What capabilities matter for automating SOP-heavy workflows?
neerajprad · reddit · 2026-08-31
The author shares practical experience automating SOP-heavy workflows in high-precision domains like healthcare and finance. The core challenge lies in understanding requirements, codifying them, and orchestrating the dance between deterministic code and LLM-based judgment. Current integrations include OCR, document extraction, and email.
The author identifies key primitives for future agents:
- Spreadsheet understanding/editing
- Desktop automation (not just browser): Critical in healthcare where legacy Windows software dominates and on-prem deployment is preferred.
- Voice agents
- Reliable human approval/escalation
- Long-running workflows that can pause and resume while waiting on external parties.
- Stronger auditability: Explaining exactly why an action was taken.
The author seeks feedback from professionals in healthcare, insurance, finance, and logistics on workflows they wish agents could handle and the blockers they've faced with existing agent/RPA tools.
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