50 Process Types Ready for Instant Automation

Many SMEs underestimate how many of their daily processes can already be automated today. This overview shows 50 concrete process types, organized by department, that become instantly more efficient with AI automation.

Finance and Accounting (10 Processes)

1. Invoice recognition and capture from various formats
2. Automatic matching of invoices with purchase orders
3. Bank statement processing and allocation
4. Dunning management and automatic payment reminders
5. Travel expense reports review and booking
6. Cash flow forecasting based on historical data
7. Automated budget variance analysis
8. Tax-relevant document classification
9. Monthly report generation from multiple sources
10. Creditor verification and duplicate detection

Human Resources (8 Processes)

1. Application screening and shortlisting
2. Onboarding checklists and document distribution
3. Time tracking and overtime calculation
4. Absence management and vacation planning
5. Payroll preparation
6. Employee survey analysis
7. Personnel file digitization and structuring
8. Training needs derived from performance data

Legal and Compliance (7 Processes)

1. Contract review for standard clauses and risks
2. NDA and contract creation from templates
3. Regulatory change monitoring
4. Automatic compliance checklist updates
5. Deadline management and reminder systems
6. Data subject access request (DSAR) processing
7. Contract clause comparison and deviation flagging

Customer Service (8 Processes)

1. Customer inquiry classification and prioritization
2. Automatic responses to standard inquiries
3. Complaint categorization and escalation
4. Customer feedback analysis and summarization
5. Knowledge base automatic updates
6. Multilingual customer support
7. Customer satisfaction surveys and evaluation
8. Returns processing and status updates

Operations and Procurement (7 Processes)

1. Purchase requisition review and approval
2. Supplier quote comparison
3. Inventory optimization and reordering
4. Delivery note matching with orders
5. Quality protocol capture and evaluation
6. Production planning based on order pipeline
7. Automatic maintenance plan generation (Predictive Maintenance)

Marketing and Sales (5 Processes)

1. Lead scoring and qualification
2. Social media post scheduling and analysis
3. Competitor monitoring and market analysis
4. Personalized proposal template generation
5. CRM data maintenance and deduplication

IT and Administration (5 Processes)

1. IT helpdesk ticket classification and prioritization
2. Access rights management and reviews
3. Software license tracking
4. Email inbox sorting and forwarding
5. Meeting minutes creation and distribution

Conclusion: Recognize the Potential

Almost every company has at least 5-10 processes from this list that can be instantly optimized with AI automation. The first step is recognizing the potential. The second is selecting the right process to start with.