Methods and apparatus to optimize workflow execution by making intelligent decisions regarding service requests to perform workflow processes on one or more servers are provided. For some embodiments, a workflow controller may analyze a workflow definition specifying a set of tasks to be performed in order to determine if multiple tasks may be performed locally, on a common server. If so, the controller may generate a remote service to perform the multiple tasks on the common server, without requiring intermediate transfer of data between a local server on which the controller is running and the common remote server.