Here are 25 examples of business process automation, grouped by department: sales, customer service, administration and finance, human resources, and operations and logistics. They all have something in common: they are repetitive, rule-based tasks that someone currently does by hand, copying information between tools. If you'd first like to understand what automation is and how it is implemented, start with our complete guide to business process automation.
For each example we describe what happens today, what happens once it's automated and which indicator improves. That way you can spot which ones resemble the processes in your company.
In 30 seconds:
- Almost every department has processes that can be automated without changing tools.
- The best candidates move data between systems, happen often and cause errors or delays.
- AI adds the most value in steps that involve reading, classifying or writing.
- For sensitive decisions, a person stays in the loop.
Sales and CRM
The goal in sales is that no lead goes unanswered and the CRM updates itself, without relying on each sales rep's memory.
1. Automatic lead capture and logging
Today: contacts come in through the website, email, phone or trade fairs, and someone enters them into the CRM when they have time. Automated: every lead is logged in the CRM instantly, with its source and without duplicates. Indicator: percentage of leads logged and time to logging.
2. Lead qualification and assignment to a sales rep
Today: a manager reviews the leads and decides who to pass them to. Automated: criteria are applied (size, industry, region, need) and, where needed, AI interprets the customer's message; the lead is assigned to the right sales rep, who gets a notification. Indicator: assignment time and lead-to-opportunity conversion rate.
3. Instant first response
Today: the lead waits hours, sometimes days, for someone to reply. Automated: they get a reply within minutes by email or WhatsApp with the relevant information and a suggested next step. Indicator: first response time.
4. Follow-up sequences and reminders
Today: each sales rep follows up in their own way and some opportunities go cold. Automated: the system schedules reminders, sends follow-ups based on the stage and flags when an opportunity has been stalled for too long. Indicator: stalled opportunities and close rate.
5. Generating quotes from templates
Today: preparing a quote means copying data from the CRM into a document, checking prices and formatting it. Automated: the quote is generated from the CRM with the customer's details and current rates, ready to review and send. Indicator: time to prepare a quote.
Customer service
The idea here is that repetitive requests are resolved instantly and your team handles what needs judgement, without losing the human touch.
6. Answering frequently asked questions
Today: the team answers the same questions over and over. Automated: an AI agent answers via the website, email or WhatsApp using the company's information, identifies itself as a virtual assistant and hands over to a person when needed. Indicator: percentage of enquiries resolved without intervention.
7. Order status enquiries
Today: "Where's my order?" forces someone to search the ERP and the carrier's website. Automated: the agent checks the system and replies with the status and expected date. Indicator: volume of enquiries handled per person.
8. Classifying and routing incidents
Today: incidents land in a shared inbox and get lost among emails. Automated: each message is classified by type and urgency, a ticket is opened and assigned to the right team. Indicator: resolution time and unassigned incidents.
9. Proactive customer notifications
Today: the customer finds out about a delay when they call to ask. Automated: they receive automatic notifications about shipments, delays or appointments, without anyone having to write them. Indicator: inbound calls about delivery issues.
10. Post-service satisfaction surveys
Today: they go out every now and then, if someone remembers. Automated: every closed order or ticket triggers a survey, and negative responses send an alert to the manager. Indicator: response rate and satisfaction.
If any of these processes resembles what happens in your company, it's worth putting numbers on it before deciding.
Calculate the return on automation
Administration and finance
In administration, the goal is for invoices, collections and reconciliations to be processed on their own, with traceability and no typing errors.
11. Reading and recording supplier invoices
Today: invoices arrive by email as PDFs and someone types the data into the accounting software. Automated: AI extracts the supplier, amount, date and taxes, checks them against the purchase order and records the invoice; if confidence is low, a person reviews it. Indicator: time per invoice and recording errors.
12. Issuing invoices when an order is closed
Today: administration waits for sales or operations to tell them to invoice. Automated: when an order or job is marked as complete, the invoice is generated and sent. Indicator: time between service and invoice.
13. Staged payment reminders
Today: outstanding payments are chased late and irregularly. Automated: reminders are sent before and after the due date with a progressively firmer tone, and cases that don't respond are passed to a person. Indicator: average days to collect.
14. Assisted bank reconciliation
Today: bank transactions are matched against invoices line by line. Automated: the system suggests matches and leaves only the ones that don't add up for review. Indicator: month-end close time.
15. Expense approval
Today: receipts and expenses circulate by email until someone approves them. Automated: each expense follows an approval workflow based on amount and department, with reminders and a record of who approved what. Indicator: approval time.
Human resources
In HR we aim for less paperwork and a better employee experience, while always leaving decisions about people in the hands of people.
16. Onboarding new employees
Today: a new hire means emails to IT, administration and the manager, and something always gets forgotten. Automated: once the start is confirmed, accounts are created, paperwork is sent and a task list is triggered for everyone involved. Indicator: onboarding time and outstanding tasks on day one.
17. Managing holidays and absences
Today: requests arrive by email and are noted in a spreadsheet. Automated: the employee submits the request, the manager approves it with one click and the team calendar updates itself. Indicator: handling time per request.
18. Answering internal questions
Today: HR answers the same questions about policies, payroll or the calendar many times over. Automated: an internal assistant answers based on the company's procedures and documents, and passes on what it doesn't know. Indicator: internal enquiries resolved without intervention.
19. Initial screening and interview scheduling
Today: reviewing applications and juggling calendars takes hours. Automated: applications are sorted against the job requirements and interview slots are proposed; the hiring decision is always made by a person. Indicator: time to hire.
20. Offboarding
Today: when someone leaves, removing access and returning equipment depends on someone remembering. Automated: a task list is triggered by the leaving date and access is revoked on time. Indicator: active accounts belonging to people who have left the company.
Operations and logistics
In operations, the goal is for orders, stock and incidents to be connected end to end.
21. Entering orders from email or PDF into the ERP
Today: B2B orders arrive by email and are typed in by hand. Automated: AI reads the order, it is created in the ERP, the stock is reserved and the warehouse is notified. Indicator: handling time per order and order errors.
22. Stock alerts
Today: stock-outs are discovered while picking an order. Automated: when an item drops below a threshold, purchasing gets an alert or a draft purchase order to the supplier is generated. Indicator: stock-outs.
23. Carrier coordination and tracking
Today: shipping details are copied into the carrier's website and tracking is sent by hand. Automated: on dispatch, the shipment is created and the customer receives their tracking number. Indicator: dispatch time.
24. Work reports that trigger an invoice
Today: technicians fill in paper reports that someone transcribes days later. Automated: the report is completed on a mobile phone, validated and fed straight into invoicing. Indicator: time between work done and invoice.
25. Automatic operations reports
Today: every week someone builds the report by copying data from three places. Automated: the report generates itself and reaches management on the scheduled day and time. Indicator: hours spent on reporting.
Before and after an automated process
To see the change as a whole, let's take example 11: reading and recording supplier invoices.
Before
- The invoice arrives by email as a PDF.
- Someone downloads it and types in the data.
- They check by hand whether it matches the purchase order.
- They forward the ones needing approval by email.
- They file the PDF in a folder.
- Errors are caught at month-end close.
After
- The invoice is detected as soon as it arrives.
- AI extracts the data and checks it against the purchase order.
- It is recorded in the accounting software.
- If it exceeds a set amount, it goes to approval automatically.
- It is filed with a consistent name and location.
- Only doubtful ones reach a person for review.
Illustrative example: what one of these processes can add up to
This is an illustrative example to show how the calculation works, not a real case:
- 1 person spends 8 hours a week recording supplier invoices.
- Hours per year = 1 × 8 × 52 = 416 hours.
- At an hourly cost of €25, the annual cost = 416 × €25 = €10,400.
- If 60% of the work is automated, around 250 hours per year are recovered, about €6,240.
And that's just one process. When you add two or three from the list, the impact shows in the capacity of the whole department. In our article on the ROI of automation we explain how to do this calculation with your own data.
How to choose which of these examples to start with
Having 25 ideas is great; trying to do them all at once is not. The recommended approach is to rank your candidates by impact and effort and start with the one that delivers the most return for the least complexity. We explain it step by step in how to identify which processes to automate in your company.
In our methodology that order translates into five phases: 01 Assessment, 02 Prioritised proposal, 03 First automation, 04 Rollout and 05 Continuous improvement. And if you want to see how each area is approached, the solutions by department hub has the details.
Frequently asked questions
Which business processes can be automated?
Those that are repetitive, frequent, rule-based and move information between tools: lead logging, invoices, orders, collections, onboarding, reports. Those requiring judgement, negotiation or empathy remain in the hands of people.
Do I need artificial intelligence to automate these processes?
Not always. Many can be solved by connecting tools and setting rules. AI comes in when documents need to be read, messages classified, drafts written or questions answered.
Do I have to change my CRM or ERP?
Usually not. Most of these examples are implemented on the tools you already use. New tools are only proposed when they make sense for the process.
Which department should be automated first?
The one that loses the most time on repetitive tasks, or where errors and delays have the biggest impact on customers or cash flow. It's often administration or operations, but it depends on each company.
Which of these processes costs you the most?
Does this process sound familiar? We'll help you measure what it costs you. In the assessment we review 2 or 3 of your company's processes with you, estimate how many hours and euros they represent and suggest which one to start with.