TL;DR: Automating a bad process just makes a bad process faster. True efficiency comes from choosing the right targets — repeatable, high-impact workflows that connect core systems and eliminate bottlenecks. Before automating, fix the foundation.
Every operations leader has heard the promise: “Automation will save time, reduce costs, and improve efficiency.” And while that’s true in theory, in practice, many companies discover that automation can also make things worse — faster.
Why? Because they’re automating the wrong processes.
The real challenge isn’t whether you can automate. It’s knowing what to automate, when, and why.
The rush to automate has led many organizations to start in the wrong place — chasing shiny use cases or front-office experiments instead of addressing the operational backbone that powers their business.
A 2025 MIT study (via Nintex) revealed that 95% of AI and automation projects fail to deliver ROI — not because the technology doesn’t work, but because companies apply it to fragmented, low-value, or ad hoc workflows. As the report put it, “companies try to automate intelligence before automating basic operations.”
In other words: before you let AI write your reports, make sure your data actually flows where it should.
Too many automation projects begin with enthusiasm and end with frustration — because leaders skip the step of assessing whether the process itself is worth automating.
When companies automate without strategy, they don’t just waste time — they multiply inefficiencies.
Common symptoms include:
As the MIT study noted, many companies focus on customer-facing or “showcase” automations because they look innovative — but they’re harder to measure, govern, and sustain. Meanwhile, the real value lies in the back-office: the processes no one sees but everyone depends on.
The most successful automation strategies start where inefficiency hurts most — in repeatable, high-volume, rule-based processes. These are the hidden engines of your business, quietly consuming hours of manual work every week.
Examples include:
These workflows share key characteristics:
By automating these, you not only save time — you unlock compounding efficiency across the organization.
Here’s a simple way to evaluate which processes are ready for automation.
| Criteria | Description | Question to Ask |
|---|---|---|
| Repetition | How often does this process occur? | Does it happen daily or weekly? |
| Volume | How many transactions or tasks per cycle? | How much manual effort is required? |
| Complexity | How many systems or handoffs are involved? | Is it rule-based or highly variable? |
| Impact | What’s the business outcome if we improve this? | Does it save time, reduce risk, or boost accuracy? |
| Stability | Is the process well-defined and standardized? | Are the steps clear and consistent? |
Pro tip: If a process isn’t stable, standardize it before automating it. Automating chaos only spreads chaos faster.
Consider a mid-sized financial services firm eager to automate expense reimbursements. At first, they integrated an automation tool directly into their approval system — but employees kept submitting incomplete forms, forcing manual reviews.
Instead of adding more automation, they reworked the process first — introducing structured data inputs, clear validation rules, and better communication between HR and Finance.
Only then did they layer automation on top, routing complete requests automatically. The result? A 70% reduction in processing time and far fewer exceptions.
This is the principle of “process before platform.” The tool isn’t the solution — the design is.
Even well-intentioned automation efforts fail when leaders overlook these pitfalls:
According to Nintex and Gartner, back-office workflows — procurement, finance ops, HR administration — consistently deliver the highest automation ROI. They’re structured, measurable, and repeatable, making them ideal starting points.
This is where most organizations quietly win at automation. You may not see a viral LinkedIn post about automating invoice approvals, but it’s the kind of improvement that compounds quarter after quarter.
As one industry analyst put it: “If you can’t automate the back office, you can’t scale the front office.”
Even after picking the right processes, success depends on how automation is implemented.
That’s where a digital process layer — like Mello — comes in. It connects your people, tools, and automations into one visible system of execution.
With a platform like Mello, you can:
This ensures automation doesn’t operate in isolation — it becomes part of a coherent, scalable operational fabric.
Automation is powerful, but it’s not magic. Automating the wrong processes wastes resources, confuses teams, and erodes trust in transformation initiatives.
Before jumping to tools or AI, take a step back. Ask:
If the answer is yes, then automation becomes the accelerant it was meant to be.
The future belongs to organizations that don’t just automate — they automate intentionally.
