Automating processes is the product of the industrial revolution with its roots back to the Dewey Decimal System of organization (developed by Melvil Dewey in 1876) and the Gantt Chart (popularized by Henry Gantt in 1910). In the early 1900's "scientific management" was developed by Fredrick Winslow Taylor who applied his mechanical engineering skills towards the improvement of industrial efficiency and becoming one of the first management consultants to assist companies in improving their processes.
The need to create effective workflow management is an expected step for all growing enterprises seeking to lower costs and increase capacity as demand increases or when capacities are reached. Most processes start with a set of manual steps performed by human labor with some set of tools. Today's modern offices workers will often find basic computer-based tools to assist in performing the steps of the process (e.g. databases, spreadsheets, task lists, etc).
When a process is performed manually:

• Labor costs are the highest,
• Operating capacities are the lowest,
• Processing speed is the slowest, and
• Error rates are the highest.

Companies seeking to improve upon any of these factors begin by
looking at their process steps and seeking ways to make them faster.

First Steps Of Automation

In most organizations improving a process is typically done incrementally for one task or tool at a time. A common, simplistic approach to automation is to buy a tool and attempt to force user adoption. Unfortunately, buying a tool without planning the overall process flow and recognizing the skill level of the worker results in small advances or failure. Technology is not a cure; it is part of a process design.

Example: Applying Technology Without A Process Design

Upgrading a sales team to the newest cell phone may promise to make their jobs easier for any number of reasons (e.g. a mobile application will help them manage their travel expenses faster so they can spend more time selling). However, in practice, most cell phone applications are like all other technologies and are only used within the context of a specific and enforceable process step. When an organization designs a process that can be more effective and/or efficient for remote users who have a mobile application, then the technology becomes relevant and will enjoy the highest rate of adoption.
The result of process improvements performed incrementally is a process that is cobbled together with disparate tools, people and skills that ultimately breakdown. To evolve beyond this level of operations an organization must look to a more comprehensive approach to improvement.This is called enterprise workflow automation.