Business Process Automation Examples
What makes an example business process automation
Business process automation is a strategy that uses software to automate complex and repetitive business processes, with the main goal of streamlining day-to-day operations that IBM calls running the business. IBM says it stands apart from other automation types on three counts, and adds that it can draw on technologies including robotic process automation, workflow orchestration, business process management, artificial intelligence and cloud platforms. The examples below are drawn from IBM's material, and each card names which of IBM's pages documents it, because they do not all come from the same one.
Three distinguishing properties, and one more thing IBM adds
IBM's sentence names three properties that set this category apart, then adds separately that it can draw on several technologies. All four matter when judging an example.
Complexity
IBM describes the category as more complex than other automation types.
Multiple systems
It connects multiple enterprise IT systems rather than one.
Customisation
It is customized to an organization's own needs.
Several technologies
A separate clause, not one of the three properties.
Six examples, and which IBM page documents each
Six processes, each traced to the IBM page that records it. Three come from IBM's automation-strategy material and three from its process-management and robotic-automation pages.
Purchase orders
Purchase orders and accounts payable are among the use cases IBM documents on its automation-strategy page. Both are document-driven and both sit between departments, which is what puts them in this category rather than in task automation.
Contract management
IBM lists contract management among the same documented use cases. It is a strong example precisely because it spans legal, procurement and finance, which is the cross-department property that distinguishes the category.
HR onboarding
New-employee intake covering welcome communications, software access setup, orientation scheduling and paperwork processing. IBM notes that automating onboarding reduces the administrative burden carried by HR departments.
Loan processing
Banks evaluate applicants for credit risk by collecting information and documents from applicants, employers and credit rating agencies. IBM records this on its process-management page as a classic use case for the discipline and for automation.
Account opening
In banking, IBM's robotic-automation page lists customer research, account opening, inquiry processing and anti-money-laundering tasks among automated work. Note the source: these are documented as robotic automation rather than as cross-department processes.
Claims and policy work
Insurance claims processing, regulatory compliance and policy management are repetitive and document-driven processes commonly automated. IBM records these on its robotic-automation page, so the same caveat applies as to account opening.
Four categories these examples get confused with
Four neighbouring terms sit close to this one, and each conflation changes what belongs on an example list and what does not.
Robotic automation
IBM places robotic process automation under this category's umbrella: it automates routine, repetitive, isolated tasks that mimic human interactions with applications, and can often be implemented faster than broader initiatives.
Process management
IBM describes business process management as a management discipline, primarily strategic rather than technology-driven. Its automation-strategy page nonetheless lists it among the technologies this category can use, which is a tension in the sources rather than a settled nesting.
Workflow automation
IBM defines workflow automation as replacing manual tasks with software that executes all or part of a process, and distinguishes business process workflows from robotic process workflows. No source here ranks the two categories by scope.
Document automation
Document automation assembles the document itself from segments of pre-existing text or data, per Wikipedia. It is a component of many examples on this page rather than a competing category, and it does not route anything.
What the sources warn about
- A Forrester report cited by IBM found that 52 percent of customers report struggling with scaling their robotic process automation programme.
- Compliance exposure grows, on altaFlow's own account, where approval decisions happen in Slack threads or verbal conversations with no retrievable record.
- The same account names tool sprawl: approval requests in email, approvals in Slack, signatures in DocuSign, records in the ERP, each requiring manual reconciliation.
- IT becomes a bottleneck of its own, since altaFlow notes that every time a routing rule changes, someone has to file a ticket and wait.
Four things the documented examples have in common
Four patterns hold across the cases above, and each one follows from something IBM or a published customer story states.
Choose a process that crosses departments
IBM's distinguishing properties for this category are complexity, connecting multiple enterprise IT systems, and customisation to the organization. A process contained inside one team and one system is a task automation, and calling it more than that sets the wrong expectations.
Expect the task automations to land first
IBM notes robotic process automation can often be implemented faster than broader initiatives. That makes bots a reasonable opening move, but the Forrester figure IBM cites on scaling difficulties is the reason not to mistake the opening move for the strategy.
Put the routing rules where the business can change them
altaFlow's own account of the problem is that changing a routing rule means filing a ticket and waiting. Prosegur Security USA's story records non-technical staff building and deploying their own workflows after minimal training, which is the alternative in practice.
Write the result back into the system of record
T2 Biosystems' story describes completed compliant documents attaching back to Salesforce records in a closed loop. Without that step the automation ends with someone retyping its output, which is where the saved effort returns.
Which functions these examples sit in
The documented examples cluster by function rather than by industry. These are the roles altaFlow's own use-case pages name.
- Operations leaders streamline vendor onboarding and internal change requests, and gain control over cross-departmental processes.
- IT and platform owners reduce custom development requests and provide a governed, secure platform.
- Finance automates purchase order approvals, expense reimbursements and invoice processing; procurement handles vendor onboarding, purchase agreements and renewals.
Those pages describe what each group automates with altaFlow rather than which examples matter most.
The practitioners named in two of these records
Jeffrey Rader Information Technology Director
Rader is the named speaker for Prosegur Security USA, and his account is about who ended up building the automations: 'I could show you how to build a workflow in about five minutes. I very rarely even have to go to the help documents.'
Sam Ginzberg Chief Information Officer
Ginzberg is the named speaker for Royal Care, whose card spans onboarding to incident reporting. As published before the rebrand: 'There is no need for dual entry; WorkFlow eliminated the risk of errors.'
Two cases, as far as the cards and stories go
Both accounts come from altaFlow's published customer stories and stay inside what those stories record.
Billing operations at Prosegur Security USA
Prosegur Security USA automated billing document workflows as the business grew, across a United States workforce the story puts at roughly 7,000 people
- Non-technical staff built and deployed the workflows themselves
- Roughly 20,000 workflow transactions now run per year
Resulting in a billing team of three handling the volume the story says would otherwise have required nine, with the company quadrupling in size and no headcount added to billing operations, and fewer than two support contacts needed across three years of use
Order forms at BillingTree
BillingTree's entry is a card rather than a story page, and the card records manual errors as the thing eliminated
- altaFlow automates the order form generation
- The flow integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Resulting in streamlined client onboarding and the elimination of manual errors, which is the whole of what the customer-stories card states about this deployment, with no figure published beside it
Governance these examples inherit
- Audit trails: IBM notes automation can provide an audit trail
- Retention limits: GDPR sets a storage limitation principle
- HIPAA Security Rule: Administrative, physical and technical safeguards for ePHI
- SOC 2: An AICPA examination of a service organization's controls
- Processing scope: GDPR covers automated and manual processing alike
- Card-data handling: altaFlow routes transactions through third-party PCI DSS processors
The document leg of these examples on altaFlow
Where the process turns on a document, altaFlow describes one loop in four moves. These are altaFlow's platform claims, not properties of the category.
altaFlow pulls from Salesforce or captures a web form.
Conditional logic and dynamic tables assemble the correct version.
Approval and signature, every step tracked.
Into the system of record, with no re-typing.
FAQs about business process automation examples
Six questions that come up when a team is deciding which of these to attempt and what to call it.
How is this different from robotic process automation?
Scope, and IBM nests them: robotic process automation sits under this category's umbrella, automating routine, isolated, repetitive tasks by deploying rule-based scripts that emulate human interactions with applications. This category covers complex, cross-department processes connecting multiple systems.
How is it different from business process management?
One is a software strategy, the other a management discipline. IBM describes business process management as modeling, analyzing and optimizing processes end to end, and as primarily strategic rather than technology-driven. They are separate subjects and separate decisions.
What is the main goal IBM states?
Streamlining day-to-day operations, which IBM phrases as running the business. That is a narrower and more useful goal than transformation: the examples on this page are all processes a company already runs and would rather run with fewer manual steps.
Which technologies does IBM count?
IBM names robotic process automation, workflow orchestration, business process management, artificial intelligence and cloud platforms as technologies this category can use. An example can combine several, which is separate from the three properties IBM gives for what sets the category apart.
Where do these examples run into trouble?
At scale, on the evidence IBM cites. A Forrester report it references found 52 percent of customers report struggling with scaling their robotic process automation programme, which is a caution about the fast-to-implement end rather than about the strategy.
How long does one of these take to build?
altaFlow states that in many cases you can build and run a simple workflow in about thirty minutes, while more complex workflows with multiple steps, integrations or custom logic may take several hours to set up. Cross-department examples sit at the second end.
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