Enterprise Automation: Types, Examples, and Tools

Enterprise automation is the process by which companies take manual tasks and use software to automate them, with the goal of automating entire business processes. The goal of enterprise automation is increased efficiency, reduced errors, and improved productivity.

This blog article will help business leaders and IT managers looking to implement or enhance the automation of their operations. We’ll discuss the following:

• Types of enterprise automation
• Enterprise automation in various industries/business functions
• Common enterprise automation tools
• Developing an enterprise automation strategy
• Emerging trends in enterprise automation

What is enterprise automation?

You may be familiar with basic automation—using software tools to automate repetitive tasks. You may have created a macro in Excel to automate several tasks that you need to do repeatedly. There are other automations that streamline an entire business process. For example, you may have an automated invoice processing system that manages invoice approval and payment.

Enterprise automation takes that concept a step further and automates business processes at a large scale. Enterprise automation has the potential to integrate several large enterprise systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems, thereby addressing complex, interrelated processes that span various business units.

6 Types of enterprise automation, explained

There are several different types of enterprise automation. You can combine different types to develop your own enterprise automation strategy.

• Basic enterprise automation: Basic automation refers to automating basic, repetitive tasks and processes. A basic automation that people are familiar with is out-of-office auto-replies to emails. Monthly sales reports that are emailed on a schedule is another example of basic enterprise automation. Basic automations are the building blocks of a more comprehensive enterprise automation system.
• Rule-based automation: Rule-based automation is a type of automation where tasks and processes are executed based on predefined rules and conditions. A popular example of rule-based automation is email You set up “rules,” such as the sender's name and keywords, and the email is automatically filtered into the appropriate folder.
• Robotic process automation (RPA): RPA is when software robots (bots) automate repetitive tasks, such as data entry. An example of this is when a customer submits an order via email. The bot extracts the relevant order information from the email and enters it into a spreadsheet.
• Business process automation (BPA): BPA is where software automates the entire end-to-end business process. An example would be the automation of order processing from order receipt, verification, and inventory checks to shipping and invoicing.
• Integration automation: Integration automation is the process of automating the flow of data and actions between different applications within an organization. For example, you may want to automate the transfer of customer data between your CRM and ERP systems.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) automation: AI and ML can be used to automate tasks that rely on pattern recognition and predictive analysis. In addition, AI can learn from data and adapt to new situations. For example, AI can use consumer patterns to send personalized recommendations automatically. AI automation can refine its recommendations as it receives more data.

Examples of enterprise automation in action

The following are just a few examples of how enterprise automation can benefit different industries and business functions.

• Healthcare: Automation can be beneficial to both healthcare providers and patients. You want to streamline access and updates to patient records without worrying about errors caused by manual data entry. You also want to expedite patient scheduling, medical billing, and insurance claims processing.
• CRM: Streamlining processes is also important in customer relationship management. You want to take customer leads and input them into your CRM system with a minimum of manual data entry. You can increase customer satisfaction when you get automated reminders about following up after a given length of time. You can also send automated customer surveys to discover ways to improve.
• Supply chain: In supply chain management, automation can help with repetitive tasks such as order processing, inventory management, and supply partner management. AI tools can forecast future demand for products, so that you are always prepared.
• IT: Automation frees up your IT department to concentrate on more strategic projects. You can automate system upgrades to deploy as soon as they are available. You can also automate checking for security threats in your system.
• Customer experience: Enterprise automation can improve the customer experience. Customers want personalized, prompt feedback on questions and issues. Automated responses and self-service options can provide 24/7 availability.
• Finance: Automation in finance reduces errors and ensures compliance, since automated processes must adhere to established rules.

Tools and technologies for enterprise automation

There are many automation platforms on the market that perform enterprise automation. They fall into the following categories.

• Machine learning: Two of the tools available for machine learning are Google AutoML and Microsoft Azure Machine Learning. Google AutoML lets you train high-quality ML models specific to your business needs, without development experience. Microsoft Azure Machine Learning allows you to build end-to-end pipelines and automate workflows.
• Artificial intelligence: Two popular AI automation tools are UiPath automation platform and Google Cloud AI. UiPath uses RPA to automate complex business processes. It uses process mining, where it analyzes your processes to find where automation will deliver the best value. Google Cloud AI is part of the Google Cloud suite of tools. It is a managed service that allows you to build machine learning models.
• No-code/low-code solutions: Microsoft Power Automate and Zapier are two popular no/low-code automation solutions. Power Automate is integrated with the Microsoft Power Platform. It allows users to automate workflows between various applications and services. It has an intuitive, drag-and-drop workflow design. Zapier is a no-code platform that lets you create “Zaps” to connect your tools. You pair a trigger with an action, simplifying the creation of an automation.

How to develop an enterprise automation strategy

When you decide to develop an enterprise automation strategy, you need a detailed plan. The following are steps for achieving a successful enterprise automation.

• Identify suitable automation targets: When choosing a target for automation, you want to find your most repetitive, standard, high-volume tasks, so that you get the most time savings for your automation effort.
• Prioritize high-value automations: You want to prioritize automations that are related to key processes. You should start with automations that contribute directly to revenue generation, or ones that lead to significant savings. You should also prioritize automations that will lead to increased customer satisfaction. You should weigh the time savings against the money you will spend on labor and automation tools.
• Map out automation workflows: Before you go into detail with automation tools, you should map out what your automation should achieve. You should have a big picture of the end goal, including success metrics, such as money or time saved. Next, you may want to create a flowchart diagram that describes each step of the automation process. Only then can you develop the workflow in your automation software.
• Integrate automations through an iPaaS: Integration Platform as a Service (iPaaS) is a suite of cloud services that can connect any combination of on-premises and cloud-based processes, services, applications, and data. Your enterprise automation will involve multiple applications, so you will want them integrated seamlessly. Popular iPaaS solutions include MuleSoft Anypoint Platform and Workato.
• Manage changes: You want your automation platform to scale with your business. You must create a process for managing changes, including version control, testing in a staging environment, and release notes.

What is the future of enterprise automation?

AI is opening up exciting new possibilities in enterprise automation. The following are the latest automation capabilities.

• Intelligent document processing (IDP): IDP refers to technology that uses AI and ML to automate the extraction of data from documents. Thus, IDP can automate data entry from unstructured documents.
• Natural language processing (NLP): Improvements in NLP mean that chatbots will become better and more attuned to customer needs.
• Generative AI: Generative AI differs from AI in that it can create new content by itself, based on patterns learned from large datasets. Generative AI can analyze workflow patterns and suggest improvements for automation.
• Cloud-native enterprise automation platforms: Cloud-native automation platforms, such as Microsoft Power Automate and UiPath Cloud Platform, offer cloud-based automation that is easily scalable and integrated with AI. Cloud-based automation is easy to deploy and facilitates collaboration across teams.
• Advanced process discovery: Advanced process discovery uses sophisticated algorithms and machine learning to uncover complex process behaviors. It can analyze event logs to identify patterns and rule exceptions that may have been overlooked by traditional tools.
• Process mining: As we discussed earlier, process mining analyzes business processes and suggests ways to improve them. It can uncover process bottlenecks and inefficiencies. Once you are made aware of these issues, you are better able to create automations to standardize these processes.

CData Arc: Automate your B2B workflows

As a part of your enterprise automation strategy, you can automate your B2B workflows with CData Arc. CData Arc simplifies end-to-end integration using a library of prebuilt industry workflows. It contains a visual, drag-and-drop interface that allows you to integrate and automate processes without developer skills.