I’ve been at Tines for just over five years now. In that time, I’ve had hundreds of conversations with security and IT leaders at some of the world’s most innovative companies. There’s a part of our mission statement that I find myself coming back to again and again: “to power the world’s most important workflows.”
It’s a bold claim. And sometimes customers ask me, “What exactly do you mean by important?”
That’s a fair question because importance isn’t about how complicated a workflow is, or how many tools it touches. It comes down to impact.
Two kinds of importance
From what I’ve seen, there are two ways a workflow can be important:
Eliminating muckwork
Muckwork is the everyday drudgery that slows people down. Copying data between systems. Triaging alerts. Clicking through approvals. Cleaning up duplicate CRM records. These tasks keep things running but drain time and energy. They look simple, but they add up. Automating them frees capacity and gives talented people time back for more strategic work.
Powering mission-critical systems and lifelines
These are the processes a company simply cannot afford to lose or to slow down. If they fail, important systems break, momentum stalls, and business could be exposed to massive risk.
For security, that could be a critical incident response workflow blocking a breach while the team is offline.
For IT, it could be ensuring the infrastructure where customers are making transactions doesn’t ever go down to avoid losing company revenue.
And in finance and procurement, that could mean employees getting paid correctly and on time.
Every function has its own version of mission-critical work.
The impact grows when those important workflows become intelligent.
When AI, automation, and integration work together in one platform, teams across the organization can eliminate repetitive work in a secure, reliable way.
Why intelligence matters
AI and automation alone aren’t enough to unlock real business value. IDC found that 88% of AI-proof-of-concepts never reach production. Intelligent workflows close that gap. They don’t just automate steps. They connect the right tools, integrate systems and data, and add the governance and guardrails teams need. They combine deterministic workflows, human-in-the-loop steps, and agentic AI in a secure, reliable way.
This is how you keep repetitive muckwork off people’s plates. It’s also how you amplify mission-critical work that produces outsized impact and keeps the business safe and resilient.
Real-life examples I’ve seen in the field
Here are just a few examples of what “important” looks like for Tines customers:
SAP, a global leader in enterprise applications modernized its SOAR program with intelligent workflows that improve speed, accuracy, and visibility across security operations. Analysts get a complete, reliable view in minutes instead of hours, which strengthens detection and protects the systems the business depends on.
Mars, a global manufacturer rebuilt its automation foundation and reached 80–90% coverage of alerts within weeks. That gave the business real visibility, stronger detection, and far more resilience when it mattered most.
Intercom, a leading customer service platform overhauled their workflows and consolidated 15 complex user lifecycle workflows into one. Build time was reduced by two months to two hours, freeing teams to focus on higher-value projects.
Defining your most important workflows
When I think about the world’s most important workflows, I don’t picture a single category or function. I picture the moments where intelligent workflows make the difference between people feeling stuck – and people being able to focus on the work that really matters.
That’s why Tines exists. To power the workflows that keep businesses secure, resilient, and moving forward, whether that means eliminating the “muckwork” or safeguarding the processes you can’t afford to lose.
So if you’re looking at your own workflows and wondering which ones matter most, I’d suggest starting with two simple questions:
- What would free your team up to do their best work? and 2. What would your business struggle to survive without?
Chances are, those are your most important workflows.
Check out our interactive guide on the history and future of workflows. And take the quiz to learn how intelligent workflows can help your business.