A Workflow consists of steps, configured to respect a predefined order and accomplish a specific business objective. They vary from something as simple as defining an IT request process in a small company to complex data transformations aimed to deliver key business insights.

Leaving complexity aside, some characteristics are common across all of them:

• Workflows need to run somewhere;

• Repeatedly;

• Triggered on a schedule or ad-hoc;

• And sadly they will not always perform as expected.

To address the above is where the concept of Workflow Automation comes in. It can be thought as a framework that seeks to standardize and facilitate the development/deployment of workflows across an organization. These frameworks are especially important in mid/large-size companies where multiple teams have similar requirements but don’t necessarily communicate about their needs.