The State of Workflow Management in 2020

In 2019, the tech trends that came to the forefront were blockchain, AI, cybersecurity, and automated identification of fake social network data. In fact, around two-thirds of business and tech-related news revolved around automation.

Automation has continued to move into workplaces and workflows globally in 2019. In reality, automation is emerging into mainstream stability, with multiple workplaces.

In 2020, there will certainly be a lot of twists and opportunities. Nevertheless, several of the theoretical trends are now being emphasized. And, they’re at the doorstep of your organization! Take a gander at what to anticipate well into the tech-biz landscape throughout 2020.

Take a look at ethics in technology

Ethics tech, especially around the infiltration of AI, will continue to permeate 2020. Such innovations can play an important role in choices and decisions with serious ramifications.

When AI begins to have a larger effect on societies in 2020, it will spark a new debate about its ethical standards. In other words, it will also evolve into an attempt to consider the appropriate use of automation.

Therefore, ethical debates about its business and social implications are among the most important developments for automation for 2020. And this considerate upheaval will probably get some results.

With that said, we should prepare to see more regulations focusing specifically on new autonomous instruments. Furthermore, this regulation and recognition will lead to greater adoption of automation tools.

Transforming consumer and employee interactions 

It goes without saying that a person will absolutely change their customer experience expectations after using simple mobile applications to find a hotel, flight, or train. User interface standards and customer experience expectations are increasing. 

Working with customers as normal would, therefore, damage the competitiveness of your company, especially since 84 percent of companies who make the effort to improve customer satisfaction report an increase in profits (Dimension Data). 

Also, Gartner reports supporting the improvement of customer experience, as 89 percent of businesses are expected to compete mainly on customer experience.

While the aspirations of workers are also rising and treating employees in a conventional way is destroying their morale and contributing to preventable employee turnover and related costs.

Yet, new employees who have completed a formal onboarding plan are 58% more inclined to stay with the company after three years.

Keeping in mind the current expectations from employees, many organizations are building an automated onboarding process bolstered by software for workflow management to ensure that new hires evaluate, hire, train, and put workflows into practice reasonably rapidly. Consider the potential that workers now demand a single portal for IT, HR, recruitment, and other corporate resources in addition to the updated onboarding process.

There is, therefore, a trend to combine viewer-friendly applications, readily accessed from different devices with market routing, artificial intelligence, and more in a collaboration that is always better for customers and employees. When evaluating a process management tool, make sure it is capable of effectively supporting service optimization projects.

The rise of digital natives

Digital natives become prominent. 2020 will be the year when every university graduate in the U.S. will be prepared as “digital natives.” To expand, they will have some coding skills that they can use in the workplace to assist with building and utilizing customized company apps. 

These are graduating students who may have had a cell phone at the age of two and by the age of three, they were already using the Internet. For many, they had written their first “Hello, World” program while in middle school.

In terms of automation and robotics trends, they do understand the underlying software and structure. Not to mention, they understand how to either use them or how to learn how to use these types of tools quickly. 

Additionally, some of them can even facilitate the execution of automated solutions in their workplaces. Businesses should be prepared to accept these “digital natives” and the technologies they embrace rather than to view them with excessive cynicism.

As a result, we already have an entirely new breed of workers ready to automate software. There is nothing to be afraid of when you employ “digital natives” thoughtfully. They will not threaten previous employees. In contrast, it will contribute to your company’s productivity.

RPA and Workflow Management RPA (Robotic Process Automation) cohesiveness is gaining traction

Many low-level and redundant jobs are already being replaced by bots, with good results. According to Deloitte’s global RPA report, 53% of participants have begun their journey with RPA and the benefits that RPA adoption provides include: Enhanced enforcement (92%), improved consistency/precision (90%), increased productivity (86%), and a cost-efficiency improvement (59%).

However, it’s important to mention that while humans do, bots can’t work with implied processes. To this day, the most advanced computer ever made is still a human being. So then, do not fear that bots can replace every single profession. It should be looked at as a more harmonious collaboration.

In 2019, we saw how many organizations collectively adopted RPA and process management innovations. Tasks that perform a workflow are conducted by bots or humans, while task assignment and flow are handled by a workflow management platform. This method is becoming more widespread, and the day is fast-approaching when humans and bots will work together — effortlessly. 

Of course, you want to make sure your workflow management solution has an API fully accessible for seamless integration and human-bot unity with RPA mechanisms.

Final thought

Nonetheless, the future is still a bit of a puzzle. What is reasonably sure, however, is that workflow and workflow management are going to flourish over 2020. Currently, we have every evidence to suggest that we live along with the second wave of business process automation.