For most business tasks, employees need to access and use more than one application. The best task management solutions seamlessly work with multiple applications and draw data from different tools, making it easy to create automated workflows between those apps and services.
Essentially, workflow automation uses rule-based logic and if/then statements to automate various types of manual work, with little to no coding required. Some task management solutions provide templates with predefined rules to simplify setting up automated workflows between different systems.
Whether you create your own workflow or use a template, you can configure the system to trigger steps based on conditions to automatically delegate tasks—in a secure and compliant way that helps minimize repetitive manual tasks.
Once automated tasks are created, they are easy to add, sort, organize, and view via a task management dashboard—a central location that displays all information about a task, including collaborators, updates, and deadlines.
From automating the sending of emails to coordinating approvals, here are three simple ways that workflow automation can elevate your business processes:
Receiving requests by email
- Manual scenario: A company’s social media team invites other departments to contribute post content. The team manager then adds each post to the task management software.
- With workflow automation: The social media team creates a new workflow within the task management software, which scans incoming emails for the subject header “Social Media Request”—then automatically populates the posts to their respective fields in the task management software.
Responding to applications from external prospects
- Manual scenario: The human resources department organizes its hiring process using task management software. As part of the process, an administrator must manually forward resumes accepted via email to the person overseeing the respective hiring department, and then send a thank-you response to the applicant.
- With workflow automation: The administrator builds a workflow in the task management software that requires prospects to fill out a web form, effectively removing the need for manual follow-up. When prospects apply for jobs using the form, a notification is immediately sent to the appropriate department, and an automatic email or text message goes to the applicant thanking them for their interest.
Coordinating a report generation and approvals process
- Manual scenario: Every month, an accounting team manager must create an expense report for leadership. Before it’s distributed, the manager must collect information from three directors, then compile the report and solicit each director’s approval. This process requires countless hours following up with directors, sending multiple reminders, and dealing with multiple drafts—which can result in confusion and potential report errors.
- With workflow automation: The manager creates a workflow in the task management software that automatically notifies directors when to submit information for the next report. The manager also sets up automatic reminders if responses aren’t received within 24 hours, and at 12 specified intervals after that. Meanwhile, the manager uses a similar automated process when director approval is required for the new report—with the workflow set up to trigger an announcement when the report is ready for the next director to review.
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