When to Automate: Selecting the Right Workflows

Automation can deliver significant benefits—reducing manual effort, improving consistency, and freeing staff to focus on higher-value activities. However, not every process should be automated, and poorly implemented automation can create more problems than it solves. The key is identifying the right opportunities.

Good candidates for automation are tasks that are repetitive, rule-based, and high-volume. If a task is performed frequently, follows consistent steps, and doesn't require human judgement, it's likely a good automation candidate. Examples include user account provisioning, backup verification, and routine reporting.

Before automating, ensure you fully understand the current process. Automating a broken or inefficient process simply makes it faster at being broken or inefficient. Take the opportunity to review and optimise processes before implementing automation.

Start small and build confidence. Rather than attempting to automate complex end-to-end processes immediately, begin with simpler tasks. This allows your team to develop automation skills and demonstrates value before tackling more ambitious projects.

Remember that automation requires ongoing maintenance. Automated processes need monitoring, and changes to underlying systems may require automation updates. Factor this maintenance overhead into your assessment of whether automation is worthwhile for any given process.

Key Takeaways

• Focus on repetitive, rule-based, high-volume tasks
• Optimise processes before automating them
• Start with simpler automations to build skills
• Document automated processes thoroughly
• Implement monitoring for automated workflows
• Plan for ongoing maintenance of automations
• Consider the total cost including development and maintenance

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