business automation

How Process Mining and RPA Work Together for Quick Wins

Sometimes two technologies complement each other so well that they create immediate value. Process Mining and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are a perfect example. Together, they deliver measurable cost savings, increased efficiency, and a more productive workforce. Let’s explore how combining these tools can give your business a quick return on investment.

Are You Losing Time and Money Without Realizing It?

Yes — and it’s more common than you think. Every organization has hidden inefficiencies. Employees often waste valuable time on repetitive, manual tasks that no longer make sense.

These outdated processes are so embedded in operations that no one questions them anymore. Examples include:

• Manually rekeying data from one office to another
• HR administrators fixing incomplete payroll entries
• Loan officers searching through endless emails for missing information

Each of these tasks drains productivity and morale — costing time, money, and talent.

The Hidden Cost of Mundane Work

When employees are stuck doing repetitive work, they quickly lose engagement. This leads to:

• More human errors
• Lower overall productivity
• Higher turnover and training costs

These inefficiencies don’t stay contained — they ripple through departments, slowing down the entire organization.

Finding the Real Problem: From Process Mapping to Process Mining

Traditional process mapping involves lengthy interviews, manual documentation, and subjective assumptions. You might spend weeks gathering insights, only to realize the data is inconsistent or outdated.

The Better Way: Process Mining

Think of process mining as a GPS for your operations. It follows the digital footprints your systems already generate—from ERP, CRM, and databases to log files and Excel sheets.

With Process Mining, you can:

• Visualize actual workflows across departments
• Identify gaps, delays, and silos in real time
• Use hard data to find inefficiencies and areas for improvement

This data-driven approach provides clarity and confidence to optimize processes and align them with your business goals.

Turning Insights into Action with RPA

Once you’ve uncovered inefficiencies through Process Mining, the next step is Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

RPA allows you to automate repetitive, rule-based tasks — quickly, safely, and at scale. Most organizations can move from idea to deployment in 3–4 weeks.

Benefits of RPA

• Operates 24/7 with minimal errors
• Adapts easily to system changes
• Scales to handle seasonal or volume fluctuations
• Integrates with AI and machine learning for intelligent automation

This combination of Process Mining and RPA delivers fast, measurable results.

Will Automation Replace My Team?

Not at all. RPA isn’t designed to replace people — it’s built to empower them. By automating repetitive work, employees can focus on higher-value tasks like strategy, customer service, and innovation.

Most teams welcome RPA once they see how much time it saves. It enhances productivity and creates a more satisfying work experience.

How We Can Help

The “new normal” demands speed, agility, and smarter operations. Our Process Mining and RPA experts help you identify where automation makes the biggest impact — and implement it seamlessly.

We’ll collaborate to:

• Review your existing processes
• Uncover automation opportunities
• Deploy and customize digital workers to suit your business

Our approach focuses on delivering value faster — from vision to execution.

Vision to Value. Faster. It’s not just a tagline — it’s our promise.

Email solutions@prolifics.com to start your automation journey today.

Use Process Mining to Supercharge Your Customer Journey Mapping

A good customer journey mapping will give you a leg up on your competition. But the mapping usually falls short because it’s hard to nail down your customers’ interactions. Process mining can save the day.

What is the customer journey?

Writer Audra Sorman gives a succinct definition in her surveymonkey.com article Process Mining and Customer Journey:

“The customer journey is the complete sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with your company and brand. Instead of looking at just a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the full experience of being a customer.”

Why is mapping the customer journey important?

Gartner.com contributor Laura Starita states the importance of understanding the customer journey in her February 2020 article Process Mining and Customer Journey:

“Eighty-two percent of organizations have created a customer journey map, but only 47 percent are using those maps effectively. Despite putting hours or days into the plans, working with cross-functional partners, digging into the data and learning more about the customers, nearly half of those organizations are not seeing a return on their time investment.”

In examining why mapping fails, contributors agree on a number of things, one of them being lack of true customer input:

• Sometimes we fall into the trap of believing we know more about our customers than we actually do and we don’t do enough external research.
• Many Journey Maps are created from the wrong perspective. That is an ‘inside-out’ perspective, or ‘what do we do along the customer journey.’ But this will never unearth the information you need to know.
• Basing your (customer journey mapping) on imagination and assumption (rather than customer validation.
• Not including customers… we continually run across these maps that were done by talking to internal employees only.

Process Mining can take your customer journey mapping to the next level.

Process Mining uses your data to quickly identify what you’re looking for and get you to your desired business outcomes. Every day your customers generate a digital footprint when they interact with your company systems. These digital footprints get captured in these systems, such as ERPs, CRMs, application databases, log files, audit tables, Excel documents and many others.

Process Mining shows you how your customers’ data moves through your organization – visualizing and diagraming the actual flow, including variations, exceptions, gaps and siloes. Process Mining will let you know exactly what’s happening by using hard data – it’s true customer input generated by the customers themselves, not an opinion from an interview or survey.

You’ll generate fact-based customer journey maps, gaining greater insights and understanding of your customers’ digital interactions, thereby helping to create a better customer experience.

And, unlike other static parts of customer journey mapping, process mining goes forward to become process monitoring – analyzing the process for current performance against the new customer policies, procedures, standards or best practices you put in place.

Prolifics can help.

The “New Normal” is here. You have a vision – don’t let your customers down. Our Process Mining solutions and experience will get you there. Sit down with us – let’s talk about your challenges, review and reevaluate your customer journey plans and get you started where it makes the most sense.

Vision to Value. Faster. It’s not just our tagline, it’s what drives us. It’s how we deliver solutions and services. It’s our commitment to you – and it’s needed today more than ever. Visit www.prolifics.com or email solutions@prolifics.com.

The concept of process mining has been around for years; it’s only recently become popular as advances in digital technology make it an attractive alternative to traditional process mapping.

What Is Process Mining?

As Gartner defines it, “Process mining is designed to discover, monitor and improve real processes (i.e., not assumed processes) by extracting knowledge from event logs readily available in today’s information systems.”

Simply put, process mining identifies process inefficiencies by following the digital trail of data through a targeted system.

How Is It Different from Traditional Process Mapping?

Process mining is significantly quicker and more accurate than mapping through interviews and flowcharting.

• Process mapping is like asking a lot of people for directions.
• Process mining is like using your GPS.

Here’s a detailed comparison:

1. Process Mapping: Talk… Talk… Talk

Traditional process mapping starts with interviews – lots of them – to understand a process completely.

• It usually begins top-down: senior leaders → department heads → supervisors → staff → internal customers → other stakeholders.
• Interviews are time-consuming and subjective. Facts may differ due to opinions or competing agendas.
• Missing key stakeholders can result in an inaccurate and costly process map.

2. Process Mapping: Might As Well Jump

After interviews, the actual mapping begins:

• Often done manually on whiteboards or using software.
• The team then analyzes the “as-is” map and creates the “model-to-be.”
• Without hard metrics, it’s easy to jump to conclusions about needed fixes.
• Departments may resist changes if no measurable data supports them.

3. Process Mining: Data… Data… Data

In contrast, process mining automatically visualizes processes from transaction data.

• It discovers what is actually happening using event data captured in enterprise systems.
• Employees, customers, and vendors generate digital footprints in ERPs, CRMs, databases, log files, and audit tables.
• Process mining creates visualizations and analysis charts for process improvement faster and more accurately than traditional methods.
• It identifies process variations and exceptions that interviews might miss.

4. Process Mining: Here’s the Issue, Here’s What You Do

Process mining significantly reduces discovery time and effort while improving accuracy.

Key Outcomes of Process Mining

• User Training: Enhance employee efficiency through better training.
• Process Change: Add, change, or remove business activities for improved workflows.
• Process Optimization: Automate tasks for better performance, compliance, customer engagement, or cost reduction.

Because it’s data-driven, process mining delivers measurable impact. Over time, it can evolve into process monitoring, continuously analyzing current performance – something traditional mapping struggles to do.

Why Work With Prolifics

Prolifics brings the experience and expertise to help organizations leverage process mining effectively.

The “New Normal” is here. You have a vision – don’t let technology slow you down. Our solutions and experience will help you achieve it:

• Review and reevaluate your plans
• Start where it makes the most sense
• Deliver measurable results

Vision to Value. Faster. It’s more than a tagline; it’s how we deliver solutions and services.

Email solutions@prolifics.com

Process Mining – isn’t is the same as Process Mapping, or Data Mining? No. And understanding what makes Process Mining different can give you a definite advantage when looking to improve efficiencies in your business. And why should you improve efficiencies? So you can successfully cut costs, improve customer satisfaction, improve employee morale, and increase revenue.

In this video, Process Mining expert and Prolifics’ Global Head of Digital Automation and Cloud Solutions, Anant Gupta, explains process mining and explores the benefits – regardless of your industry. Watch now.

To learn more about process mining, check out this Ultimate Guide to Process Mining we put together.

Three Reasons a Digital Loan Coworker Makes Sense

If you’re a lender, or work in IT for a lending institution, you’ve likely felt the ripple effects of the “New Normal” in very specific ways. Interest rates are at historic lows, but what does that really mean for mortgage demand? The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) arrived like a hurricane—so what’s next? And after so much disruption, what should you be doing to support your employees?

Believe it or not, a digital loan coworker can help with each of these challenges. By integrating digital workers for loan processing into your operations, you can streamline tasks, scale capacity, and improve accuracy without adding unnecessary strain to your team.

1) How a Digital Loan Coworker Helps Manage Mortgage Volume

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) recently reported record-low mortgage rates, with the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage dropping 72 basis points in a year to just 3.03%. While long-term demand remains uncertain, refinancing activity has surged. Freddie Mac’s research shows single-family first lien refinances reached nearly $400 billion—double the previous year’s volume.

Managing workforce size amid fluctuating demand is challenging.

• Hire too many staff, and you risk layoffs.
• Hire too few, and your team becomes overwhelmed.
• Add remote work, and the complexity multiplies.

Here’s where mortgage automation solutions make a difference. A digital loan coworker can scale up or down instantly based on loan volume—no hiring or training required. This approach supports mortgage scalability, enabling you to handle refinancing surges through automated mortgage processing efficiently.

Key benefits include:

• Quick response to market fluctuations
• Cost-effective scaling without added staff
• Improved speed and accuracy in loan processing

2) The Customer Service Example – PPP Loan Forgiveness

Remember the chaos during the initial PPP loan rush—full lobbies, endless phone calls, and piles of paperwork? Many lenders successfully helped businesses secure funding, but the next challenge—PPP loan forgiveness—brought similar pressure.

The SBA released a simplified, borrower-friendly PPP forgiveness application and a three-page “EZ” version for certain cases. Despite these tools, businesses still needed fast results, creating massive processing demands.

A digital loan coworker can streamline this process by:

• Reading and sorting incoming emails
• Collecting and verifying loan applications
• Performing data consistency checks
• Routing information automatically to the next step

This intelligent process automation for lenders speeds up forgiveness approvals, improves service quality, and prevents the bottlenecks seen during the initial rollout. It’s also the foundation for scalable PPP loan forgiveness automation, freeing your team to focus on meaningful customer interactions.

3) The Free Up Your Employees Example – Across All Loan Types

Every lending operation handles repetitive, manual tasks—matching data, re-keying information, and navigating disconnected systems. These tasks are time-consuming, error-prone, and lower morale, especially in remote settings.

A digital loan coworker never tires of repetitive work. It runs 24/7, maintains near-zero error rates, and bridges data silos across systems. By leveraging robotic process automation (RPA) in banking, you can:

• Reduce human error in loan processing
• Save time on manual data entry
• Boost employee satisfaction through more engaging work

This isn’t about replacing people—it’s about empowering them. With automation handling routine work, employees can focus on tasks that require human judgment and customer empathy.

Top advantages of digital coworkers in lending:

• Improved employee engagement and retention
• Higher accuracy and faster turnaround times
• Lower operational costs

Partner with Experts Who Understand Lending Automation

The “New Normal” demands efficiency, scalability, and agility. You must adapt quickly to changing market conditions while minimizing costs.

Prolifics offers digital workers for loan processing—like Archie, your own digital loan coworker—designed to deliver fast, accurate, and seamless results. Our expertise covers:

• Automation for mortgage refinancing and PPP loans
• Scalable solutions for fluctuating lending demand
• End-to-end digital transformation for financial institutions

Whether you want to explore how a digital coworker improves mortgage processing or implement PPP loan forgiveness automation, we can help you transform operations and prepare for long-term success.

Ready to get started?
Email solutions@prolifics.com to discover how automation can future-proof your lending business.

Within just a few weeks, many lenders faced a hurricane of anxious customers and their paperwork for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. It may feel like we’re now in the calm eye of that hurricane, but it’s not over. The back end of the same hurricane is fast approaching in the form of PPP loan forgiveness. Often where a hurricane goes next is unpredictable, and so it is with PPP forgiveness. For you lenders out there, let’s cover what we know.

How do my customers apply for PPP loan forgiveness?

After the initial May release of a complicated, calculation-rich form, the SBA subsequently issued what they described as a “revised, borrower-friendly Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness application.” This was in response to mandates in the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (PPPFA) passed in early June. The revision took the original forgiveness application from 11 pages down to five. You can find the revised SBA form here Lenders – Are You Ready for PPP, Part 2: Forgiveness?.

In addition, the SBA also published a new “EZ version” of the forgiveness application – just three pages – that applies to certain borrowers under specific circumstances. The EZ application requires fewer calculations and less documentation for eligible borrowers – you can find it here Lenders – Are You Ready for PPP, Part 2: Forgiveness?.

According to the SBA, “These changes will result in a more efficient process and make it easier for businesses to realize full forgiveness of their PPP loan.”

What will be forgiven?

To perhaps over-simplify, if business owners spend at least 60 percent of the loan on payroll costs within 24 weeks of receiving the loan, the whole loan will be forgiven. (The owner should spend the remaining percentage on mortgage, rent and/or utilities.) The 24-week period can’t extend beyond Dec. 31, 2020. The PPPFA changed these numbers from 75 percent and eight weeks, with the express purpose of making forgiveness more accessible. If a business owner misses the 60 percent mark, they can still get a portion of the loan forgiven – it’s not an all-or-nothing calculation.

24 is better than eight.

Both new applications give the option of using the original 8-week period (for loans before June 5, 2020) or an extended 24-week period. This should help spread out the forgiveness application crunch. But you should encourage your customers to apply once that 60 percent is reached – and not wait for the 24 weeks. Most businesses would want the debt gone as soon as possible.

Remember – PPP money is still available.

According to the SBA, PPP provided “4.5 million small business loans totaling more than $500 billion to ensure that approximately 50 million hardworking Americans stay connected to their jobs.” There is still about $130 billion available. But hurry – August 8 is now the new deadline for all PPP loan approvals.

Prolifics can help.

Our PPP Digital Loan Officer, Archie, can help you and your customers by processing new PPP loans in two minutes. And, when your customers look to have their loans forgiven, Archie can help you again – he understands the loan forgiveness eligibility rules and process. Visit Archie or email us at solutions@prolifics.com.

AI-driven IT is no longer a future concept — it’s the reality shaping how businesses succeed in 2025. Remember the New Normal? What began in 2020 as a period of unprecedented change has evolved into a fully realized digital age. Remote work isn’t a temporary pivot; it’s now a permanent fixture of our culture.

The conversation has shifted from reacting to a crisis to strategically navigating the future of IT. As we move into 2025 and 2026, the real question for IT leaders is: How do you build a resilient, innovative, and competitive organization? The answer lies in moving beyond adaptation and embracing the next wave of strategic initiatives — built on the four pillars of AI-driven IT success.

Why AI-Driven IT Matters in 2025

Here are four updated strategies for IT success in the AI-driven era.

1. Build a hyper-agile and secure hybrid infrastructure

The future of work is undeniably hybrid, but success depends on more than just providing a laptop and a video conferencing tool. The new focus is on creating a flexible, secure, and seamless digital environment that supports employees wherever they are.

• Invest in a zero-trust architecture: Move beyond perimeter-based security. A zero-trust model verifies every user and device trying to access network resources, securing your distributed workforce against modern threats.
• Optimize employee experience (EX): Focus on a unified digital experience. This means investing in next-gen collaboration and productivity platforms that are intuitive, integrate seamlessly, and ensure employees feel connected and productive from any location.
• Leverage SASE (Secure Access Service Edge): Adopt a SASE framework that converges network and security functions into a single, cloud-native service. This provides secure, low-latency access for all users, regardless of their location, solidifying your IT resilience.

2. Prioritize proactive, AI-powered cybersecurity

The threat landscape has grown increasingly sophisticated. Relying on reactive security measures is no longer sufficient. In 2025, proactive cybersecurity driven by artificial intelligence (AI) is a core business function, not just an IT responsibility.

• Implement AI-driven threat detection: Use AI and machine learning to analyze vast amounts of data, detect anomalies, and identify potential threats in real time before they can cause damage.
• Embrace predictive security: Move from simply reacting to threats to anticipating them. AI-powered analytics can help identify vulnerabilities and predict potential attack vectors, allowing your team to reinforce defenses proactively.
• Automate incident response: Automate security workflows and protocols to accelerate threat response times. This allows your security team to focus on higher-level strategy rather than getting bogged down in manual, repetitive tasks.

3. Scale innovation with AI and automation

The strategic value of IT is no longer just about keeping the lights on—it’s about accelerating innovation and driving business value. By leveraging AI and automation, IT can free up resources and enable strategic growth.

• Adopt hyperautomation: Combine intelligent automation (IA) and robotic process automation (RPA) to automate complex business processes across your organization. This frees up talent for more creative and strategic projects that move the business forward.
• Accelerate your targeted cloud strategy: The cloud is the engine of AI. Optimize your existing cloud investments by focusing on strategic initiatives with a clear business purpose, not just a “lift and shift” of legacy applications.
• Democratize AI adoption: Equip business units with low-code/no-code AI tools, allowing them to build custom solutions and drive innovation without deep technical expertise. This fosters a culture of innovation and enables a truly agile organization.

4. Strategically upskill and reskill the IT workforce

Technology evolves faster than ever, and so must your team. The best IT leaders are prioritizing continuous learning to build a resilient and highly skilled workforce for the future of IT.

• Cultivate an AI-fluent workforce: Provide targeted training in AI, machine learning, and data science. This ensures your team can not only implement AI solutions but also identify new opportunities to apply them.
• Prioritize soft skills: As technical tasks become more automated, skills like problem-solving, collaboration, and strategic thinking become paramount. Invest in training that develops these uniquely human capabilities.
• Implement data-driven learning paths: Use internal data and analytics to identify skill gaps and create personalized learning paths. This ensures your IT upskilling initiatives are both efficient and aligned with your long-term digital transformation strategy.

Conclusion

From pandemic response to AI-driven transformation, IT’s role has evolved dramatically in just five years. The 4 Pillars of IT Success in the AI-Driven Era—hyper-agile hybrid infrastructure, AI-powered cybersecurity, scaled AI innovation, and workforce upskilling—provide a framework for sustainable success in 2025 and beyond.

Organizations that invest in these pillars today will be positioned not just to adapt but to lead in a future defined by constant change.

You already know that in most cases, it’s easier to retain an employee than to find a new one.

Still, while a strong onboarding process has been shown to improve new hire retention by as much as 82%, only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job onboarding new employees.

This month’s infographic shows the pressures HR staff faces with traditional onboarding and how automating those processes can make new employees happier while easing the burden for HR managers.

Problems With Manual Onboarding

Starting a new job can be stressful, but a smooth onboarding process can make new employees feel welcome, excited and motivated.

It is the HR staff’s responsibility to ensure a new hire fully understands not only their job duties, but also the company culture they’re now a part of.

Unfortunately, complications can arise during a typical manual onboarding process — both for the new employee and the HR staff. These include:

• Friction among employees and managers due to poorly defined job duties and inadequate training
• Consuming too much of HR personnel schedule
• Exposing the company to security risks (through data privacy violations, for example)

How Automated Onboarding Benefits HR Managers

Streamlined processes, better decision making and empowered employees – that’s what intelligent automation brings to your onboarding process. Advances in intelligent automation can create efficiencies and scalabilities for your business that were unheard of before. 

A process that is sustainable, compliant, and scalable can help HR managers deliver a smooth, seamless onboarding experience. An automated process can deliver this experience and consistently:

• Save time and resources. For example, new hires can enter their personal information once and it will automatically populate across W-4, I-9, 401(k) and other relevant forms.
• Minimize the risk of errors (and resulting compliance issues).
• Gain insights by collecting and aggregating data to identify skill gaps and behavior trends (which in turn helps with retention and training).
• Reassure new hires about their role, making it easier to acclimate to the corporate culture and transition from their prior role.

Ultimately, automated onboarding software eases the pressure on HR staff by making things easier for the new employees while effectively providing and collecting information. A painless and productive onboarding process reassures all involved, leaving new hires more optimistic about their future within their new organization.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the job market, with unemployment numbers not seen since the Great Depression. More than 36 million people are currently unemployed. A critical question now: when businesses begin hiring again, how will millions of people be vetted and onboarded efficiently?

Many companies are preparing for mass hiring, which means mass onboarding. The challenge? Most onboarding processes are still manual—reviewing I-9s and W-4s, validating direct deposit information, entering data into multiple systems, notifying departments, and managing training schedules. The process is slow, error-prone, and overwhelming at scale.

That’s why organizations are turning to automated onboarding solutions. But not all solutions are equal. Here are five questions to ask before choosing one.

1. Can it recognize and organize paperwork?

New hires often send poorly labeled documents like “scandoc2020-04-17”. When you’re dealing with a handful of employees, it’s a nuisance. With hundreds, it becomes a nightmare.

Your onboarding solution should:

• Read and categorize emails and attachments.
• Identify form types automatically.
• Route documents to the right system or department without manual review.

2. Does it catch mistakes, inconsistencies, and blanks?

Errors like “Tommy” in one form and “Thomas” in another, missing phone numbers, or unsigned W-4s slow down the process.

Look for a solution that performs:

• Data validation checks.
• Consistency reviews across forms.
• Semantic checks for completeness and correct formatting.

This prevents small issues from snowballing into big problems later.

3. Will it integrate across systems and departments?

True onboarding efficiency goes beyond collecting forms. Your solution should seamlessly connect with:

• Payroll and benefits systems.
• HR and employee profile databases.
• Security and facilities teams (for access badges, equipment, etc.).

If you still have to send manual emails for every new hire’s key card, the solution isn’t doing enough.

4. Can it learn and adapt?

Basic robotic process automation (RPA) is powerful—it handles repetitive tasks with speed and accuracy. But the real advantage comes when RPA is combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

AI/ML can:

• Adapt to your company’s unique onboarding workflows.
• Learn from exceptions and apply those insights.
• Navigate HR systems with greater intelligence.

A strong tech provider should be able to deliver AI/ML customizations in just 10–14 days.

5. Does it handle “the extras”?

Think beyond paperwork. A comprehensive solution should:

• Identify equipment and supplies new hires need (including protective gear).
• Automatically schedule training sessions based on job role.
• Enforce compliance with new workplace safety regulations.

The goal is to automate as much as possible, with HR professionals stepping in only when necessary.

Prolifics Can Help

Meet Leia, our digital employee onboarding officer. Leia completes onboarding in minutes, not days. She can:

• Identify and process forms and documents.
• Connect with HR systems.
• Enroll hires in payroll, benefits, and training.
• Notify managers, security, and facilities.

Leia helps you manage applicant volumes, reduce errors, and speed up onboarding—leading to happier managers and new hires.

📩 Connect with Leia at solutions@prolifics.com.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a massive shift in the global job market—from record-low unemployment to millions suddenly out of work.

A recent Guardian article highlights the severity of the situation:

“The latest figures from the U.S. Labor Department mean more than 36 million people have filed for unemployment benefits in the last two months. The rate of claims is slowing, but the record-breaking pace of layoffs has already pushed unemployment to levels unseen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.”

This situation raises two important questions:

• Is anyone hiring during this time?
• When the pandemic eases, how will millions of people rejoin the workforce?

Hiring Now – and a Glut on the Way?

While the pandemic has disrupted several industries, others continue to hire actively.

The Glassdoor blog “54 Companies Actively Hiring During COVID-19” (by Dominique Fluker, May 1) lists organizations filling roles — with some even experiencing a hiring surge.

Industries with high demand include:

• Healthcare and life sciences
• Technology and IT services
• Food and essential goods
• Financial institutions

Local news outlets also report numerous openings in regional markets, providing a ray of hope amid uncertainty.

As for the post-pandemic future, HR departments are already planning for a changed landscape. According to Roy Maurer, Online Manager/Editor for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), in his article “CHROs Plan for an Abundant Talent Market Post-COVID” (April 22, 2020):

“The employment situation has shifted dramatically in the last few weeks since the coronavirus outbreak shut down large portions of the economy. HR leaders have had to pivot from recruiting amid the lowest unemployment on record to managing a sea change in how people work while planning for a very different post-COVID future.”

He adds that a talent surplus could be one of the biggest challenges for HR and talent acquisition teams.

Technology Is Key to Getting People Back Onboard

Digital transformation is at the heart of post-COVID recruitment and onboarding.

In the HR Technologist blog “15 Tips to Hire Talent Post the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic,” Jeanniey Mullen, Chief Innovation Officer at DailyPay, emphasizes:

“Industries need to immediately shift to a heavy reliance on digital for all aspects—from recruitment, interview, onboarding, and even termination pay.”

She explains that anticipating a re-emergence means focusing on digital-first processes to ensure continuity and resilience.

Similarly, Kimberly Houston, in her JotForm article “Online Onboarding and Training for New Employees During COVID-19” (April 29, 2020), notes:

“We’re living in a new reality — one where online onboarding and training for new employees is no longer simply a perk or a tool for tech-savvy companies, but the new normal.”

This highlights the growing need for cloud-based HR solutions and AI-driven onboarding systems that can match pre-pandemic efficiency levels.

Why Current Onboarding May Not Be Up for the Task

Despite advancements in HR tech, many companies still rely on manual or paper-based onboarding.

This includes processes like:

• Entering data into different HR systems
• Completing forms such as W-4s, I-9s, and payroll information
• Assigning equipment and access
• Setting up new-hire training paths

Without digital automation, organizations risk lost time, higher costs, and reduced productivity — especially during large-scale hiring surges.

To remain competitive, companies must embrace technology that simplifies and accelerates onboarding while ensuring compliance and accuracy.

How AI and Automation Simplify Employee Onboarding

The post-COVID era demands speed, scalability, and accuracy. Intelligent automation can help by:

• Streamlining form recognition and data input
• Integrating seamlessly with HR, payroll, and training systems
• Improving data security and employee satisfaction
• Reducing administrative workloads

By adopting AI-driven onboarding, organizations can deliver a faster, more personalized employee experience and free up HR teams to focus on strategic tasks.

Prolifics Can Help

Meet Leia — your digital Employee Onboarding Officer.

Leia automates the entire onboarding process in just two minutes. She can:

• Identify and process HR forms and documents
• Connect with multiple systems (payroll, benefits, training)
• Notify facilities, IT, and security teams automatically
• Ensure data accuracy and compliance

Leia helps manage applicant volumes, reduce manual errors, and accelerate onboarding — creating a smoother experience for managers and new hires alike.

Connect with Leia at solutions@prolifics.com to see how she can help you onboard faster and smarter.