Task Automation: Get More Done in Less Time

Businesses across a wide range of industries can benefit from task automation. Using technology to automate repetitive or mundane tasks can lead to greater productivity, as employees are free to dedicate more time to job duties that require human touch. This helps to streamline workflows and processes while improving the employee experience. The boost in productivity is only one of the various ways task automation can improve your workplace. 

Find out more about the advantages of task automation, the tools and techniques you will need, and industry examples of task automation in action. 

What is task automation?

Task automation is the process of using technology to automate tedious, monotonous, or time-consuming work duties so employees are free to work on less tedious tasks. Once necessary administrative tasks rely on automation, employees work more efficiently because they can focus on tasks that support the overall goals of your business. Before you can select technologies to help with automation, you must first decide which tasks to automate. 

To begin incorporating task automation into your business, start with four steps:

1. Decide which tasks to organize: Automate tasks that don’t involve critical thinking, such as data entry, repetitive tasks like emailing follow-ups, and recurring tasks like posting on social media and sending out invoices and payments.

2. Choose an automation system: Select task automation software that works with your company’s needs, taking compatibility with your existing system into consideration.

3. Implement automation: Spend time training employees on how the new system and process work and continuously adjust your system for maximum benefits.

4. Track and measure the impact of automation: Use metrics to determine error rate, time and cost reductions, and employee satisfaction. 

Task automation optimizes your business's efficiency and productivity and works best for specific, more mundane tasks that don’t require an employee's supervision. 

Key benefits of task automation

Task automation has many benefits, but its primary goal is to enhance productivity by streamlining repetitive tasks, allowing employees to focus on more essential duties, reducing operational costs, and minimizing human error. It helps both your team and your company by ensuring consistency. 

Increased efficiency

When employees are freed from time-consuming tasks, they can focus on work that requires human involvement. Task automation increases workflow efficiency because it allows employees to accomplish more work that supports important aspects of the business. It also helps avoid burnout from performing repetitive tasks, so employees can redirect their energy toward helping with important business objectives. 

Cost savings

One of the immediate benefits of using task automation is the reduction of labor costs. Task automation reduces the number of new hires, saving on salary outlays. The business can then use the money saved to maintain automation tools, which is less expensive than maintaining staff. Companies also save on indirect costs with the time savings and increased accuracy task automation can provide. 

Improved accuracy

Human error happens, particularly when employees perform routine menial tasks repeatedly, making them prone to mistakes. Task automation offers consistent accuracy, reducing or eliminating the risk of errors, thus minimizing the need to fix any issues. If you discover an error in your workflow, you can locate the source and quickly fix it before it becomes a bigger issue. 

Common tools for task automation

When deciding which task automation software is best for your business, look for tools that have the features you are looking for, are compatible with your existing system, and are easy to use. Other essential but important factors to consider include:

• Price: Most small companies don’t need costly software that does everything. Instead, you might just need add-on features compatible with the software you already use.

• Capabilities: Ensure the software you choose integrates with your existing system and effortlessly handles the tasks you want automated. You can check with your providers to see which tools automate the specific tasks you require.

• Integration: Integration software allows for compatibility and seamless data flow among systems, a key component of task automation. If you already use specific tools, be sure to research which task automation tools easily integrate into your existing system. 

Robotic process automation tools

Robotic process automation (RPA) tools use robots to automate repetitive yet necessary tasks by imitating human actions using digital systems and software. Some common uses of these robots include extracting data, filling out forms, organizing files, and performing other administrative tasks. They perform these tasks by combining application programming interfaces (APIs) and user interfaces (UIs). 

It may be best to combine different RPA tools, ensuring a complete strategy is in place to maximize benefits. For example, UiPath is popular because it has a user-friendly interface, Automation Anywhere offers advanced analytics and strong scalability, and Blue Prism is known for its excellent security features. By pinpointing which RPA tools work together or separately for your company’s needs, you can improve operational efficiency. 

Scripting languages 

Scripting languages are types of coding that focus on automating step-by-step functions, so it’s not necessary to rely on humans to input the instructions. Some benefits of using scripting languages include the fact that they work across platforms and don’t require any special software to work in addition to a web browser. Many scripting languages are available to choose from, including:

• Python: This free scripting language is easy to use and can create code more quickly with less typing required. Some features it supports are functional programming paradigms and object-oriented programming. 

• JavaScript: Because it doesn’t rely on a backend server and you don’t need to compile the code before running it, JavaScript works quickly. It is compatible with any web page and with different applications due to support from other languages.

• PowerShell: When used as a scripting language, PowerShell is useful for automating management systems and building, testing, and utilizing solutions. It also has a scalable formatting system for easy output. 

Workflow automation platforms

Workflow software allows your team to work faster by managing processes and data. It automates business tasks and eliminates time-consuming work using a rules-based system. A key feature when selecting workflow automation software is the seamless integration with systems you already have in place. This helps eliminate any breaks in the flow of data so processes can run continually. 

You can choose from many platforms to meet your needs, such as:

• Zapier: This workflow automation tool works with different applications allowing you to automate various platforms. Users can also customize workflows to meet their specific automation needs. 

• Microsoft Power Automate: Formerly Microsoft Flow, this cloud service tool lets your team work on a large number of time-consuming and repetitive tasks in a short amount of time. Unlike other platforms, Power Automate offers low-code and drag-and-drop capabilities, ensuring it’s intuitive to use. 

Who uses task automation?

Task automation can benefit various sectors, including health care, finance, and marketing. You can use technology for data entry, sending emails, payroll, scheduling online posts, and more. 

Some examples of the many industries that incorporate task automation in their workplace include: 

• Health care: Task automation can handle tasks like registration and appointment scheduling. 

• Human resources: Task automation can help with onboarding new employees, tracking employee performance and training, aiding in recruitment, and various administrative tasks.

• Marketing: Task automation can help with managing campaigns and analyzing demographics.

• Finance: Task automation improves data accuracy and integrity, reporting, compliance, faster data analysis, and more robust security.

• Retail: Task automation can help process returns, manage inventory, send emails and marketing materials, and analyze sales. 

Best practices for implementing task automation

The backbone of task automation is choosing which tasks to automate to improve your company's performance. When integrating task automation tools, start small. This allows your team to familiarize themselves with the software and helps you discover potential issues before expanding into more extensive tasks. Although the need for human involvement is greatly minimized with automation, you’ll still want to measure and track processes. Regularly monitor automated workflows to ensure they continue running correctly. 

Identify suitable tasks for automation

While many tasks in all industries allow for automation, some still require human interaction. When determining which duties are suitable for task automation, consider these questions:

• Are they simple and don’t require any human involvement?

• Are they repetitive?

• Are they recurring, such as posting on social media?

• Are they manual tasks that frequently involve human error?

• Are they standardized tasks, such as answering customer questions?

• Do they depend on events, such as creating a ticket when customers need support?

Start small

Begin automating small, simple tasks, such as data entry and scheduling duties. This helps you and your team learn how automation works, become familiar with the process, and see the benefits of task automation in real-time. As you gain more knowledge of the system and how it works, gradually add more complex tasks. 

Monitor and optimize

Many task optimization systems come equipped with analytics and software tools. Regularly review these reports to track performance, discover any issues, and look for ways you can optimize your workflow. While task automation reduces the need for human involvement for specific tasks, it is still important to oversee automated tasks to make sure everything is properly working. 

Learn more about task automation with Coursera

Task automation is a great place to start when learning how processes can help your business run smoothly. Once you feel satisfied with the benefits automation offers your business and employees, you can incorporate more complex business project management systems.

Gain a deeper understanding of artificial intelligence and building chatbots, which you can use for task automation, with the IBM AI Foundations for Everyone Specialization. Alternatively, you can learn how to use large language models (LLMs) for task automation and more with Vanderbilt University’s Prompt Engineering Specialization. You’ll find these options among many others on Coursera.