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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.

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