3 undeniable benefits of digital workflows (with examples)

Achieving seamless scalability by creating new workflows whenever you need them

In today’s connected global market, businesses have more opportunities than ever. But that also means they face myriad new risks. Rapid technological advancement has revealed new avenues for innovation, but it’s also led to operational silos and greater complexity. Greater connectedness has changed the way we work, heralding the rise of remote work and the gig economy, but this too isn’t without its administrative challenges.

Core business operations change all the time along with evolving customer demands. Times of crisis continue to cause widespread disruption across the business world. Companies are under constant pressure to innovate, adapt, and scale if they want to keep up with the rapid pace of change. Migrating to digital workflows is essential for enhancing performance, agility, and productivity, as is having the ability to create new ones quickly when you need them most.

Here are the three biggest benefits of digital workflow automation: 

#1. Enhanced employee productivity

Most of the things employees spend their time on does little to drive competitive advantage, even if they are still important. Much of the working day still revolves around useless meetings and processes that just aren’t very efficient. When ServiceNow carried out its latest State of Work study, it found that business leaders spent an average of 15 hours per week on manual administrative tasks. Moreover, almost all of them said skilled employees were spending too much time on repetitive routine activities.

Implementing digital workflows can help free up time in any department, thus allowing staff to focus on activities which have a direct impact on growth and revenue. For example, helpdesk support can easily be automated with multi-step workflows that help resolve common issues faster. Similarly, sales and marketing workflows, which are often repetitive, can be automated so representatives can spend their time working on tasks which require a human touch.

#2. Improved customer experiences 

In the Age of the Customer, people expect impeccable service. In fact, customer experience is now one of the key drivers of purchase decisions. Sometimes, it’s even more important than product and pricing. Manual processes, such as filling in lengthy forms or waiting in line on the phone to speak to a customer support agent, slow everything down and lead to frustration. It won’t be long before customers lose patience and start spending their money elsewhere. 

More than ever, companies need to focus on the customer experience. They need to generate value with every customer interaction, creating instant satisfaction at every touchpoint. That means taking a more proactive approach to customer complaints and other matters, breaking down operational silos and cutting out manual processes wherever possible. For example, if customers can resolve common issues themselves through a simple, multi-step automated process, they’ll be far more satisfied by the faster outcome. 

#3. Simplified security and compliance

Information security and compliance are among the biggest challenges of our time, and all too often do they end up blocking innovation. Sometimes, companies try to find workarounds, or they just err on the side of caution and keep innovation to a minimum. Either approach only leads to failure in the longer term. Firstly, security and compliance should be approached as a competitive advantage rather than a blocker of innovation. Secondly, they don’t have to be nearly as hard or as costly to implement as you might think.

Human error is responsible for the vast majority of data breaches and compliance failures. But if you create automated workflows instead, you negate that risk. For example, you can create a complete audit trail for your digital data, automating things like backup routines and security controls. With automated security workflows, you can prioritize and remediate threats faster and at any scale. Innovating shouldn’t have to mean adding risk to your operations!

GuideVision offers strategic advice and tailor-made ServiceNow deployments to help breathe life into your enterprise services. Talk to us today to find out more.