6 undeniable business benefits of workflow automation

Today’s businesses are made up of countless processes, some of which are well-
established and central to the company’s ability to function, while others evolve on their own.
The first step towards becoming more efficient and adaptable to change in a constantly
evolving market is to have an established methodology for digitising your workflows. But
that’s not where it stops. Digitisation merely serves as the foundation for workflow
automation, which reduces or even eliminates the time needed for repetitive routine
processes.

Here are six undeniable benefits of workflow automation:

#1. Enhanced decision making
Workflow automation uses data to achieve desired business outcomes, but like every digital
activity, it also generates data itself. By collecting real-time data on ongoing projects,
business leaders can track progress and quickly identify areas where their teams excel and
areas which may need improvement. With access to this data, they’ll be better equipped to
make smarter decisions and adopt a culture of continuous improvement when it comes to
mission-critical processes like employee onboarding, customer acquisition, and product
development.

#2. Reduced chance of error
Contrary to the widespread fear that they’re going to end up taking all our jobs, computers
can enhance our capabilities by eliminating many of the risks associated with human error.
That’s one thing not even the best-managed companies can escape, but automating routine
tasks will go along way towards making it more avoidable. For example, a centrally
managed, cloud-based workflow management solution gives everyone on the team access
to the exact same information in real time to support smarter decision making.

#3. Simplified search processes
One of the biggest limitations with paper-based workflows is that information isn’t searchable
in the same way that it is on a computer. Even digitised content can be very difficult and
time-consuming to search if it’s stored in many different formats in different locations. But
with one cohesive and centralised workflow automation solution, it’s possible to search by a
wide range of criteria for the data you need. For example, you can locate previous
correspondence on an extensive range of topics like billing and payments and supply chain
management.

#4. Better business communications
Traditional workflows are often fraught with complexities that make it more difficult to identify
the causes of problems. This inevitably leads to finger-pointing and ends up damaging team
harmony. Workflow automation offers a standardised approach to task management in
which teams can instantly approve and sign off tasks, with automated alerts being sent to all relevant parties. The provision of cloud-based services and integrated communications channels also makes it possible for remote employees to work more effectively as a team.

#5. Increased staff productivity
Tedious, routine tasks are the bane of employee morale, and it’s one of the reasons why so
many employees are still disengaged at work. Automating routine tasks doesn’t just improve
morale – it also frees up time to focus on more valuable and rewarding tasks. For example,
instead of manually filling in the same forms over and over or sending notifications by email,
employees can lend closer attention to their core competencies. In doing so, they add value
throughout the organization as well as to their own careers.

#6. Practically limitless scalability
The amount of data being generated has long since outpaced our abilities to make sense of
it through manual means alone. One terabyte of information would take up 75 million pages
of printed paper, for example. Even digitised manual processes can become very
cumbersome when you’re using multiple systems and you’re trying to keep track of where
your data lives and which format it’s in. Workflow automation helps solve this problem by
bringing everything together in the cloud where you can access computing resources on
demand.

GuideVision helps businesses improve efficiency with tailor-made ServiceNow deployments.
Call us today to schedule your first consultation.