There’s a flow to completing every task within an organization, whether your team is large or small. Let’s say there are just basic checklists associated with getting jobs done across different departments. That’s a workflow.
So, automating this process or checklist is what is called workflow automation. For better context, it refers to the streamlining and execution of projects by automatically routing tasks between people, technology, and data based on pre-defined business rules.
In a report by McKinsey, of about 60 percent of occupations, at least one-third of the activities that make up a specific job could be automated. A survey by Smartsheet also shows that 40% of workers spend a quarter of their week on repetitive tasks. That’s technically a whole day.
The gains of workflow automation are immense, especially when it comes to saving the long hours employees usually spend on mundane, often manual, day-to-day tasks. But then, it’s helpful to understand how specifically this relates to different departments in your organization.
Workflow Automation in HR
Recruitment probably has some of the most tasking and process-intensive workflows in any organization. And that’s just one of the deliverables on the desks of HR managers/teams. There’s also the actual work of managing existing employees.
There’s a bunch of paperwork that human resource managers have to handle. Think of generating contracts and documenting them. Or managing employee requests like leave or pay reviews.
These could all go digital and be placed on autopilot with an automation system that links documents to workflows. They would already be templated and automatically customized for each person/situation. That’s a major reduction in paperwork.
Using predefined rules like keywords, recruiters can assess and shortlist job candidates faster. Many organizations in Nigeria rely on tools like Workflow Engine on MaxFiles to narrow down applications, which usually come in hundreds and thousands.
Before you know it, you would only have a few applications left for your team to review. And when they’re eventually recruited, workflow automation would be setting up a welcome experience that will provide swifter onboarding.
It’s like when someone gets in the organization, they already have what’s waiting for them to give them an introduction and every piece of information they need to function efficiently.
Since HR managers need to have a view of how people’s responsibilities flow, both for oversight and as a way to ensure company-wide compliance with procedures, this system proves invaluable.
Financial Workflow
Maybe way above what HR has, a lot of documentation happens in finance departments. Starting with the need to manage these documents, the value of a functional workflow automation here can’t be overemphasized.
One thing is the degree of human error this helps to remove. There are also hundreds of hours companies get to save from things like approval processing, which is almost an everyday thing with finance.
Imagine being able to schedule auto-payments for recurring invoices, or automatically notify line managers of required approvals. That’s some back-and-forth avoided.
This also helps to improve payroll management by allowing you to automate the process of finalizing payrolls for each month. Payment approval notes could get to a CEO or any other approving manager in good time.
Marketing & Sales Operations
Marketing departments often have multiple initiatives going on at the same time, with some of them repeating every day. Say some content review or marketing collateral to be created, you can automate the process of working on this and moving it through the hierarchy for approval.
Using tools like MaxFiles’ Workflow Engine and similar workflow automation tools, teams can collaborate on projects and assign tasks for review among employees, wherever they are.
Workflow automation in marketing also means managers can assign tasks and define clear processes for storing, nurturing, and engaging with leads. Leads can seamlessly be moved to different stages of the sales process, with the right person engaging with them at each point.
Same goes with sales. Spotler reports that over 50% of sales teams have recorded a substantial increase in conversion rates by infusing a bit of automation into task assignments.
With this, you’re sure all leads get the same experience when they get into your funnel, and the ongoing lead management happens without hitches.
Customer Support
After a bad customer service experience, 39% of customers will avoid a company for two years. Interestingly, having to explain their problem to multiple people is seen as poor customer service by 72% of consumers.
It’s inevitable to get into the bad books quickly when every customer problem is a new issue to address from top-to-bottom. Then, you have delays in ticket resolution as another factor.
That won’t happen with a system that automatically escalates issues to the right department or agent. No delay. No duplication of support requests.
Using an automation tool to connect with customers and resolve issues also means you can study the trend of complaints – giving you and your team reliable data to work with on product or service optimization.
Conclusion
Managing business processes can happen without needless complexities. Unnecessary delays in essential business processes like these could get costly, with a spiraling impact on operational efficiency.
MaxFiles is a Document Management System with a workflow engine and other functionalities that help businesses take digital transformation to a whole new level. With the best document management system, electronic document management system, and document management applications, MaxFiles ensures document management best practices and highlights the benefits of document management systems.
Find out more about how MaxFiles’ end-to-end solution can improve workflow implementation within your organization. By leveraging business process automation, workflow automation, and business process automation tools, you can experience the advantages of business process automation, including significant process automation benefits. Embrace digitalization and business process automation with workflow automation examples and best practices to see the full spectrum of business process management benefits.
Ready to transform your workflows from chaos to order? Explore the benefits of workflow automation and streamline your business processes today with MaxFiles.
