Cloud computing and automation are two of the most disruptive workplace technologies today. While each is certainly important in its own right, businesses that want to truly unlock their potential should bring them together. Cloud-based workflow automation combines the benefits of software automation and the cloud to deliver some impressive results.
As staffing issues, hybrid work, IT sprawl and the need for agility all rise, cloud automation becomes all the more advantageous. Here are five of its most significant benefits you should know.
1. Higher Productivity
Automation’s efficiency is one of its most widely recognized advantages. Office workers spend an average of 4.5 hours a week on repetitive, easily automatable tasks such as data entry and scheduling. Automating these inefficient, non-value-adding steps gives workers more time to focus on more pressing matters.
Automated tools are typically faster than humans with these data-heavy tasks, too. Consequently, assigning each type of work to employees or machines based on what they do best will help you accomplish as much as possible in minimal time.
These time-saving benefits are present in any automated system, but cloud-based workflow automation takes it further. With a cloud-based solution, you can bring automation’s benefits to remote workers, who are already more productive than in-office employees in many cases. The automation software itself can also become more efficient from the cloud’s higher capacity and throughput.
2. Fewer Errors
Automated cloud workflows can also help you reduce errors. Because repetitive, data-heavy tasks are unengaging and slow for employees, they’re prone to mistakes. Workers can easily get bored or distracted, leading otherwise talented employees to err, but automation provides a solution.
Robotic process automation (RPA) tools can’t get tired or bored, making them ideal for these tasks. Bringing the cloud’s massive data capacity and access to these workflows can further improve accuracy by giving automated tools more information to work off of.
Removing errors from your workflows will lead to further time savings by preventing any rework necessary to fix mistakes. Human error is also one of the biggest security risks in modern networks, so this improved accuracy minimizes cyber vulnerabilities, too.
3. Lower IT Costs
Another advantage of cloud-based workflow automation is that it can lower your organization’s IT expenses. Cost concerns are some of the biggest barriers to automation, even if these tools reduce ongoing costs over time. Cloud-based alternatives mitigate that issue by offering more flexibility and lowering infrastructure requirements.
Cloud-native automation solutions carry minimal hardware needs. Consequently, you can implement them without upgrading your on-premise infrastructure. You can then experience automation’s cost-saving benefits without contributing to IT sprawl, helping manage its costs.
Using a cloud alternative to conventional automation also lets you lean more heavily into remote work while retaining this technology’s benefits. As a result, you can minimize on-site devices and related expenses. The improved productivity will also help overcome IT talent shortages and the costs that issue carries.
4. Improved Scalability
Similarly, cloud-native solutions have unique scalability advantages over traditional automation approaches. Scalability is one of the leading advantages of cloud computing as a whole, and it’s particularly helpful in an RPA context.
Many organizations turn to automation for its efficiency and long-term cost savings but struggle with the initial stages. Some solutions may be too expensive upfront or too disruptive to implement and scale up. Using a cloud-based alternative lets you start smaller, then upgrade at your own pace, paying only for what you need the whole way.
With cloud-based automation, you can easily scale up or down without worrying about hardware constraints. The cloud’s need-based payment model also helps boost ROIs as you automate. This flexibility lets you maintain productivity amid broader workforce changes like transitioning to a hybrid working model, too.
5. Boosted Reliability and Security
Many of these benefits focus on how the cloud improves automation, but automation can also improve the cloud. Implementing cloud-based workflow automation can help you overcome the reliability and security challenges you may face during a cloud transition.
While cloud computing offers several security advantages over on-prem solutions, it carries unique cybersecurity considerations, which is where issues arise. Automating cloud workflows can help manage these by reducing the burden of security on your staff. You can give IT teams more time to focus on pressing security issues, minimize risks from human error and improve response time by automating threat detection.
Similarly, automation can improve your cloud’s responsiveness and reliability. Misconfiguration is one of the most common issues with cloud migration, and these errors largely stem from human error. Automating tasks to minimize the chances of mistakes and giving employees more time to focus helps prevent these incidents, leading to more reliable cloud services.
Cloud-Based Workflow Automation Is Critical Today
As pressures mount for businesses to become more digital-forward, agile and cost-efficient, it becomes increasingly difficult to overlook these benefits. While they present a competitive advantage today, they may become crucial to success in the future. Capitalizing on these opportunities sooner rather than later can help you stay afloat in a changing business environment.
Cloud-based workflow automation may become standard across industries before long. The sooner you get in on that trend, the more you can take advantage of its potential.