From preparing smoothies or laundry to the SpaceX launch, automation may be everywhere. A single button eliminates the need for planning and hours of labor. However, your staff might still be entering data into Excel sheets. A mind-numbing, never-ending activity keeps them from honing their ability in areas that count.
The good news is that the workflow automation platform is the ideal option, which is why you’ve found this post. Even better, it’s less complex, expensive, and time-consuming than you may anticipate.
What is Workflow Automation?
The use of software and a set of clearly laid out rules to automate manual operations is known as workflow automation. It is simple to automate business workflows across various teams and industries to speed up processes, reduce errors, and boost productivity.
To put it even more simply, automation frees up your team’s time on data entry, report generation, email sending, daily schedule planning, and even reporting to you on their success.
The workflow automation platform offers a wide range of additional advantages. If you need help with what automation can do for your company, take a quick look at some of these benefits.
Know what has to be done first
Although it seems clear, it is not. People are often still trying to figure out what to do next or which task should be completed first. For each user, workflow automation often offers an “Inbox” or “Pending Tasks” list. The team member can see the tasks given to him, their importance, and some pertinent information about them in this list.
In conclusion, once a job is finished, it is feasible to immediately move on to the following priority task without delay, enhancing personal efficiency and, as a result, your entire team’s productivity.
Your sales team needs to follow up on several business opportunities. Are you confident they are investigating them? What is the order? Perhaps they are phoning the less desirable number first because they know someone there.
Quickly assign the responsibilities to the next person!
When a task is finished, it frequently happens that the job (also known as a process instance) goes to sleep for a bit before being handed off to the next worker to complete the next task. When you automate a workflow, the process engine moves the process instance to the subsequent person automatically and right away and places it in their Inbox (or Pending Task list).
For example, take the purchase request procedure you have. Someone else should ask suppliers for quotes after you’ve amended and accepted the request. How can you inform them that everything is prepared for the quotation request?
Do you email people? You are inputting information again while wasting time. Make calls to them? If they don’t respond, you waste time and sleep at work.
However, if you clicked the “Approve” button, the process instance went to the “Request Quotations” stage. Finally, they were sent to their Inbox, and you and they would both experience an increase in productivity due to workflow automation.
Step back and let the business run itself
To perform their tasks, employees need to ask questions like “What have I got to do with this?” or “Whom should we send this to?” This indicates that the company depends on you. At least, it is the primary reason for inefficiency. Furthermore, it turns you into an enslaved person to your work.
In a workflow automation platform, you must codify the workflows, specify what must be done, by whom, and what happens next. Then, you can create your workflow diagram using BPMN. The BPM Suite will automatically allocate tasks under this system (without your input), and when those tasks are finished, it will assign another work to the following person in the flow.
Identify and eliminate bottlenecks
Bottlenecks are areas in most processes where work flows more slowly than is necessary. Finding their location is the challenging part. It’s only a symptom to say, “the procedure is slow” or “it takes too long to complete.” To diagnose your process and locate the bottleneck, you must go inside it. You can figure it out once it’s finished.
However, BAM (Business Activity Monitoring) for actual research and BI (Business Intelligence) for historical analysis is required to identify the bottleneck. These features will display details about the active process instances, including how long they have been waiting at each workflow stage.
Use reports directly to inform decisions
Building reports each time you need to make a decision makes no sense. Building the same report as last month will waste your time. Even though it appears clear, we frequently create pieces and compile data each time we need to make a choice.
Even worse, we often need more time, so we rely solely on our instincts to decide without conducting research. Reports you use to make choices should include pertinent data about your procedures. They must be immediately and easily reachable. Those who require them should receive them regularly.
For instance, you need a detailed report that displays all of your commercial leads sorted by salesperson and grouped by quantity. You must save time guessing, reviewing emails, or asking for information.
To read the report, click the link. Because of the shortened time needed to gather the required data, workflow automation will boost your productivity as a decision-maker.