Intelligent process automation (IPA), robotic process automation (RPA), processes enabled by artificial intelligence (AI) – organizations are investing significant sums in different types of automation. In fact, global spending on IPA, RPA and AI business processes will grow 68%, from an estimated $20.3 billion in 2021 to an expected $34.2 billion in 2023.
It’s easy to see why. Automation can transform company operations to run faster, more reliably and with fewer errors. It can also improve customer experiences while increasing employee engagement – freeing workers from repetitive tasks to focus on activities that add value.
Like processes, workflows are also increasingly automated. Workflows are sequential steps followed to complete a specific task. They might be used by a small team in the finance department. They may involve a function like HR that touches every employee. Or they could extend across multiple departments, such as IT and procurement. They’re how your employees get their jobs done – and how your organization runs.
But what exactly are workflow apps? And is there a way to quickly, easily and cost-effectively create customized workflow apps to make your organization run better?
Application Automation for Every Workflow
Workflow apps are simply software that automates, or partially automates, the steps to complete a task. Typically, workflow apps route information along a defined path, from data entry, to data transfer, to reviews and approvals.
Workflows apps automatically guide each step along the way, triggering actions and issuing alerts to the people who need them. They can also measure workflow performance so you can monitor how well your workflows are functioning.
Virtually every department in your organization can benefit from a workflow app: finance, HR, sales, marketing, IT, operations, customer support and more. For example:
- Finance can use workflow apps to handle payroll, manage order-to-cash processes, approve budgets, process invoices and more.
- HR can use them for onboarding employees, enabling workers to request time off, approving travel expenses and overseeing performance reviews.
- Sales and marketing can automate workflows for routing leads, nurturing leads, approving quotes, processing orders, and similar customer-focused activities.
- IT can leverage workflow apps to provision hardware and software, manage help desk incidents, enable employee self-services and more.
Without automation, these workflows can result in endless emails, manual revisions, miscommunication and slow company performance. They also can lead to mistakes, omissions and frustrations for both employees and customers.
Workflow apps can render these tasks speedy, on-target and predictable. They can help make sure staff get paid on time, IT problems get resolved quickly, customers get the prompt attention they deserve, and overall satisfaction is higher for employees and customers alike.
Building Workflow Apps with No-Code Workflow Tools
In the past, organizations had to shell out hefty fees for workflow automation software which often wasn’t tailored to meet their unique needs. Or they needed to hire specialized IT consultants to create custom workflow apps – a time-consuming and costly endeavor.
Today, though, a no-code workflow builder can empower non-technical employees, or citizen developers, to create their own workflow applications. Now the people who know your workflow processes best – your employees who work in finance, HR, sales and so on – can digitize and automate their workflows. The result is fast, cost-effective, and continual business improvement.
In fact, 55% of C-level executives see no-code/low-code tools as creators of new process flows, according to Accenture. And organizations say the top benefits of no-code/low-code solutions include automation of manual processes, easier workflows, and higher productivity, ZDNet reports.
A no-code tool can empower your citizen developers to digitize a portion of a workflow for an incremental improvement or build workflow apps for end-to-end workflows for even greater automation. The resulting workflows can enable data capture, notifications, escalations, reporting and more. They can even integrate with existing applications or databases to extend workflows and ensure both efficiency and compliance.
A drag-and-drop visual workflow designer lets users simply select design objects for the workflow app and drag them to a canvas to create the user interface, define workflow stages and configure business rules. Behind the scenes, the tool automatically creates code to digitize and automate the workflow.
Ultimately, workflow apps created with a no-code tool empower your organization to:
- Reduce time for workflow development and deployment
- Minimize dependence on technical resources
- Realize substantial cost savings
- Improve communication and compliance
- Gain better visibility into workflows and operations
- Empower employees to do their jobs more efficiently and serve customers more effectively
Workflow automation is accelerating operations and giving organizations new competitive advantages. And workflow apps created with a no-code workflow builder are enabling enterprises to achieve those goals faster and more cost-effectively than they thought possible.
