Task automation: How to automate workflows for repetitive tasks in 4 simple steps

Navigating a busy work schedule is tough, especially when your to-do list is piling up with repetitive tasks. Luckily, it's easier than ever to automate mundane tasks, so you can spend more time focusing on what's important to you and less time stressing over time-consuming daily tasks. 

Task automation has applications and potential use cases across a wide range of industries. Whether you're looking for easier ways to manage data or just want to sort through a clogged inbox, there's a task automation tool out there for you.

Let's dig deeper.

What is task automation? 

Task automation is the process of using technology to complete mundane and complex tasks instead of doing them manually. For example, you might use a software program to pay bills, post content online, or schedule meetings. You can even use task automation to create tasks to deal with the routine business processes you and your team members have to accomplish on a consistent basis. 

You'll still need to spend some time setting up the task automation process, specifying what tasks need to be automated as well as when and how they should be completed. Once these initial parameters are set, the software program handles the task for you.

Why is task automation important? 

By automating repetitive tasks, your team has more time to spend developing new ideas and working directly with customers. This is a win-win situation for both your organization and your team members. Your employees will spend less time on busy work and more time on engaging and fulfilling tasks. 

Not only does this improve morale, but your team members will also be able to reach their full potential and provide more value for the organization overall. As a result, automating tasks helps you stay competitive in a rapidly changing technological landscape. 

How To Automate Tasks

Investing the time and effort to automate tasks throughout your workflow will have a big payoff for your team. These steps will help you identify which parts of your workflow are best suited for automation tools so you can start redirecting your team's energy to more creative and strategic work.

1. Audit your tasks

The first step is to conduct an audit of your team's tasks. Pinpoint which tasks are taking you the longest, as well as any repetitive tasks that are interfering with your productivity or long-term goals. 

2. Identify tasks best suited for automation

Once you've listed your team's tasks, determine which ones can be slated for task automation. Start with the tasks that are easiest to automate – these are your low-hanging fruit. Some great examples are adding new leads to your sales pipeline when they book a call or fill out a form, or you can send an email to a contact after they complete an action.

From there, determine how the automated tasks fit into your new workflow and where you can redirect your efforts.

Remember, tasks that involve complex analysis or creativity are difficult to automate, so leave those necessary manual tasks for your team to tackle. 

3. Choose an automation tool

Once you've decided which tasks to automate, it's time to find the right task automation tools for your needs.

Many apps that you might already be using will have native integrations and automation features included in your service plan. 

For example, Streak offers native integrations with Calendly and Typeform, which allows you to add information from events and forms to your pipelines and email sequences. Streak also includes native integrations and allows you to use Zapier, which offers thousands of automation templates for popular integrations. You can even create your own custom automations from scratch. 

You may need to test several different task automation tools before you find the one that is right for your business. 

4. Set up your automations

Once you've found the right automation tools, it's time to create your automations. 

Automations consist of a “trigger” step and an “action” step. 

Say you want to send an automated email response to certain contacts when they fill out a form on your website. The trigger step would be receiving a new form submission, and the action step would be sending an email. 

Before you use your automation for the first time, be sure to test it and ensure that it works properly. This is how to automate repetitive tasks efficiently.

What types of tasks can you automate? 

You can automate a wide variety of tasks to streamline your workflow. The best tasks to automate are simple, recurring tasks. Automating these tasks gives you more time to focus on more complex or creative tasks, which are more difficult to automate. 

With the advent of machine learning and AI, it will become possible to automate even more tasks over the next few years. Technology is growing at a rapid pace, and we're just starting to see the extent of what's possible with task automation software.

Email Management

There are many different ways to use task automation for email management. Automated email outreach is great for scheduling outbound emails and organizing incoming emails

Some of the ways you can automate email management include: 

• Scheduling follow-up emails for your email outreach.
• Scheduling reminder emails for upcoming recurring payments or late payments. 
• Sending follow-up emails after meetings or events. 
• Scheduling newsletters and other mass emails ahead of time. 
• Automatically deleting emails that meet specific criteria (ie. spam).

Social Media Management

Finding success on social media requires regular posting and responding quickly to comments and messages. This can be extremely time-consuming, making social media one of the business processes that makes a perfect candidate for automation.

There are several ways to automate your social media strategy. Many tools allow you to schedule posts ahead of time, and auto-reply tools can respond to comments and messages for you. The trick is finding the balance between human interaction and task automation.

Paying Bills

It's easy for payment due dates to sneak up on you when life gets busy. With task automation tools, you can schedule all of your payments ahead of time and even set automatic recurring payments. This helps your organization avoid late fees and remain in good standing with your partners and contractors.

Team Management

In addition to helping you manage your workflow, automation technology is also very helpful for keeping your teams organized. Many CRM systems have features that will let you assign tasks to team members automatically and will automatically notify you when these simple tasks have been completed. 

For those in IT or similar fields, automation can also generate tickets for each project. Automation is also helpful for administrative tasks like verifying time cards and payroll for hourly employees. 

Data Organization

With so much data stored digitally these days, it's hard to keep everything organized. Task automation is a valuable tool for data entry and data management. Software programs can automate data entry and convert data into a variety of secure formats for future use. 

Automate Tasks To Save Time And Effort

With limited workday hours, it's important to make your schedule as efficient as possible by using process automation effectively. Tools like Streak are essential for automating tasks and improving workflow. They allow you to streamline routine items and give you extra time to work on more complex projects. 

If you're new to Streak, go ahead and start a free 14-day trial to explore task automation, as well as automating email outreach and other daily activities for your team.

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