50+ Crucial Workflow Automation Statistics and Trends for 2025

Technology is changing at a rapid pace, affecting enterprises across the globe. CIOs no longer see workflow platforms as a tool for eliminating repetitive tasks, it has become an essential digital transformation component.

So, will workflow automation still be king in 2025?

Going by the statistics, yes. Its significance will increase more than ever and we’ll see more companies adopting this solution throughout 2024.

How does workflow automation help companies?

It boosts productivity, increases performance, and reduces operating costs. Adopting lights-out operations yields a good return on investment and allows businesses to increase service to their end-users.

46%^[1] of respondents who have implemented workflow automation successfully in larger companies have leaders who understand the total cost of ownership for automation efforts. But to get the most out of workflow automation, a business must know its needs and get the right software.

50+ Crucial Workflow Automation Statistics for 2025

1. Automation Boosts Productivity

94% companies perform repetitive, time-consuming tasks. Automation has improved jobs for 90% of knowledge workers and productivity for 66% of them.

2. It's Crucial for Digital Transformation

Automation and digitalization go hand in hand as these two combined, create new tech possibilities for your organization, better management of work, and streamline processes from start to end. 

83% of IT leaders believe workflow automation is necessary for digital transformation. 48%^[2] of organizations are currently installing automation solutions to automate manual tasks.

3. Business Process Automation Is In High Demand

68% of employees^[3] have too much work to handle daily, which is why companies are adopting business process automation. If automation isn’t used to handle large volumes of work, these workers can reach a breaking point.

4. Effectively Handles Repetitive Tasks

36% of organizations^[4] are already using business process management software to automate workflows. 50%^[5] of business leaders plan to automate more repetitive tasks within their organizations. 

5. Boosts Market Growth

The Industrial Automation Services Market is expected to grow from $147.06 Billion in 2019 to $264.69 Billion^[6] by 2026.

6. Puts Some Jobs at Risk

There’s a 14% increase^[7] yearly in the number of automated jobs and junior workers are the most affected. 69%^[8] of all managerial work will be automated by 2024. Automation is likely to affect more men than women. By 2023, 28%^[9] of currently employed men and 24% of women could lose their jobs. 38% of jobs^[10] in the US, 35% in Germany, 30% in the UK, and 21% in Japan may be affected.

7. Most Workers Aren’t Worried About Losing Their Jobs

73%^[11] of respondents in a PwC survey said they believe technology can never replace the human mind, while 37% were worried about automation putting their jobs at risk. Automation may force 40 to 160 million women^[12] to switch jobs. 

8. Boosts the Customer Experience

A McKinsey survey showed ‌respondents are 3 times likelier to have at least 80%^[13] of their customer interactions in digital form. 60%^[14] of customer service professionals give automated recommendations for the next best action. 37%^[15] of IT customer service departments have higher automation ROI than any other department.

9. Increases Efficiency

86% of employees^[16] believe automation will help them do their work more efficiently, while 65%^[17] believe technology will improve their future job prospects. 51% of businesses^[18] implement automation initiatives to boost efficiency.

10. Saves time

73% of IT leaders^[19] credit automation for helping employees save 10-50% of the time they previously spent on manual tasks. 85%^[20] of managers believe automating some tasks will give them and their employees extra time to focus on goals that matter to the company.

11. Automates Marketing

75%^[21] of organizations use marketing automation software. Scheduling social media posts is the most popular digital marketing element. 83% of marketers automate social media posting, 75% email marketing, 58% social media advertising, and 36% social media engagement.

12. It Motivates Employees to Upskill

Over 80% of managers are speeding up workflow automation and encouraging employees to work remotely. 74% of employees^[22] are ready to learn new skills or retrain to remain employable. They believe it’s their responsibility to upskill rather than rely on employers.

13. Most Companies Automate Several Business Functions

McKinsey surveyed in 2020 and discovered that 66% of businesses^[23] have automated business processes in more than one business function. In 2018, only 57% of businesses had automated several business functions.

14. Low-Code Automation Platforms Are Popular

24%^[24] of companies use low-code process automation systems, while 29%^[25] plan to start soon. These platforms help companies streamline workflows, make better use of their data, and save time and money.

15. There Are a Few Challenges

90%^[26] of automation projects fail because of technical issues, 37% because of implementation costs, and 25%^[27] because of no overall vision or strategy. The 3rd biggest challenge^[28] to implementing automation is resistance to change.

16. Automation Is Here to Stay

While up to 800 million jobs^[29] could be displaced by automation by 2030, automation will also offset the losses. It will spur economic growth, boost productivity, and minimize losses.

Workflow automation for departments of all shapes and sizes

Human Resource

Right from hiring new talents, training, appraisal, meeting the local labor law, and an endless list of other tedious processes, HR management plays a vital role in every organization. Manually managing and processing a whole chunk of employees’ data is practically impossible. As the HR team holds the crux of the employee’s life cycle, automation is essential to manage these processes effectively.

1. 25%^[30] of organizations report using HR automation, mainly for recruitment and hiring tasks. 
2. 69% of HR professionals that use automation in hiring stated that it drastically decreased the time spent on this process. 
3. 52% of organizations are digitally updating their HR systems strategy.
4. 36%^[31] of HR professionals reported their onboarding processes are hindered due to a lack of onboarding automation.
5. 18%^[32] improvement in performance is reported due to the use of HR automation for onboarding.

Finance

Financial and accounting processes are arguably the most excruciating as they involve numbers and cash flow. Managing the never-ending stream of data via Excel and mail can be an extra burden and stressful. By automating finance processes, organizations can eliminate clunky procedures, streamline accounting tasks, and ensure that everything runs as smoothly as possible.

1. CEOs could save 20% of the time they spend on financial operations via automation.
2. More than 50%^[53] of CEOs of banking and financial organizations are focusing on simplifying their operations by embracing process automation.
3. Automation and AI are reported to take up 10-25% of banking tasks.
4. 73%^[54] of finance professionals believe automation is improving their function’s efficiency and giving employees more time for critical tasks.

Information Technology

“Can IT processes even be automated?” is a frequently asked question among growing organizations. Not many IT processes can be automated. But there are a few mundane processes that can easily be streamlined to spare some time for IT professionals to focus on business-critical, strategic tasks.

1. 40%^[55] of businesses’ automation initiatives are handled by the IT department.
2. By 2023, 40%^[56] of enterprise workloads will be launched in the cloud.
3. By 2024, 75%^[57] of businesses will have deployed multiple data hubs to drive business-critical data and analytics sharing and governance.
4. 69%^[58] of daily managerial operations will be entirely automated by 2024.

Marketing and Sales

Your marketing and sales professionals’ time is too valuable to be spent on menial, time-consuming, non-productive tasks. By automating many steps between sales and marketing, your team can have time to look over the strategy and nurturing of leads. This in turn leads to more conversions and brand value. 

1. Automation has boosted productivity within the department by 14.5% and has brought down marketing spending by 12.2%^[59].
2. 77%^[60] of marketing professionals use automation solutions to simplify their tasks. 
3. 51%^[61] of businesses use marketing automation. 58% of B2B organizations intend to adopt automation technology in the near future.
4. 83%^[62] of marketing departments automate social media post process, 75% automate email marketing tasks, 58% automate social media ads, and 36% automate social media management.
   

The Future of Work and Business Will Be Defined By Workflow Automation

Every business can benefit from workflow automation. Research shows that 80% of organizations^[63] will adopt intelligent automation by 2025. This means that every company that wants to remain relevant and future-proof is automating its workflows. Some use low-code systems while others use no-code systems.

Workflow automation streamlines entire processes and assists a large number of companies to meet product demand, boosting efficiency, and implementing new business models. Automation is believed to enhance productivity in the long run, up to 2030, and it is likely to reduce the economic growth gap in the world’s 20 largest nations.

More than 80%^[64] of organizations already plan to increase their investment in automation solutions. To reap the full benefits of automation, get a robust work platform like Kissflow, a low-code/no-code platform that aligns business and IT together to transform and simplify your business processes.

Whether it is automating processes, digitizing your operations, managing requests, or building custom applications, with Kissflow you can do it all within a unified platform. By applying the low-code/no-code paradigm, Kissflow opens up development to everyone in the organization and dramatically accelerates digital transformation, while also offering robust tools like approval workflow software to ensure your processes are managed smoothly and efficiently.

Solve your workflow challenges with Kissflow and optimize your team's productivity.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What are the latest statistics on workflow automation?

Latest statistics on workflow automation show 60% of organizations achieving ROI within 12 months of implementation, average productivity increases of 25-30% in automated processes, error reduction rates of 40-75% compared to manual processing, employee satisfaction improvements of 15-35% when freed from routine tasks, and adoption rates accelerating across all industries with 65% of organizations expanding their automation initiatives.

How does workflow automation improve productivity?

Workflow automation improves productivity by eliminating manual handoffs that cause delays, standardizing execution for consistent outcomes, reducing errors from manual data entry, providing real-time visibility into process status, automating notifications and reminders to keep work moving, handling routine decisions through business rules, and freeing knowledge workers from repetitive tasks for higher-value activities.

What industries lead in workflow automation adoption?

Industries leading in workflow automation adoption include financial services (loan processing, claims handling), healthcare (patient scheduling, insurance verification), manufacturing (quality assurance, maintenance workflows), legal services (contract management, case processing), and government agencies (permit applications, citizen service requests). Document-intensive processes across all sectors are prime candidates for automation.

What are common challenges in workflow automation?

Common challenges in workflow automation include integration difficulties with legacy systems, resistance to change from employees comfortable with existing processes, data quality issues undermining automation effectiveness, difficulty capturing exception handling for edge cases, inadequate testing before deployment, underestimating the complexity of business rules, and failing to redesign processes before automating them.

How do businesses measure workflow automation success?

Businesses measure workflow automation success through quantitative metrics (cycle time reduction, error rate decreases, processing volume increases, resource utilization improvements, cost savings) and qualitative indicators (employee satisfaction, customer experience improvements, compliance enhancement, innovation capacity). Leading organizations establish baseline measurements before implementation and track improvements over time.