Workflow Automation: Steps and Real-world Examples

What is workflow automation? 

Workflow automation uses technology to automate repetitive tasks and streamline business processes. By setting predefined rules and triggers, workflow automation automatically performs actions such as routing customer service tickets, sending follow-up emails or escalating tasks to relevant teams. This automation reduces manual effort and allows teams to focus on higher-value work.  

For example, consider a customer service department: a workflow automation system can automatically assign incoming tickets based on issue type or urgency, ensuring the right team promptly addresses the problem while notifying managers of any escalations.  

With workflow automation, you can save significant time, minimize costly errors like missed deadlines or miscommunication and enhance productivity. Automating processes is crucial today for staying competitive, improving customer satisfaction and enabling scalability.  

On the other hand, symptoms of lacking workflow automation are easy to spot: frequent bottlenecks, miscommunications between departments, recurring manual errors and delays in task completion. Teams may find themselves overwhelmed by routine tasks, which leads to burnout and inefficiency. This impacts overall productivity and limits the ability to innovate and grow. 

Workflow automation vs. business process automation  

Workflow automation and business process automation are both designed to improve productivity and efficiency in organizations. They both share the common goal of streamlining operations but differ in scope and complexity. Here are a few key differences:  

5 Benefits of workflow automation 

Businesses often mistake workflow automation for a quick fix without fully understanding the depth of its impact. It’s important to recognize the real, measurable benefits automation brings. 

⭐ Elevates service quality 

Workflow automation plays a critical role in improving service quality by eliminating human errors and reducing delays. Before automation, processes were often inconsistent, leading to customer frustration due to misrouted requests or slow response times. Automated workflows automatically route customer service tickets to the appropriate department or agent, ensuring quicker and more accurate resolutions.   

This is particularly important because 80% of American customers value a service experience driven by speed, convenience and knowledgeable assistance. Automation guarantees that these key elements are consistently delivered, improving essential customer service metrics such as customer satisfaction (CSAT), response times and first contact resolution (FCR). Ultimately, this leads to superior customer experiences, driving brand loyalty and retention. 

💰 Lowers cost for services 

When processes are inefficient, customers get frustrated and costs add up. Automated workflows prevent these issues by handling tasks like ticket management or data entry quickly and accurately. This cuts operational costs, reduces the need for manual oversight and keeps customers satisfied, avoiding the cost of resolving escalations. 

🎯 Offers greater accuracy 

Human errors in data entry, reporting or follow-up tasks can damage business operations and strain customer relations. Workflow automation enhances accuracy by removing the possibility of such mistakes. Automated processes handle repetitive yet critical tasks like billing, reporting and compliance documentation with precision, ensuring accuracy across all levels of operations.  

Moreover, these systems offer traceability, allowing you to audit tasks and processes to identify areas of improvement. The reduced error rate increases operational efficiency and fosters trust with customers and stakeholders who rely on accuracy in every customer interaction.  

 
🔮 Prepares your business for the future 

Manual workflows often become a major bottleneck as businesses scale, limiting growth and causing inefficiencies. Workflow automation ensures scalability by seamlessly adjusting to increased demand without additional human resources. Whether expanding your customer base, launching new products or dealing with increased customer inquiries, automated systems can adapt to handle the load, freeing your teams to focus on more strategic tasks.   

According to CX statistics, 85% of customer interactions will be automated by 2024, driven by the rapid adoption of AI in customer service. Implementing workflow automation now prepares your business for future technological advancements, ensuring you're competitive today and equipped to handle tomorrow's challenges. 

⚡Boosts customer support efficiency  
 
Automation and AI can act like virtual agents for customer support teams, taking over tedious tasks such as post-call tasks, ticket logging and routing inquiries. This allows agents to focus on more complex issues, improving workflow productivity. 

According to Forbes, LLM-powered autonomous workplace assistants (AWAs) or digital coworkers will be adopted in 10% of operational processes, speeding up workflows and making operations more seamless. This not only enhances the customer experience but also reduces agent workload, prevents burnout, resulting in faster resolutions and happier customers. 

How do workflows and automations work together? 

Workflows and automations are closely intertwined. They work together to streamline business processes, eliminate inefficiencies, and improve overall productivity. However, it is essential to break down each concept to understand how they function together.  

Workflow refers to the sequence of tasks or activities that are required to complete a business process. For example, complaint management typically involves receiving issues, assigning them to the right agents, investigating the complaints and providing a solution.  

Conversely, automation is the technology-driven process of executing these tasks with minimal human intervention. Instead of manually assigning tasks or sending reminders, automation handles these steps using predefined rules and triggers. 

How they work together: 

• Defining the workflow: First, you identify the specific steps involved in a process. This might involve tasks like data entry, approval processes or sending notifications.   

• Identifying automation opportunities: You then determine which steps can be automated. This often includes repetitive, time-consuming tasks that have clear rules and criteria.    

• Setting up automation rules: Automation tools (like software or scripts) are configured to execute these tasks automatically based on predefined conditions or triggers. For example, a new customer order might trigger a series of automated steps like inventory checks, shipping calculations and invoice generation.    

• Implementing automation: The automation tools are integrated into the existing workflow, ensuring that tasks are executed in the correct sequence and with the necessary data.    

• Monitoring and optimization: The automated workflow is monitored to ensure it's functioning as intended. If necessary, adjustments are made to improve efficiency or address any issues.     

Types and real-world examples of workflow automation 

Workflow automation comes in various forms, depending on the specific tasks and industries involved. Understanding practical use cases will help you identify and adopt the most suitable approach.  

🔁 HR automation 

Traditionally, HR teams handle tasks like paperwork, setting up accounts and training sessions manually, slowing the employee onboarding process and overwhelming both HR and new hires. Automation solves this by saving time, ensuring consistency and letting new hires focus on getting productive faster.   

Similarly, performance reviews and feedback collection can also be automated, allowing managers to collect structured input from multiple teams without manually coordinating the process. 

📞 Customer service automation 

Customer service automation significantly streamlines support processes. For instance, automated call routing ensures that customer calls are directed to the right department or agent based on predefined rules, while auto-ticket logging captures interactions from chatbots and other communication channels, ensuring no customer issue goes untracked.  

Automated customer case management then follows up by prioritizing and assigning cases, ensuring they are resolved within defined SLAs (Service Level Agreements). The overall result is a more responsive and efficient support system that can handle large-scale operations without compromising service quality. 

😊 Good to know  

With Sprinklr, you can elevate customer service automation through guided workflows that are both customer-facing and agent-facing. On the customer side, Sprinklr seamlessly integrates with your website, mobile app, or knowledge bases, allowing customers to resolve queries and complete tasks independently with minimal friction.     

On the agent side, Sprinklr simplifies customer service workflows across conversational bots, live chat and agent desktops. Agents are guided through a step-by-step process that leads them toward resolution, reducing cognitive load and improving efficiency. Even better, these workflows can be fully customized through a drag-and-drop interface, allowing teams to build automation without coding or IT support.      

Curious? Book a demo of Sprinklr Guided Workflows now! 

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💵 Sales process automation 

Sales process automation helps you streamline repetitive tasks like follow-ups, meeting scheduling and lead tracking. Traditionally, sales reps spent a lot of time manually updating CRMs, managing communications and scheduling meetings — activities that reduced time spent on actual selling. Automation solves these challenges by automating tasks like sending follow-up emails, logging meeting notes and assigning leads to the right sales reps. This saves time, increases productivity and allows sales teams to focus on closing deals and nurturing relationships. 

Source

📲 Marketing automation 

Marketing automation enables companies to personalize social media campaigns and engagement based on customer behavior without manual intervention. Traditionally, marketers would spend time segmenting customers manually, sending emails and customizing recommendations — processes that were time-consuming and prone to error. Marketing automation solves these challenges by using customer data to deliver personalized content at scale, saving time and improving the customer experience.     

A great example is Netflix. Their app automatically analyzes viewers' preferences and viewing habits to market new shows and movies that align with their tastes. Their homepage customization is also automated, presenting personalized recommendations based on user behavior. This seamless marketing automation strategy ensures that each viewer gets a unique experience, boosting engagement and keeping customers coming back for more. 

 Source 

💡Insightful Read: 7 marketing automation best practices 

💰 Finance and accounting automation 

Finance teams benefit from automation by reducing manual tasks like timely invoicing, expense approvals and financial reporting. This improves accuracy and ensures compliance with regulations.     

Take Grammarly as an example. When you purchase a subscription, invoices are automatically generated and sent without manual steps. This smooth automation enhances the user experience, keeping everything from plan evaluation to payment efficient from start to finish. 

Source 

Set up your workflow automations with Sprinklr

As customer expectations rise, manual workflows become the biggest bottleneck to delivering timely, efficient, error-free service. The result? Missed deadlines, costly errors, frustrated customers and overwhelmed teams struggling to maintain quality service at scale.   

Without workflow automation, you risk falling behind, being unable to keep up with growing demands and thriving in a highly competitive market. By automating repetitive and complex processes, you’re not just improving productivity — you’re empowering your teams to focus on what really matters: delivering exceptional customer experiences every time. This is where Sprinklr Service steps in.   

With powerful, no-code automation tools, Sprinklr enables you to build, manage and optimize customer service workflows easily. Whether automating call routing, ticket management or guiding agents through resolutions, Sprinklr helps you streamline operations, eliminate errors and scale effortlessly — all without heavy IT involvement.  

Schedule a demo with our experts today to see how it works! 

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