Process Automation with Low-Code

Automate your enterprise with modern, adaptable processes.

Endless processes, perpetual automation

Approvals, reviews, check-ins, submittals, escalations, requests— these tasks and functions are barely the tip of the workflow iceberg. Everything and everyone in your organization needs to go digital.

Enterprise process automation is a demanding endeavor, and it’s one that never really ends. Regardless of where you are on the automation spectrum—whether you’re still struggling with processes trapped in spreadsheets or are eager to dive into intelligent automation—you need a tool that will help you accomplish what you need to get done now and support your organization as processes evolve.

Why automate processes with low-code?

Enterprise process automation isn’t just about one department or just one process. It’s about fully automating all processes in all departments from end-to-end. This is a technically complex undertaking that, even once everything is automated and running smoothly, doesn’t end. Because processes change and evolve all the time. So not only do you need to build seamless, consumer-grade digital solutions to replace error-prone manual workflows or ancient databases – you also need to design them to be changeable so they can adapt as the business evolves. If you automate processes with a low-code platform you can create flexible solutions at speed and scale.

  • Build with the business

    A collaborative low-code platform makes it possible to include domain experts in the development lifecycle. Developers and users can work together, speak the same (visual) language and continuously improve and refine solutions.

  • Adapt and evolve processes

    Business priorities are dynamic and change is constant. Solutions built on a low-code platform are scalable, adaptable, and portable so you can address changes to existing processes and solutions quickly and as the business demands, regardless of what gets thrown at you.

  • Get the data right

    Developers need reliable, timely access to correct, up-to-date data when automating processes. Using a low-code platform that includes data integration developers can find, understand, and use data from multiple sources, including internal and external systems, without compromising data security.

  • Tailor the UX

    A process has multiple users who each play a distinct role in that workflow. Low-code lets you provide each user with intuitive experiences for their specific role, optimized for their device of their choice.

  • Maintain control and visibility

    End users “automating” process on their own leads to a chaotic mess of high-risk scenarios. Building solutions with a low-code platform prevents shadow IT and ensures that all processes meet internal and external compliance requirements.

  • Reuse common elements

    Processes differ across departments, but many of them contain similar or identical functions or actions. Unlike with other process automation solutions, “Mendix makes it easy to” reuse workflows, integrations, and components you built for one process in another.

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Address the spreadsheet sprawl

Spreadsheets are the new paper. End users have been using Excel and Access to “automate” tasks or parts of workflows for years. These spreadsheets and databases are emailed around or saved to Sharepoint sites and contain a wealth of data and a glut of mistakes. Updating the rows and columns and maintaining the integrity of complex macros and formulas is time-consuming and error-prone. It’s also almost impossible to either implement or enforce reliable access controls.

  • Impossible orchestration

    More sophisticated – and more compliant – process orchestration isn’t possible until these spreadsheets and databases are truly automated and exist in digital form that IT can maintain and update.

  • Puzzling connections

    For developers to build solutions to replace these spreadsheets they often need to access to multiple systems of record. Their productivity is hampered by having to figure out several connections points and APIs.

  • Drag-and-drop source of truth

    When developers use Mendix to automate processes they can pull the information they need from a single source of truth. Data Hub makes it possible for developers to drag and drop the requisite data source directly into the application.

  • Collaborative by default

    A low-code platform also enables developers and users to collaborate throughout the application development lifecycle. Users can test MVPs, that will run on accurate source data, right in the platform. Feedback from both the business and IT exists in the same system, which makes frequent iterative updates possible and gets the team to an end product quickly and efficiently.

What is intelligent automation?

One approach to end-to-end workflow automation is Intelligent Automation.

Intelligent automation combines artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and process orchestration to create adaptable, comprehensive workflows. Intelligent automation takes even more of the tedium out of repetitive, vital tasks by augmenting or replacing a lot of the human decision-making required in static workflows.

When you automate intelligently you can provide users with the most optimized experience, creating as effortless an interaction as possible for each user within each process. Intelligent processes are also adaptable – AI and ML embedded in the solutions learn continuously as users complete and interact with the workflow.

Read more about intelligent automation

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Frequently Asked Questions

  • How is Intelligent Automation different from “regular” automation?

    What separates intelligent automation from traditional process automation is that it extends automation past just digitizing rote and repetitive tasks. With Intelligent Automation, the inclusion of services (like artificial intelligence and machine learning) enables solutions to recognize patterns, surface insights, and execute decisioning. Intelligent Automations enables processes to adapt in real-time, based on inputs that can range from data points as broad as language to biometrics to telemetry.

  • What skillset is necessary to deliver intelligent automation solutions?

    The most important ingredient in successful intelligent automation projects is collaboration across different skillsets. Projects that include business domain experts in the development of solutions succeed at a higher rate because processes are much more clearly understood by all the people involved in delivering the solution. Platforms like Mendix that include sophisticated collaborative development tools foster the type of interactions necessary for these projects.

  • What kinds of processes are the best candidates for automation?

    Any process that can be identified can be automated. In fact, tools exist that can even mine for and surface undocumented processes. Some organizations start by automating processes that increase operational efficiency internally. Others start with processes that represent customer interactions. Some examples of process automation are Complex Approval Workflows, Incident Management, and Customer Onboarding.

  • How does Mendix support process automation for both employees and for customers?

    Many Mendix customers find that the processes that they are most interested in automating run across both employees and customers; positive customer experiences are highly correlated with positive employee experiences. For employee-facing portions of an automated process, access to all the data they need, and that data being reliable and consistent is paramount; similarly, tools that make it easy for employees to see the status of work in a complex process is key to their satisfaction. For customers, expectations are consumer-grade: being able to connect to organizations on different devices, through different methods (e.g., chatbot), and with up-to-date status and action options.

  • When should I use Mendix for process automation versus RPA?

    Mendix application development and workflow, and RPA can be very complementary. Several Mendix customers have combined these technologies to achieve high degrees of automation and cost savings. While RPA is best for automating data entry and similar repetitive tasks, Mendix can connect to numerous core systems, model workflow outside of basic tasks, foster deeper collaboration across business experts and developers, and embed workflows is sophisticated multi-channel solutions.

  • When should I use Mendix for process automation versus iBPMS?

    There is an overlap in the types of processes that Mendix and BPM vendors can address. Mendix customers report choosing Mendix for process automation for a few key reasons: (1) Simplicity in accessing data across a panoply of core systems, (2) ease of incorporating business domain experts (citizen developers) into enterprise process automation development, and (3) Ability to expose different pieces of a process to appropriate audiences on a variety of devices and technologies without rework.