Business process automation (BPA) is the use of technology to mechanize manual, recurring tasks in business operations. It leverages robust business automation tools like Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Intelligent Document Processing (IDP), workflow orchestration, Artificial Intelligence, integrated systems, and business rules to streamline operations.
By 2025, 80 percent of organizations will adopt intelligent automation. This makes automating workflows a necessary step for CIOs looking to embrace digital transformation and future-proof their enterprises fully. However, over 90 percent of automation projects fail due to technical issues, high implementation costs, lack of strategy, and resistance to change.
Understanding business process automation and how it can be achieved successfully is crucial for organizations looking to boost efficiency, improve productivity, and implement new business models.
Business automation, also known as business process automation, leverages technology to automate operations and functions within a corporation. Using a business process automation tool is essential for successfully transitioning from manual to automated workflows. Understanding the key business process automation steps can yield significant efficiency improvements by helping organizations convert traditionally manual procedures into automated processes throughout the entire entity.
The main objectives of BPA tools are to:
By automating routine tasks, organizations can significantly increase productivity and reduce costs, leading to improved business performance.
Business Process Automation (BPA), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Business Process Management (BPM) all contribute to improving operational efficiency but serve different purposes:
While both BPA and RPA aim to automate business operations, their scope differs significantly:
BPA provides broader transformation, whereas RPA acts as a tactical solution for specific tasks. Employees involved in high-impact RPA use cases see efficiency gains of 200 hours per year (approximately 10 percent), while employees involved in medium-impact use cases see time savings of 20 hours per year.
BPA and BPM share a common goal of improving business efficiency, but their approaches differ:
BPA is the execution layer that brings BPM strategies to life, enabling automation while maintaining compliance and efficiency.
Although hiring employees may seem straightforward, it involves multiple tasks: filling out employee information forms, setting up induction sessions, arranging training sessions, setting up bank accounts, collecting relevant documents, and assigning mentors.
Without automation, the entire process can become chaotic and result in:
Applying business process automation to employee onboarding ensures smooth transitions from one task to the next, keeping relevant employees in the loop and providing visibility into the status of the process.
Purchase order requests are recurring processes in most organizations. The requesting team fills out a form and sends it to the purchasing team. The approving authority examines the request and either approves or rejects it based on information adequacy and budgetary constraints.
Without automation, the following issues could arise:
A business process automation platform can help improve accountability, transparency, and enable accurate data recording, which can be accessed by relevant stakeholders when necessary.
Digital transformation can seem overwhelming to organizations not on that path. Business process automation can be a stepping stone to adopting a culture of continuous transformation. You can start with a few processes clearly in need of course correction and gradually work your way up.
Automating business processes demands clarity about the process at the design stage. Process mapping can provide clarity to all employees and serve as a training resource. The insights gained from analyzing an automated process can clearly show the gap between your business process as it is and as it should ideally be.
One of the great outcomes of a process automation system is streamlined processes. Clear accountability, customizable notifications, valuable insights, catalog automation, and faster turnaround times make it easier to eliminate wasteful activities and focus on enhancing tasks that add value.
With business process automation, every detail of a business process is recorded. This information can be presented to demonstrate compliance during audits.
When you automate a business process, you can expect consistent outcomes every time. Standardization helps position your organization as reliable, which can increase your customer base.
Customer satisfaction is a key differentiator in any industry. Focusing on process and operational excellence helps you exceed customer expectations. When you consistently meet promised standards, customers are more likely to develop a preference for your company.
Workflow Management: Streamlines and organizes tasks for efficient execution.
Task Scheduling: Enables automated scheduling of tasks and processes based on predefined rules.
Process Monitoring: Tracks progress and provides real-time insights into ongoing processes.
Integration: Seamlessly connects with existing software and tools to unify data and processes.
Reporting and Analytics: Offers data-driven insights to support decision-making and process optimization.
User Roles and Permissions: Ensures secure access control and task delegation within the system.
Alerts and Notifications: Sends timely updates to stakeholders, keeping them informed of progress or issues.
Error Handling: Detects and resolves issues to maintain smooth process execution.
Customizable Templates: Provides pre-built templates that can be adapted to specific business needs.
Version Control: Manages and tracks changes made to processes, ensuring consistency and auditability.
As automation evolves, employees must develop new skills to adapt to shifting roles and remain competitive. Automation should be implemented thoughtfully to minimize job displacement and ensure fair access to technology.
Here are some pointers on how you can make automation a success:
|
Trend/Metric |
Recent Data & Insights |
|
Adoption Rate (General BPM) |
74 percent of businesses have shown increased interest in adopting BPM. |
|
BPM Tool Usage |
70 percent of businesses use at least one BPM application; 63 percent use two or more tools. |
|
Process Tracking |
Only 4 percent of companies track their processes in detail. |
|
Process Automation Adoption |
66 percent of businesses have automated at least one process as of 2024. |
|
Projected Automation Adoption (2029) |
Expected to grow to 85 percent of businesses automating at least one process by 2029. |
|
Low-Code/No-Code Automation Implementation |
24 percent of companies have implemented low-code platforms; 29 percent plan to adopt soon. |
|
AI & Automation Integration |
AI and RPA are increasingly integrated into BPM solutions, driving process efficiency and transformation. |
|
Cloud-Based BPM |
Over 64 percent of BPM deployments are cloud-based, enabling easier automation and scalability. |
|
Automation Segment Growth |
Automation within BPM is projected to grow at a CAGR of 21.6 percent from 2025 to 2034. |
|
Drivers of Adoption |
Key drivers include the need for operational excellence, agility, cost reduction, and digital transformation. |
Kissflow addresses core challenges in enterprise automation:
Lumen, an Australian automotive manufacturer, revolutionized their manual processes with Kissflow's intuitive platform:
"Kissflow is one of our main systems. It lets everyone have any form request that goes through multiple departments for actions."
— Madhuri Balimane, CI/LEAN Lead, Lumen
Read the full Lumen success story →
Servitron, Mexico's leading radio communications provider, transformed its manual approval system:
"Kissflow is very easy and user-friendly...users can now create processes by themselves without the need to go through a software design process or involve the IT department."
— Juan Carlos Calderón Tapia, Director of Operations, Servitron
Read the full Servitron success story →
Business process automation is not restricted to a handful of functions. Today, business automation tools powered by AI and machine learning are rapidly expanding automation's capabilities, enabling more complex and intelligent task execution. Automation accelerates response times and ensures consistent, high-quality customer interactions.
BPM implementation can increase project success rates by up to 70 percent. BPM tools are credited with reducing cycle times, defect rates, and manual errors, directly improving quality and customer satisfaction. Companies lose an average of $1.3 million annually to process inefficiencies, highlighting the financial imperative for BPM.
However, despite its potential to uncover inefficiencies, only 26 percent of organizations use process mining to analyze and improve their BPM performance. Additionally, 46 percent of organizations report resistance to change as a barrier to BPM adoption. By following structured business process automation steps, organizations can unlock greater efficiency, reduce costs, and improve compliance.
Have you tried Kissflow? Kissflow is a cloud-based business process management platform that can streamline business process automation for your enterprise with minimal to no coding. An intuitive visual designer and drag-and-drop form builder ensured that designing and automating workflows is a breeze.
Kissflow provides extensive integration capabilities with pre-built connectors for popular enterprise systems like ERP, CRM, and HRMS. It supports REST, SOAP, and GraphQL APIs, enabling seamless communication with both modern cloud applications and legacy infrastructure. You can also request a technical architecture review and a proof-of-concept to validate integration with your mission-critical systems before full deployment.
Kissflow is built to work even in complex IT environments. It supports integration with custom and legacy systems using tools like webhook connectors, RPA integrations, and custom connector creation. Our platform is used by enterprises across industries who have successfully connected Kissflow to mainframes, on-premises databases, and homegrown systems—ask us for relevant customer stories.
Kissflow prioritizes enterprise-grade security. We are SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified. All data is encrypted in transit and at rest, with support for role-based access controls, secure authentication, and audit logs. Our platform undergoes regular vulnerability testing and includes robust incident management protocols to ensure security compliance.
Kissflow helps organizations stay compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA, SOX, and other industry-specific regulations. Features like regional data centers, configurable data retention policies, built-in approval workflows, digital signatures, and audit trails are designed to support stringent regulatory requirements out-of-the-box.
Kissflow is trusted by global enterprises and government organizations for large-scale implementations. We can share benchmarks from deployments involving thousands of concurrent users and millions of process executions. Kissflow’s architecture supports global usage with auto-scaling capabilities for handling peak traffic and distributed teams.
Kissflow is built on a microservices-based cloud-native architecture that supports modular and independent scaling. As your use cases grow, you can extend the platform with new process modules, workflows, and integrations without disrupting existing operations. Our flexible licensing and performance monitoring ensure that scaling is both cost-effective and seamless.
Kissflow features a no-code/low-code visual process designer that empowers both business users and IT professionals. With a drag-and-drop builder, customizable forms, and ready-to-use process templates, non-technical users can easily create and manage workflows, while IT teams can enhance functionality with APIs and scripting options.
Kissflow allows real-time modifications to workflows without downtime. The platform supports version control, A/B testing, rollback capabilities, and agile deployment. Teams can iterate rapidly and push updates to production while maintaining governance and stability.
Kissflow includes centralized admin controls, environment segregation (dev/test/prod), approval workflows for changes, and audit mechanisms. Enterprise-grade governance is maintained through change management tools, version history, and access controls—ensuring compliance and operational consistency.
With Kissflow, your TCO includes setup and implementation services, integration efforts, user training, and ongoing support. Since it’s cloud-native, infrastructure costs are minimized. The platform’s low-code/no-code environment also reduces dependency on specialized technical staff, accelerating ROI and reducing maintenance burdens.