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In today’s lightning-fast business climate, modern enterprises are racing to find the right tools to eliminate legacy inefficiencies and achieve full digital transformation.
One effect of this transition has been the creation of a robust – but overwhelming – marketplace for low-code software solutions, application platforms as a service, and other systems and tools that aim to consolidate data, streamline critical business functions, and provide comprehensive visibility and reporting at every level of an organization.
With so many options, it can be difficult to assess which solutions (or even which category of solutions) will actually add value to your enterprise. One rapidly expanding submarket is workflow management software, sometimes called workflow automation. According to a September 2017 research report by Markets and Markets, the workflow automation market was valued at $4.26 Billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $18.45 Billion by 2023.
Put simply, workflow software helps companies visualize and design efficient workflows by standardizing and automating repetitive tasks. These tasks are logically connected so that completed milestones trigger predefined next steps, while missed deadlines or deliverables trigger automatic project timeframe updates and send notifications to relevant stakeholders. When data, assets, and deliverables are centralized in one workflow management system, enterprises gain unprecedented visibility into key roadblocks or opportunities. This comprehensive view allows them to make critical decisions effectively.
But is workflow automation a good fit for your enterprise? As you’re learning more about the variety of software solutions at your disposal, assess your organization for the following red flags. They may be strong signs that your enterprise needs workflow management software.
You’re constantly chasing down scattered documents, begging for status updates, and poring over email chains to find disparate points of data. Those reports you needed in order to invoice the client were actually ready two weeks ago, oops, but your teammate didn’t realize you weren’t copied on that chain. Furthermore, your legacy systems for data and workflow management always feel like they are months behind reality – and never quite accurate.
If this sounds familiar, a robust workflow management system could help you. The right tool doesn’t just visualize and define a workflow – it also helps you create a single source of truth for your data, documents, and relevant task statuses. Key players know instantly when a critical task is completed or an important document is uploaded, and they can take appropriate action. With everyone working from the same playbook, you get back all that time previously wasted on the paper chase. This means your enterprise can focus on its most valuable work.
Your team files thousands of routine expense, asset, and site reports in any given quarter. These tasks are as redundant as they come, but for some reason, your project managers are constantly burning hours as they oversee these routine processes. Work Crew A’s site report was entered in one format, while Work Crew B used another, and now managers must synthesize this data before entering it into your main information repository.
With workflow automation, you can remove much of the decision-making or guesswork for routine processes by defining and enforcing workflow guidelines. For example, field employees can enter data into a form that automatically feeds into a single source of truth, triggers the next workflow step, and allows managers and clients to know their projects are on track.
You’re losing sleep over thoughts of change. It doesn’t matter if it’s changing requirements, changing software platforms, or changing team members: Your workflow is so fragile that the smallest alteration could send the whole thing tumbling down. When requirements change, it takes months for everyone to get on the same page. With new employees, onboarding is a arduous, time-consuming process. And forget about updating your clunky, inefficient software and on-premise servers to meet this decade’s minimum standards.
Leveraging a robust system for workflow automation means you don’t have to fear change anymore. When requirements change, workflows are simply tweaked in a low-code visual designer, while standardized forms for processing data are easily modified with drag-and-drop functionality. New team members operate from the same centralized source of information and processes as the rest of your team. And upgrading your software platform or integrating it with other critical cloud-based systems won’t break the bank.
With so many inefficiencies and uncertainties baked into your workflow, your team is struggling to remain accountable both internally and externally. Nobody is certain about their realm of responsibility, so critical tasks go unfinished. Then it takes forever to notice these gaps and missed opportunities because key data points and deliverables are lost in the noise of hundreds of emails, spreadsheets, and siloed information systems. All the while, your client is impatiently waiting for updated statuses and ETAs.
Workflow management software helps streamline your operations and eliminates a host of annoying day-to-day questions:
Is that part of my job?
What should I be working on next?
Is this project complete and ready to be invoiced?
With a centralized set of data and a well defined set of workflow guides and processes, employees can quickly ascertain what work needs the most active attention. The flow of this work is easily monitored and adjusted as needed to meet the latest goals. An efficient and accurate system for workflow management also empowers your client-facing teams to handle requests with responsiveness, accuracy, and complete transparency.
If some of the pain points described above give you an unsettling feeling of familiarity, we encourage you to learn more about OneVizion.
Among other key functions, such as project management and document management, the OneVizion Platform offers a dynamic system for managing workflows. As a cloud-based aPaaS, we make it easy to take your legacy data and implement it into our platform, so you can leverage powerful workflow tools like a drag-and-drop form creator and a visual workflow designer. You gain more efficient processes and completely accurate, centralized data that ties directly into all of your other critical business functions. Learn more by visiting our platform overview, or contact us today to schedule a demo.
