What is task automation?

Many forms of task automation already exist in our daily lives. For example, airplane passengers can print boarding passes through airport check-in kiosks, shoppers can scan their groceries at self-checkout systems and diners can place and pay for food orders using self-ordering kiosks.

For enterprises in particular, task automation falls under the umbrella of business process automation (BPA) and is the most basic form of BPA, automating individual tasks within business processes or workflows. Typical applications include appointment scheduling, capturing digital signatures for contracts and sending welcome emails to new hires, among others.

With advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), incorporating AI automation allows for more complex tasks to be automated, benefitting a range of functions from customer service and marketing to IT operations and supply chain management.

Before developing an automation strategy, organizations need to identify specific tasks to automate within a business process or workflow and choose the right technologies to support the automations.

Here are 4 steps businesses can take to help them get started with task automation:

1. Determine and evaluate which tasks to automate
   
   

2. Select an automation system
    

3. Implement automation
    

4. Assess automation impact

Not all actions lend themselves to automation. Some tasks will still require human involvement. As such, enterprises can distinguish prime candidates for automation through certain criteria:

• Simple tasks that don’t entail critical thinking, such as data entry.

• Repetitive tasks such as posting the same job description for open positions to multiple job sites or sending boilerplate follow-up emails to sales prospects.

• Recurring tasks such as scheduling daily social media posts, backing up files weekly or sending monthly invoices and payments.

• Manual tasks that are prone to human errors, such as copying and pasting data across apps.

• Actions that can be standardized, such as answering customer queries about store opening hours, delivery time frames and returnable products.

• Actions that are dependent on a particular trigger or event, such as creating a new ticket when a customer support request form is received.

Approach teams on the ground to understand their challenges and uncover how automation can aid their tasks and ease their workload. Involving team members early in the process can help them open up to and embrace the changes that automation brings.

Opt for task automation software that best suits an action and its use cases. Other considerations include compatibility and integration with a company’s existing tech stack, ease of use, features, pricing and scalability.

Here are some task automation tools to choose from:

• Customizable templates can standardize documents, emails and forms and tailor them to an organization’s workflows and processes.

• Rule-based functions determine actions based on a predefined set of conditions or triggers, such as filtering emails or sending periodic reminders before an event.

• No-code and low-code platforms have drag-and-drop interfaces that enable users with little or no coding knowledge and experience to rapidly develop and deploy task automation solutions.

• Workflow automation software can help automate tasks within a workflow so they’re completed in the right order and flow smoothly from one phase to the next. For example, when a candidate is hired, human resources (HR) workflow automation software triggers a series of automated tasks, from creating accounts for the new employee in finance and HR systems to setting up access to software, sending out paperwork and scheduling orientation sessions. A few workflow automation systems include ClickUp and HubSpot.

• Robotic process automation (RPA) employs software robots or “bots,” to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks. These bots emulate human actions by manipulating data and interacting with digital systems. RPA can be used to extract data, complete forms and move files, among other administrative tasks.

• Task management tools can boost collaboration among teams by automating task assignments, progress monitoring and task approvals.

• Integration platforms use application programming interfaces (APIs) to connect various applications within an enterprise, such as customer relationship management (CRM) software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and project management tools. Integration platforms allow for interoperability and seamless data flow between systems, aiding task automation and optimization. A few integration platforms include IFTTT and Zapier.

Adopting an automation solution entails onboarding the necessary teams and stakeholders and training them in the new technologies and processes. Start small—a pilot implementation for a specific task with a set number of users can help test and enhance the automation process before scaling it widely across the company.

After deploying a task automation tool, track and measure its impact and effectiveness. Metrics that might be helpful include saved time and costs, error reductions, productivity gains, improvements in employee satisfaction and shifts to more high-value work.

Businesses might encounter obstacles with task automation, such as getting buy-in from relevant stakeholders, managing the technical facets of automation technologies, reluctance from team members to adopt automation solutions, difficulty adjusting to automation processes and addressing automation-related skill gaps.

Despite these challenges, task automation offers several benefits for businesses:

1.    Enhanced accuracy, efficiency and productivity 

2.    More focus on high-value work

3.    A boost in employee satisfaction

4.    Helps enterprises scale

Automating tedious and time-intensive tasks removes bottlenecks that hinder productivity. In a survey conducted by Salesforce (link resides outside ibm.com), 74% of automation users said automation solutions help speed up their work, while another 88% mentioned trusting automation tools to complete tasks without errors.

Combining a rise in efficiency with increased accuracy can lead to a lift in productivity, with 79% of respondents noting that boosting productivity is one of automation’s biggest benefits.

Automation can free employees from doing mundane tasks and empower them to engage in more strategic and impactful activities. The Salesforce survey found that time savings from automation enabled respondents to learn new skills, take on more challenging projects and even deepen their relationships with customers.

Task automation can have a positive effect on employee engagement. As a result of using automation in the workplace, 89% of survey respondents feel more satisfied with their job and 84% feel more satisfied with their company. They also reported lower stress levels and better work-life balance as a result of using automation tools.

Task automation can be used to standardize business processes, streamline workflows and optimize resource usage, all of which help companies operate more consistently and reliably and scale into a more adaptable and agile business.

AI can be employed to automate tasks more effectively. Here are some common AI technologies used for task automation:

• Machine learning algorithms are trained on data and learn to identify patterns and generate predictions.

• Natural language processing (NLP) models enable systems to recognize, understand and generate text and speech.

• Computer vision derives meaningful information from digital images, videos and other visual inputs to make decisions and recommend actions.

A more advanced type of BPA, known as intelligent automation, combines task automation with AI, RPA and other automation technologies for higher-level tasks that require decision-making and cognitive abilities. For instance, conversational AI tools such as chatbots and virtual agents can be deployed across different channels, including websites, social media networks and messaging platforms such as Slack and WhatsApp, to handle routine customer inquiries in real time. This enables human customer service representatives to tackle more complex requests.

Use cases for AI in task automation

Applying AI for task automation can redefine work in various sectors and industries.

AIOps: AIOps or artificial intelligence for IT operations, employs AI to automate and streamline IT service management and operational workflows. Tasks that can be automated through AIOps include root cause analysis, tracing the source of network outages and analyzing data to detect anomalies.

Healthcare: AI can be used for administrative tasks, such as managing electronic health records, sending notifications for appointments, and managing bills and processing claims so healthcare professionals can focus more on patient care.

Marketing: AI can automate marketing tasks such as campaign management and analyzing audience demographics to create segments for personalized outreach. Generative AI can also be used to automate content creation for marketing campaigns.

Retail: AI allows for returns to be completed and refunds to be processed without assistance from human workers.

Sales: AI can be used to search for leads, qualify them based on a scoring system and create custom messages to sway them.

Supply chain automation: AI assistants can help enter invoices, purchase orders and receipts automatically into an organization’s ERP or accounting software. During inventory management, AI technologies can integrate purchase order data with historical demand patterns to maintain proper inventory levels.