Most organizations don't lack process — they lack visibility into where their processes actually break down. Power Automate is powerful, but it's only worth deploying against work that's genuinely repetitive, rule-based, and currently costing someone real time. Here are five signals we look for before recommending automation over a quick fix.
1. The process only works because one person remembers the steps
If a workflow depends on tribal knowledge — "ask Sarah, she knows how approvals work" — it's fragile by design. Automating it forces the steps into the open, which is valuable even before you consider the time saved.
2. Approvals happen over email, with no audit trail
Email approvals get lost, forwarded to the wrong person, or buried in a thread. A Power Automate approval flow gives you a timestamped, auditable record — which matters a lot more once you're in a regulated industry.
3. Someone re-types the same data into two systems
Manual re-entry between SharePoint, Dataverse, an ERP, or a finance system is a reliable source of errors. If the data already exists somewhere, a flow can move it — accurately, every time.
4. The process runs on a schedule someone has to remember
Weekly reports, month-end reminders, license renewals — anything that depends on a person remembering a date is a candidate for a scheduled cloud flow.
5. You've already mapped it on a whiteboard more than once
If a process keeps coming up in planning sessions because it's painful, that recurring pain is usually a stronger signal than any efficiency estimate. Start there.
Have a similar problem to solve?
Tell us what's slowing your team down — we'll tell you honestly whether it's worth automating.
Book a Consultation