You know the importance of maximizing your operational efficiency. You want to get things done as quickly as possible without any hiccups or mistakes. Unfortunately, working too quickly can cause errors. These mistakes can be costly, requiring you to dedicate more time and resources to correcting mistakes. You could even end up with dissatisfied customers who lose trust in your business.

The solution is automation. Help your employees get work done as quickly and effectively as possible through automated workflows or robotic process automation.

What Are Automated Workflows?

Automated workflows can help you maximise the operational efficiency of your business. They use software, often powered by artificial intelligence (AI), to complete tasks. If you have simple tasks, repetitive tasks, or manual tasks that need handling, then an AI workflow automation tool might be worth exploring.

Several types of workflows can be automated, including managing invoices, sending emails, collecting leads, and more. Sending tasks and information to other people or systems? That can be automated, too.

Best of all, there's no need for human input when automating your workflows. All you have to do is set up your workflow automation software to handle these tasks. There are so many automated workflow tools you can choose from — Jira, Jotform, and Adobe Workfront, to name a few. Which software you choose will depend on your needs. Think about what you want it to do, when you will use it, and what tools you want it to work with. And if you're ready to build something special, New Odyssey can help you customise a tailor-made solution for your workflows.

No matter what tool you decide to use, the result is the same: a faster, easier, and more consistent workflow. Say goodbye to manual labor and hello to better productivity.

Key Components of Automated Workflows

Automated workflow solutions have the same key components no matter the software you choose. In any workflow, there are three main components: the trigger, the process, and the end result. With automated workflows, there are more components involved. These workflow automation examples include:

• Triggers: Events, like when you receive an email or a customer submits a form, that sets the automated workflow into action
• Actions: Tasks involving sending emails, updating records, and moving data between systems
• Conditions: Rules, such as checking for approval status or verifying data accuracy, that determine how and when actions are applied
• Integrations: Connections between the workflow software and other tools, such as CRM software
• Loops: Tasks that repeat a certain number of times
• Error Handling: Managing issues or exceptions by logging errors
• Logs: Records to provide transparency

And don't forget the user interface, which allows users to manage their workflows all from a single dashboard.

The Impact of Automated Workflows in Operational Efficiency

When you use workflow automation software, you'll notice several benefits and impacts on your operational efficiency. Below are just a few.

Improved Efficiency and Productivity

The first impact of using automated workflow software is improved operational efficiency and productivity. No longer will you need to dedicate your team to mundane and repetitive tasks that can quickly become tiresome and resource hogs. You can hand these simple tasks to your automation software instead, freeing up your human team's time to dedicate elsewhere.

Your team can spend their valuable time doing tasks like strategic planning, creative problem-solving, and building customer relationships instead of focusing on mundane responsibilities like data entry and invoice processing, both of which can take up a good amount of time.

With automated business workflows, you also reduce the risk of human error, which means your team won't have to go back and fix their mistakes. Automated workflows also improve resource allocation and task visibility and help with decision-making because they can provide real-time insights into process performance.

Cost Savings

Workflow automation has many benefits that will impact the bottom line. Since automated workflows assume responsibility for several manual processes, you'll reduce the costs associated with employee time spent on these routine operations. Plus, you won't have to pay your team to go back and fix any mistakes that happened due to human error — because no one is perfect, and mistakes do happen.

Automated workflows also streamline entire processes and reduce idle time between tasks, so there are fewer operational costs and labor expenses.

Enhanced Data Accuracy

The final big impact of an automated workflow builder on operational efficiency is enhanced data accuracy. When you automate repetitive tasks involving data entry and processing, you'll reduce human errors and consistencies that happen when human input is involved. In the healthcare industry, a study revealed that for every 1000 data points manually entered about patients, nearly 5 of those were clinically significant errors. No matter what industry you're in, those numbers aren't encouraging. Automation reduces these risks of error.

Automation also improves real-time data updates and synchronisation between different departments and systems, eliminating delays and allowing stakeholders access to the most up-to-date information. When timely data is available, you can then have better decision-making and operational agility, and you can respond quickly to changes in market conditions or customer needs.

Start Implementing Automated Workflows

If you're ready to say goodbye to those series of tasks that take up too much time and money, then it's time to introduce automated workflows into your operation. Let New Odyssey be your guiding light into all things automation and technology. Check out the solutions we offer, or contact us today with your inquiries.

We can help you stay up-to-date with tech advances in modern enterprise solutions. From the latest insights, tips, and updates, we'll help you navigate this complex field and build better operational efficiency that will improve your business from top to bottom.  Contact us, and let's discuss your needs.