Madrid, May 17, 2023 – Workflows are based on the automation of a company’s day-to-day processes and determine both the tasks to be performed and the necessary information to be passed from one worker to another following a certain hierarchy and previously established rules or patterns.
That is to say, workflows connect all employees of the company with all related business processes, establishing an order. And in this order, two important nuances must be considered:
- There is a series of rules that all workers must comply with and that precisely regulate the order and execution of each task.
- Technology becomes a key success factor. By establishing a rigid order, many activities can be computerized and thus automated.
It is true that this “Swiss watch” approach means that if one piece gets out of gear it can disrupt the entire flow and cause the whole structure to fail. But it is a risk that can be avoided with proper management and is not an obstacle considering all the benefits it can bring to a company.
Basic components of a workflow
The three main components of a workflow are input, transformation, and output:
- Input: Personnel, materials, equipment, and other resources needed to achieve the objective.
- Transformation or process: Rules, instructions,and predefined steps necessary to transform input into output.
- Output: The deliverables, be it a physical product, a service or even a qualified employee.
Seven benefits of business workflows
Project managers often emphasize the need to standardize process management or workflows. The greater the uniformity, the easier it is to guarantee the durability of results and business processes.
Although each company must design its own workflows, a number of similar benefits that all companies enjoy can be extrapolated:
1 – Increased productivity
Standardizing a workflow means eliminating many points along a process where workers should be making decisions. This way, all stakeholders know what to do and when to do it, which reduces the chances of someone going off course or making an incorrect decision that could cause delays.
Standardized business workflows also reduce manual work for 74% of companies.
2 – More time freed up by reducing micro-management
When employees become accustomed to following standardized workflows, they can begin to manage themselves. As each team member evolves in their role, they begin to take responsibility and produce better results.
Workflows include sending reminders to complete tasks, providing status updates and requesting approvals in real time. This means managers have much more time to concentrate on making strategic decisions and focus on new products or campaigns.
3 – Standardization of processes and results
The original goal of workflows was to obtain uniform results. Consider assembly lines. Companies understood more than one hundred years ago the importance of consistency when producing products or providing services. With a standardized workflow, they can always deliver a nearly identical result.
4. Accelerated onboarding process
Onboarding new employees is an integral part of any business. However, until they are properly trained, new hires cost more than they produce. Thanks to workflows, the preparation and training period can be significantly accelerated so that new hires start delivering value as soon as possible.
5. Project risk mitigation
Workflows help project teams provide structure and clarity to reduce risks, errors, and delays. Employees have a clear understanding of how to perform tasks and what standards they must meet.
6. Creation of a new business culture
If business leaders want to implement changes that last, they must create workflows and define expectations that encourage autonomy and accountability. When employees’ work is designed to help them succeed and grow, these fundamentals will become part of the business culture.
As Will Durant said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”. Therefore, a repetitive pattern of daily or weekly actions is a basic pillar of building any corporate culture.
7. Transparency and auditing
A clear workflow where each step is documented makes it possible to track delays or errors, and to evaluate performance. If managers assign outstanding tasks without specifying an owner, it will be difficult to evaluate individual performance.
Document management workflows
A company’s relationship with its customers depends mainly on the documents it generates, since they are the main vehicle for conveyinginformation. Many companies have already taken the step and are concerned about defining workflows so that their customers receive quality documents with an excellent presentation.
The most powerful document software solutions integrate document composition flowsthat allow graphically defining the document design and generation process.
Being simple and intuitive tools, they help employees from any department of the company to create documents, regardless of their technical IT knowledge, since it is not necessary to haveprogramming skillsto define the logic of a dynamic document. Thus, non-technical personnel can design dynamic templates for documents very easily.
In addition, document software solutions can be connected to a common resource repositoryto maintain centralized control over access to templates and design objects.
Finally, such powerful document software also allows monitoringand loggingchangesand working on previous versions.
Just as workflow management can be integrated into a document management software, it can also be developed as a standalone system, with the following features:
- Email notifications informing managers of the status of a task.
- Status control SLAs, which include a graphical representation of the status of a task. Color coding reflects the importance of focusing on those stages of the process that need the most attention or are experiencing a problem.
- Pre-populated forms that avoid wasting time filling out repetitive forms.
- Reassignment of tasks, since not all processes end up working as planned.
In conclusion, business workflows prevent daily activities from becoming inefficient and uncontrollable, as well as uncertainty when it comes to which step a process is at and which records should be generated in each one of them.
Therefore, the ideal way to automate processes is to use software that manages documentation. This way it is possible to optimize the workflow, control activities, carry them out in a timely manner, perform audits and improve processes and results, since it helps model all the steps of a process, correctly assign the owner of each step and define how it should be done.
About DocPath
DocPath is a leading enterprise document software company that offers its international customers the technology that allows them to complement their ERP and implement advanced Document Output Management, Customer Communications Management and document software pooling processes.
Founded in 1993, DocPath is based in Europe, USA and Latin America and is present with its Solutions in companies around the world. Among its customers there are prestigious banks and top-tier corporations, facilitating the difficult and complex task of designing, generating and distributing their business-critical documents. DocPath keeps a strong commitment to R+D+i, an area to which it allocates a large part of its revenues, and in which lies one of the keys to its success.
For more information, visit: www.docpath.com.
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