5 signs that your business needs workflow optimisation

Many businesses have shifted into digital operating modes, yet too many processes still exist as manual, paper-based processes. Such methods create mistakes, lost data, and valuable time taken from people’s days as they enter and search for information or forms.

Workflow optimisation and automation is the answer to eliminating these tedious processes. It automates complex, rules-based processes to improve efficiency and reduce error rates across your organisation. In addition, workflow optimisation can help to improve customer satisfaction by completing customer-facing tasks more quickly and efficiently.

Microsoft Power Automate is a cloud-based service that supports you in optimising workflows. It can save time by automating tedious and repetitive tasks, such as updating customer information from digital forms or generating daily and weekly reports. Power Automate also can connect to hundreds of different apps and services, making it simple to create complex workflows.

So, what are the signs your business might require such a solution? I recommend asking the following questions about your business…

Does your team know where to find data?

Paper-based systems can be easily lost or damaged. Digital information recorded and stored on a system not widely accessible to the rest of the organisation means that essential data could be inaccessible to people that need it. With no central place to store or search for information, it becomes lost, or only a few people know where to find it.

Overall, manual and paper-based systems can be complicated to maintain. So, your business needs a solution that can automate data collection of customer details, purchase orders, employee information, project steps, etc. Workflow automation can help reduce the time spent on data entry and management by automating tasks such as data collection, validation, and categorisation.

Are you wasting time trying to find the latest version of an important document?

You might need a specific report or document to progress a project, but you waste time searching for it and reading through different versions to figure out which one you need. You might also have to ask colleagues for document locations, causing a small wave of disruption around the business. A task like this may only seem to take a few minutes, but it adds up when workers spend up to?20%?of their week looking for information.

In many cases, documents and forms exist across different organisational departments, making it difficult for people to find the correct version. Workflow automation can help by providing a centralised repository for all documents and ensuring they make it to the right destination. Additionally, people can leverage workflow automation to request documents when needed.

How much time do you spend changing forms and information?

Forms and data are a necessary part of any business. However, manually entering data and updating forms takes time from someone and the company. It compounds when people have to spend time updating the data when mistakes occur. If these mistakes are left undetected, they can cause further issues in the future and create frustration for employees and customers.

When you automate data entry, you can avoid these problems and improve overall efficiency.

Workflow automation supports your business by keeping documents and forms up to date. It also reduces the number of errors made in the first place, reducing the time your team spends correcting these mistakes. Additionally, you can configure workflow automation platforms to provide alerts when a document or form needs to be updated, helping your organisation avoid compliance issues created by leveraging the wrong data or sending people incorrect information.

Have you sent out the wrong forms or information?

Sending the wrong data forms to colleagues generates frustrating problems. They might recognise that you sent them the incorrect data and need to request it again. Or worse, the wrong information creates a domino effect where one mistake causes many more. Your colleague might not realise and forward the data to a customer who realises it is incorrect. If a customer fills out the wrong form, you might not get critical information and will need to ask them to complete it again, which also builds their frustration.

Automation software enables you to build workflows that retrieve the latest data or forms to send to colleagues or customers. The data or form will automatically be sent to the person when the workflow is triggered. Now, rather than having to search for the information and send it yourself.

How effective is your business at gathering and delivering information to clients?

Workflow automation is a great way for businesses to improve customer service by delivering information more quickly to customers. Perhaps when a customer requests information from your business, it lands in someone’s inbox, and they make a note to fulfil the customer’s request that day. It could be a few hours until the person has the time in their day to locate the information and forward it to the customer. If their requested information does not come through for quite some time, the customer will likely become frustrated with your business.

By automating workflows, businesses can complete tasks more efficiently and process customer requests in a timely manner. When you can meet requests quickly and deliver the correct information, satisfaction improves and increases your chances of gaining repeat customers.?

How Wyntec enables workflow optimisation

Wyntec enables business transformation by combining our knowledge of your sector and business with our technical expertise. Our goal is to create solutions that increase your ability to grow and sustain profits. Visit our?Modern Workplace Transformation?page for more on our capabilities and offerings.