify your goals
It’s crucial that you determine the goals that you hope to achieve through your business automation implementation. Identifying your specific goals will allow you to assess your processes with clarity, measure success and analyze further improvements.

3. Find the right business process automation tool
After assessing what functions and processes need improvement and identifying the goals your automations should accomplish, the next step is to find the right tool that can help nurture your process transformation. You’ll need a business process automation tool that’s easy for your organization’s members to learn, is capable of adapting to operational changes, monitors your goals and offers the greatest ROI for what you wish to accomplish.

For example, according to a Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI) study, enterprises that deploy Software AG’s ARIS for business processes see a 301% ROI, and when enterprises use ARIS to improve risk and compliance management processes, the ROI can climb as high as 457%.

Software AG offers six different ARIS editions so that you can find the right technology that your business needs—without complicating what it doesn’t need. Software AG also offers an abundance of ARIS resources, including a learning portal for training, a knowledgeable and speedy support team and an ARIS Community, so you can be sure your business strategy and transformation is in good hands.

Since BPA performs best at scale, it’s unlikely that an enterprise will only automate an individual activity or process, more often than not, entire workflows and functions are automated for maximum optimization. With that in mind, here are some real-world business process automation examples and automation ideas:

HR Management

The most valuable asset of any enterprise is also the most complex and often the hardest to manage but contrary to popular belief, business process automation doesn’t simply replace its human counterpart but instead increases its operational efficiency. Here are some examples of activities that are often excellent for automation of HR processes

• Payroll
• Recruitment
• Records management