While we often wish the meeting could have been an email — and tools like Hubspot or Marketo make it easy to automate any email, message, follow-up, and calendar invite— sometimes, nothing can beat a personal touch. Robots can’t (yet) small talk or convey tone, apologize, or celebrate quite the way we can. So, even though tools like TAP have features for real-time collaboration, feedback loops, and dynamic routing (all of which can facilitate conversation and help teams reach a decision while keeping the project moving), in-person collaboration and brainstorming will still prove necessary from time to time. If a unique value could come from chatting or thinking out loud, holding a meeting in place of a workflow may be your best bet.
The same could be said for client outreach. A good rule of thumb here? Automate the intake, but not the follow-up. People want to know that they are heard by a person and not just dumped into a spreadsheet. An example is a customer satisfaction survey, which makes for great workflow, giving you the ability to send timely, large volume surveys, and aggregate a bird’s-eye view of average answers and needs, but once a customer submits a bad survey instead of a “thanks for your response” automated message, taking the time to call or email the customer to follow up and have a conversation around why a customer is unhappy.
By automating repetitive, mundane tasks like review, intake, and approval you can free up more time for meaningful, fulfilling work that ultimately leads to happier, more productive employees.