3 ways AI agents help vanquish cumbersome processes

Some tasks may seem small individually, but they can accumulate and gnaw away at employee focus and free time. These include password resets, repetitive approvals, or basic account changes—tasks too simple for deep human attention but too vital to ignore.

“Those ankle-biter tasks distract you from the more important things in your queue,” says Chiocconi. Even small tasks pile up and become more stressful than they need to be, he says.

But process mining can flag tasks that typically take between two and 30 minutes—long enough to be a pain, but simple enough to automate. Then organizations can design and deploy AI agents that take these tasks off people’s plates. Tools such as task mining even record every step humans take for specific jobs, enabling seamless transfer from hand to bot.

The payoffs include fewer late nights, less multitasking, and more time to enjoy life outside the office.

Deploying AI is not about automating for automation’s sake. To truly lighten the load for employees, organizations need to ensure agents make tangible, measurable improvements. That means looking beyond implementation and focusing on outcome metrics such as reduced cycle times, shorter queues, and improved employee capacity.

Process mining plays an essential role here. By continuously analyzing workflow data, organizations can create a clear “before and after” picture, comparing processes prior to automation with the post-automation results. This transparency not only quantifies the benefits of automation—such as reclaimed hours and faster resolution times—but it also helps build confidence among both employees and leadership that technology is addressing pain points.

Automated detectors and process governance tools can continuously monitor workflows, flagging any emerging bottlenecks, anomalies, or areas where agents might not be following intended logic. This proactive oversight ensures that improvements stick and that workflows evolve smoothly even as business needs change.

As processes are streamlined and repetitive and/or manual tasks are automated, employees experience reduced workloads and fewer frustrations from bottlenecks or unclear procedures. Real-time insights and interventions mean staff can spend more time on meaningful work, collaborate more smoothly across functions, and benefit from increased transparency into how their own contributions affect larger business outcomes.

Overall, AI-driven process mining fosters a more efficient, less stressful working environment, supporting greater job satisfaction and a culture of continuous improvement.

“This is very much a quality-of-life improvement for employees,” says Chiocconi. “To be able to focus more on important tasks and not be caught up in a cycle of mundane, manual troubleshooting—for people, that is everything.”