Companies today, inevitably savaged by the fast-paced digital world, are constantly looking for improvements. Everyone is looking for quickness, intelligence, and cost-effectiveness. That’s why we talk about Process Excellence, which seeks to make all operations within the business smooth and effective without any errors. But to achieve Process Excellence, you have to really delve deeper. Look into what is happening behind the scenes, at the employee level.
And this is why it is so important for Task Mining.
Let’s simplify it as much as possible!
What is Process Excellence
Process Excellence is to do things as best as possible. It’s a work approach where companies are always analyzing their business processes and attempting to refine them. Why? To save time, lower costs, minimize errors, and make customers more satisfied.
It includes things like:
- Looking at how tasks are done
- Finding problems or delays
- Fixing errors
- Automating boring or repetitive work
Process Excellence is not a one-time thing. It’s a mindset. It’s about always asking: “Can we do this better?”
The Missing Piece: Task-Level Insight
Now, most companies already track their big processes. They know how a product is made or how a service is delivered. But here’s the problem: they often miss the small steps in between.
For example, you might know how long it takes to process a loan. But do you know how much time your employee spends copying data from one screen to another? Or how many times do they switch between apps to complete a single task?
These little actions may seem small, but they add up. They can be the reason your process is slower than it should be.
That’s where Task Mining comes in.
What Is Task Mining?
Task Mining is like a magnifying glass for your daily work. It records and analyzes how employees complete tasks on their computers. It considers clicks, keystrokes, apps being accessed, and the amount of time spent on steps. Imagine watching how a team member does his job, step by step, this is done instead by software rather than by a person.
It helps companies understand:
- What steps do employees take to complete a task
- How much time is spent on each step
- Which parts of the task are repetitive or slow
- Where there are delays or mistakes
This gives a clear picture of what’s really happening at the ground level.
I’ve been using Cloudways since January 2016 for this blog. I happily recommend Cloudways to my readers because I am a proud customer.
How Task Mining Supports Process Excellence
Now, let’s look at how Task Mining makes Process Excellence better and smarter.
1. Uncovers Hidden Bottlenecks
You might think your process is working fine. But Task Mining can show you the real picture. Maybe your employee spends 30% of their time switching between tools. Or maybe they follow five extra steps because they weren’t trained properly.
With this information, you can make smart changes that fix the root cause of delays.
2. Enhances Employee Effectiveness
You will now know how they were doing things, and you will then know the steps taken by employees as far as inefficiency is concerned. They could be doing something that could be automated when done manually. Or perhaps their tools aren’t intuitive.
By fixing these small issues, you boost employee productivity and job satisfaction. Less frustration, more results.
3. Supports Better Training
Task Mining can help you understand how experienced employees work compared to new ones. You can then use this data to improve your training programs. New employees can learn faster and make fewer mistakes.
4. Sees Automation Opportunities
Almost all companies want to automate repetitive and boring tasks. The only problem is that they have no idea where to kick-start automation for these processes. Task Mining tells you which tasks are performed frequently, which are based on rules, and which are time-consuming.
This makes it easier to decide what to automate first and cuts costs in the long term.
5. Improves Compliance and Quality
Compliance is the order of the day in the banking and healthcare sector and in the insurance as well. A little mistake could mean heavy fines. Task Mining ensures that employees are doing the correct steps each time.
If someone omits a step or does something wrong, it’s simple to identify and correct. That translates into improved quality and less risk.
Real-World Example
Let’s say a bank wants to improve its loan approval process. They already track the average time it takes to approve a loan, say 5 days. But that’s not enough.
With Task Mining, they find out that loan officers spend 2 hours each day copying customer data between systems. That’s a huge waste of time!
Now that they know this, the bank can:
- Train employees to use shortcuts
- Build a tool that moves data automatically
- Reduce approval time from 5 days to 3 days
That’s real Process Excellence—thanks to Task Mining.
Why Now?
You might be wondering: Why is Task Mining such a big deal now?
Simple. We live in a digital world. Most tasks happen on computers. Everything is digital-from customer service, finance, to human resources and so on. That would mean we can trace, understand, and improve all of it.
Under pressure as well are businesses themselves. Customers would all want things to be fast. Employees want better tools. Leaders want results. All of these could be captured through Task Mining.
Task Mining Vs Process Mining: What’s the Difference?
People often confuse task mining with process mining. The two are related but are not identical.
- Process mining entails data from systems like CRMs or ERPs to figure out the whole process.
- Task Mining looks at user-level data from desktops to understand how tasks are done.
Think of it like this:
- Process Mining = the map
- Task Mining = the street view
You need both to see the full picture. But if you want true Process Excellence, you can’t ignore the fine details—and that’s where Task Mining wins.
Final Thoughts
If you want to improve your business processes, boost efficiency, and make your employees’ lives easier, you can’t stop at the surface. You need to dig deeper.
Task Mining gives you the data you need to improve tasks, not just processes. It fills in the gaps left by traditional methods. It helps you see what’s really going on—step by step, click by click.
In the journey to Process Excellence, Task Mining is not just helpful. It’s essential.
