Workflow is a catch-all word used to define all of the various business processes and procedures that go into running a successful corporation. Essentially, workflow is a series of connected steps – from the first number entry, to the final product. Every workflow begins somewhere and ends somewhere, with many complicated (and sometimes not-so-complicated) steps in between.
Workflow Automation is a way to condense all of these steps into one smooth process. For example; in a publishing setting, a story must be routed from writer to editor and from editor to publisher. Workflow Automation ensures that the completed story is sent to the editor and that the proofread story is then forwarded on to the publisher. In some settings, the human components may even be filtered out entirely.
1) Workflow Automation results in fewer administrative errors
Workflow Automation helps to take some of the human elements out of business. While the ideas and innovations contributed by people within a team are without doubt central to a business, many of the mundane tasks are better left to computers – after all, “to err is human,” right?
By using workflow automation software, businesses can ensure that processes are undertaken with the steps in the right order – and that the correct people and departments are receiving all of the right information. While administrative errors are rare, they can most certainly slow down a business. Whether data is lost, stored in the wrong place or sent to the wrong person, errors can cost businesses precious time and money.
2) Workflow Automation improves business/employee efficiency
Workflow Automation software is designed to eliminate unnecessary or repetitive business processes; it can help your business to streamline its processes and find the shortest possible distance between process A and result B.
In effect, workflow automation is designed to help your business become the most efficient that it can be, but inefficiencies that exist at the most basic levels will persist, even throughout the workflow automation process. For this reason, it is important to spend time analysing your business processes and finding the inefficiencies that you’d like workflow automation to address. The better you understand your business – the more workflow automation can help you.
Workflow Automation also improves employee accountability – providing a built-in oversight mechanism. Employees become more efficient and effective in completing their tasks – and happier as a result. If you put the right processes in place, every employee knows what is expected of them and what they are accountable for. If their jobs are not completed in a timely fashion, someone in management will receive a notification. Supervisors won’t have to micromanage employees and constantly monitor their progress, and employees won’t spend their time constantly responding to status requests.
3) Workflow Automation results in better communication
Workflow Automation helps various departments in a business to stay in touch with one another, by simplifying the channels through which these entities communicate. Finding the right person to contact becomes easier – and both verbal and electronic communications become more efficient, simpler and faster.
One of the side benefits of workflow automation is the improvement of internal communication, which reduces employee turnover. A “Top 5” reason why employees leave an organisation is the perceived lack of communication with management. Automating workflows also automates communication; no single person has to remember to tell the next person in a successive chain of events that it’s now his or her turn.
4) Workflow Automation assists with compliance
Workflow Automation software offers full and real-time visibility, providing a platform to efficiently monitor compliance. This is ideal for businesses in regulated industries that deal with sensitive data and are looking to outsource production and improve internal processes, while still requiring tracking and reporting on compliance.
The prospect of precisely tracking compliance throughout the production and delivery processes can be somewhat daunting; especially if a company still has manual processes in place. Every step in a production process will require some form of manual intervention. Every time this happens, a potential point of failure arises, introducing a higher risk for errors. Workflow Automation removes manual errors from the equation, saving time and helping to ensure compliance.
5) Workflow Automation makes you more money!
Workflow Automation accelerates turnaround, cuts cost by adding visibility and traceability, eliminates errors and improves quality output; no matter where it is deployed in your organisation. Workflow Automation will help your organisation to survive and thrive, and with the right partner, such as Dajon, it is easy and affordable to implement, maintain and scale. Contact us to learn more.