What is Workflow Orchestration? And Why Your Team Needs It

When work is scattered across too many tools and there’s no clear structure, it doesn’t take long for chaos to set in.

I’ve seen teams burn hours chasing status updates, duplicating effort, and stitching together disconnected systems just to keep projects moving. That’s where workflow orchestration comes in — it connects your tools and defines a structured path, so every task moves forward with less friction and fewer surprises.

In this guide, I’ll explain what workflow orchestration really means, when it’s worth implementing, and how to design systems that genuinely make work easier. I’ll also share how I’ve seen teams use Wrike to stay aligned, adapt quickly, and build momentum — even when processes get complex.

Table of contents:

• What is workflow orchestration?

• What business value do orchestrated workflows bring?

• Examples of workflow orchestration in action

• 3 steps to orchestrate a complex workflow

• Best practices for orchestration workflow in business processes

• Workflow orchestration use cases

• The best intuitive workflow orchestration tool for any team

What is workflow orchestration?

Workflow orchestration is the process of coordinating tasks, systems, and people across different tools to ensure that work flows smoothly and efficiently from start to finish.

Instead of managing each part of a workflow in isolation, orchestration connects everything into a unified process — automating handoffs, syncing data, and providing visibility so teams can collaborate with less friction and more control.

What business value do orchestrated workflows bring?

Workflow orchestration isn’t about adding more structure for the sake of it — it’s about building a system that helps your team focus, adapt, and work smarter across every department. Here’s how they support real business priorities:

Data processing

If your data lives across spreadsheets, forms, and disconnected tools, it’s hard to get the full picture. Orchestration brings it together. You can automate and optimize how data flows between systems, making it easier to track dependent tasks and build a process that actually supports decision making in real time.

Error handling

When you’re juggling multiple steps and handoffs, it’s easy for something to fall through. With orchestrated workflows, every approval stage is mapped, assigned, and visible. That means fewer gaps, faster issue resolution, and a more reliable process from start to finish.

Data pipelines

A strong workflow orchestration system acts like a backbone for your tools. Whether you’re connecting Jira, Slack, Salesforce, or internal databases, you can build data pipelines that sync updates automatically, keeping everything aligned and reducing the time spent chasing down status updates.

Digital transformation

Swapping out manual, siloed systems for streamlined orchestration is one of the biggest wins in a digital transformation. It lets you adapt faster, work with clarity, and focus on scaling the business without losing control over quality or consistency.

Scalability

Once your process is mapped and running smoothly, you can scale without doubling the workload. Orchestration gives you a repeatable system that keeps things efficient, even when volume or complexity goes up.

Communication

When everyone’s working from the same system, communication gets a lot easier. Orchestration cuts down on tool-switching and scattered updates by centralizing work in one place. It’s clearer who’s doing what, what’s done, and what’s next.

Examples of workflow orchestration in action

Orchestration workflows are a critical component for teams that need to align across disparate systems and reduce busywork. Here’s how different departments put them to work in real scenarios.

Customer support

In support, it’s all about clarity and speed. Orchestration helps route specific tasks like escalations or SLA follow-ups without losing time to tool-switching. When your system connects chat logs, email, and your customer relationship management (CRM) tool, support teams can move faster, cut delays, and maintain smooth operations across multiple scenarios.

Human resources

HR teams deal with everything from onboarding to offboarding, often across multiple tools. Workflow orchestration syncs updates, automates paperwork, and helps IT teams with faster account setup. It also gives stakeholders visibility without chasing updates — essential for scaling processes while supporting business success.

Marketing

Marketing teams juggle campaigns, content, events, and cross-channel coordination — often under tight deadlines. Workflow orchestration brings structure by connecting task management, asset approvals, and performance tracking in one streamlined process. Instead of chasing assets or digging through emails, teams can automate campaign workflows, assign tasks based on triggers, and track every step from brief to launch.

3 steps to orchestrate a complex workflow 

Before diving into automation, it’s worth stepping back to look at how work currently moves across your team. Workflow orchestration starts with clarity — understanding the current flow, where it breaks down, and how to connect the right tools and people. Here’s how I approach workflow management and process orchestration.

Step 1: Map processes

Effective process mapping starts by listing every task, phase, and handoff in your process. I’ve found it helpful to even use workflow diagrams. Note who’s responsible, which tools are in play, and where things tend to get stuck — especially across legacy systems or scattered tools.

Watch for pain points like stalled approvals or repetitive data entry. These are signs you’ll benefit from process automation and tighter coordination.

You don’t need a diagram — just a clear view of what’s happening and where it breaks down. That’s your blueprint for building a more connected, efficient system.

If you want to improve your existing workflow, you need to start with a complete understanding of where you are now.

Step 2: Choose a workflow orchestration tool

Once you’ve mapped your process, find a platform that connects your systems and simplifies how work gets done. Look for tools with strong integrations, flexible automation, and a low-code setup so teams outside IT can build and adapt quickly.

The goal is to replace manual effort with smart rules, like auto-assigning tasks or triggering next steps when a status changes. A good tool should also support dependency tracking, help coordinate across teams, and centralize the work that was scattered across apps.

With the right workflow management software, your existing processes become easier to manage — and easier to scale.

Powerful integrations

You need a platform that talks to the business applications your teams already use. Whether it’s a CRM, chat tool, or document storage, the orchestration system should pull everything into one workspace — eliminating the need to jump between systems or duplicate effort. Look for support across multiple platforms and strong API access. Wrike, for example, has more than 400 integrations and the opportunity to develop your own.

Customizable process automation rules

Automating routine tasks is where orchestration really pays off. The best tools let you build automation rules around your real workflows: assign tasks automatically, move work forward based on status changes, and trigger updates when dependencies shift. With minimal setup, you can cut delays, reduce human intervention, and keep your end-to-end process running.

Tool visibility

Good orchestration tools surface what matters. You should be able to see who owns what, how projects are tracking, and where blockers show up — without digging. Dashboards, reports, and real-time updates make it easier to spot gaps and adjust quickly. It also helps stakeholders get what they need without asking around.

AI and advanced capabilities

Modern workflow orchestration platforms are evolving fast, adding features like machine learning and natural language support. These tools help IT teams programmatically author automations, manage data lakes, and handle complex processes without constant manual input.

Workflow orchestration ensures you can automate tasks, strengthen error handling, and improve resource allocation — all while aligning with real business needs. It becomes easier to scale, reduce human oversight, and drive streamlined operations across disparate systems.

By integrating workflow automation and smart orchestration, you’re not just streamlining steps. You’re building a flexible system that keeps pace with demand, improves workflow performance, and gives teams the clarity to focus on what matters.

Apache Airflow and open-source orchestration tools

If your team has deep technical expertise, tools like Apache offer powerful orchestration capabilities. They’re great for building data streams and automating task dependencies using Python, but they require significant setup and ongoing DevOps support.

For business users who want orchestration without coding, Wrike’s low-code platform brings automation, integrations, and visibility into a single workspace, without needing to manage directed acyclic graphs or provision computing resources.

Step 3: Implement your orchestrated workflow

Rolling out a new workflow isn’t just a technical step — it’s where everything comes together. Implementation brings your planning to life and sets the foundation for a more cohesive process. But that shift needs to be intentional.

Start by assigning system access and confirming your setup across multiple systems. This step is especially important for larger teams or processes that connect cloud services, customer data, or human resources tools.

Then focus on rollout. Here’s how to make it stick:

• Train and onboard your team with a plan that matches the complexity of your new setup. Give them time to adjust and add change management techniques where needed.

• Set up your reporting processes to track how the new orchestration performs — and how your team is adjusting.

• Look for optimization opportunities in your metrics or team feedback. This is where you’ll catch issues early and fine-tune as you go.

• Create blueprints for your strongest workflows so you can reuse them without rebuilding from scratch.

By standardizing how individual tasks flow through your systems and reducing repetitive tasks, your team can focus on higher-value work. This stage might take some iteration, but it’s what transforms orchestration into lasting business impact.

Best practices for orchestration workflow in business processes

I’ve worked on enough complex workflows to know that orchestration only works if it’s grounded in what your team actually needs. When you’re building out an orchestration strategy, you’re not looking for a shiny new system — you’re creating something that lets people do their jobs better, faster, and with fewer interruptions.

Start with what matters to the business

Before anything else, I will clarify the business process we’re trying to improve. That might mean streamlining task handoffs, supporting business process automation, or reducing human errors. Whatever it is, I treat it as the anchor. That keeps the workflow orchestration aligned with real goals, not tech for tech’s sake.

Build for scale, not perfection

I never try to automate everything upfront. I start small — maybe with a few automated tasks — and let the process grow. The best orchestration workflows evolve with the business, especially if you’re dealing with complex processes or limited resources. It’s more about solving one problem well than forcing a complete overhaul too early.

Connect tools that already work for you

A good workflow orchestration platform should make your systems talk to each other without slowing the team down. I focus on integrations that reflect how the team works — task scheduling, file sharing, approvals — and layer in workflow automation where it saves time. That keeps the performance up and the manual work low.

Keep visibility front and center

One thing I always push for is visibility. I want teams to know where work stands without needing to ask around or dig through multiple apps. Workflow management isn’t just about speed — it’s about creating shared context, so everyone can stay aligned and avoid bottlenecks.

Revisit, refine, repeat

No process stays perfect. I look for places where delays creep in or where steps aren’t adding value. Good process orchestration means staying responsive — adapting your system as business needs shift or teams grow.

Workflow orchestration use cases

Analyzing your workflow and applying the principles of workflow orchestration can help teams in any industry. To prove it, we spoke to three teams who have built and optimized their workflows in Wrike to find out about the issues they wanted to solve, the tools they now rely on, and the benefits they’ve seen. 

Siemens Smart Infrastructure

Siemens Smart Infrastructure faced slowdowns in their operations as a result of information silos and disconnected tools. With complex projects and smaller jobs on tight margins, they needed a more unified system. Using Wrike’s workflow orchestration, they replaced scattered systems with a single platform featuring SAP integration, mobile dashboards, and flexible templates.

Now, 14,000 team members across 20 countries stay aligned and keep business processes consistent at scale.

BigCommerce

As BigCommerce began their expansion to serve enterprise clients, scattered spreadsheets and docs made it hard to stay organized. With Wrike, they used workflow orchestration systems to connect tools like Slack, Salesforce, and Jira. Tasks now move automatically, projects launch faster, and teams stay synced.

Now, with their new ways of working, serving enterprise clients is easy. As a result of the change (and their team's hard work) BigCommerce has seen a 102% adoption increase, faster reporting, and big gains in KPIs like time to value and customer satisfaction.

Ogilvy Australia

Ogilvy chose Wrike to replace its paper-based system, bringing clarity and consistency across its Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane offices. With workflow orchestration in place, the team now tracks creative work, reviews, and approvals in one platform. Creative briefs launch through streamlined request forms, replacing the old back-and-forth with a faster, clearer process.

According to Digital Operations Director Pedro Da Palma Rosa, this shift has saved “a lot of time and effort” and keeps digital, print, and TV teams aligned across high-volume projects.

An intuitive workflow orchestration tool for any team

Workflow orchestration is a transformative process that selects the best tools, integrates your business processes, and helps your team work far more efficiently. 

By focusing on collaboration, optimization, and removing manual tasks, a workflow orchestration puts you in a far stronger position when you want to scale your organization or tackle more complex tasks. This is something every business can benefit from. 

When you use Wrike to centralize your workflows and integrate your tools, you’ll have all the tools and support you need to guide you through the changes and implement a new approach to work management.