What is a workflow?
A workflow is a way you do a series of tasks to get to the desired result. The workflow is significant for productivity. For example, to make an omelet, you can first break eggs and mix the eggs with spices, then heat the pan. But this workflow is inefficient as you would be waiting for the pan to get hot. Instead, you can first start heating the pan, and while that happens, you can break the eggs. This workflow is more efficient.
Why is automation necessary?
Automation is necessary for running a successful digital business. It makes your business more efficient as manual tasks are time-consuming. Further, you can oversee the entire business operation from a single window. Additionally, the quality of your companies’ data will increase. Moreover, you can collaborate and communicate better by automatically notifying everyone of all the changes. Finally, an efficient business with better monitoring, collaboration, and communication will reduce costs.
Therefore, more companies are beginning to automate their workflows. According to studies conducted by Makenzie & Company, 31% of companies surveyed have a minimum of one automated process. Further, according to Forrester.com, the automation market will grow to USD 25 billion by 2023 at a global level. These statistics suggest that companies have accepted the necessity of automation.
Workflows That You Should Automate
- Sales and Marketing
- You can automate the process of qualifying the leads that you get. For example, you can automatically assess them based on whether they do specific actions.
- You can send emails automatically as a part of your marketing campaign.
- Automation software will automatically generate sales invoice after it is approved. The details will be error-free.
- You can automate the workflow for content writing and approval. Your employees can focus on the writing and editing part.
- Human resources
- You can automate the onboarding and training process of your new staff. The new employees can follow the commands of automated software.
- You can manage the leave requests of your employees, which otherwise would be a tedious task.
- Tracking the performance of your employees is a tedious task, especially if it is a big organization. Automating performance tracking will be highly beneficial for the company’s growth.
- You also automate the tracking of the working hours of your employees. This is known as timesheet tracking.
- Accounting & Finance
- You can automate your account payable process. It will make your process fast and error-free.
- You can automate the travel reimbursements of your employees.
- You can automate recording your expenses and save time.
- Taxation of a large company is a time-consuming task that you should automate.
- You can also automate the process of generating invoices and orders for your services.
- Customer Service
- Automation software can manage the process of assigning tickets to service requests.
- It can also provide status updates automatically.
How to automate workflows?
- First, list all the repetitive tasks that consume a lot of time. Further, they should require less critical thinking and have clear steps to be followed. Those requiring high data input or prone to human error must be listed here.
- Now, think about why you want to automate these tasks. Is it to improve productivity, customer service, etc.?
- Before automating, you need to train your employees to adapt to the new process. Training will require a few days.
- Start the automation after the team becomes comfortable with the new workflow.
- Monitor the workflow and check if the automation achieved your desired result. If not, it is time to redesign the automated workflow.
In Conclusion
Workflows are the way your work gets done. It determines your productivity. Therefore, automating the workflow will improve efficiency. There will be less human intervention, resulting in lesser error or malpractices. You can automate the processes involved in sales, marketing, human resources, Accounting, or Customer Service. To automate your workflows, you must find out all the repetitive tasks that consume time and requires high data input. Highly error-prone tasks should also be on the list. After that, think about your automation goals, productivity, better customer service, etc. Then you must train your employees to adapt to the new workflow. Finally, start the automation and monitor it. If it does not produce desired results, you should adjust your automation workflow.