{"id":2278,"date":"2022-12-01T19:14:08","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T00:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog2wrkdev.wpenginepowered.com\/process-automation\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T08:22:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T12:22:43","slug":"process-automation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog2workato.wpengine.com\/process-automation\/","title":{"rendered":"What is process automation? Here\u2019s what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

For example, when analyzing the automations that\u2019ve been implemented on our platform over two separate time frames, we found that the number of departments automating at a given organization has, on average, increased by a healthy margin. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Source: <\/em>Work Automation Index 2022<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The number of organizations with at least 6 departments automating has grown by 9 percentage points; while the number of organizations with only 1-2 departments automating has declined by 10 percentage points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons why more and more teams turn to process automation aren\u2019t hard to discern: It can be applied to just about any business-critical process; it can deliver meaningful benefits to each line of business (LoB); and it can be implemented without having to write a single line of code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help you decide whether process automation (also referred to as business process automation, or BPA) is right for your team, we\u2019ll talk through the benefits mentioned above, in addition to others, and we\u2019ll highlight several key use cases. But to start, let\u2019s align on its definition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is process automation?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the use of technology to streamline or transform a specific part of a process or an entire workflow. While dependent on the use case, process automation typically leads to time savings, fewer errors, lower costs, and improved experiences for key stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/em>What is workflow automation<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Different types of process automation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Generally speaking, there are two approaches to automation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robotic process automation (RPA)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Using RPA, you can set up software scripts (or \u201cbots\u201d) that perform specific tasks at an application\u2019s UI level. These tasks essentially copy human behavior, and as such, they primarily deliver time savings, higher throughput (the bots can work 24\/7), and fewer errors\u2014as these bots, at least in theory, perform tasks with greater accuracy than humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can use RPA to streamline a specific part of a process. For example, in the context of routing leads to sales reps, you can set it up such that it copies fields from a spreadsheet, logs into your CRM, and, for every new lead, creates a new record and pastes the information that corresponds to that lead.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Integration-led automation<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This approach uses application programming interfaces (APIs) to establish connectivity between your applications. Once connected, you can build trigger-based, end-to-end automations for your processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since this form of process automation uses APIs as the foundation, its automations are more resilient; for example, changing the apps\u2019 UIs won\u2019t put the automations at risk of breaking. Moreover, by automating a process end-to-end, you can ultimately capture more of the benefits offered by RPA, as well as others that can impact clients, employees, prospects, or partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that an integration-led automation approach is, generally speaking, better suited for organizations that want to fully embrace digital transformation, we\u2019ll focus exclusively on this type of process automation for the rest of this article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/em>The benefits of API integration<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Process automation examples<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are just a few process automation use cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minimize security risks<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your employees may behave in ways that, unbeknownst to them, puts your organization at risk. And while you can\u2019t always control your employees\u2019 behavior, you can use process automation to mitigate the risks they create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, say an employee is visiting a website that\u2019s potentially malicious. You can respond effectively via the following process automation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
  1. Once an employee visits a website that hasn\u2019t been browsed by anyone at the organization previously, the workflow gets triggered.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
    1. An alert gets created in an application like Splunk<\/a>, which includes details on the issue, such as the website they visited.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      1. An application like Virustotal reviews the domain to determine whether it\u2019s malicious.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        1. If it isn\u2019t malicious, the workflow ends and the alert gets resolved; if it is, a security analyst receives a message in an application like Slack<\/a>. The message includes all of the pertinent details around the issue and it allows them to take action with the click of a button (i.e. disconnecting that employee\u2019s device via an application like SentinelOne).<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Scale candidate referrals<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

          As your organization looks to scale headcount, there\u2019s perhaps no source for talent that\u2019s better than your employees\u2019 networks. Research from a variety of sources\u2014including academic journals<\/a>\u2014validates this claim, finding that referred candidates are more likely to accept an offer, stay at the job longer, perform better, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          To double down on collecting employee referrals, you can build the following process automation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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