SOAP platforms in the wild: Top 5 use cases

When orchestration works, no one talks about it. Files are arriving and systems are updating without anyone thinking twice. But what feels seamless to business users is often a result of carefully coordinated automation across dozens of tools and environments. Some are scheduled, some are reactive and many are barely documented.

Few organizations achieve that kind of orchestration consistently, because their automation is fragmented. One team might manage batch jobs, and another might script data pipelines. A third could rely on manual interventions and shared inboxes to keep business processes moving.

The value of a Service Orchestration and Automation Platform (SOAP) lies in its ability to unify these silos and support the workflows that actually run the business. In its 2025 Critical Capabilities for SOAPs report, Gartner® outlines five Use Cases that demonstrate this value in action. Here’s how, in my interpretation, those capabilities show up in real operations across industries.

IT workload automation: Still essential

No matter how much technology evolves, the reliance on routine workloads never really goes away. Nightly ERP updates, hourly job chains and critical data movements between systems are fundamental processes that keep your business running.

But those workloads aren’t confined to a single mainframe or on-premises scheduler anymore. They span hybrid environments, connect to cloud-based APIs and carry tighter service-level agreement (SLA) expectations than ever before. The hard part isn’t the workload itself but the web of dependencies and recovery paths that stretch across different systems.

A robust SOAP solution lets you orchestrate all these elements in one place: SAP jobs, custom scripts, data movements and file transfers, for instance. You gain centralized control with distributed execution — the perfect balance for hybrid IT environments. I feel Gartner points to this as a foundational Use Case because it tests how well a platform performs under enterprise pressure — securely, reliably and with minimal manual intervention.

What this unlocks: With dependable workload automation, your IT teams can start each day with confidence that core batch processes ran cleanly and dependencies resolved in the right order. Not to mention, any failures were isolated and didn’t cause unwanted ripple effects. Your operational tone can shift from checking for surprises to reviewing a clean audit trail and planning ahead.

Workflow orchestration: Running the business, not just jobs

Behind every business outcome is a complex chain of tasks, approvals and exceptions that span multiple systems and departments. Take the month-end financial close: it happens thanks to finance systems, spreadsheets, validations and cross-departmental collaboration. Or consider onboarding a new hire. Beyond provisioning accounts, it requires scheduling training, initiating background checks and activating access across multiple systems.

With a SOAP platform, these workflows can be orchestrated end to end. Instead of managing each step separately, you create a unified process that flows across boundaries. You get steadier execution and cleaner handoffs, which cuts down on the small errors that tend to compound over time.

It seems Gartner emphasizes this Use Case as a marker of maturity: it’s not about more automation, but using the right automation to move the business forward. By linking actions into cohesive workflows with decision points and exception handling, you transform fragmented activities into streamlined business processes.

What this unlocks: If your workflows run end to end, you’ll feel the difference immediately. Approvals and handoffs will happen without manual nudges, and any exceptions will surface early. The work is to oversee processes instead of managing dozens of micro tasks.

Data orchestration: Automating movement and storage

Analytics live or die on the reliability of the pipeline behind the dashboard. At 3 AM, your retail data might need to move from SAP to Snowflake, be validated, then trigger an update to executive dashboards before the morning meeting. That kind of flow can’t rely on spreadsheets, email notifications or ad hoc scripts — it requires systematic orchestration.

SOAPs plug into managed file transfer (MFT) solutions, ETL tools and data lakes to manage the full lifecycle of data movement: ingestion, transformation, validation and delivery. You can build flows that validate data quality, handle exceptions and ensure downstream systems receive accurate, timely information.

I believe Gartner calls out data orchestration because the stakes are high. Poor data hygiene slows decisions, introduces risk and devalues analytics investments. With proper orchestration, your data pipeline becomes a strategic asset rather than a constant challenge.

What this unlocks: Reliable data flows remove the daily uncertainty that slows decision-making. Your analysts don’t have to wonder whether today’s numbers are safe to use. And by the time business users open a dashboard, the underlying pipeline has already done the hard work.

DevOps: Coordinating pipelines across teams

It’s relatively easy to automate a deployment, but it’s much harder to orchestrate everything that comes before and after. When your infrastructure team needs to provision environments, QA needs to run tests and compliance needs to log every step, a simple webhook or CI/CD pipeline isn’t sufficient.

SOAPs can coordinate across your entire development lifecycle, trigger event-based actions and integrate with ITSM and monitoring tools. This coordination is especially valuable when different teams use different tools but need to work together seamlessly.

In my view, Gartner includes this as a distinct Use Case because orchestration here is a force multiplier: it aligns developers, operations and compliance without slowing velocity. By automating handoffs between teams and tools, you reduce waiting time, eliminate manual coordination and maintain an audit trail of all activities.

What this unlocks: Orchestration that supports the DevOps lifecycle ensures your release cadence reflects your engineering velocity. Your dev team doesn’t have to worry whether upstream tasks are complete, and your operations team gets predictable workflows they can trust.

Citizen automation: Putting control in the right hands

Not every routine workflow warrants an IT ticket. An HR manager initiating onboarding or a supply chain planner adjusting inventory levels need their workflows to be accessible without sacrificing governance. As your organization scales, the ability to distribute automation capabilities becomes crucial.

SOAPs support low-code interaction, reusable templates and full audit trails. Users get what they need when they need it, and IT maintains oversight of the entire automation ecosystem. Gartner likely highlights this Use Case because it balances empowerment and control: you reduce shadow IT while still enabling business agility.

What this unlocks: Governed self-service changes how work gets done. You can move faster without losing control because every action runs through the same orchestrated backbone with full visibility.

Your SOAP unifies it all

Every Use Case in the Gartner report points back to a simple truth: orchestration is how you scale automation without multiplying complexity. The best SOAP platforms make that orchestration real across jobs, data, workflows and teams, providing the connective tissue that binds your digital ecosystem together.

As you evaluate your options, look for platforms that support all five Use Cases with equal strength. Your business doesn’t operate in silos, and your orchestration platform shouldn’t either. The right solution will grow with your needs, adapt to new technologies and continuously deliver value as your organization evolves.

RunMyJobs by Redwood offers comprehensive, enterprise-wide orchestration, with deep integration into SAP environments and support for hybrid cloud architectures. Download the full Critical Capabilities report to see an extended analysis of the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ and learn why Redwood was recognized as a SOAP Leader two years in a row.