Implementing workflow automation is similar to building a new home. If you wanted to build a new home would you go to the hardware store, buy hammer, nails and wood and begin building your home tomorrow? Of course not – you'd hire a skilled developer. Workflow automation, like building a house, requires a thorough analysis of the process' steps, skills and tools, and a skilled developer. Most companies have either been promised or promised themselves the benefits of workflow automation only to fail. The primary points of failure are:

• Insufficient or inappropriate tools
• Lack of workflow automation skills
• Negative return on investment (ROI)

Insufficient Tools

Companies that attempt to build their own workflow tools are often overwhelmed by the amount of effort actually required to design, build and maintain a workflow automation system. Internally-run initiatives are often over-budget and delayed by months or even years with little value being delivered.
Successful workflow automation systems require a minimum of the following capabilities:

• Process Design Tool – used to map out the optimal process flow
• Workflow Management – to design and manage the workflow steps
• "Wizard" or User Experience Designer – to build and manage the user interfaces
• Business Rules Management – a system that manages and employs rules to make decisions during processing
• User Security – a method to manage users and their rights in the process
• Document Handling – forms automation and document routing
• Knowledge Base – built-in, self-service database of knowledge to train and support end-users
• Notifications – system should be able to send messages to users
• System Integration – ability to share data with other systems

Lack of Workflow Automation Skills

An assumption that many process owners make is to assume that all technology decisions or implementations should belong to the organization's IT team. While the traditional IT team is technically savvy and should be involved in supporting new technology initiatives, corporate technology teams are not necessarily trained in implementing workflow automation solutions or building tools. Most organizations lack the requisite skills to design, build, configure and- deploy an effective workflow system.
The team or organization you select to implement your workflow should be well-versed in process design, process analysis, implementing workflow technology and, most importantly, customer service to your team of users. Every technology initiative requires users to change their behavior, and for the newly implemented system to evolve over time. The right service provider will be attentive to both the needs of users and evolving workflow needs.

Negative ROI

Determining whether a process should be automated should compare the cost of implementing the solution to the cost-savings and revenue enhancements that result from the new process.

Example:

A sales organization with 1,000 sales reps produces four new accounts per month. Filling out paperwork takes up to 243 hours per year and 45% of all new account paperwork is rejected. With labor and errors alone, the current process costs the organization $7.70M per year.
With automation the error rejection rate drops to 5% or less and the labor to 54 hours, resulting in a new cost of only $1.53M per year – 80% savings.
Over 60% of all IT projects end in failure. These initiatives end up costing more than expected, taking longer to implement than planned and/or lacking end-user adoption. In the above example, if the implementation costs $1M per year, then the project has a savings of $5.17M per year. However, if the project achieves less than 25% adoption (or costs go up or rejections continue to persist, etc.) then the project could fail to achieve the expected return on investment.