Long before the digital era, it had become clear that repetitive manual tasks greatly hindered business agility, competitiveness, and innovativeness. Manual, repetitive tasks waste time and demotivate human workers, increasing the chances of error. As enterprises embarked on digital transformation, they began automating as many manual tasks as possible. They used automation technology to enhance business productivity, efficiency, and growth.
Organizations are always looking for ways to cut costs and improve productivity. One way to go about it is by implementing AI workflow automation, which uses AI tools to automate repetitive tasks. The tools greatly improve efficiency and productivity and allow workers to focus on more complex and high-value work—the work they love.
Approximately 60% of organizations now use workflow automation tools for analytics and business process automation.
What are AI workflows?
AI workflows use artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline and improve business processes that are often manual and repetitive. Many organizations are using AI workflows for manual, human-dependent processes to improve productivity and efficiency. Automated workflows also free up employees' time and allow them to focus on more strategic and complex work.
Benefits of workflow automation with AI
Improved efficiency and productivity
Automating repetitive tasks that otherwise take a lot of time minimizes human errors, improves efficiency, and increases productivity.
For instance, a company that automates its customer service processes with AI workflow tools can respond to customers more quickly and accurately. Efficiency goes up, leading to higher customer satisfaction.
Better data analytics
Business decisions once driven by experience or knowledge are now driven by hard data. Due to this, most organizations have mountains of data. Automating data processing and analysis can help enterprises make timely data-driven decisions. AI workflow tools can analyze data in real-time, providing timely feedback, better business outcomes, and improved profitability.
Cost savings
AI workflow platforms cost less than hiring an entire team to manage manual tasks and deliver the same results. You can then use the freed budget to hire employees for more creative and complex tasks.
Additionally, AI automation minimizes errors, saving enterprises money in the long run. When mistakes are few, less time and money are needed to fix them.
Faster time-to-market
A faster time-to-market can increase business revenue and market share, improve agility, and boost customer satisfaction. A company can quickly adapt to market changes and test and launch products before the competition. It is especially true for businesses that handle large volumes of manual tasks. For example, a used car marketplace can use AI-powered image moderation to automate onboarding workflows, accelerating the onboarding process for car listings.
Types of AI workflow automation
Predictive analytics automation
52% of organizations use predictive analytics to boost profitability, improve operations, forecast sales, and grow their customer base. The process involves analyzing statistical algorithms and data and using machine learning to identify future outcomes based on past data. Predictive analytics automation combines artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), two different technologies, to analyze vast data.
Cognitive automation
Cognitive automation means combining artificial intelligence and process automation to boost business outcomes. It involves using different approaches to capture data, automate decision-making, and scale automation. Unlike other types of AI, such as deep learning or machine learning, cognitive automation tools imitate how humans think.
Rules-based automation
This AI workflow automation model applies human-made rules to store, sort, and manipulate data. By doing so, it mimics human intelligence. Rules-based automation (RPA) platforms automate highly repetitive tasks, providing significant labor efficiencies across industries. Many organizations use RPA tools to automate tasks such as filling out forms and extracting data.
Use cases for AI workflow automation
Industry-specific use case: Manufacturing
AI workflow tools can streamline manufacturing and significantly boost efficiency. They can enhance quality control by identifying defects in products. The tools can perform predictive maintenance and monitor equipment to avoid downtime. AI workflow platforms can also automate inventory management to avoid shortages and keep production moving.
Department example: Sales and marketing
AI workflow automation can generate, identify, and qualify leads. The workflow tools can prioritize leads for follow-ups, ensuring sales professionals close more deals in lesser time. AI tools can also help marketing teams segment customers and create targeted campaigns. Automating marketing and sales processes to predict trends, sales, and customer behaviors is also possible.
Top challenges in implementing AI-based workflows
Ensuring data quality and availability
In heavily regulated industries like healthcare, getting data for training AI algorithms is challenging. Publicly available data might contain biased or incomplete information affecting algorithm accuracy. To solve this problem, companies should develop a data management strategy before implementing AI automation.
Skilled talent
Implementing AI solutions requires expert knowledge, but experts are in short supply. By 2025, the global shortage of data scientists is expected to reach 250,000. Companies looking to implement AI workflow automation must upskill their current employees and ensure knowledge transfer.
Integration with existing systems
According to a 2021 survey, most companies use 40-60 SaaS apps, excluding custom software. Integrating these applications with AI workflow tools can be difficult. To get around this problem, choose an AI workflow solution that integrates with most enterprise software. Start small and integrate the systems that require minimal changes first.
How to choose the right AI workflow tool?
Determine your needs
A lot of work happens in a company, so determine which tasks must be automated. While many business tasks are repetitive, some promote redundancy and should be automated first. Once you know your needs, getting the right solution is easier.
Check the features
The AI workflow automation tool you choose will become an integral part of your organization, so get to know its features before buying it.
Ideally, the workflow automation tool should be low-code or no-code so that even non-technical business users can effectively create workflows with little to no support from IT. The tool should have a visual editor with drag-and-drop features to quickly launch new workflows and assign new tasks automatically to relevant team members.
Integration capabilities
The AI automation tool should allow integration with existing tools or provide an API or middleware.
Simple navigation
The goal of workflow automation is to simplify work, so make sure the tool you choose is user-friendly with simple navigation. Process owners should be able to develop, test, and deploy workflows with ease.
How to automate workflows with AI
Map out the process
First, you should identify the workflow you want to automate. Check the tasks in the workflow and compare the current results with your desired results.
Which parts of the process can benefit from automation? Which ones require human intervention?
Map out the workflow to identify bottlenecks and where automation can provide the highest ROI.
Choose the right AI automation tool
Once you identify the workflows to be automated, find the right tool for the process. While there are many options on the market, choose a tool that meets your business needs. The right tool should have all the required features like seamless automation, customizable workflows, automated routing, easy integration, and an intuitive interface.
Automate the process
Use the workflow automation tool to transform complex processes into streamlined workflows. Create each step of the workflow based on the process mapping done in the first step and assign relevant team members to each step.
Test and refine
Test the workflows for different use cases to identify errors and ensure everything is running as expected. Also, take feedback from the team to further improve and customize it.
Unlock the power of AI workflow automation with Kissflow
AI workflow automation tools cut business costs by eliminating costly errors and streamlining processes. Repetitive, time-consuming tasks are performed automatically, saving companies money on administrative labour.
Get Kissflow Workflow to reduce operating costs and increase revenue. The AI workflow automation tool can streamline processes and boost efficiency and productivity.
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