Repetitive tasks are the bane of every worker’s life. They’re an essential part of data management and office management, but they’re time-consuming and often boring. Worst of all, if you’re not paying attention, they can lead to errors that cause a ripple effect through other business processes.
Once there was no getting away from these manual processes—but technology has evolved, and we now have more options. Enter office automation software.
Let’s explore office automation tools and how they can streamline your workflows. Then get the scoop on some of the best office automation software available today so you can choose the right one to keep your business thriving.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat is Office Automation Software?
Office automation software takes care of repetitive administrative tasks, without requiring much—if any—human intervention. This leaves you and your team free to focus on tasks that are more strategic or that specifically require a human touch.
Office automation software is designed to manage automated processes through a series of triggers. These set specific actions in motion, for example, to generate a status update, change a due date, or send an email or reminder notification.
The different types of office automation tools have a wide variety of applications. For example:
- Front-office tasks like access control, customer relationship management (CRM), and customer service help desk functions
- Back-office automation, supporting processes like facility management, inventory management, invoicing, and payroll
- HR functions, like applicant tracking, onboarding, and training
Some of the many benefits of office automation technology include improved process efficiencies and productivity through:
- Greater accuracy due to a reduction in human error
- Workflow optimization so all your processes run like clockwork
- Less time wasted—machines don’t take lunch breaks or lose focus
- Lower operating costs, resulting in higher profits
- Improved employee and customer satisfaction
And that’s just for starters.
Summarize this article for me pleaseWhat Should You Look for in Office Automation Software?
When you implement office automation software, you’ll probably need to do some business process reengineering. To minimize this, choose the office automation system that most closely matches your requirements.
For example, which of these do you need?
- Process mapping software to plan your business processes
- A data management system that simplifies data entry and data exchange
- Workflow management software to optimize your office workflows and reduce bottlenecks
- Task management software to keep your team members on track, making project management easy
- Tools that help you delegate work and then keep a close eye on progress—without micromanaging
- Communication channels that help your team collaborate and share information
- Marketing automation software to keep customers moving through your sales funnel
- Low-code implementation, so you don’t need an IT team to get started
- Secure data storage so all your customer and business information is protected
- Insightful reporting that tells you what’s working and what’s not
The best office automation software solution will offer you the right combination of tools. You’ll still need to conduct regular workflow analysis to check that all your office operations are on track, but if you’re starting from a strong, automated foundation, you’re already a step ahead.
Summarize this article for me pleaseThe 10 Best Office Automation Software to Use
Now that you know what’s possible with a workflow automation solution, get ready to check out some of the best options available today.
1. ClickUp
ClickUp is an all-in-one project management tool that helps you stay on top of every aspect of your business. With a strong focus on improving efficiency and productivity, this office automation software is designed to streamline your workflow in as many ways as possible.
Choose from over 100 pre-built ClickUp automations—or customize them—to handle routine office management busywork. For example, quickly create new tasks and then automatically assign them to the right team members, with attached comments.
Recurring tasks will automatically repeat, with no further action needed from you. Or set up triggers or conditions to set actions in motion, like changing statuses, due dates, or priorities, or reallocating tasks as needed.
Take advantage of the wide range of templates available for every business need, from the ClickUp Office Space Management Template to the ClickUp Employee Onboarding Template or the ClickUp Help Desk Template.
Keep an eye on absolutely everything using ClickUp Dashboards. You can customize these to show you the real-time metrics and deep insights you need for good decision-making.
ClickUp best features:
- Get started right away with this no-code office automation solution
- Use ClickUp Mindmaps or a ClickUp Whiteboard to design your workflows before you automate them
- Automate reminder notifications so everyone knows what to do and when
- Take advantage of built-in ClickUp AI tools to simplify processes like writing and editing copy, summarizing meeting notes, and formatting content for you
- Bring everything into one shared workflow via integrations with a host of third-party applications, including Outlook, Trello, Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, HubSpot, and many more
- Use built-in process improvement tools, like process documentation, visual workflows, and detailed reports to continually fine-tune every element of your business
ClickUp limitations:
- While ClickUp is extremely user-friendly, there are so many options that it can take some time to grasp them all
- The mobile app isn’t quite up to par with the desktop version, but it’s getting there
ClickUp pricing:
free forever
Best for individual users
Free Free
Key Features:
60MB Storage
Unlimited Tasks
Unlimited Free Plan Members
unlimited
Best for small teams
$7 $10
Everything in Free +
Unlimited Storage
Unlimited Folders and Spaces
Unlimited Integrations
business
Best for mid-sized teams
$12 $19
Everything in Unlimited +
Google SSO
Unlimited Message History
Unlimited Mind Maps
enterprise
Best for many large teams
Get a custom demo and see how ClickUp aligns with your goals.
Everything in Business +
White Labeling
Conditional Logic in Forms
Subtasks in Multiple Lists
* Prices when billed annually
The world's most complete work AI, starting at $9 per month
ClickUp Brain is a no Brainer. One AI to manage your work, at a fraction of the cost.
ClickUp ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.7/5 (8,900+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (3,800+ reviews)
2. BetterCloud
BetterCloud is no-code office automation software that manages online environments and protects them from security vulnerabilities. It’s designed to improve the productivity and efficiency of IT teams, using automation to streamline day-to-day operations.
Use the preconfigured workflows to automate typical IT tasks like onboarding users and managing licenses. This both saves time and improves accuracy, as there’s less manual intervention. ✅
The assessment and reporting tools offer insight into how the cloud-based platform is used and flag potential security threats for further action.
BetterCloud best features:
- Save money by automatically consolidating redundancies like over-licensing
- Automate user lifecycle processes by onboarding and then offboarding at the right times
- Keep company data secure and compliant with automatic file scanning, backups, and recovery features
- Integrate with more than 70 SaaS apps, like Google Workspace, Salesforce, Asana, and ClickUp
BetterCloud limitations:
- There’s an initial learning curve to get up to speed on the BetterCloud platform
- Some users feel that the workflows could be more customizable to their specific needs
BetterCloud pricing:
- Contact for pricing
BetterCloud ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.4/5 (340+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4/5 (27 reviews)
3. Workable
Workable is an office automation tool aimed at recruiters. It automates the process of sourcing new staff members, onboarding them, and then managing them, saving time and cutting costs.
Use Workable’s drag-and-drop tools to quickly create a careers page to attract high-quality candidates. Then, use the pre-built job description templates to create role descriptions. AI tools build out your list of applicants by searching online for passive candidates who may be interested in new roles, as well as for candidates who’ve applied previously.
Automate interview scheduling, then evaluate candidates by gathering feedback from the hiring team via the platform, making it easy to spot the right person for the job.
Workable best features:
- Quickly and easily post jobs to more than 200 sites, plus your social media channels
- Gather profiles and contact details for candidates from social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter
- Populate applicant profiles automatically using resume parsing
- Use automated assessment tests to check that candidates are qualified for the role
- Get new hires to e-sign documents, then store them safely on the system
Workable limitations:
- You need to pay extra for premium features like assessments, texting through the platform, and video interviews
- Sometimes candidate data doesn’t merge seamlessly from other applications and needs to be input manually
Workable pricing:
- Starter: $149/month for up to 50 employees
- Standard: Starting at $299/month for up to 20 employees
- Premier: Starting at $599/month for up to 20 employees
Workable ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.6/5 (400+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (430+ reviews)
4. Brevo
This office automation software is a CRM platform that simplifies the sales cycle and helps move customers through your pipeline. Choose from the marketing platform, the sales platform, the transactional email tool, and the conversations tool—or get all of them together in BrevoPlus.
Set up automated messages that get sent at the right time. For example, a welcome email upon registration, a reminder when a customer has abandoned their cart, or a check-in when you haven’t seen them for a while.
Automate segmentation to identify customer interests, behavior, and other qualities so you can personalize content and build better relationships. Then use a customer’s purchase history to recommend cross-sells and upsells to boost your profits.
Brevo best features:
- Set up marketing campaigns via email, SMS, WhatsApp, or chat
- Send up to 300 emails per day on the free plan
- If you don’t want to sign up for a monthly plan, buy prepaid credits to send emails, SMSes, and WhatsApp messages via the pay-as-you-go plan
- Use lead scoring to identify your best leads so you can focus on closing that sale
- Integrate with more than 150 other digital tools like Salesforce, Zendesk, Zapier, Shopify, and WooCommerce
Brevo limitations:
- Brevo is good for email marketing and messages, but it doesn’t offer marketing via social media
- The built-in templates are somewhat limited, and some are not as attractive as they could be
Brevo pricing:
- Free: Free
- Starter: Starting from $25/month per shared inbox
- Business: Starting from $65/month per shared inbox
- BrevoPlus: Contact for pricing
Brevo ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.5/5 (600+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (1,700+ reviews)
5. Xero
Xero is accounting software that helps you handle everything from automatically creating invoices and claiming expenses to paying bills, managing your cash flow, and generating reports. It syncs with your bank, so all your financial information is reconciled and easily accessible at a glance.
Project tracker software helps you see exactly where you are in a job, from quoting to getting paid. You can also pay your team, store pay records, and run payroll reports.
This office automation tool is primarily designed for individuals and small businesses, but it does offer a premium package for larger companies.
Xero best features:
- Accept payments from your customers by debit or credit card, directly from their invoice
- Securely import daily transactions from your bank account into your Xero system
- Use the cloud-based Xero app to check your numbers, even when you’re on the move
- Invite your financial team (or a helpful, money-savvy friend) to collaborate with you in real time when you work on your accounts
Xero limitations:
- Small businesses might find even the Xero Starter package a little pricey for their budget
- Because it’s cloud-based, you need a reliable internet connection to access it, which could be a problem for businesses in more remote locations
Xero pricing:
- Starter: $25/month
- Standard: $40/month
- Premium: $54/month
Xero ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.3/5 (580+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.4/5 (2,700+ reviews)
6. e-Procure
e-Procure is designed to streamline and automate buying and selling for B2B companies. Built on a secure blockchain network, this office automation software connects buyers and suppliers worldwide and helps them do business.
Sellers can create a smart catalog of products or services on the system, or generate and submit quotations, bids, or proposals. Buyers can find new suppliers globally and then manage the procurement process via the platform. When the deal is sealed, the payment process is secure and strictly controlled.
e-Procure best features:
- Communicate through the platform, negotiate and manage contracts, and pay or get paid
- Conduct or participate in live e-auctions on the e-Procure platform
- Generate reports to analyze and give you insight into your B2B sales
- Hire trusted experts on different categories of business and procurement when you need advice
e-Procure limitations:
- It can take some time to process all the steps of a transaction and navigate the various approvals required
- The company doesn’t yet have enough ratings to judge their effectiveness
e-Procure pricing:
- Free
e-Procure ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.8/5 (2 reviews)
- Capterra: 5/5 (1 review)
7. Coupa
This office automation tool helps you manage your business spending, save money, and reduce risk. Its goal is to make medium to large organizations more sustainable and profitable so they’re well-positioned to grow.
Coupa works with various vetted partners to offer services to their customers that optimize business spending—for example, technology solutions, payment systems, or management consulting services.
Coupa best features:
- Integrate your enterprise resource planning with Coupa to automate manual processes and improve your financial control
- Get your suppliers to use e-invoices, then automatically pay them and bill to the correct expense account, reducing time spent on invoice processing
- Eliminate duplicate or fraudulent invoice payments with Spend Guard
- Streamline your procurement and track it in real time to boost your preapproved spend
Coupa limitations:
- The integrations don’t always go as smoothly as they should, and any issues can take a while to iron out
- Some users, especially small businesses, find Coupa’s pricing a little high for their budget
Coupa pricing:
- Contact for pricing
Coupa ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.2/5 (350+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.2/5 (80+ reviews)
8. UiPath
UiPath uses robotic process automation and artificial intelligence to automate processes and give you insight into all areas of your business.
Build low-code apps or create automations by simply recording your actions on the screen and then playing them back. Use robots to extract data from documents of all kinds and then process it, so you simply need to validate it or deal with exceptions, saving time and money and reducing errors.
View everything in one place so you can monitor and manage it, and then improve processes where necessary.
UiPath best features:
- Take advantage of more than 25 pre-built machine learning models for different use cases
- Train your robots to notify you via the Action Center when they need human intervention
- Use UiPath with your Microsoft Office documents and spreadsheets, Gmail, and File Manager
- Integrate with SAP and Citrix for greater productivity across your business
UiPath limitations:
- Some users would like to see more third-party integration options for this office automation software
- The image-based automation could do with some improvements
UiPath pricing:
- Free: Free
- Pro: Starting at $420/month
- Enterprise: Contact for pricing
UiPath ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.6/5 (18 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (700+ reviews)
9. Envoy
Envoy is a workplace solution that helps to optimize hybrid workspaces and manage visitors.
This office automation tool allows hybrid employees to reserve the desk they want for the type of work they plan to do that day—depending on whether their main goal is to focus or collaborate. They can also book meeting rooms and get a reminder before a meeting starts.
Screen visitors before they arrive, then get them to sign in digitally, agreeing to any non-disclosure agreements or waivers in the process. The system prints a visitor badge, and host employees are automatically notified so they can escort their guests.
Envoy best features:
- Manage desk and room bookings for your workforce, giving you a clear view of space usage
- Set entry criteria to keep your people and your intellectual capital safe
- Keep track of mail and deliveries with clear recordkeeping and secure distribution
- Find out who’s in the building at any time with detailed analytics and reporting
Envoy limitations:
- Some visitors may not be comfortable with the digital check-in process
- You ideally need to invest in a device like an iPad for the front desk—a smartphone is a little too small
Envoy pricing:
- Standard: $3/month per user
- Premium: $5/month per user
Envoy ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.6/5 (490+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (400+ reviews)
10. Zapier
Zapier is well known for automating connections to third-party apps and streamlining workflows.
Automate repetitive manual tasks by linking two or more apps and specifying triggers and the consequent actions, for example, updating a customer’s contact details on your CRM when they fill in a change of details form or sending a welcome email when they register on your site.
Take care of routine admin tasks on projects and send task and project updates. Collaborate across teams—for example, between sales and marketing, or your helpdesk and the IT department—with automated handoffs. And then scale everything as your business grows.
Zapier best features:
- Use the drag-and-drop tool to build your automated workflow
- Choose from 1,000s of web services to link the ones you need across different platforms
- Store your data in tables that are built for automation, and consolidate updates from any of the connected apps
- Encourage collaboration and control who has access to what with a variety of sharing and authorization options
Zapier limitations:
- If there are problems with the third-party apps you’re connecting, the system may go down temporarily
- The free version limits you to only 100 tasks a month with single-step automations, which may not be enough for bigger businesses
Zapier pricing:
- Free: Free
- Starter: $19.99/month per user
- Professional: $49/month per user
- Team: $69/month for unlimited users
- Company: Contact for pricing
Zapier ratings and reviews:
- G2: 4.5/5 (1,100+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (2,700+ reviews)
Summarize this article for me pleaseSave Time and Money With the Best Office Automation Software
Office automation tools manage time-consuming repetitive tasks for you, streamlining your workflows and freeing you up for more important work. They minimize human error, improve efficiency and productivity, and help make both your customers and your staff happy, all of which boost your bottom line.
The best office automation software for your business will offer you the tools you need to connect the dots between your specific company processes. It will also provide insights to help you fine-tune where necessary.
While there are many office automation solutions available, one of the best is ClickUp. ClickUp is a one-stop shop that helps you manage every aspect of your business better, simplifying and streamlining all your office processes. ✨
Sign up for ClickUp for free today!
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