Workflow Orchestration: The Definitive Guide
There are many things that can change the way you do business: good, bad, and everything in between, there are ways to alter your process — and some of the best ones are those that have a lot of uses. Workflow orchestration is one such method of change, as its implementation on a business process helps to create a more agile, modern architecture in a variety of industries.
But before implementing any solution or change to your current business model, you ought to understand what it is, and how it works. You have to learn what the benefits of such a change are, and what challenges come with it. In other words, you need a definitive guide to whatever solutions you’re considering. So, if you’re considering workflow orchestration, keep reading to learn exactly what you need to know.
What Is Workflow Orchestration?
Firstly, you have to understand workflow orchestration by understanding its purpose: management. From the ability to consolidate and standardize the information that travels within your business process to the way it allows you to automate and monitor tasks from a holistic standpoint, this approach is all about the management of the business process.
The technical explanation is a little different, though — workflow orchestration is a software implementation that integrates with existing machines used as various steps in a process. When the orchestration tool integrates with these, it has control over how and when they interact, and it provides a process-wide level of visibility that can include performance metrics as well as the design and makeup of a workflow.
How Does It Work?
When workflow orchestration is implemented, it starts by integrating with each microservice set up within your workflow. Whatever these machines are, the software defines a way to execute their tasks, and to create meaningful, secure connections between them. These connections share the workload from start to finish, while the platform itself shares order information with each microservice individually to ensure total security. Connections to the centralized orchestration tool not only define the execution of these tasks but also allow for the automation of said tasks. This means that a workflow tool can decide to automate tasks for specific times, dependencies, or other criteria — making it invaluable to users in many cases.
What Are The Benefits?
The workflow orchestration tool is most well known for its ability to automate tasks — and especially to do so in an orchestrated way (hence the name). While it might take a business process manager hours to figure out what a good flow rate for the process at hand is, a workflow orchestration tool can figure that out with an informed analysis much more quickly. Additionally, this tool can orchestrate the execution of each task without the need for human labor, making it a great boon to those whose time is exceptionally valuable.
You also have the ability to protect your workflow more effectively, by using a very controlled form of information transfer within the orchestration tool. Made to be language-agnostic or to help tasks standardize their communications throughout the process, such a platform is necessary for making workflows make sense at every step. The other thing that helps to protect this workflow’s information is the way it’s disseminated. As the umbrella overhanging all the microservices in a process, your workflow orchestration software communicates certain relevant info to each part of the process individually — making for a stronger defense against unwanted eyes on the data being used for any given service or product.
What Are The Challenges?
There are also challenges in workflow orchestration, though, and these do need addressing if you are looking into solutions that are right for your business. Firstly, implementation of such a platform means dealing with a tool that gets regular updates — meaning it can be more likely to need troubleshooting. Next, your connectivity can fall into question with these tools, because in some cases, they are not designed to be compatible with certain virtual machines. However, these challenges are some of what must be challenged by simply bettering the tool’s approach — or by finding a workflow orchestration tool that addresses these challenges already.
How Do I Use Workflow Orchestration For My Business?
You can take on a workflow orchestration tool for many different types of digital workflow. Whether you’re a big business or a solopreneur, the use and the implementation are meant to be the same. Firstly, you have to introduce every element of the business process you’re running into the tool. This means that the overall software is meant to integrate with each step in kind, and once you’ve done so, you can start to observe.
There are activities that feel redundant, can be quickened, can be automated, or even changed into another type altogether. Whatever the function, whatever the need, workflow orchestration will allow you to monitor performance — and once you do, you learn a lot about where you need these changes. You’ll find the opportunities for, say, automation, and set them up for a better, more streamlined process.
You can even use workflow orchestration to redesign the process for such automation, or even to allow the automation capabilities to drive interaction between each step in the process. By allowing this computerized conducting of business process steps, it’s a lot clearer what the roles of each activity are, and how their duration and timing are bettered by the implementation to make your business a more efficient one with stronger outputs and, in time, an even stronger reputation.