When asked, “Which automation technologies are the key drivers of enterprise digital transformation?” 47% of business and IT leaders identified workload automation (WLA) as their top choice, with robotic process automation (RPA) following closely behind.1
Workload automation (WLA) tools are a type of software that automates business processes by scheduling, executing, and logging tasks across different business platforms. They are used to automate both back office workflows as well as some customer-facing tasks in order to improve tech effectiveness, data management and manage automation costs by aggregating automation tasks under one tool.
Workload Automation (WLA) Software use cases with real-life examples
Workflow automation
IT operations automation
Batch / Enterprise job processing
Data warehouse (DWH) management / automation
File / data transfers
KPI monitoring
Service Level Agreement (SLA) management
On-premise or cloud server management / provisioning
SAP job processing
Based on our experience researching and publishing 50+ articles covering WLA, we present the top use cases of workload automation among different business functions and the benefits of automation to businesses:
IT processes
1. ETLs
Extract, transform, and load (ETL) process is the repetitive procedure of copying data from one or multiple sources to a designated system that represents the data differently from the source or in a different context than the source. ETL tools which often encompass WLA software can:
- automate data updates at specific times or triggering events
- load data from one platform to another
- automate triggering events (e.g. file completions) before starting dependent workflows to ensure reliable data
Benefits to business and real-life case study
Leveraging workload automation for automating ETL processes reduces time spent on repetitive data processes and minimizes human intervention, reducing subsequent data errors.
Graymont, a lime and stone products manufacturer, faced unreliable ETL processes, with only 30% of batch jobs succeeding due to failed dependencies. They implemented ActiveBatch to automate data updates and scheduling, increasing batch success rates to 95% and reducing batch runtimes by 55%.
If you’re interested in more real-life case studies of Workload Automation Software, see the Workload Automation Tools Case Studies.
2. Data warehouse management
ETL processes are the first steps of data warehouse management. For an end-to-end automation approach, WLA software can:
- monitor processes and automate status-checking
- audit and log ETL events for compliance purposes
- notify users of failures and errors
- automate reporting of data warehouses
Benefits to business and real-life case study
Automating data warehouse management via workload automation tools increases the transparency of compliance reports as all processes are recorded and have a detailed audit trail.
Subway, the global restaurant chain, struggled with fragmented SQL servers managing Teradata data warehouses, requiring manual oversight. By deploying ActiveBatch, they automated job dependencies, cut data load management time from 10 to 4 hours per week, and improved report reliability to 99.5%.
3. FTPs
File Transfer Protocols (FTP) move files between servers but lack notifications and require manual cleanup. Workload automation (WLA) software improves FTP management by scheduling transfers, monitoring events, logging activities, and notifying users of success or failure. Additionally, WLA tools can automatically retry failed transfers, ensuring completion and reducing manual intervention in file transfer processes.
See the top MFT software.
Benefits to business and real-life case study
Automating FTPs with workload automation software reduces the time spent on recurring, high-volume file transfers and enables the monitoring of file transfers both on premise and on the cloud.
Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) relied on Windows Task Scheduler for FTP transfers but lacked visibility and error handling, leading to frequent failures. They adopted GoAnywhere MFT and JAMS Workload Automation to automate transfers, monitor job statuses, and ensure error-free execution. This eliminated manual file transfers and provided full system visibility.
Other IT processes suitable for WLA
According to a survey,2 users believed that WLA software was a good candidate to automate:
- Workflow lifecycle management
- Server/agent additions in on-premise environments: While some systems auto scale, auto scaling can be hard to configure within each environment. Building auto scaling mechanisms with WLA can save teams time and help them manage auto scaling in a more centralized manner
- Cloud management/provisioning: For cloud management, IT teams can rely on workload automation tools to manage the provisioning and de-provisioning of virtual machines on multiple clouds from a single platform
- KPI monitoring: Automating KPI monitoring and displaying results in self-service dashboards
- SLA management: Alerting (e.g. via emails, slack, text messages) when KPIs fall under the levels in SLAs
- Critical path monitoring: Every time a predecessor of a critical job in a path starts delaying, the scheduler automatically recalculates the critical path, enabling users to monitor the path more accurately
Figure 1: WLA Aspects
Source: Broadcom 3
See other IT automation software:
HR processes
10. Payrolls
Payroll calculation is a repetitive process that relies on large data from different resources (e.g. HR and ERP data). WLA tools enable users to create workflows that rely on relevant updated data from different platforms and sequence events and interdependencies to ensure accurate payroll calculation.
Benefits to business
Leveraging automation solutions to automate payroll processes:
- Reduces payroll errors
- Creates a comprehensive and transparent audit trail
- Protects privileged employee data
11. Onboarding
Automating new hire onboarding can minimize the time spent by the IT team to create device logins, email addresses, or passwords, and to add them to work groups, calendars, and mail distribution lists.
Benefits to business and real-life case study
Automating onboarding using WLA can:
- Reduce the time spent on repetitive and scripted tasks
- Minimize breaches or unauthorized access
- Eliminate duplicates within an employee’s archive.
Three faced challenges in onboarding/offboarding employees and supporting a global Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program. Managing a 24/7 worldwide IT environment was complex: processes were manual and time-consuming, and provisioning mobile devices for new hires (and de-provisioning for exits) was a heavy burden on IT staff. These manual HR IT workflows were error-prone and couldn’t scale with the company’s growth.
Explore employee onboarding automation in more details.
Accounting processes
12. P&L creation
Workload automation tools leverage scheduling and triggering to convert accounting and trading data, pull financial data from different sources (finance, HR, procurement, etc.), and distribute P&L reports to employees and clients.
13. Billing
Using a WLA tool, users can create a workflow that pulls financial data from designated platforms, validates source files, triggers invoice creation processes, and updates journal entry datasets on the relevant platforms.
Benefits to business and real-life case study
Leveraging workload automation for automating accounting processes enhances the quality of generated reports by:
- Minimizing data errors
- Limiting time spent on report generation
- Ensuring that employees meet deadlines (e.g. complete repetitive tasks, notify users of data errors and task completion.)
UBS AG, a global bank, faced delays in processing financial reports across 170 applications, taking over a week to compile reports. They integrated Redwood RunMyJobs to automate financial reporting workflows, reducing reporting time from 9 to 5 days and improving IT process efficiency by 30%.
Explore the top 5 finance workload automation benefits and use cases in more detail.
How can AI improve WLA?
- Analytics: Leveraging analytics on a centralized data warehouse can help identify business gaps, improve decision-making, and optimize the overall business operation.
- Forecasting: Forecasting tasks and estimating any implications on the company (e.g. there will be significantly more cloud computing costs this month because of significantly more data storage in an expensive storage medium)
- Pattern recognition: Additionally, machine learning algorithms can detect trends and patterns in event logs for optimizing scheduling and triggering events according to daily/weekly/monthly patterns.
- OCR and image recognition: Implementing optical character recognition (OCR) and image recognition will enable the WLA tool to perform ETL and data updates and management on both structured and unstructured formats of data.
- Conversational AI: Chatbot or digital assistants can guide users through creating workflows and scheduling tasks. They can also notify users of errors and lead them to bugs, as well as pull event logs for review or auditing purposes.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP): GenAI can allow users to interact with workload automation platforms using natural language, simplifying the management of automation tasks for non-technical users.
Real-life case study
Global Upside Corporation, a payroll outsourcing firm, struggled with slow and error-prone payroll processing across 170+ countries. They implemented AutomationEdge with AI-driven OCR and NLP capabilities to automate payroll inputs and compliance checks. This reduced payroll errors by 15%, improved processing speed, and minimized manual intervention.
To explore which tasks can be automated using AI, feel free to read our in-depth article AI in Automation.
Further reading
It is important to understand that workload automation is one of many automation practices that businesses are trying to implement; other examples, while being similar to WLA, include Enterprise Job Scheduling.
For a visual summary of the automation landscape, feel free to check out our automation market map and top workload automation vendors which we are constantly updating by adding new automation areas and vendors.
If you feel like your business could benefit from WLA solutions, feel free to scroll through our data-driven list of workload automation tools to find the right vendor for you.
Reference Links
Cem's work has been cited by leading global publications including Business Insider, Forbes, Washington Post, global firms like Deloitte, HPE and NGOs like World Economic Forum and supranational organizations like European Commission. You can see more reputable companies and resources that referenced AIMultiple.
Throughout his career, Cem served as a tech consultant, tech buyer and tech entrepreneur. He advised enterprises on their technology decisions at McKinsey & Company and Altman Solon for more than a decade. He also published a McKinsey report on digitalization.
He led technology strategy and procurement of a telco while reporting to the CEO. He has also led commercial growth of deep tech company Hypatos that reached a 7 digit annual recurring revenue and a 9 digit valuation from 0 within 2 years. Cem's work in Hypatos was covered by leading technology publications like TechCrunch and Business Insider.
Cem regularly speaks at international technology conferences. He graduated from Bogazici University as a computer engineer and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.
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