Can you recommend a business process automation tool for routing approvals in a mid-market admin team?

Yes — for a mid-market admin team routing approvals, I’d recommend looking first at Microsoft Power Automate if your team already uses Microsoft 365, or Nintex if you want a more dedicated approval/workflow platform with stronger process management.

Best fit by situation

1) Microsoft Power Automate — best overall if you’re in Microsoft 365

• Great for routing approvals across email, Teams, SharePoint, Excel, and Dynamics
• Easy to connect with existing admin workflows
• Good for simple to moderately complex approval chains
• Usually the most cost-effective if you already pay for Microsoft licenses

Why it’s a strong choice

• Native approval actions
• Easy integration with Outlook/Teams
• Can handle sequential or parallel approvals
• Works well for form submissions, purchase requests, onboarding tasks, etc.

2) Nintex — best for more formal workflow automation

• Strong approval routing and workflow design
• Better when processes need structure, governance, and auditability
• Useful if you have multiple departments, forms, and approvals to standardize

Why teams choose it

• More powerful workflow features than basic low-code tools
• Good process visibility
• Strong SharePoint and Microsoft ecosystem support

Other options worth considering

• Smartsheet: good if your team already manages work in sheets and wants lightweight approvals
• Monday.com: solid for simple approval workflows with a friendly UI
• UiPath / Automation Anywhere: better if approvals are part of broader automation involving legacy systems or manual data entry
• ServiceNow: best for larger enterprises, usually overkill for mid-market admin teams unless you already use it

My practical recommendation

If you’re a mid-market admin team:

• Choose Power Automate if you want fast adoption and you’re already on Microsoft 365
• Choose Nintex if you need more robust workflow governance and more sophisticated approval routing

What to prioritize when evaluating

Look for:

• Sequential and parallel approval paths
• Email + Teams notifications
• Role-based routing
• Audit trail and approval history
• Easy form intake
• SLA reminders/escalations
• Reporting on bottlenecks
• Low-code setup so admins can maintain it

If you want, I can also give you a shortlist of 3 tools based on your stack (Microsoft, Google, Salesforce, etc.) or a comparison table by price, ease of use, and approval features.