EVERY SECOND COUNTS

Business Process Automation
(BPA)

Business Process Automation means redesigning a workflow, then using software, rules, and integrations to run the repeatable steps so people can focus on the things that matter instead of pushing paper.

BPA is not about robots taking jobs.  It’s about removing busywork to let people focus on the things that actually matter.

We find it easiest to describe it via examples as people tend to get lost in the jargon.

BPA Examples:

  1. Document Automation - Using a form to capture the necessary information to fill in a document template and generate a document

  2. E-Signature - Sending a document out for signature by all relevant parties with the completed document sent to all parties upon completion

  3. Workflows - Employee requests time off, which is validated against other team members approved requests and additionally needs to be approved by a supervisor, then tracked in an HR system

  4. Contract Lifecycle Management - Contract needs to be drafted, then circulated for approval internally, then shared with customer for their review.  Handles comments, redlines, auditing and final sign offs to streamline complex sales negotiations.

  5. Risk Assessments - Guides users to determine if they are likely to fall into a certain risk stratum based on their answers

  6. Calculators - Custom calculations that break down complex topics into an easy to understand bottom line

Now that we understand what BPA can look like, how do we make it happen?

Building Blocks:

  • Form/Chatbot/Interface - Well designed forms or chatbots to capture exactly the information needed and includes point of entry validation

  • Integration - Enables connections between systems.  Some have APIs, others don’t.  Not all APIs are compatible and require intermediary systems.

  • Document Generation - Information driven templates that drive new documents to be created in a guaranteed way (e.g. create a sales order based on the customer record and desired products)

  • Parsing - Given raw data coming in, picking out the relevant parts (e.g. recognizing dates in a line of text no matter the format used)

  • Classification - Given raw data coming in, determine what it is  (e.g. given an image, determine if it’s a driver’s license, a passport or neither)

  • Enrichment - Given a set of data, fill out other information based on what is already known (e.g. given an email address, look up the company name, person name, phone number, etc.)

  • Content Generation - Based on some instruction, generate the content asked (e.g. generate an image based on a description)

  • Optical Character Recognition (OCR) - Recognizes written words in an image

  • Barcode Scanning - Recognizes and decodes barcodes in images

  • Speech Recognition - Recognizes spoken words in an audio recording and turns them into written text

  • Speech Synthesis - Turns written text into spoken words using a chosen voice and style

  • Location - Uses GPS coordinates to determine address, point of interest, language, locale, etc.

  • Data Transformation - Transforms information in the middle of a flow (e.g. changes a date from 6/17/25 to June 17, 2025)

  • Event Trigger - Initiates a flow based on an event occurring (e.g. time, webhook, button click, etc)

  • Branching - Based upon set criteria, continue a flow in one direction or another (e.g. if a given image is classified as a passport, parse the passport, otherwise if the image is a license, parse the license, else report a failure to process the image)

  • Robotic Process Automation (RPA) - clicks through screens and fills things out that would otherwise be manual

  • Agentic AI - Bots with intelligence to act on behalf of humans to solve problems through reasoning

  • Internationalization - Translates between languages, cultures, currencies, time zones and data formats

  • Identity and Access Management - Secures access to sensitive information and ensures the information is relevant to the user

  • Payments - Process payments to ensure timely reconciliation

  • Accessibility - Ensures information is readily available in formats accessible to those with special needs

  • Human Escalation - For when the flow reaches a point where a human needs to be brought into the loop

When we work on BPA engagements with our customers, we first start by understanding what they’re trying to accomplish.  This is a conversation that evolves considerably as we consider what is possible and how it could work in practice.  As you can probably guess, each flow is different and evolves over time as the needs of an organization change.

Our favorite flows are the ones where people are able to change how they work (for the better).  

We’ve seen document automation flows take what was an hour of a senior attorney’s time and turn it into just 6 minutes (at an average of $750/hr, that’s a huge change).  

We’ve also seen flows that turn Supplier Quality Audits from weeks of back and forth to just a few hours because they got the information they needed the first time through instant validation and branching logic.

Our favorite flows are the ones where they feel like magic.  For example, we have a Medical Device ROI calculator on the Runway Hero website that asks some open ended questions and turns it into a 20 page report breaking down various scenarios and provides you with a go/no-go recommendation.  This is the type of thing that used to take Product Managers weeks of work to produce, which now takes mere seconds.