Companies all over the globe are adopting automation technology and converting time-consuming manual processes into efficient and easy-to-use workflow systems. It is done to benefit from the various advantages of automation within workspaces. These benefits include decreased operational costs and increased productivity.
On the other hand, not automating a workspace adds to a company’s costs. In today’s highly dynamic market conditions, there’s no time to lose when satisfying customers. However, manual processes cost employees 20-40% of their time either searching for documents or switching between tasks on average. Similarly, CEOs waste 25% of their time on tasks that can be made efficient through automation.
Different companies differ in their goals and priorities. Therefore, their automation needs also vary. For example, a company that deals with manufacturing may prefer invoice approval and purchase order workflows. In contrast, a temp company that repeatedly recruits new employees may benefit from HR workflow automation.
In this article, we’ll discuss eight different workflow examples that can help make your workplace more productive. We will also review how you can make each workflow example the most beneficial for you and your company.
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Here are the 8 Essential Workflow Examples
1. Recruitment Workflow Management
Talent hugely impacts the success of a business. Recruiting and retaining talented individuals is an essential task that can be made easier through workflow automation. Automation can positively contribute to the reach and quality of job listings. It might help you filter the applicants and shorten the recruitment process. A streamlined hiring process also improves the applicants’ experience, they may accept your employment offer.
Improved recruitment workflow means that companies can assess skills more thoroughly. It reduces the chances of passing on promising recruits or hiring unsuitable employees. It can also create a fairer recruiting process that can prevent bias from occurring in HR.
2. Purchase Orders Workflow
Purchase orders are a heavily relied-on method for cutting costs in the procurement process. These POs are highly important to ensure that sellers and buyers agree. In the past, emailing PDFs was the way to make POs.
However, today’s fast-paced market has made it too unreliable. Automation in this area of business operations is becoming increasingly common. The employees create an automated PO, which is sent to the supplier after being approved. The supplier sends over goods and is paid afterward.
Streamlined automated POs reduce costs, increase financial visibility, and improve productivity. Moreover, automation of POs also saves the employees, and thus the business, a huge amount of time. It is because it lets them focus on work that is of higher value than complicated paperwork.
3. Sales Order Workflow
Sales orders are a vital part of any business and its profitability. Yet, a lot of businesses still use email as their primary method. Even in companies where this process has been significantly digitized, manual signatures are required, which proves to be a bottleneck to business efficiency.
To deal with this, an automated sales order system involves the creation of computer-based orders. After being approved by the manager, the order is sent to the client. Once signed, the invoice is automatically created and paid by the customer. This narrow method of sales orders saves time and improves the client experience. It can reduce the chances of sales of returns and add to the organization’s overall profitability.
4. Documents Approval Workflow
Inappropriate contracts or other documents can be severely problematic if approved. And if the term is particularly long, it can be an even bigger nightmare. However, organizations can arrange for automated document approval workflows to avoid legal and financial issues related to documents.
The workflow is set up in a manner where the department head first approves any given document and passes it to the finance head, then the legal head, and so on. This is done until the document is deemed appropriate and is only signed for the final time. Doing this can help companies avoid legal consequences and save costs in terms of penalties and even reputation.
5. Employee Onboarding Workflow
How you onboard new employees greatly influence their time spent with your company. Studies prove that employees with satisfactory onboarding experience are more likely to stay. Manual onboarding places more emphasis on paperwork than helping your hire navigate their new workplace.
An automated employee onboarding workflow involves a digital form that your employees can conveniently fill even remotely. The roles and responsibilities are discussed, and all the benefits and training materials are assigned. Doing all this digitally saves costs and time and makes your employee feel more comfortable in a new environment.
6. Vacation Requests Workflow
Vacation requests can become time-consuming as employees usually ask for approval from the manager or department head. If the applications are physically delivered to the relevant persons, they could waste all the parties’ time. It means that a task that’s not productive consumes time and resources.
Shifting this entire process to digital software, where a request is sent to the manager in a matter of seconds and is approved timely, helps companies avoid such issues. The manager can also prepare a list of the tasks to be completed before said vacation, and the employee can hand them in before they are due.
7. Content Marketing Workflow
Marketing has exploded in importance over the past few decades. The quality of the content through which you market your brand makes all the difference. Manual processes where content is created and shared through email or other time-consuming mediums may mean that your company isn’t competitive enough.
Automated content marketing is the answer. A system where your content managers can create and share their content in real time and receive feedback for updates and approvals will help you stay updated in terms of branding. Each update could be posted as it occurs and helps your customers stay informed.
8. Support Requests Workflow
Smaller organizations may rely on informal communication methods for support requests. However, this essential part of business operations requires proper structuring in larger ones. Calling the IT employees each time for support could delay production, as well as other tasks in a company.
An automated support requests system where messages are delivered and responded to instantly can significantly solve this issue. This will help make the workplace more efficient.
Conclusion
Organizations that spend on automation reap several long-term benefits. On the other hand, manual processes slow a business down and can risk its competitiveness against quicker organizations.
There’s no reason not to automate other than financial constraints in today’s market conditions. Automation platforms today are convenient and accessible. Workflow software can help automate day-to-day processes so that manually routing tasks between different employees is no longer a requirement.
Electronic workflows can be easily set up by your IT team. Electronic data can be analyzed with software. It is called workflow analysis and is incredibly beneficial for any organization.
In conclusion, workflow automation will help your organization become quicker, more efficient, and less wasteful. It will also improve the experience of both your employees and customers and will contribute towards productivity and profitability.
