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02 · Insights— The analysis

Workflow automation

Automates repetitive, multi-step business workflows so staff can focus on higher-value work.

Data updated

131
deployments
on record
12
industries
led by Manufacturing
23
publish a quantified result
122 report any result
23 Oct 2026
newest deployment
publication date
§ 1

Where it is used

Manufacturing accounts for 19% of these deployments.

  1. ManufacturingBuilding · 2 in the last 6 months
    25
  2. Professional ServicesSurging · 10 in the last 6 months
    17
  3. LogisticsBuilding · 2 in the last 6 months
    16
  4. Tech & CommsEmerging · 2 in the last 6 months
    11
  5. HealthcareBuilding · 3 in the last 6 months
    10
  6. FinanceBuilding · 4 in the last 6 months
    10
  7. Consumer & FoodBuilding · 3 in the last 6 months
    8
  8. RetailBuilding · 2 in the last 6 months
    7
8 of 12 industries
§ 2

What it delivers

23 deployments publish a number. The rest describe results in words, grouped below.

  1. Time & speed

    14 metrics

    Reduction · median and middle half
    −68%Median reduction −68%, middle half −60% to −75%, from 10 metrics
    Increase · median+60%4 metrics · few

  2. Cost savings

    11 metrics

    Reduction · median and middle half
    −40%Median reduction −40%, middle half −21% to −49%, from 11 metrics

  3. Other quantified impact

    6 metrics

    Reduction · median and middle half
    −40%fewMedian reduction −40%, middle half −24% to −50%, from 4 metrics
    Increase · median+400%2 metrics · few

  4. Productivity & throughput

    3 metrics

    No reductions reported
    Increase · median+25%3 metrics · few

  5. Automation & deflection

    2 metrics

    Reduction · median and middle half
    −40%fewMedian reduction −40%, middle half −40% to −40%, from 1 metric
    Increase · median+27%1 metric · few

  6. Customer experience

    2 metrics

    No reductions reported
    Increase · median+29%2 metrics · few

Grey figures rest on fewer than 5 published metrics. Read them as examples, not as a typical result.

Results described in words

  1. Speed & agility47% of these deployments
    61
  2. Customer experience & trust43% of these deployments
    56
  3. New product / capability38% of these deployments
    50
  4. Scale & capacity35% of these deployments
    46
  5. Cost efficiency34% of these deployments
    45
  6. Risk & compliance34% of these deployments
    44
6 of 8 result types
§ 3

How it is built

Microsoft is named in 61% of these deployments.

  • Custom-built55% · 59
  • Low-code23% · 25
  • Bought7% · 8
  • Mixed15% · 16

The build approach is known for 108 of 131 deployments (82%). The rest are left out.

Cloud providers named

  1. Microsoft80 deployments
    61%
  2. AWS21 deployments
    16%
  3. GCP17 deployments
    13%
  4. IBM6 deployments
    5%
  5. Alibaba4 deployments
    3%
  6. Oracle3 deployments
    2%

Technologies that recur

  • Power Automate 18
  • Azure AI 16
  • Dynamics 365 16
  • Copilot Studio 14
  • Power Apps 13
  • Azure OpenAI 13
  • Power BI 13
  • Microsoft Power Platform 11
§ 4

Deployments over time

37 deployments in the last six full months, against 20 in the six before. Counted by publication month since Oct 2023. 12 earlier deployments are not shown.

Compare momentum with other patterns
The lighter bar is Nov 2026, still in progress: 0 so far.
§ 5

Deployments of this pattern

All 131 in use cases
  1. 23 Oct 2026
    Consumer & Food

    Booking.com automates Amazon Connect flow promotion with infrastructure as code

    Booking.com · AWS

    Booking.com’s customer-service flow designs were created in the Amazon Connect console, while engineering required production changes to move through CI/CD. Manual exports, environment-specific ARNs, hand-edited JSON, and repository drift made deployment across three environments slow and error-prone. Booking.com implemented a console-first, event-driven export and promotion pipeline that turns changed contact-flow resources into portable templates and resolves environment-specific references during deployment. Designers also use runtime lookups to reduce embedded references and let flows serve multiple lines of business.

  2. 1 Sept 2026
    Other

    The Network builds an agentic AI research agent for trafficking investigations

    The Network · AWS

    The Network, a Virginia-based nonprofit, developed an agentic AI research agent on AWS to automate routine investigation of illicit massage businesses using public data. The agent queries multiple sources, verifies business status, synthesizes evidence, generates classifications with explanations, and appears as a widget in The Network’s database.

  3. 24 Aug 2026
    Professional Services

    Dun & Bradstreet uses IBM watsonx Orchestrate to streamline procurement tasks

    Dun & Bradstreet · IBM

    Dun & Bradstreet enhanced its solutions with IBM watsonx Orchestrate to support procurement activities for its customers. The source describes the work as AI-enabled orchestration applied to procurement tasks.

  4. 5 Aug 2026
    Professional Services

    Horizon Media uses Gemini Enterprise-powered Agent Q ecosystem to accelerate RFI/RFP workflows with no-code agents

    Horizon Media · GCP

    Horizon Media deployed Gemini Enterprise to create an internal Agent Q ecosystem as part of HorizonOS, enabling employees to securely build nearly 500 custom no-code agents connected to enterprise data sources and governed by rules-based access controls. The initiative combines Agent Q, HorizonOS, and human intelligence oversight to transform internal workflows and scale client response work across the agency.

  5. 27 Jul 2026
    Education

    Educational Foundation Freiburg modernizes school administration and learning with Power Platform and Copilot

    Educational Foundation Freiburg · Microsoft

    Educational Foundation Freiburg runs 31 Catholic schools serving 12,000 students in Germany. The Foundation launched the EDU360° digital transformation program to modernize educational infrastructure across a single tenant in Microsoft 365 and Azure. It combines automation for school administration, Microsoft 365 Copilot for educator productivity, and AI-enabled learning experiences across classrooms and staff workflows. The program is also paired with Microsoft Purview and Microsoft Entra controls to protect sensitive student data and manage governance across the schools.

  6. 25 Jul 2026
    Other

    FoodFair: Azure-based donation management platform matching surplus food to charities

    FoodFair · Microsoft

    FoodFair faced a growing gap between edible surplus food being destroyed and rising demand from food aid organizations. The organization built a secure, scalable donation management platform on Microsoft Azure to match surplus food donors with charities in real time. The platform supports scheduling, tracking and documentation so food donations can be distributed efficiently and transparently.

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