Workflow Automation
Automate your business operations for greater consistency, greater speed, and less work
Automation
Streamlining operations with intelligible workflow automation
Some business processes are a hodge-podge of steps that nobody can quite explain or justify: “That’s just the way things have always been done.” Changing just one step in the process might break the next step; and nobody knows how that next step works so “let’s just leave it all alone.”
Despite artificial intelligence (AI) being the big buzzword*, it is not suitable for all automation processes. First, AI cannot capture the unwritten and informal rules known only by your staff. Second, AI is undesirable when you need a repeatable and explainable process that cannot afford errors.
We work with your team to identify and document:
- who needs what information and when
- what kind of format does the information need to be in
- how long does that information need to be maintained
- what kind of rules should apply during the process
Process Flows
Organizations tell us that the their business processes always follow a particular set of rules… except when they don’t. Those exceptions typically introduce complications.
Once those rules and exceptions are well documented, we can begin designing IT architectures that:
- can detect different events in your business
- e.g. new information is received
- e.g. sensors detect a critical change
- respond in different ways
- e.g. notify particular persons or agents
- e.g. initiate a sub-process
- handle faults and errors
- e.g. if a sub-process fails then the overall process should be paused until it could be reviewed by critical personnel
- e.g. errors should trigger a special procedure
Resiliency
Different processes have different requirements for availability and resiliency. Higher resilient systems often come at greater cost or complexity. We work with your team to suggest architectures that meet your resiliency requirements with the least complexity.
Flexible Project Development
When specifications are crystal clear, we can can prepare project plans with clear budgets, timelines, and schedules.
When specifications are ill-defined, we can organize project plans with intermediate milestones to reduce the risk of total capital expenditure.
Documentation
All the automation would mean nothing if your team did not understand or could not support the automation after it is deployed for regular use. That’s why we work with your team to create documentation suitable for existing and new personnel to become familiar with the motivation for the rules and exceptions, and how of the new automation system works.
* Artificial intelligence is the very broad term for natural language processing (including generative AI), machine learning, and computer vision.
Success Story
Digitization of Handwritten Forms
A union in the United States was seeking to accelerate the processing of thousands of handwritten forms.
Challenge
Transform handwritten forms from thousands of users into structured data without the time-consuming, manual transcription.
Solution
A system on AWS that accepts scanned forms from authorized union members out in the field. The content is extracted, auto-corrected, and cross-referenced into meaningful data. The structured data is then integrated with other business processes.
Results
The digitized responses are available to management within minutes of their upload from anywhere in the field.
Why Choose Us
Expert Team
Our cloud architects hold top-level certifications from AWS and ICS2 with an average of 12+ years of experience.
Proven Methodology
We design architectures that balance your up-front budget, operational budget, and maintainability by your staff.
Security Focus
Security is built into every aspect of your architecture from the ground up.
Ready to Automate Your Workflow?
Schedule a consultation with our automation experts to discuss your specific requirements and how we can help.