What is a Workflow?

According to Wikipedia:

“A workflow consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of activity, enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. It can be depicted as a sequence of operations, the work of a person or group, the work of an organization of staff, or one or more simple or complex mechanisms.”

 

In other words, it tells a person how to execute or perform a step and what tool(s) to use. If a process is what you use to achieve a goal, a workflow is a series of actions inside that support process.

 

What are Automated Workflows?

Automated Workflows are workflows designed to perform or execute on their own within a process following a set of business rules using an Workflow Automation Platforms or tools with little to no human intervention at all. In other words, with the defined business rules in place, the tools you integrate into your automated workflows will automatically interact with each other to facilitate the flow, exchange, retrieval, and storage of information in each step.

 

With workflow automation in place, your daily business operation efficiency will drastically improve because then you can focus on more urgent and complex matters. Business process automation will not only make you productive by taking care of your recurring tasks; it also allows you to have time to do the actual work.

 

Automated workflows also leave no room for mistakes when configured in the right way. 

 

Top 5 benefits when you implement automated workflows

 

Improve business productivity and efficiency

Going through their daily tasks, individual employees often get bogged down in performing and completing mundane tasks that eat a lot of their time. Because of this, employees have little left to focus on the most complex assignments that impact the business on a greater level.

 

With workflow automation, most of these tasks can be taken care of automatically without an employee having to micromanage every step.

 

Take your payable accounts for example. The process of approving and paying your vendors’ invoices is very important to keep receiving the products and services needed for your business. You probably receive a couple of invoice emails every week or month and one or two of your employees are assigned to inspect and approve or reject these invoices.

 

Imagine them having to drop whatever task it was they were currently doing just to check the inbox assigned for the supplier invoices. When they do get one, they would have to check the attached document and manually log the information of the invoice. Manually store it in the right supplier folder, and then email the account handler to approve or reject the invoice. If the handler accepts the invoice information, then payment will proceed. If it’s a rejection, one of the employees will have to email and inform the supplier to fix their invoice for approval. And you will have to manually repeat these tasks every time an invoice comes in.

 

But with an automated workflow for your invoice approval, you can now accomplish this process in less than a third of the time it will take if manually performed. 

 

This invoice approval workflow will automatically kick in every time an invoice arrives in that particular inbox. You can now focus on other tasks.

 

Reduce operational costs

Running a business cost money, a lot of it. Business process automation can significantly reduce overhead costs by digitizing most, if not all, processes that involve papers.

 

There’s a reason why automated workflows are also called paperless operations. It’s because in this day and age, you can now sign, store, and send documents digitally. Any process you have that you used to document on a piece of paper can now become digital documents. And any document that can be digitized is up for automated workflows integration. Platforms such as Google Workspace Automated Workflows (formerly known as G Suite), Trello, Slack, and more have automation integration features that allow them to be connected to other tools.

 

Operational mistakes can also be costly. For as long as the steps do not require human thought processes, automated workflows can help eliminate human errors that can cost you your business efficiency.

 

Deliver top-notch customer service

Paying customers are the lifeblood of every thriving business, as such we do everything to ensure high customer satisfaction. 

 

Customer service channels have played vital roles in keeping customers satisfied by providing immediate assistance to any customer concern. But your staff cannot man the customer service post 24/7. There is also the concern of long queues during, particularly busy times.

 

 Automating your workflows not only does reduce your response time but also will free up your employees to attend customer cases quicker.

 

Increase revenue by innovating faster and reducing time to market

Automated workflows help businesses deliver results faster while maintaining standard quality. Automation has the power to automate more than half of an established workflow. This means you get to save half of the time you usually spend on a particular task by eliminating manual operations.

 

Easier scalability in the future

When your business grows, this also means that the amount of your work will double or triple in number. The good thing is, workflow automation is one of the technologies that can turn ten employees into a hundred hands.

 

Aside from that, creating the right automated workflows ensures that you are keeping up with the set standard output.

 

When Should You Consider Workflow Automation?

Surviving today's world of fierce business competition, every establishment must consider automating some, if not most, of their business process.

 

Business process automation(BPA) is a matter of making sure you have a sustainable competitive advantage over your competitors.

 

In business, time is a precious resource that is equivalent to money. Increasing ROI means businesses should spend their time and effort going after higher and more valuable projects. 

 

Creating Automated workflows will allow you to automatically deal with the mundane and repetitive tasks of your daily operations. This means if you have tasks that involve repeated data entry, email management, and other small tasks, then workflow automation is a definite solution for you.

 

So how do you start automating your workflows?

 

How to Build an Automated Workflow

There are several ways businesses can start building automated workflows, and it’s by using various automation platforms and tools. 

 

But before we can automate the heck out of your business process, first businesses must establish a visual representation of their current workflow. The static design should contain detailed steps, policies, and business rules that govern that particular process. Once established visually, the higher-ups will review the workflow.

 

The process automation will commence when the static design has been finalized and approved. To do this, you can use drag and drop workflow automation platforms that have predefined tasks that you can arrange, organize, and link in a way that supports your workflow.

 

An automated workflow can be applied to almost all moving parts of a business. A good example is marketing, sales, IT, HR, finance, and more, especially the areas that do not require any thought process.

 

Once established and set up is done, it is now time to train the employees who will use the workflow. Each employee must understand the automated workflows assigned to them inside and out, and they must take ownership of it.

 

What to look for in a workflow automation software

There are several note-worthy workflow automation software out in the market, each serving unique business needs. Understand that there’s no such tool as one-size-fits-all. Knowing your business in and out will tell you what features you need the most and what you can go on without.

 

Simplicity

Convenience and operational simplicity is the purpose of automation, that should also translate to the automation software. An easy-to-use, no code, automation platform that’s simple enough even for beginners to understand.

 

Cloud operability

Cloud-based workflow automation platforms are accessible anywhere and have higher data security, and easier to maintain. They are also easier to implement than on-premise types.

 

Cross-system integration

Good automation software allows you to connect and integrate several other tools within your automated workflows. Platforms like zenphi that’s built on Google for Google Workspace users with the inclusion of several other well-known 3rd-party tools.

 

Customizable features

Your automation should be flexible enough for customization to fit your business needs.

 

Sensible pricing

A tool shouldn’t bleed your pockets dry. There are SaaS automation platforms that can support your business processes without you having to spend a fortune. Take time to assess your needs and compare them to the features of every automation platform that you come across.