Companies like Microsoft are now embracing hybrid working models — a structure that gives employees the option to work in the office or remotely.

But these changes also present several challenges, namely that organizations must ensure that their distributed workforce has the right tools to communicate.

Using enterprise collaboration software can help.

In this article, we’ll explain what enterprise collaboration is and why it’s important. We’ll also look at the different types of software available and provide recommendations.

Click the links below to jump ahead:

• What Is Enterprise Collaboration?
• What Are the Benefits of Enterprise Collaboration?
• Types of Enterprise Collaboration Software
• How to Get Started With Enterprise Collaboration

What Is Enterprise Collaboration?

Enterprise collaboration is a system of communication that makes it easier for employees to work together on key projects — even if they’re not in the same office.

The global pandemic accelerated existing trends in remote work, as companies had to give their employees more flexible options.

But something interesting happened.

Even with unplanned closures, 94% of employers say that productivity has remained the same or even improved with employees working remotely. Other studies have also found that working remotely has positively impacted productivity.

Of course, offering flexible work options isn’t without its challenges, as details can fall through the cracks without the right tools.

The goal of enterprise collaboration is to facilitate communication and collaboration. It helps remote employees work together on projects even from different geographic locations.

Technologies include software for instant messaging, video conferencing, storing and sharing documents, creating automated workflows, and more. These systems provide collaborative workspaces that distributed teams can use to accomplish their tasks.

What Are the Benefits of Enterprise Collaboration?

Enterprise collaboration systems are becoming more important as modern workspaces grow increasingly complex.

Here’s how these systems can benefit your company.

Improves Productivity

Nothing hurts productivity more than wasting hours trying to find the information you need for your work. An estimated 54% of employees say they spend more time searching for documents than replying to emails.

Enterprise collaboration platforms enable you to centralize your documents. Instead of wasting time searching for the information they need, employees can focus on more productive work.

Collaboration platforms can actually drive a 10% increase in productivity — equating to four hours per 40-hour week. 

Just imagine what your team could do with four extra hours a week. They could follow up with more prospects, improve their work processes, or brainstorm the next great idea.

Increases Employee Engagement

54% of employees aren’t engaged at work. Performing repetitive and mundane work is one contributing factor to these engagement rates.

Workflow automation software like frevvo limits the amount of time that employees spend on repetitive tasks like manual data entry. By providing employees with the means to focus on more challenging work, you can increase overall engagement. 

Enhances Transparency

Enterprise collaboration software drives personal accountability, as it allows employees to track their work and see how their contributions impact a project. 

It also enables managers to stay on their team’s work without micromanaging. This helps to create a culture of trust between management and employees.

Improves Communication

The global pandemic created numerous communication challenges.

No longer could you walk down to your co-worker’s desk to clarify certain details. Nor could you leave a sticky note on someone’s desk to follow up on a task.

Enterprise collaboration software helps your team stay connected — something that’s becoming more important as teams increasingly work in different locations and time zones. 

Instead of sending a group email and waiting hours (or even longer), you could send a quick message through real-time messaging apps like Slack and get a response much sooner.

Boosts Your Bottom Line

When you provide collaborative workspaces for your employees, they can work more productively and focus on the tasks that improve your bottom line.

That was the case for Activ8.

Activ8 had a process to assess solar readiness for its customers. A salesperson would fill out and mail forms back to the office to determine eligibility. But missing forms and data entry mistakes would slow down this process.

To streamline this process, Active8 used frevvo to create a customer order workflow that sales representatives could complete while using tablets in the field. 

Sales representatives can now provide accurate estimates and have customers electronically sign agreements and submit payments on the spot. Activ8 can close sales faster thanks to the customer order workflow.

Types of Enterprise Collaboration Software

Enterprise collaboration encompasses different types of software that facilitate collaboration and promote communication.

Let’s take a closer look.

Instant Messaging

Maintaining open lines of communication is key for any company. But this can be difficult to achieve when you have people working in different locations.

Slack

Slack is an enterprise collaboration software tool that allows remote teams to communicate and collaborate in real-time.

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Organizations create workspaces that consist of different “channels” — dedicated spaces that help you organize your work. For example, you can have a channel for the marketing team and another for the IT department.

Of course, you could also create channels for specific projects and topics. This helps you keep information organized in one place.

What makes Slack an attractive enterprise collaboration tool is the integration it offers. You can connect your workspace to third-party apps like Google Drive, Salesforce, Gmail, Outlook, and more.

Slack offers a free plan with unlimited private and public channels. You can even connect up to ten different apps. However, you can only view and search the most recent 10,000 messages. 

Virtual Conferencing

Virtual conferencing software has become indispensable, especially during the pandemic as more work shifted online.

Zoom

Zoom is perhaps one of the most popular video conferencing tools. It offers a clean interface and a robust set of features that enable you to hold virtual meetings in real-time.

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You can start a virtual meeting and send invites via email. Participants can still join a meeting even if they don’t have a Zoom account.

With the free version, you can host meetings with up to 100 people. There’s also no limit to the number of meetings you can hold. You also share your screen with others, draw on a whiteboard, and more.

Project Management

It’s not uncommon for enterprises to work on dozens of projects at a time. However, keeping track of these projects isn’t easy without robust project management software.

Asana

Asana is a flexible project management solution that lets you manage your work and collaborate from a single platform.

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Asana makes it easy to visualize your work and manage your projects. You can choose from different views depending on your preferred working style.

The list view enables you to organize and assign tasks. You can also customize each column, so you can see the most relevant information at a glance.

For longer projects, you’ll find the timeline view helpful. It shows the start and end dates of each task, along with milestones, dependencies, and more.

Asana Enterprise comes packed with extra features like robust security controls, third-party app access, and more. However, you’ll need to contact its sales team to request a quote.

Workflow Automation

Workflow automation is another way to collaborate in the enterprise, as business processes like procurement often span multiple departments.

frevvo

frevvo is a robust workflow automation software that lets you create dynamic forms and set up sophisticated workflows for any of your processes — without writing a single code of line.

The platform includes an extensive library of templates that allow you to streamline and automate processes like:

• Purchase orders
• Expense claims
• Travel requests
• Employee onboarding
• Procurement management

Getting started is as simple as installing a template and customizing it to fit your needs. You can also use the no-code platform to create your own workflows from scratch. Each comes with a basic form, dynamic routing, and business rules.

What’s more, you can connect your workflows to SQL databases, Active Directory, and other business systems to read and write data. All forms and workflows are mobile-friendly, so your team can get work done from any device.

Click here to start a free 30-day trial.

File Sharing

Using file-sharing software can help your enterprise centralize its documents, enable faster retrieval, and improve collaboration.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud-based file-sharing platform that allows teams to store and manage their files from one place. 

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Dropbox is more than a tool for storing and managing files. Your team can also share and edit documents without having to switch between different applications.

Like the other business applications on this list, Dropbox also lets you connect your workspace to popular tools like Slack, Zoom, and more.

Dropbox offers an enterprise plan, which is tailored specifically for larger businesses. However, you’ll need to contact its support team for pricing information.

How to Get Started With Enterprise Collaboration

Enterprise collaboration software can have a positive impact on your bottom line. But you also need to have a strategy to maximize the value it offers.

Follow these steps to create an enterprise collaboration strategy for your company.

1. Establish Clear Goals

It’s important to consider how new technology fits into your organization. Assess your requirements and set goals on what you want to achieve.

What do you want to accomplish with enterprise collaboration software? Consider what’s important for you and your team to help with this step.

2. Identify Collaboration Challenges

Survey your team to identify any communication or collaboration challenges they face.

For example, let’s say your team struggles with transparency in a process. It’s not always clear who’s in charge of carrying out certain tasks.

In this case, using software like frevvo can help you address those challenges. You can use the platform to create a workflow diagram and provide visibility into your processes.

3. Choose the Right Software

Once you’ve defined your goals and identified the challenges that your team is facing, the next step is to research enterprise collaboration tools.

Here are some things to consider:

• Features: Does it offer the features you need? Choose software that meets your needs and aligns with your goals.
• Integrations: What integrations does it offer? Make sure it can integrate with your existing infrastructure.
• Scalability: How scalable is the software? Choose software that can meet current and future needs.
• Security: What security does it provide? Review the security page of the software you’re considering to determine how it secures your data.
• Support: What kind of support can you expect? Your team will likely have plenty of questions, so make sure to choose a solution that offers ongoing support.

While reading reviews can help with your purchasing decision, be sure to take advantage of free trials when they’re available.

4. Educate Your Team

Rolling out enterprise collaboration software requires careful planning. 

Emphasize how a piece of software will enable your team to work more efficiently to increase buy-in. It’s also important that you provide software training.

The good news is that many software providers offer helpful resources. Have your team go through these materials or even consider hosting a workshop.

New software will always have an initial learning curve. Encourage your team to reach out for help if they run into any issues. 

5. Track and Measure Your Results

Finally, you don’t want to end up with unused software.

Make sure to continually audit any communication tools you add to your technology stack. This will help you determine which ones to keep and which ones you should cancel.

Measure the results you’re getting against the goals you set. Is the tool enhancing collaboration between teams? Or is it hindering productivity?

Make sure to get feedback from the rest of your team.

Start Automating Your Workflows Today

Collaboration in the enterprise is more important than ever.

Enterprise collaboration facilitates communication. It encompasses instant messaging apps, project management software, and more to keep distributed teams on the same page.

Of course, workflow automation also plays an important role when it comes to collaborating in the enterprise. This is where frevvo comes in.

frevvo enables you to automate key processes across multiple departments. The software also includes a host of enterprise features — you get audit trails, hardened security, WCAG compliance, electronic signatures, multi-language support, and much more.

The post Enterprise Collaboration: Definition, Benefits, and How to Get Started appeared first on frevvo Blog.

So how can you help your company grow and adapt? How can you equip your team with the tools they need to excel in their roles?

By improving your process productivity.

Read on to learn more. In this article, we’ll look at the different factors that impact productivity and how you can make your processes more efficient.

Click the links below to jump ahead:

• What Is Productivity, and How Do You Calculate It?
• Factors That Affect Productivity in the Workplace
• Step-by-Step Guide to Increasing Process Productivity

What Is Productivity, and How Do You Calculate It?

Productivity is the amount of “work” that a company produces over a given period of time. It measures inputs like raw materials against outputs like finished goods.

Improving productivity is key to a company’s bottom line. Increasing output with the same resources can help you generate more profits.

That’s not all.

Increasing productivity can help you:

• Reduce turnaround times for products or services
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Utilize your resources more efficiently
• Negotiate better terms with your vendors
• Improve employee engagement
• Lower operational costs

More productive processes also deliver a distinct advantage. Delivering goods faster than your competitors would make your company a more attractive option.

Let’s look at the types of productivity and ways to calculate them.

Labor Productivity 

Labor or workplace productivity is the volume of output that an individual or company produces per labor hour.

You can calculate labor productivity with the following formula:

• Labor productivity = Total value of goods produced / Hours worked

Let’s say that an employee produced 25 units of a product in five hours. If each unit sells for $20, then the total value of the goods they produced is $500. Based on the formula above, this employee’s labor productivity is about $100 per hour ($500 / 5 hours).

Of course, there are different factors that affect productivity. But measuring labor productivity can help you track overall trends.

Process Cycle Efficiency

Another way to calculate productivity is to measure process efficiency — the amount of effort or time it takes to achieve a specific result, like processing an invoice or procuring goods.

You can calculate process cycle efficiency with the following formula:

• Process cycle efficiency = (Value-Added Time / Cycle Time) x 100

Value-added time is the time that you spend to improve the outcome of a process. It’s the work that you’re paying employees to do.

Cycle time is the total time that it takes to complete a process. It includes value-added time and non-value added time — waiting for approvals, searching for documents, etc.

Let’s use invoice processing as an example. If its value-added time is ten hours and its cycle time is five days (120 hours), then its PCE is about 8% based on the formula above.

Only 8% of the total time to process an invoice is spent on productive work. The rest is spent on things that aren’t important.

The following chart looks at PCE benchmarks on the low end and high end:

The process in our example definitely has room for improvement. By improving its efficiency, you can process invoices faster and take advantage of early payment discounts.

Factors That Affect Productivity in the Workplace

There are many factors that affect a company’s productivity — the economy, competition, supply chain, etc. But there are also certain elements that play a role in how productive employees are.

Let’s take a closer look.

Work Environment

An employee’s working environment includes its physical elements, such as lighting, sound, layouts, and even temperature. These all have a direct impact on productivity.

One study found that women performed better on math and verbal tasks when the temperature was higher, while men performed worse on similar tasks.

It’s not just the physical aspects of an office’s environment that affect productivity. It also includes the company’s culture. A positive culture is one of the most important factors of psychological safety — being able to speak up without being afraid of negative consequences.

Companies that foster more positive working environments are more innovative and agile. They provide an environment where employees feel supported and valued.

Processes

Employees spend approximately eight hours a week working inefficiently. This can happen when companies don’t have clearly defined processes in place.

If processes aren’t clear, employees won’t have any guidelines for the best way to handle certain tasks. They’ll attempt to figure things out on their own, which can lead to costly mistakes.

However, when you have clearly defined processes, employees won’t have to waste time figuring out what to do. They can simply execute each step from start to finish.

Technology

How companies deploy technology has a significant impact on productivity. The right tools enable employees to increase output without compromising on quality.

A good example is when Henry Ford installed the first assembly line for the Model T in 1913. This technological innovation reduced the time it took to build a car from 12 hours down to 1 hour and 33 minutes.

For modern workplaces, using tools like workflow automation software can help streamline your processes and improve productivity.

Training

New hires take at least six months to become proficient in their roles. However, they’ll spend approximately 28 hours per month working inefficiently because they’re still new.

If you can bring that number down, you can help new hires become more productive. Examples include investing more in training programs and creating documentation like standard operating procedures (SOPs).

When new hires and existing employees receive the right training, you can expect an increase in productivity.

Step-by-Step Guide to Increasing Process Productivity

There are countless ways to make a business more productive. But perhaps the best way is business process management (BPM) — the practice of continually improving processes within your organization.

More companies are reworking their processes. In fact, 70% of organizations are optimizing their processes to improve productivity. What’s more, 75% believe that BPM processes and technologies have helped their organizations accomplish their goals.

Follow these steps to increase process productivity.

1. Audit Your Existing Processes

Whether you’re onboarding a new hire, procuring goods, or paying an invoice, you generally follow a process to get things done.

However, these processes can become outdated over time. As a result, you could end up losing valuable time and resources on unproductive processes.

The first step to improving process productivity is to conduct an audit. This will give you a clear understanding of how a process works in its current state before you make any changes.

Ask yourself the following questions as you audit a process:

• Who are the people involved?
• Do they have everything they need to do their work?
• What are the exact steps from start to finish?
• Are there any redundant or unnecessary steps?
• Is your machinery and equipment in good condition? 
• Does the technology you’re using fit your current needs?

Consider walking through a process yourself or observing it from start to finish. Additional input from those involved will also help give you a more complete picture.

Bottlenecks aren’t always obvious. Only by diving into a process can you fully understand how it works. Then you may start to notice steps that you can streamline or eliminate.

2. Establish Baselines and Set Goals

Before you make any changes to a process, it’s important that you establish baseline metrics first. This will enable you to measure the effectiveness of any changes you make to a process.

Take a process you want to improve and use the process cycle efficiency formula to measure its productivity. To quickly recap, here’s the formula:

• Process cycle efficiency = (Value-Added Time / Cycle Time) x 100

Once you establish a baseline, use the SMART methodology to set a goal for your process improvement efforts.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

3. Use Technology to Automate Your Processes

Once you’ve audited a process and established baseline data, you can begin implementing changes to improve its efficiency. But where do you even start?

With automation.

As much as 60% of all jobs can automate at least a third of activities. Automation is a powerful way to drastically improve productivity.

For example, is your team spending hours a week preparing forms and entering data into company systems? Using automation tools like frevvo can help you streamline these tasks.

With frevvo, you can:

Reduce manual data entry

Manually filling out forms like purchase orders is time-consuming and prone to errors. With frevvo, you can create dynamic forms and connect them to external databases to have the fields automatically populate.

The dynamic form builder is fully visual — there’s no need to code, as you can use the drag and drop builder to create your exact layout. 

Plus, you can customize the forms to automatically validate submission data and ensure that users are entering the right data. It’s an effective way to prevent simple errors from holding up a process.

Automate approvals

Documents like contracts and expense claims generally require approvals from managers and senior executives before they can move on to the next step.

However, approvals can take weeks or even longer when each step is performed manually. With frevvo, you can create an automated document approval workflow for any process.

Here’s an example of an automated workflow for invoice approvals:

You can even use business rules to make your workflows more efficient. 

In the example above, invoices are routed to a senior executive if their value is $10,000 or more. Invoices below that amount only require approval from a manager.

Of course, to ensure that documents don’t get “stuck” in processing, you can also configure your workflows to notify approvers that a document requires their signature. 

You can also send periodic reminders to ensure that tasks are completed on time.

Integrate to third party systems

Work increasingly takes place across different applications. But inconsistencies with your data can occur if these systems aren’t integrated.

Consider the invoice approval process. Before approving an invoice for payment, you’d perform a three-way match to ensure an invoice has a corresponding purchase order. 

This helps to prevent fraud, but it can also be incredibly time-consuming. Someone from the purchasing department would have to manually search for a PO in a database (or a file cabinet) and match each item on an invoice.

With frevvo, you can create a workflow that integrates with your accounting system and performs this matching automatically. It can even flag any discrepancies for further review.

These are just some of the many ways that you can use frevvo to improve your processes.

4. Implement New Changes to a Process

Start by making one change at a time. Making too many at once will make it harder to identify which ones positively impacted productivity and which ones didn’t.

Of course, make sure that you test any changes before rolling them out. For example, if you’re automating contract approvals, then test the routing and other aspects of your workflow before you deploy it.

You can test your workflows in frevvo and even see how they’ll look on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.

Run through your workflow and make any changes as needed before rolling it out. But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet.

5. Provide Adequate Employee Training

No matter what changes you’re making to an existing process, make sure that you provide adequate training. This will help ensure a smooth transition.

If you’re using new technology like workflow automation software, schedule sessions to provide practical hands-on training and update your SOPs if you haven’t already.

Finally, schedule regular check-ins with your team and get their feedback.

6. Measure Your Results and Continue to Improve

It’s important that you measure and track your results. While this may sound obvious, consider that 20% of organizations don’t know if their process practices were improving efficiency.

Track key performance indicators (KPIs) like cycle times. If you see a reduction in cycle times, this tells you that your changes are likely having a positive impact on productivity.

With frevvo’s analytics dashboards, you can track key metrics across all your processes, so you can measure your efforts over time.

Finally, remember that your processes are always a work in progress. Continue to monitor your processes and revise them as needed.

Start Improving Your Processes Today

Every organization relies on processes to get things done. 

However, your processes can become outdated over time if you don’t regularly revisit and revise them. This can have an adverse impact on productivity.

Automation software like frevvo can help you map and automate your processes. What’s more, the software features a fully visual interface. If you’re comfortable with software like Microsoft Excel, you can create your own automated workflows without writing any code.

Ready to improve your processes? Try a free 30-day trial of frevvo today to see how you can use workflow automation software to increase productivity.

The post How to Improve a Business Process and Boost Productivity appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Examples are simple data entry (because of missing integrations), creating reports, sending follow-up emails, or even training new employees in internal software.

The good news is that you can optimize significant chunks of workflows in every department, from sales to support, marketing, and IT.

Digital process automation is the next evolution of “business process management,” where the aim is to automate as much of the process as possible, not just optimize the workflows.

In this article, we’ll break down what DPA is, cover the top benefits, highlight some examples of it in action, and show you how to implement it for your business.

Want to skip ahead? Use the links below:

• What Is Digital Process Automation?
• Benefits of Digital Process Automation
• Digital Process Automation Examples
• How to Implement Digital Process Automation in Your Company

What Is Digital Process Automation?

Digital process automation is an approach where you use digital technologies to automate menial/unnecessary parts of existing processes and workflows.

For example, you can create an entire digital onboarding process that trains new employees in crucial software and methodologies without needing much (if any) active guidance from senior team members.

Traditionally, this is a multi-day or even multi-week process where someone would need to spend significant time with the new hire in person.

But with DPA, your new employee could learn most of their responsibilities without taking up any unnecessary time from other workers.

Typically you achieve this by using some form of business process automation software. It will bridge the gap between learning platforms, software tools, and the employee, creating a repeatable process that you can use for any new employee.

Digital Process Automation (DPA) vs. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

While digital process automation and robotic process automation sound similar, RPA focuses more on specific tasks than high-level business processes.

An example of RPA is an application that automatically scans spreadsheets for financial information and fills out the necessary tax forms.

On the other hand, DPA focuses more on managing the human elements and interplay between different software applications used for business processes. For example, you can automate the invoice approval process, using dynamic rules to ensure applications always reach the right person.

Benefits of Digital Process Automation

The name gives it away — the core benefits of DPA are all things that seem like natural results of automation: saving time, lowering costs, reducing human errors.

But let’s take a closer look at what the data says about DPA and what it can do for your business.

Cost Savings

On average, McKinsey predicts digital automation will reduce costs in health care by as much as 30%.

While some of these cost savings come from RPA applications and actual robots, anyone who’s been to a hospital knows how clunky the managerial processes can be. It leaves a lot of room for efficiency improvements through DPA.

By eliminating slack and reducing human errors and delays, DPA can help you reduce the costs involved with complex and demanding processes.

Save Time and Speed Up Processes

Are you tired of internal approval processes that take weeks or even months to finish? Using email or Slack, it’s easy for miscommunication and simple forgetfulness to bog down a workflow.

With DPA, you don’t have to worry about any of that. For example, Cricket Australia sped up its typical approval processes by 50% using frevvo.

With automated notifications, smart assignment rules, less manual work, and integrations across platforms, DPA can really speed things up. There’s no downtime between each step, so you can cut the average time spent on your workflows, sometimes cutting weeks down to days.

Lighten the Managerial Workload

Gartner predicts 69% of tasks currently done by managers will be automated by 2024.

With notification systems and automated approval workflows, managers can spend more time on training new employees and performing tasks that matter, not checking in and micromanaging.

With a system that oversees each step in a process, managers also get a unique real-time view of the processes they’re responsible for. Instead of having to ask around, they can immediately identify problems like overdue payments or contracts.

Reduce Human Errors and Delays

By removing the (often unreliable) human element, you can reduce the risk of human errors in cross-platform data entry and avoid delays caused by miscommunication through process stages.

While automation can seem scary to low-level employees, they’re often the ones that appreciate DPA the most. The software handles menial tasks like notifying managers and adds a safety net against errors with dynamic rules for form submissions — like checking the format of entered phone numbers for contacts.

Digital Process Automation Examples

So DPA sounds great in theory, but you might be wondering what it looks like in real life — how it actually changes the working lives of employees.

In this section, we cover three examples of DPA in various business processes, from onboarding to sales to accounting.

Recruiting & Onboarding

First, let’s take a look at how DPA transformed the lives of the HR staff at Living Innovations. Before frevvo, they used paper documents to track applicants and onboard new staff in 15 different offices across four states.

Needless to say, this meant a lot of calls and even traveling between offices during the hiring process.

By going digital and using frevvo’s low-code builder, they were able to automate their applicant tracking and employee onboarding processes in just a few weeks.

Now they have an electronic system that automatically generates required documents like a W-4, I-9, etc.

The result? Both the time and costs associated with hiring a new employee were virtually cut in half.

Invoice Processing & Accounting

Another process you can easily automate with DPA software is invoice processing or any other part of billing or the accounts payable process.

Invoice automation can help you populate invoices with data (like product prices, etc.) from other platforms and databases.

 It can also automatically validate amounts, notify the right decision-makers, and more.

When everything happens in a controlled system, invoicing is faster, less prone to errors, and better for compliance and audits.

You can even bake stakeholders into the process. This can include notifying key suppliers immediately whenever a big order for certain products comes in.

Sales Processes

But it’s not just internal processes like hiring and accounting that you can optimize with DPA. You can also transform your sales processes and how you interact with leads, prospects, and existing clients.

medi USA is a manufacturing company that produces a wide range of products, from medical aids to fashion pieces.

With hundreds of different customers across the country (and the globe), it’s a lot of work to do things like approve credit or get contracts signed and approved.

With frevvo’s drag-and-drop automation platform, medi’s IT team was able to completely digitize and automate the credit approval and contracting processes. Instead of a time-consuming process using physical contract agreements, these forms are now automatically generated as legally-binding signable digital documents.

How to Implement Digital Process Automation in Your Company

Now that you’ve learned some of the benefits of DPA and seen examples of it in action, you’re probably tempted to start taking advantage of this technology in your own company.

This section breaks down exactly how you can do that, starting from the very bottom — figuring out what processes need improvement the most.

1. Identify Ineffective Processes

The first step toward using digital process automation software correctly is figuring out which processes to tackle.

To help you decide, focus on employee and customer experiences. Does your customer support get complaints about contract approvals taking too long? Which processes do the team members (doing the hands-on work) think are clunky or need improvement?

That’s a great place to start. The end goal of a DPA process is to make your employees’ lives easier and deliver a better customer experience.

2. Map Out the Ideal Workflow

Once you’ve settled on a process to improve, you can move on to the process mapping stage. Basically, you visually break down what the current process looks like, from start to finish.

Include different factors like all tasks, authorizations, required documents, and more. 

From there, try to re-imagine the workflow without the fluff. Your goal should be to eliminate menial and repetitive tasks wherever possible.

For example, take verifying invoice price points against the numbers in your database. This type of data entry or verification can often be automated through integrations.

3. Set Goals & KPIs to Measure the Success of Your DPA Effort

The next thing you need to do is set clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) for your project.

Effective goals for digital process automation include:

• Less employee time spent on menial tasks
• Overall cost reduction
• A faster and more cohesive customer journey
• Integration of all required business applications

Figure out what matters the most to your company, and then define how you’ll measure the outcome.

For example, you can do a performance review before and after the changes to see the difference in costs and hours spent. You can also survey customers and stakeholders to gauge their reactions to the change.

4. Find a Digital Platform to Help Put it Into Practice

The best DPA tools help companies without million-dollar development budgets transform their business processes.

For example, low-code workflow automation software like frevvo makes it easy to get started.

With a drag-and-drop builder, you can visually map out how the process will take place.

You can then add dynamic business rules at each stage that control who will be notified or what forms to generate.

5. Customize Workflow Templates to Your Company’s Needs

Starting from scratch isn’t necessary. It can often be easier to start with industry templates and simply customize them to your needs.

For example, in this form template for onboarding employees, you can add any relevant information you need and then edit the follow-up process accordingly.

6. Track the Results and Adjust Where Needed

Whenever businesses take on a digital transformation project, executives often tend to be quite optimistic. They’ve seen the data on how it can transform their business, and they’re ready to start benefiting from that.

The truth is that you probably won’t perfect a process on the first try. Even if you see benefits like faster processing times or happier employees, don’t assume your job is done. Track the results against your goals and KPIs, and adjust the course where needed. 

For example, you might notice a completely new bottleneck that has arisen because of the new process — even if it’s still faster than the original one. Often, fixing this is as easy as getting more specific with business rules and sharing responsibilities.

The long-term goal of DPA is to optimize your core business functions completely and automate as much as possible. Don’t just assume that the first thing you implement will work perfectly.

7. Start Automating & Improving Other Processes

Once you’re happy with how the business process flows and the customer experience it delivers, it’s time to move on and improve other areas of your business.

It can often make sense to start in adjacent areas, as the staff is already tuned in to the idea of automation and process improvement.

For example, if you started off with invoice processing, contracts might be a logical next step.

Quickly Transform Your Processes with Digital Process Automation

Digital transformation doesn’t have to start with a giant multi-million dollar project. The most efficient (and much more affordable) approach is to handle one crucial business process at a time.

The best part is that you can start seeing the benefits in weeks, not months or years. Just be sure to map out the process, set and measure KPIs, and pick the right software.

With frevvo, anyone can design and automate a process — you don’t need senior developers or a giant IT department. Try frevvo’s free trial today to see how simple automating your business processes can be.

The post What Is Digital Process Automation? Definition, Benefits, Examples, and More appeared first on frevvo Blog.

So how can you manage assets in your organization? How do you keep your systems running efficiently and mitigate security risks?

This is where systems management comes in. 

Systems management is a far-reaching subject, referring to IT systems management, document management, and HR management. 

In this article, we’ll cover all three of those elements of systems management and recommend the best software for your enterprise business.

Click the links below to head to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is Systems Management?
• What Is Document Management Software?
• What Is a Human Resources Management System?

What Is Systems Management?

Systems management is the centralized administration and management of a company’s information technology (IT) infrastructure.

It encompasses a broad range of systems and subsystems, including:

• Asset inventory: Asset inventory involves managing and monitoring the hardware and software assets in your organization.
• User profile management: User profile management allows you to manage users across the network and assign permissions based on their roles.
• Software distribution: Software distribution is the process of distributing business software and applications to your users.
• Backup and recovery: Backup and recovery is the process of storing copies of data in a secure location to protect against data loss.
• Capacity planning: Capacity planning ensures that your company has the available IT resources to meet its requirements. 
• Document management: Document management is a system for organizing, storing, and retrieving company documents. 
• HR processes: HR processes are all about managing the entire employee lifecycle. They include recruitment, hiring, onboarding, training, offboarding, and more. 
• Job scheduling: Job scheduling is the process of provisioning system resources to the applications and processes that need them. 
• Networking: Networking refers to connecting computing devices so that each endpoint can exchange and share resources with each other.
• Security and compliance: Security and compliance is the practice of protecting your systems against malware and ensuring compliance with regulations. 

Effective systems management is crucial for any company. Even one system breaking down can stall your operations and lead to costly downtime. However, trying to manage all the systems that make up your IT infrastructure is difficult without the right systems management tools. 

Here’s a look at the top systems management software on the market.

SolarWinds

SolarWinds is an IT system management software that offers advanced application performance monitoring across your entire network. 

It offers a system management bundle, which consists of four different tools:

• Server and Application Monitor: SolarWinds offers over 1,200 monitoring templates that give you full visibility of your private, public, and hybrid cloud environments. The tool lets you view performance, track different metrics, and do more across your IT stack. You can also monitor infrastructure for both Azure and AWS.

• Virtualization Manager: With this virtual machine monitoring tool, you can monitor your entire IT environment. It enables you to monitor bandwidth usage and pinpoint the cause of a slow application, which makes troubleshooting issues much easier.

• Log Analyzer: Log Analyzer is a log monitoring tool that lets you consolidate and analyze data from your systems. You can even use SolarWind’s Orion Platform to configure customizable alerts and receive notifications. 

• Server Configuration Monitor: Systems and applications are constantly being configured, but these are often responsible for performance issues. This system administration tool lets you track and identify the impact of those changes to ensure continuous uptime.

The tools included in the systems management bundle enable you to monitor and manage applications across your entire network — all from a highly visual dashboard. This lets you identify and troubleshoot issues before they become problematic.

The tool isn’t limited to the Windows environment. You can also monitor Linux and VMWare applications if your company uses them. Other features include built-in virtualization monitoring, storage monitoring modules, configuration management, log management, asset management, and more.

ManageEngine

ManageEngine offers a suite of enterprise IT management software that lets you manage your data center, monitor network performance, and more from a unified console.

Some of its products include:

• Desktop Central: Desktop Central is a monitoring solution that lets you manage your company assets, including desktops, smartphones, and tablets. It also supports all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Mac OS, and more. 

• OpManager: OpManager is a network management solution that provides real-time monitoring and complete visibility of network devices such as routers, switches, firewalls, servers, storage devices, and more. 

Customizable dashboards provide comprehensive infrastructure monitoring, so you can monitor performance and drill down to root causes of any network issues.

• Application Control: Application Control helps your company enforce the principle of least privilege (PoLP) — a principle that means users should only have access to the minimum access privileges they need to perform their work. 

The applications manager also allows you to create a whitelist of applications and a blacklist of untrusted applications to keep out of the network. 

These are just a handful of the products that ManageEngine offers. Pricing will depend on the products you need for your company.

Atera

Atera is a bundle of software that provides robust network monitoring features from one all-encompassing platform.

Some of its features include:

• Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM): The built-in remote monitoring software allows you to get real-time status on system resources. 

It also offers a platform for automating patch management for updating your hardware. You can also gather asset information for devices with the Atera agent installed. 

• Professional Service Automation (PSA): Atera includes PSA software that’s designed to help IT service professionals manage their customers. It includes customer relationship management, help desk and ticketing, knowledge base, and more.

• Remote access: Atera offers remote support software, allowing you to access any computers, desktops, and servers on the network. All remote sessions are also protected with 256-bit AES encryption for extra security. 

Atera offers the tools you need to manage your IT assets and troubleshoot issues from a centralized location. It also includes comprehensive reporting and analytics, so you can make informed decisions.

What Is Document Management Software?

Document management software is software that enables you to store, organize, and manage electronic documents.

Employees waste time when they can’t find the documents they’re looking for.

85% of employees say they’ve spent time searching for documents, and 60% say they’ve found it difficult to find the information they need for their jobs.

Document management software can save your company time and money. It allows you to centralize your documents, which helps increase overall productivity.

Other benefits of document management software include:

• Reduced storage space: The cost to physically store paper can add up. Office space in the U.S. costs about $285 per square foot on average. Document management software helps you reduce storage space.

• Easier retrieval: Employees waste time when they have to walk to a file cabinet and search for the documents they need. Document management software makes it easy for users to search and find files in an instant.

• Improved security: Document management software allows you to encrypt digital documents and restrict access. In addition, these systems also leave an audit trail, so you can see who has viewed and edited a document.

• Better collaboration: Work increasingly takes place outside the office. Document management software makes it easy to share and collaborate on various documents. 

• Disaster recovery: Storing physical documents is risky, as they can be damaged or destroyed in natural disasters. Document management software enables you to store documents in the cloud and restore important documents if you need to.

• Version control: Document management software typically allows you to track a document’s history, so you can see what changes have been made and revert to a previous version if necessary.

In short, document management software can help your company work more productively. 55% of decision-makers agree that accelerating document processing is the most important benefit of digital document management.

Here’s a look at just a handful of service providers to manage your documents. We’ll also look at how you can use automation software to improve your document workflows. 

Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud-based storage platform. It includes a suite of productivity tools, which includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. These web-based office suite apps are accessible from any device and make collaboration easy with file-sharing features.

Compatibility is rarely an issue. Google Drive supports over 100 file types, including PDFs, images, videos, and more. You can even import and convert Microsoft Office documents to a Google Doc, so you can work on them online.

Google Drive is powered by Google’s advanced search capabilities, enabling your team to quickly find the files they need to work productively. 

All plans let you store up to 15 GB of storage for free, but you can also upgrade your plan if you need more space.

M-Files

M-Files is a document management system that lets you store, organize, and manage your documents. Like most service providers in this space, it offers a host of features that help your team work more productively.

Similar to Google Drive, you can search for documents by name, keyword, file type, and more. You can also search inside documents to quickly find what you’re looking for.

M-Files has a mobile application for iOS and Android devices, so your team can access the files they need from anywhere. The platform supports integrations with a range of third-party apps, including Microsoft Office, Google G Suite, Salesforce, and more.

M-Files doesn’t provide pricing information on its pages, but you can contact its sales team and request a quote. 

DocuShare

DocuShare is a cloud-based document management system that’s geared more toward mid-sized and large businesses. It offers both cloud-based and on-premises solutions.

DocuShare comes with all the features you’d expect in a document management system. You can import files, collaborate on documents, search items in folders, view activity logs, and more.

Unfortunately, there’s no pricing information, so you’ll need to reach its sales team to request a quote.

Automate Your Document Workflows With frevvo

Document management software enables you to store, track, and share essential files from one location. This makes accessing and finding the right documents much easier.

However, for processes like contract approvals, many companies are still printing, scanning, and emailing documents for signatures. These steps are slow and inefficient.

This is where frevvo comes in — process management software that lets you automate your business processes without any coding required.

That’s not all.

With the drag-and-drop form builder, you can create dynamic forms and incorporate them into your workflows. Simply drag the form controls from the palette to customize your forms.

There’s no coding required. 

You can even add business rules to your forms to cut down on manual data entry. For example, your forms can automatically populate with data based on the logged-in user.

With frevvo’s built-in connectors, you can store the forms and data generated from your workflows into your document management system.

Connecting frevvo to your document management system means you can eliminate paper forms and greatly improve turnaround times for many of your processes.

What Is a Human Resources Management System?

A human resources management system is software that helps your company manage and automate HR processes.

HR work is more complex than ever. Without a system to manage processes like recruitment and onboarding, your HR team will quickly become overwhelmed.

Using a human resources management system helps your company:

• Reduce manual data entry
• Centralize employee records
• Streamline workflows
• Ensure compliance
• Improve collaboration

It’s no surprise that more companies are using software to manage their HR processes. 47% of large-sized organizations now use a human resources management system.

While there are countless HR processes, here are just a few that you can automate with frevvo’s HR workflow software.

Recruitment

Recruitment is a key responsibility for HR. It involves attracting, screening, interviewing, and selecting qualified candidates. 

However, it’s easy to get lost in the paperwork if you don’t standardize this process. This can mean missing potential candidates who would’ve been a great fit for your company.

HR workflow software lets you automate parts of the recruitment process, allowing your HR team to spend more time on finding qualified candidates and less time on tedious paperwork. 

Here’s an example of a job application that you can have candidates fill out:

Then HR can screen applications more easily and reach out to promising candidates who meet certain qualifications.

Onboarding

A strong employee onboarding program is key to preparing new hires for their roles and making a great first impression. However, employees are often left with stacks of forms to fill out on their first day. This can leave new hires feeling overwhelmed before they even start. 

Just 12% of employees say their company does a good job of onboarding. One way you can improve the onboarding experience is to automate it.

Here’s an example of an automated workflow for onboarding new hires:

Instead of sticking new hires with piles of paperwork, you can digitize these forms with frevvo and send them to employees before their start dates.

You can also use the software to generate and map data from your forms into official government documents like W4 and I9 forms.

Once completed, the forms are automatically routed to HR for processing who can then start the next phase of the onboarding process.

Vacation/Time-Off Requests

Employees should be able to easily submit vacation or time-off requests and get them quickly approved. But this process is often overly complicated or hampered by long turnaround times.

With frevvo’s HR workflow software, you can create automated workflows for time-off requests. What’s more, you can even integrate your forms and workflows into the HR systems that your company already uses.

Here’s an example of a time-off request form that connects to an internal database:

An employee selects their name from a picklist, and the form shows exactly how many days they have left.

With the workflow builder, you can even incorporate dynamic routing into your workflows. For example, your company may have a policy that requires additional approval for time-off requests that are five days or longer. In this case, you can add a rule that routes these forms to a senior executive for approval.

Here’s an example of a time-off request workflow with a conditional rule:

With the workflow above, time requests that are less than five days only require approval from a manager. Adding conditional rules to your workflows can make them more efficient.

These are just some of the many HR processes you can automate using frevvo’s workflow automation software. You can also use the software to create workflows for:

• Timesheet management
• Performance reviews
• Expense claims
• Employee requests
• Offboarding

Employees are your company’s most valuable assets. Automating HR processes helps you create a more productive environment and improve engagement.

Conclusion

System management is a broad subject that encompasses systems management, document management, and HR management — all of which are key to ensuring business success.

System management software allows you to centralize the management of your IT assets and track the performance of key applications across the network. Document management software enables you to store and manage electronic documents.

With frevvo’s HR workflow software, you can automate HR processes like recruitment, onboarding, and more.
Get started with a free 30-day trial today to automate and integrate your processes into the systems your company already uses.

The post Best System Management Software to Manage Your IT Infrastructure appeared first on frevvo Blog.

But this isn’t always the case — 60% of employees find it difficult to get the information they need for their work. This suggests that companies aren’t doing enough to document their processes, which can lead to inconsistent results.

So how can you improve your processes? And how can you ensure that employees have the information they need to do their jobs well?

Using a business process diagram is a good place to start.

In this article, we’ll cover what a business process diagram is, how it can help your company, and how to create one. We’ll also look at using business process automation software to document and automate your processes.

Click the links below to jump straight to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is a Business Process Diagram? 
• How Does a Business Process Diagram Help Your Business? 
• 5 Essential Parts of a Business Process Diagram
• 7 Steps to Create a Business Process Diagram

What Is a Business Process Diagram?

A business process diagram is a visual representation of a process that your company carries out to achieve a goal. It uses standardized symbols to describe each step of the process.

You can use a business process diagram to depict anything from onboarding new hires to developing and launching a new product.

Typically, a business process diagram will look like a flowchart. It could be a basic flowchart, or it could be a more complex cross-functional flowchart that spans multiple departments.

Here’s an example of a business process diagram for purchase orders:

Creating a business process diagram is the first step to improving operational efficiency. It can help you understand how a process works, allowing you to identify inefficiencies that may not have been obvious before.

When you share your process diagram with colleagues, higher-ups, and stakeholders, you can get feedback on how to adjust and optimize the process. 

If you think your business processes are as efficient as possible, think again: 68% of organizations saw key processes break down in the rapid shift to remote work in 2020. 

Using a business process diagram increases productivity, minimizes errors, and facilitates digital transformation when you combine it with workflow automation software.

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of business process diagrams.

How Does a Business Process Diagram Help Your Business?

Business process diagrams contain plenty of valuable information for your business. They show you how your processes actually work, not just how you think they should work.

That’s incredibly useful. 

When you use that information to identify roadblocks and optimize your workflows, your entire business benefits. Here’s how a business process diagram benefits your company.

Increases Efficiency and Productivity

44% of organizations measured the return on investment (ROI) of their business processes through how much time employees saved. The results? 66% of departments that prioritize automation say they reduced time spent on manual tasks by 11–30%. 

Reduces Business Costs

A business process diagram breaks down each step of a process, which can help you identify automation opportunities and lower operating costs. 46% of departments that prioritize process automation say they’ve reduced costs by 11–30%. 

Increases Transparency

With a clear process diagram, every team member can see what they need to do. Business process models extend this idea, helping everyone see how they’re part of the larger picture.

Creates a Record of Institutional Knowledge

When employees leave the organization, they take a lot of knowledge with them. If that information isn’t documented, it’s likely gone forever. Creating a business process diagram and keeping it updated helps preserve company knowledge.

Reduces Errors and Redundancies

When everyone knows their role in a business process, you’ll get fewer mistakes and fewer instances of people doing the same work twice. 

Improves the Employee and Customer Experience

Employees and customers appreciate when processes move quickly, whether that’s returning an item or getting all your new hire documents signed. 

With business process diagrams, you can speed up your processes while also keeping them accurate, leading to better employee and customer experiences.

While any part of a business can benefit from process mapping and automation, some departments will get a higher ROI than others.

The following departments see the highest ROI from process automation, according to a Salesforce study:

• IT: 52%
• Operations: 47%
• Customer service: 37%

Before you can start creating a business process diagram, you need to understand how it’s structured.

5 Essential Parts of a Business Process Diagram

A key goal of business process mapping is to connect different sources and types of information. 

The average business process has five components. Think through where to look or who you’ll collaborate with to find the following pieces of information:

• Goal or outcome: What is the end result of the business process? Define Points A and B, so you can fill in the blanks later in the process. 

• Steps of the existing process: What are the main steps of the process? Communicate with your team about the steps they follow or perform the process in its entirety yourself. If any step includes a subprocess, note that here, too. 

• People or departments involved: What skills or resources are needed to complete this process? Do specific people or departments need to be involved? Keep in mind that different steps may require different people. For example, contracts may need to go through multiple rounds of approval before they’re processed.

• Rules or conditions for moving from step to step: Does the process change depending on who is involved, such as a new or important client, or other factors like budget and time limits? 

• Software, tools, or devices: What resources do you need to complete the process? This could include anything from a customer support platform that logs customer complaints to BPM tools that track vacation requests. Make sure everyone who needs access to these tools has it. 

You’ll also need to consider how you’ll create, share, and manage the business process diagram. Using a BPM tool with plenty of customization options like frevvo, you’ll be able to create workflow diagrams that meet your needs. 

7 Steps to Create a Business Process Diagram

Now, let’s go step by step through creating a business diagram. 

This exercise is sometimes called business process mapping. The goal is to create a business process flow diagram, often known as a flow chart. 

By the end of these steps, you’ll have more than a process flowchart — you’ll have a fully automated business workflow. 

1. Outline Your Business Process 

When you begin your business process map, start by writing out the steps of the process as you understand them. You can do this on scrap paper, a whiteboard, or a mind map tool.

Consider all the components listed in the previous section, as well as anything that might be unique to your organization. If you have a project management tool or other records, use those to track the current state of your business process.

2. Gather Necessary Information

Make a list of any gaps in your initial outline of the business process flowchart. Then, figure out where to find that information. 

You’ll also need to do some of your own brainstorming. If there are any obvious breakdowns in the business process, how can you fix them? Who can you recruit to help find a solution? 

This is also a good time to think about who will fill each role in your business process. Some steps may be tied to certain positions, like managers or vice presidents, but you may need to designate someone to carry out certain aspects of your process. 

3. Have Colleagues Offer Feedback 

Before you move forward with your business process diagram, get insight from other people who use this process. They may have information or ideas that you can’t see from your position. 

Ideally, you’ll get feedback from someone who is involved at each stage of the business process. This will help you build out the organizational context of your business process, which helps you best optimize it. 

Next, refine your rough draft of the process map according to the feedback you received.

4. Build Your Business Process With a BPM Tool

The best way to visualize a process is to use a business process management tool.

A BPM tool like frevvo can help you create flowchart diagrams using standardized notions that’s easy enough for your whole team to understand. You can also use the code-free workflow builder to create and automate your diagram to speed things up.

5. Assign Roles

At each step of your business process flowchart, designate specific people or types of users who are responsible for the tasks there. 

For instance, if you’re creating a purchase order approval workflow, you may need to assign approvers at the manager level and in the finance department.

When you create a new workflow in frevvo, you can assign approval steps to individual users based on their roles.

By integrating data sources with frevvo, you can autofill information like managers and chains of approval. This will make it easier to have a business process that adapts to your workflow.

6. Set Rules and Conditions 

The next step is to set up the rules and conditions that govern your automations. While this might sound intimidating, frevvo has wizards to walk you through setting up the controls and rules you need. 

Your rules and conditions help your process run as smoothly as possible. When set up correctly, everything seamlessly moves between people, devices, and tools, so the process doesn’t get stuck.

For example, let’s say that invoice approvals are painfully slow. Employees have to constantly chase down their managers for signatures, which makes the process take even longer.

In frevvo, you can create an invoice approval workflow that automatically routes forms to the right approver to sign. You can also add dynamic routing into your workflow (e.g., route an invoice to a senior executive for additional approval above a certain value).

Here’s an example of how this looks:

Approved invoices route directly to the finance department to issue payment.

By outlining what should happen in the case of almost any outcome, you can keep errors to a minimum. There’s always a clear plan of what should happen, so nothing falls through the cracks. 

7. Launch and Test Your Business Process

Before you launch your automated business process, test out your process automation with your team. You may need to make a few small changes so that it runs correctly. 

If needed, train your employees on how the process works or how to use your BPM tool. Since transparency is a key benefit of business process mapping, it’s essential that your team has what they need. 

Remember that BPM isn’t a one-time activity. You’ll always be monitoring, optimizing, and improving your business processes. With frevvo, you can easily make changes whenever you need to. 

Create Your Business Process Diagram Now

A business process diagram helps you visualize your workflows so you can optimize them. 

As you create your business process diagrams, be sure to get insight from everyone on your team. You’ll also want to make sure everyone understands their role in the business process. 

Then, convert your diagram into an automated business process using frevvo, which you can try for 30 days here.

The post How to Create a Business Process Diagram (With Examples) appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Not only can business process transformation lead to more effective and efficient workflows, but it can also result in happier customers, more satisfied staff, and better relationships with suppliers.

Read on to learn how to transform your business processes to make your organization more productive and efficient.

Click the links below to head straight to the section which interests you most:

• What’s Business Process Transformation?
• Business Process Transformation Steps 
• 5 Examples of Business Process Transformation in Action

What’s Business Process Transformation?

Business process transformation is a part of business process management, where you change elements of your workflows to meet new business goals. 

Usually, process transformation involves a switch from manual processes to digital technology and automation. 

But modernizing processes is only one reason to implement a transformation initiative.

Mainly, organizations transform processes to streamline workflows and address operational inefficiencies. 65% of organizations see process transformation as a way to improve productivity and achieve greater efficiency.

Using business process improvement tactics, companies aim to transform workflows, so they’re faster, cheaper, and more accurate.

Through process transformation, organizations seek to reduce the manual labor burden on employees. This allows employees to concentrate on more skilled tasks rather than getting bogged down with paperwork and administration. 

In fact, half of all organizations believe that process transformation is a good way to lower costs and reduce labor demands. At the same time, 69% of employees agree that automation technology will give them the leeway to focus better on their primary job duties than on paperwork.

Organizations also transform processes to improve their outcomes. 53% of organizations say that transforming is an effective method for improving customer satisfaction by boosting quality.

Business Process Transformation Steps 

Process transformation often feels like you’re turning an existing process into a whole new one.

Follow these eight steps to keep the transformation process on track.

1. Define Transformation Goals

Before setting out your business transformation initiative, you need to understand why you’re altering a workflow. What are the issues with the existing process, and what do you hope to achieve through a transformation?

Explore the current process to pinpoint where the bottlenecks occur and then perform a root cause analysis to understand where the real issues occur.

Once you know what the real problems are, define goals based on improving these issues. 

2. Pick Metrics and Create Benchmarks

If you want to know whether you’re reaching your transformation goals, you must measure your performance against your original processes.

The metrics you choose to track should align with the goals you’re hoping to achieve.

These metrics may refer to efficiencies, such as the cost per process or the time it takes to complete a workflow. 

Alternatively, you may pick metrics that refer to productivity, such as how many outputs are made over a given time. 

You can look to measure key performance indicators (KPIs) associated with:

• Effectiveness
• Capacity 
• Quality 
• Profitability
• Value 

Remember to measure the performance of your original process so you can benchmark your transformation effect against this.

3. Brainstorm Changes With All Stakeholders

Before deciding on the changes you’re going to make, talk to the stakeholders involved in the process.

As a business leader, it can be tempting to consider operational shortcomings theoretically rather than getting to the bottom of bottlenecks in practice. 

Successful business process transformation occurs when everyone who’s involved gets a say. You’ll find that talking to the staff who work the process daily will give you a “boots on the ground” perspective on why certain aspects fail and what should be in their place.

It’s also wise to talk to external stakeholders, such as suppliers and vendors. Customer feedback can help you shape your process improvement, too.

4. Model the New Workflow

Map out your new process to get a clear vision of how all the steps follow each other. Outline what will happen at each stage, who will be responsible, what resources will be used, and what should happen next.

By doing this, you’ll immediately notice any unpredicted blockages that may arise in your workflow.

Process modeling technology can help. 

Using a standard notation format known as Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN), modeling software can help you create a standardized process model that’s easy for everyone in your organization to understand.

Not only does this make the new process clear to everyone, but it also makes it easy to train a new staff member.

5. Digitize and Automate

One of the major purposes of business process transformation is to cut out inefficiencies within your business operation.

Digitization and automation are two of the most effective ways to update your processes and streamline your workflows.

By digitizing paper forms, you get rid of physical paperwork, which helps speed up processing and eradicate errors and delays. Paper forms are no longer lost at the bottom of busy in-trays, and staff don’t have to struggle to read poor handwriting.

Plus, it’s easier and quicker to send documentation electronically, and you can collate and store documentation better for more accurate audit trails.

But to truly iron out the wrinkles in your workflows, you need to automate your processes. 

Process automation streamlines routine tasks by cutting out the manual, menial work. That’s why 78% of business leaders agree that task automation increases productivity across the board.

Using an automation technology like frevvo, you can automate:

• Data processing
• Notifications
• Routing
• Recordkeeping
• Internal and external communication, and more.

Not only that, but since many processes rely on forms, automation tools like frevvo usually include form design technology that helps you digitize and take advantage of the capabilities of online forms.

6. Test Changes

Once you’ve made a change, it can be tempting to immediately roll the transformation out across your organization.

It’s wise to test changes on a small scale first.

By testing your business process improvement first, you’ll spot unplanned, knock-on effects before they have an impact on the wider business.

This test period will also help you to see if there’s room to automate the pre-and post-processes that occur before and after your workflow.

7. Scale-Up Implementation

Once you’re confident that your changes will lead to successful business transformation, scale up your new process. 

Make sure you write a standard operating procedure (SOP) so that every stakeholder knows how to carry out the amended process. An SOP will also make it easier to train new staff in the future.

8. Track Changes 

Use your metrics to track your KPIs, so you know how well your changes are performing. 

Monitor changes regularly to see where any unexpected bottlenecks are occurring and deal with them before they become problematic.

Tracking your performance with workflow analysis software will also make it easier to identify areas for improvement, so you can make additional tweaks as you go.

5 Examples of Business Process Transformation in Action

Planning a process transformation project, but unsure how it will play out in reality? 

Check out these five examples of workflow transformation in action.

1. Transforming Invoice Processes

Cricket Australia was having a real issue with its lengthy invoicing process, which required lots of back-and-forth to check data and get approvals. 

The workflow was so slow that it took more than 4 days to turn around every invoice. Not only that, but the invoicing tool was outdated and costly, making it hard to use. 

By switching to frevvo, Cricket Australia was able to automate its invoice process. Data is now automatically validated and routed to the correct approver, shaving off a large chunk of processing time.

Thanks to frevvo, invoicing takes half the time, so Cricket Australia can now efficiently process hundreds of invoices a month.

2. Onboarding Process Transformation

Beauty retailer Yves Rocher couldn’t cope with the onboarding processing during peak season. The process was so ineffective that new staff often started without new uniforms or payroll being processed.

By implementing frevvo’s automated employee onboarding software, Yves Rocher could significantly speed up these processes.

Because frevvo’s customizable digital forms automatically populate and validate, it’s far quicker to produce all the correct documentation. This is automatically routed to the right departments to complete approvals, uniform orders, and payroll on time.

3. Transformation of Contracts Processes

Contract processes at Initial Saudi Group took seven to ten days to complete because physical documents had to go to multiple parties for approval. Not only was this slow, but documentation often got lost or was filled in incorrectly, leading to further delays.

To combat the issue, Initial Saudi Group switched to frevvo.

Now, digital forms route to the correct approvers automatically based on custom logic within the forms. Approvers are automatically notified of documentation they need to sign, which can be approved using a digital signature. 

Not only is processing more accurate, the new workflow only takes six hours to complete — that’s 92% faster.

4. Transforming the Purchase Order Process

Central Wyoming College (CWC) was managing its purchase orders (POs) with paper processes. Not only did the huge issue with incorrect calculations regularly delay the process, but approvers were also often late signing paperwork.

To overcome these problems, CWC implemented frevvo.

By switching to digital forms that automatically validate, CWC now no longer experiences the same problem with errors.

Using dynamic routing, POs go to the correct approvers automatically based on the cost centers in the forms. Approvers are automatically notified that forms need signing. If an approver fails to sign a form on time, this is automatically escalated.

Now, CWC benefits from faster, more accurate PO processing, where approvers sign paperwork on time every time.

5. Transformation of Logistic Workflows

Medical equipment supplier Varex Imaging demands efficient shipping processes since samples and materials are shipped nationally and internationally on a regular basis.

However, prior to frevvo, Varex Imaging was using a combination of email and Excel to organize these shipments and related compliance documentation. Not only was this inefficient, data was frequently incomplete and incorrect, and approval steps were often missed out. In fact, the whole process was so ineffective, that delays for remedial work meant shipping workflows could take up to a month to complete.

By transitioning to frevvo, Varex Imaging has been able to iron out these inefficiencies. 

Staff now log into the employee portal to access the Shipping Request workflow from anywhere.

Digital forms automatically populate with relevant information pulled from internal databases, while customer business logic tailors the forms to show only the relevant fields.

Dynamic routing means that forms are sent directly to approvers who can sign online. Thanks to automatic notifications and escalations, approvals are no longer overlooked. 

Packing slips and commercial invoices are created automatically and all documentation is filed straight away so audit rails are complete and compliant.

Not only is information now 100% correct, shipping workflows take no longer than 48 hours to complete.

Transform Business Processes Today

Business process transformation can revitalize your organization so that it’s more streamlined and produces better results.

Automation is undoubtedly one of the most effective ways to do this. By replacing routine manual processes with automatic workflows, you can save your team time so they can focus their efforts on growing your firm.

To truly experience the benefits of transforming business processes with automation, try frevvo’s free trial today.

The post Business Process Transformation: How to Boost Productivity appeared first on frevvo Blog.

But paper-based processes are incredibly inefficient — they impede productivity, result in higher costs, and even pose security risks.

That doesn’t even factor in the time it takes to process paper forms or the physical space needed to store those documents.

Thanks to technology, organizations can reduce the amount of paper they use and streamline their processes. But going paperless doesn’t happen overnight.

In this article, we’ll look at the benefits of a paperless office as well as the processes you can digitize. We’ll also look at how you can create an automated paperless workflow.

Click the links below to navigate to the section that interests you most:

• What Are the Benefits of Going Paperless?
• Ways to Go Paperless in the Office
• How to Create a Paperless Workflow

What Are the Benefits of Going Paperless?

Paperwork allows organizations of all sizes to get work done. But paper records may not be the best or most efficient option. Traditional filing systems are expensive to maintain and they require physical access.

Let’s look at why going paperless needs to be more of a priority, if it isn’t already.

Increased Efficiency

The most compelling reason for a business to go paperless is increased efficiency.

Let’s look at travel requests as an example. These forms typically need to be approved before an employee can travel using company expenses.

Employees would have to print and fill out a travel request form. Then, they have to send it to their manager for review, who will then send it to the finance desk for final approval.

All that wasted time spent on passing documents back and forth for approvals could be better spent elsewhere. 

By going paperless, you can make processes like travel requests more efficient. Employees can submit paperwork and get them approved without having to wait days or even longer.

Improved Productivity

Your business undoubtedly depends on various forms to get work done — purchase orders, sales contracts, etc. 

But how much time is actually spent on processing those forms?

Companies that rely on a manual process for purchase orders have an average cycle time of 35 hours. 

In contrast, companies that have automated this process have a cycle time of 24 hours.

That’s a difference of 11 hours. 

Now, multiply that by the number of purchase orders you process a year and that’s how much time you could potentially save with a paperless process.

A paperless workflow streamlines work processes and drastically reduces document turnaround times. 

Instead of spending half their time on preparing forms, employees can focus on more productive tasks.

Reduced Costs

Paper-based processes aren’t cheap, as they require a lot of paper and ink. That doesn’t even factor in other costs like the time it takes to fill out paper forms and get them delivered.

Storage costs for paper records are another major expense. 

Just the cost of owning and maintaining a standard 5 drawer file cabinet can set your business back an estimated $2,600 per year. 

Implementing a paperless system in the office not only saves on printing and storage costs, but also reduces paper waste and your carbon footprint.

Better Document Management

Filing systems aren’t always practical, as they require physical access. Hunting down the right paper form to process an order or confirm a detail just isn’t the best use of your time. 

In fact, 86% of employees have experienced difficulties locating files. 

Complicating matters even further is that paper records can be lost or misfiled. 

If that happens, you would then need to either recreate the document or spend time looking for it. This can result in processing delays and dissatisfied clients.

Combining paperless workflows with a document management system or file app allows employees to quickly find and access the files they need to do their jobs.

Enhanced Data Security

Let’s talk about another reason to go paperless: Security. 

Digital documents are arguably more secure than printed documents. You can encrypt a digital file, restrict access to key individuals, and require digital signatures — a highly secure way of signing electronic forms.

In contrast, paper forms can be lost, misplaced, or forged. 

Sensitive information on a paper document, like company financials, can even be stolen. 

With electronic forms, you can add additional security measures to ensure that contents haven’t been changed or altered.

Ways to Go Paperless in the Office

Going paperless has clear advantages for any organization. 

It increases overall efficiency, reduces paper usage, and offers enhanced security over paper forms. 

But going paperless doesn’t happen right away. Start with one or two processes to digitize before moving on to other areas in your business.

Below are some great starting points to help you go paperless for your organization.

Switch to E-Signatures

Electronic signatures offer a convenient and efficient way to sign documents online. They’re just as legally binding as wet signatures, according to the E-Sign Act.

Switch to e-signatures instead of having employees print and sign forms for approval. With frevvo’s digital signature software, you can digitize your paper forms and add e-signature fields to them.

The forms you create are mobile-friendly out of the box, so anyone can use their smartphone or tablet like an iPad to add a signature. 

Electronic signatures offer a secure and convenient way to obtain approvals. 

Replace Paper Forms

Digitizing paper forms brings you one step closer to creating a paperless office. You’ll cut down on paper usage and reduce tedious tasks like manual data entry.

For example, with dynamic forms, you can have fields automatically fill in information from your database. This reduces time spent on manual data entry and reduces human error.

Here’s an example of how you can have fields automatically populate in frevvo:

You can even use the software to generate official government forms, like W4s and I9s, and have information automatically mapped to the correct fields.

Here’s how the PDF mapping feature looks in frevvo:

This is just one example of a paper form that you can digitize. 

Use an online form builder like frevvo to create and customize digital forms to replace your existing paper forms.

Store Documents in the Cloud

A major downside of a paper-based office is having to store physical copies. Anyone working remotely or traveling on a short trip will have limited access to those documents. 

Cloud-based solutions like Google Drive and Dropbox make it easy to store electronic forms and scanned documents in the cloud. You can also take additional security measures to prevent unauthorized access.

With frevvo, you can have files automatically routed to your database or business applications once they’re submitted.

A searchable database allows your team to quickly locate and access the documents they need. 

With cloud storage, you won’t need to pay hefty costs just to maintain your file cabinets.

Digitize a Workflow

Another way to make the transition to a fully paperless office is to digitize workflows. This involves taking an existing paper-based process and making it fully automated.

Time off requests are an example of a paper-based process that can be digitized. Employees can fill out electronic forms and have them routed to their manager for approval.

It’s easier said than done, so let’s take a look at how you can digitize a workflow in the next section. 

How to Create a Paperless Workflow

Your business relies on a number of processes to get work done — purchase orders, expense approvals, etc. But doing these things manually is time-consuming and tedious.

Follow these steps to digitize a paper-based process.

#1. Choose a Workflow

The first step is to choose a workflow to digitize. 

Ideally, you should choose a workflow that follows the same set of steps and gets repeated frequently in your organization.

Here are some of the workflows you can digitize with frevvo’s workflow automation software:

• Purchase orders: Purchase orders are necessary to procure goods and services for your business to operate. Automating this process can improve overall operational efficiency. 
• New hire onboarding: Employee onboarding is key to making a positive impression with new hires. Streamlining this process helps new hires get ready for their roles.
• Travel requests: Travel requests typically require approval before funds can be released. Digitize this process to get these approvals done even faster. 
• Time off requests: Employees often need to submit time off requests well in advance and get approvals from their manager. You can create a workflow to automate this entire process.
• Expense claims: Manually filing and managing expense claims isn’t the best use of your time. Automating this process in frevvo saves you time and money. 

There are other workflows that you can automate, but these are some of the more common ones. Start with one of the above, or choose an entirely different workflow. 

#2. Map and Build Your Workflow

Mapping out a workflow enables you to visualize all steps of a process. With frevvo’s workflow designer, you can easily add and configure each step from start to finish — no coding necessary. 

You can also install a pre-built workflow to get started even faster.

Here’s an example of the Work Order workflow in frevvo: 

With this workflow, the work order automatically gets routed to a supervisor for review and then to the client for final approval. The pre-built workflows are fully customizable, so you can add, configure, or remove individual steps.

#3. Digitize Your Paper Forms

Next, digitize any paper forms that are part of your workflow. 

In the visual form designer, you can easily create and customize your forms.

Here’s what the Work Order form looks like in frevvo’s form builder:

To make any changes, simply drag and drop elements from the palette onto the form. 

You can also adjust individual settings for each field. For example, you can make the signature field required before the form can move onto the next stage of your workflow.

Enabling this setting ensures that you won’t have to waste time chasing missing signatures. 

#4. Add Conditional Rules

In some cases, your workflow may require extra steps. 

For example, work orders over a certain value may need additional approval from a manager. With frevvo’s workflow automation software, you can add conditional rules to make your workflow even more efficient. 

Here’s an example of a conditional rule in frevvo that routes Work Orders above $10,000 to a manager for review:

If the value is less than $10,000, the form simply routes to the client instead. There’s no coding required to add conditional rules and you can add as many as you need.

#5. Test and Deploy

Test your workflow before you actually deploy it to ensure it’s working. 

You’ll want to test it yourself and invite other key stakeholders to share feedback.

Mobile-friendly forms are a must, as more people use mobile devices to get work done. All forms and workflows you build in frevvo are ready for mobile out of the box.

Everything will work exactly as you designed it, including any conditional rules you set.

The last step is to deploy your paperless workflow. 

It’s a good idea to keep a close eye on your workflow in the following days and weeks. Solicit any feedback from your team and make any revisions necessary. 

Create a Paperless Office Today

Going paperless is by no means easy. It means changing how you do business. 

But it can have long-term benefits when implemented correctly.

frevvo’s workflow automation software enables you to digitize paper forms and automate business processes. Taking these steps not only improves operational efficiency, but also brings you one step closer to going completely paperless.

Get started today with a 30-day free trial to digitize your paper-based processes. 

With our software, you can easily build online forms and set up automatic routing without any coding required.

The post How to Go Paperless in the Office appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Let’s dive in.

Digital Transformation or Automation – Is There a Difference? 

While the terms “automation” and “digital transformation” are often used interchangeably, they have very different meanings. Automation involves applying technology to make processes run themselves, making those processes more efficient and increasing transparency and reporting capabilities. In short, automation is a means to an end, and the desired end is digital transformation. 

Gartner argues that digital transformation requires not only making existing processes more efficient, but creating or unlocking new value for customers. 

It’s true that customer expectations are constantly evolving apace with emerging technologies, and that businesses are largely adopting digital transformation in an attempt to continue to meet those expectations.

However, this is a somewhat limited view of digital transformation, as it excludes any benefits of digital transformation that don’t directly benefit the customer, such as transforming company culture by giving employees greater job satisfaction by allowing them to focus on more interesting projects than repetitive administrative tasks.

So What Is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is the practice of using technology to radically change your business to pursue new revenue streams and business models and to avoid disruption.

Digital transformation involves more than simply moving everything to the cloud and adopting a variety of digital processes. According to George Westerman, author of Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation, digital transformation involves a “radical rethinking of how an organization uses technology, people and processes to fundamentally change business performance.” 

Digital transformation is not an isolated IT project. Instead, it’s the combination of numerous projects that transform every aspect of your organization to be digital-first. 

Let’s look at some of the ways this can play out:

• Upgrading your underlying technology (renovating or replacing legacy systems)
• Shifting the way you serve your customers (increasingly via mobile or across multiple different channels), 
• Automating your processes for greater efficiency, and
• Integrating with third parties to deliver better customer experiences.

True digital transformation is about leveraging all the digital tools at your disposal – including automation and data analytics capabilities – to fundamentally transform how your business operates and makes decisions. 

This includes fostering a culture of innovation and continuously iterating your offerings and even business model to deliver the best version of your product possible, not only for your business but for your industry. 

Successful digital transformation is proactive instead of responsive: it is the territory of businesses leading the charge in their industry, not simply responding to disruption. 

The businesses that are always cited as frontrunners of digital transformation are companies like Netflix and Uber that completely disrupted their industries by using the technology and data available to them to reimagine their products and address customer needs the customers didn’t even know they had. 

To stand a chance of doing the same thing in your own industry – even on a smaller scale – you need to have your finger on the pulse of your organization and your customer relationships, for which the insight offered by data analytics is indispensable.

Process Automation is the Key to Digital Transformation 

Process automation is a necessary step towards digital transformation. Implementing and socializing automation across the entire business means that entire teams benefit from newly efficient workflow, not just IT. 

Automating day-to-day workflows lies at the heart of successful digital transformation. If your organization does not already have a simple workflow automation solution, it’s advisable to start looking into one now. 

Using such a platform, you can digitize forms for employees and customers and automate your routine processes and measure their effectiveness. With this data, you can reduce pain points to drive genuine change and improve business performance in myriad ways. 

Without workflow automation, you’re still dealing with manual processes, in which case the threat of being disrupted and becoming irrelevant is a real one.

If your higher education institution is still heavily reliant on paper-based documentation and manual data entry, you can bet some of your competitors have already automated these processes and are offering their customers better value through faster processing times and better communication.

While optimizing the way work is done to improve productivity and efficiency is desirable in itself, for best results, your process automation should align with a broader business strategy. 

What are you hoping to achieve through automation? How will automation add value for your customers? Can you take it a step further and deliver value that truly differentiates you from your competitors or changes the parameters of your industry completely?

Here are a few ways automation can help to set you on the path to true digital transformation:

Deliver World Class Customer Service

Over-delivering on customer service is the single most important thing you can do to increase revenue. If you don’t, today’s consumers will quickly move on to the competition.

Today’s customers are accustomed to being able to interact with organizations online at any time. If they need some information from your company and it’s only available during business hours, they’ll be frustrated and feel inconvenienced. Automation ensures that your customers have a smooth experience by enabling them to access information when they need it.

When employees are wasting time performing manual tasks like chasing down internal approvals, they have less time to focus on providing excellent customer service, whereas automated approvals free up their time so it can be invested into what’s important: customers, students and patients.

Increase Efficiency and Accuracy so Employees Can Focus on Work That Matters

Automation can enable you to accelerate operations significantly while also reducing errors by taking over all the repetitive manual tasks previously performed by people. With increased efficiency comes increased capacity, making it easier to scale operations as you grow.

What might the transformed, modern business application look like? It will undoubtedly:

• Automate forms and workflows so there’s no need to print, sign and scan.
• Integrate systems and databases to reduce tedious manual data entry.
• Intelligently route documents to the right person at the right time to ensure that business constraints are satisfied.
• Automatically support all mobile devices and speed up the approval process by providing 24/7 access from anywhere.

More Rewarding Work, Better Workplace Culture

Automation frees your people to perform more challenging or creative tasks, which is ultimately more rewarding and makes for more satisfied and engaged employees. When your staff is engaged, they care more about the work they do, which translates into business success. 

You can also make your developers’ lives easier by using a workflow automation solution with a visual and low-code approach, allowing you to provide business functionality in web-apps and spread that development out among more people – the “citizen developers” in your organization. This, in turn, eases pressure on IT teams, freeing them up to focus on more important business needs.

Facilitate Teamwork by Breaking Down Silos

Integrated automated workflows can bridge gaps and break down silos to promote collaboration between different teams and parts of the business, facilitating cross-functional cooperation. 

By exposing your employees to different functions, you allow them to get greater insight into the business as a whole, creating a climate favorable to innovation. 

With a process automation solution with the right integration capabilities, you can automate workflows between diverse functions such as marketing, customer relationship management, sales, support, and finance. 

Improve Transparency and Strategic Oversight 

When you automate business processes, you gain access to an abundance of data that you didn’t necessarily track before. This offers increased visibility into which processes are successful and which ones could be further optimized. 

Analyzing all this data also allows for better strategic positioning and risk assessment, allowing you to get ahead of the curve and develop value propositions that live up to the promise of digital transformation.

Boost Security and Compliance

Automation can contribute to security and compliance in a number of ways. In a recent RedHat survey, 47% of businesses said that improving security and compliance were primary drivers for implementing automation tools. 

Automation makes it easier to identify vulnerabilities and roll out fixes, empowering businesses to be proactive and address vulnerabilities before breaches occur. Intelligent software can also learn what constitutes normal usage and automatically detect risks such as security policy violations.

Cut Costs

Automation can help you to trim the fat, so to speak. By digitalizing and automating processes like data entry, document management, finance processes, and approval workflows, you not only save hundreds of hours, you also save money by reducing waste – including but not limited to hundreds or thousands of reams of paper and ink cartridges saved by going paperless.

While automation in itself does not equate to digital transformation, it’s a pivotal part of the process.

Meet Your Customers at their Preferred Channel 

52 percent of all internet traffic now comes from mobile, with desktop usage seeing a steady decline. It’s projected that by 2025, 72 percent of internet use will be mobile-based. 

In response, 84 percent of companies that identify as “customer-centric” are now focusing on the mobile customer experience. Moreover, businesses have ramped up investment in omnichannel experiences, with the number of companies making this shift jumping from 20 percent to 80 percent, according to a 2020 PWC report. 

Mobile apps are no longer the answer. Aside from being expensive and time-consuming to build, consumers no longer want an app for everything. In fact, 61 percent of consumers will not download an app to communicate with a business. 

It’s crucial that customers can reach your business via mobile regardless of the mobile browser they use. Luckily, it’s increasingly easy to make your website mobile responsive, and workflow automation systems like frevvo allow you to create forms that are already optimized for mobile display. 

Make Your Business More Agile

Automation empowers your organization to react rapidly to changing business conditions. Consider two key capabilities:

Responsiveness  

Enable employees to do the right thing at the right time. This means reducing business complexity (stop wasting time on paperwork, errors, missing signatures, etc.), improving employee efficiency (let them work any time, anywhere and using any device), and promoting collaboration (access to people and information from anywhere, as needed).

New Opportunities

Faster rollout of new business initiatives as business conditions change, e.g. introduce a new product offering or modify internal processes to quickly satisfy changed customer demands – even something as simple as enabling customers to confirm their identity by taking a selfie while holding an identity document.

Both of these capabilities offer a significant competitive advantage, which is, after all, the ultimate aim of digital transformation.

Key Business Workflows to Automate for Digital Transformation Success

As we’ve seen, automation can play a key role in your digital transformation journey by streamlining and optimizing operations, promoting collaboration, granting greater oversight and generally helping to create a climate conducive to innovation. 

Let’s look at a few key processes you should consider automating to set your business up for digital transformation:

Onboarding

Whether you’re onboarding a single new employee, a new customer, or a class of students, automating your employee onboarding processes can have a profound impact on the ease and speed with which you’re able to bring them into the fold, which plays an important role in making a good first impression.

Finance Processes

Automating finance processes such as accounts payable and receivable can improve your cash flow, but more importantly, it frees up your finance team’s time to allow them to do the analytical work you hired them to do. Finance professionals can play a vital role in business transformation, so it’s really in your company’s best interest to improve your finance processes and let them do their thing.

Human Resources

Streamlining HR procedures with HR workflow automation tools such as dynamic forms and document management software not only makes HR’s job easier but also saves time, which they can use to attract and retain world class talent. Not only that, but automation can also ensure compliance with regulation and improve data privacy and security, which is essential when dealing with sensitive information. Moreover, with interdepartmental workflow integration, orchestrating tasks like training and certification becomes much easier.

Approval Routing

Processes that involve multiple approval stages can be simplified by using approval workflow software ensure that nobody needs to run around chasing down supervisors for signatures. Automated reminders can reduce bottlenecks and notifications help to keep various parties in the loop about the status of the request, while responsive forms make it easy for supervisors to respond to requests on the go.

frevvo’s business process automation tools are the first step on your journey to digital transformation.

The post Automation + Digital Transformation: The Key to Unlocking Business Growth appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Back then, paper documents were kept in filing cabinets and storage boxes, and when items were misfiled, it could take weeks to track them down. Processes involving large numbers of people like university admissions and student registration generated mountains of paperwork, all of which had to be processed by hand. 

It’s no wonder the dream of the paperless office captivated the popular imagination: the thought of being able to process – and locate – information within seconds had enormous appeal.

So what is a paperless office? Exactly what it sounds like: a work environment where paper usage is either wholly eliminated or greatly reduced by using digital formats instead.

With the rise of personal computers and office automation, the use of paper for tasks such as bookkeeping, record-keeping and sending memos would be made redundant, as everything could be stored and displayed on computers. Prolific paper users like schools and universities would use screens to teach students and even homework assignments and exams would eventually be conducted using computers.

However, while Business Week’s prediction of a personal computer on every desk came true, the paperless office has not yet become a reality. Despite advances in communication technologies such as the advent of email, paper documents continued to proliferate. 

The Motivation Behind the Paperless Office 

While a number of factors contributed to the dream of the paperless office, the overriding consideration is the fact that organizations are under constant pressure to optimize business processes and resource usage.

Driving factors behind the paperless office concept include 

• Cost savings, 
• Increased technological capabilities, 
• Easier remote collaboration,
• Better document management and less time searching for files,
• Greater convenience and efficiency, 
• Environmental considerations,
• Easier onboarding and other HR processes,
• The ability to offer a better customer experience,
• More transparent and efficient finance processes,
• Greater document security,
• More complete “paper trails,” and
• Tidier offices 

Why the Paperless Office Never Happened

In the 1980s there was a short-lived reduction in the amount of paper used as businesses began to transition to electronic documents, but this didn’t last long.

So why was the dream of the paperless office never realized? Why did MIT publish a book titled The Myth of the Paperless Office in 2001?

It turns out there’s more than one reason.

Human Behavior: Habit

One reason the paperless office never truly manifested is simply the power of habit. Having grown up with paper-based everything, office workers found it difficult to transition to only reading from screens, continuing to take notes by hand, for example; and printing reports to highlight or underline them, despite the fact that this can also be done on screen. 

Another impediment to paperless office is the fact that despite the digitization of files and records, office workers are still struggling with digital document management. While it’s now theoretically possible to locate a file with a quick search, the problem is that people tend to be lax about naming files – not to mention remembering which folder that mysteriously-named file was saved in. 

Legal Reasons

Even today, with the ubiquity of electronic signature services, for many organizations it’s still standard practice to require physical signatures on documents such as contracts and loan agreements. 

(Initial) Unreliability of Computers

Early computers came with their fair share of problems. The average office worker found computers somewhat intimidating and didn’t really know how to use them, causing them to shy away from using them. 

Simple tasks like running a slide show through a projector still present problems to many people to this day, resulting in them printing out presentations and accompanying documents – just in case of technical difficulties. 

Early computers also crashed frequently, further compounding this problem. When data wasn’t saved on time – or “backed up” on paper, progress could be lost, resulting in work needing to be redone. Additionally, early systems did not integrate well with one another.

Trust Issues

Online banking didn’t really take off until fairly recently, largely due to the fact that many people were skeptical about the safety of accessing their bank accounts via the internet. As a result, many financial processes such as transfers were needlessly performed in-branch, continuing to use paper. With today’s cybersecurity measures, these fears are starting to subside and digital banking is rapidly becoming the norm.

Lack of Infrastructure

Until fairly recently, universities and other institutions required that applications and other administrative forms be submitted in hard copy, in part because they didn’t have the infrastructure in place to process these documents digitally. SaaS companies that provide digital ecosystems for document management and workflow automation simply weren’t around.

Printing and Copying Became Cheap

Improvements in printers and photocopiers made it easier and cheaper than ever before to produce paper documents, so counter to predictions, office paper usage more than doubled between 1980 and 2000. 

Since 2000, it seems that office paper use has been in steady decline. Younger generations, in particular, are reluctant to print documents they can read on their screens. However, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average office worker used approximately two pounds (0.9kg) of paper and paper products per day in 2012.

New Technology Driving Momentum

While it’s taken 35 years to make any real progress, it seems like the tide is finally turning on office paper use. As technology has improved and become more affordable – and more secure – attitudes have changed. With the advent of cloud-based storage and collaboration tools, not to mention workflow automation tools, digital-first solutions are increasingly popular. 

A new generation of workers (millennials) grew up with word processing, email, and the internet, as well as more recent advances such as tablets and smartphones. This generation has come of age in a world where screens are everywhere and can be used for just about everything. 

With improved user design, reading and collaborating virtually is becoming increasingly comfortable. Moreover, the convenience of collaborating live on cloud-based platforms that offer versioning is very appealing, compared to printed documents that become outdated as soon as someone makes a change. 

These days, it’s possible to generate dynamic digital forms that automatically feed into databases, streamline processes such as those involved in accounting, and automate workflows such as approval routing on purchase orders and travel requests – all without using a single piece of paper. 

As awareness of the possibilities of integrating various systems grows and digital signatures gain wider credibility, paper use will likely decline further, particularly in light of renewed pressure on the business sector to reduce its environmental impact.

The Bank of America cut its paper usage by 25% in two years by embracing online forms and reports and making small changes like using lightweight paper and printing double-sided.

While it seems unlikely that paper will truly disappear from most offices any time soon, the proliferation of hardware and the growing ease of integrating various systems makes it likely that paper use will drop significantly in coming years. 

Case Study: Cutting Paper Use in Higher Education with RPA

Adelaide Australia’s Flinders University implemented robotic process automation (RPA) to streamline its process for identifying which students qualify for commendation letters recognizing their academic performance. 

The process, which runs three times per year, involves evaluating some 24,000 students for eligibility, using more 20,000 pages of academic transcripts and manually updating some 17,000 student records, as well as preparing and sending the letters. The process reportedly involved 45 manual steps and countless human hours.

In 2018, the university’s business innovation unit identified three data entry processes in the student management system that could be automated to streamline the commendation letter process, namely attaching a comment to student transcripts, generating the actual letters, and “flagging each topic used to calculate the GPA for recipients so that they cannot be used in future eligibility processes.”

The university was able to move from proof of concept to successful execution in the space of four months, saving more than 20,000 A4 pages per year as well as hundreds of hours of data entry.

How to Convert to a Paperless Office

By implementing digital solutions like accounting software, expense-tracking and human resources apps can help you to transition to a paperless office. Moreover, by integrating and automating these various workflows, you can significantly increase operational efficiency – and job satisfaction. Formerly paper-based processes can now be processed in seconds rather than days.

Here are a few tips to help you transition to a paperless office.

Adopt Paperless Business Processes

Ask yourself which kinds of paper documents are common in your business. Forms? Handouts? Expense tracking? Accounting? Reports? Research? Attendance tracking?

Perform an audit to identify the processes that use the most paper, and do a step-by-step analysis to identify areas where you can implement digitization and automation to reduce your reliance on paper and improve your organizational capabilities.

Change Your Culture

While technology is an important part of going paperless, it’s not enough. You need to create a culture of change in your organization by implementing company policies and enforcing them throughout your organizational structure, from the top down. 

Get your team involved and foster a culture of innovation. Ask for platform and tool suggestions that could help make it easier to transition away from dependence on paper. Encourage feedback throughout the process. Your team will have to use the system you implement, so you’ll want to be sure they feel confident they can succeed. 

Digitize Everything 

Implementing an enterprise document management workflow can help organize your scanned documents and integrate the information they contain into your business’s processes as needed. Smart software can even help you extract even handwritten information from scanned documents, while automation software like frevvo can automatically plug this information into your accounting software or SQL database.

Use Online Applications for File-Sharing and Storage

Cloud-based applications like Google Apps, Evernote, and Basecamp, makes data sharing and collaboration easy, while tools like Dropbox allow for storing and sharing large files. These tools can also be easily integrated with your other business process tools using a simple workflow management tool. 

Embrace Electronic Signatures 

Switch to digital when collecting signatures. When collected correctly, electronic signatures have the same legal standing as a pen-on-paper signature. Instead of printing paper contracts only to scan and discard them as soon as they’re signed is incredibly wasteful. An e-signature solution is convenient, secure, and cost-effective.

Replace Paper Forms With Digital Forms

Any form you can imagine can be digitized, offering substantial benefits beyond cutting paper consumption. With dynamic forms, fields can update in response to the input, and even prefill with existing information from your database, saving employees from repetitive data entry. Using a form builder like frevvo’s easy-to-use dynamic form builder allows you to easily automate workflows, which can significantly impact efficiency and productivity. 

The post The Paperless Office: 35 Years of Dreaming Digital appeared first on frevvo Blog.

However, you simply can’t ignore the benefits of using the right technologies in your business. It’ll help you improve efficiency, lower costs, increase productivity, improve customer experience, and ultimately, boost profits.

In fact, 42% of SMBs now consider digital transformation a core component of their organizational strategy. Digital leaders are doubling the performance of digital laggards.

Meanwhile, 82% of SMBs have already implemented some level of digital transformation in their organizations.

Whether you’re just getting started or want to fine-tune your digital transformation strategy, a well-designed implementation plan can help you get the most out of your investment.

6 Keys To Successfully Implementing Digital Transformation For Your Small Business 

Digital transformation doesn’t need to be complicated in order to be effective. You can simplify implementation by focusing on initiatives that can yield the highest ROI. It’s also important to ensure that employees are aligned with objectives.

Here are six key areas to focus on in your small business’s digital transformation strategy:

1. Encourage Collaboration and Break Down Silos

Many digital transformation initiatives aim at improving operational efficiency across the entire company and/or creating a customer-centric organization. As such, breaking down silos and ensuring that internal departments can collaborate seamlessly is the key to success.

It’s important to involve all stakeholders across the organization so they can contribute to the initiatives. After all, digital transformation can’t be treated as an isolated IT project. Instead, it often requires a fundamental transformation of the business structure and its culture.

There are different ways to ensure the involvement of all internal departments in the effort. For example, the funding for a digital transformation initiative should not just come out of the IT budget. Business units that can benefit from the project should contribute as well.

Let’s say an eCommerce website is delivering a poor user experience that’s impacting sales. Marketing and sales departments benefit directly from a better eCommerce experience. They should also be responsible for part of the budget and be involved with the development of the website.

2. Empower Employees With Data

Data is the key to driving accurate business decisions. You need to focus on using technologies that allow your team to extract value and insights from various datasets. Employees can use the insights productively to drive growth.

Accurate insights can help you better understand what customers, partners, and employees want and need so that you can design the most relevant products and processes to improve efficiency and increase sales.

However, as datasets are getting larger and more complex, it’s also more challenging for small businesses to use them effectively. Thankfully, you can leverage a variety of affordable data collection and processing tools. They extract insights from data and share analytics across the company to aid real-time decision-making.

In addition, AI-driven technologies, such as machine learning, will be used widely for processing and analyzing a large amount of data. Investing in these tools strategically can help you make effective data-driven business decisions.

3. Ensure Seamless Integration of Business Systems

Most digital transformation initiatives aim to streamline operations, automate workflows, increasing efficiency, and improve the customer experience. It’s important that all your business systems are communicating with each other seamlessly.

When you connect business applications (e.g., finance, eCommerce, customer service,) you turn them into interoperable platforms. It allows you to break down internal silos, enhance collaboration across departments, and build a customer-centric organization.

Cloud computing is making it much easier for small businesses to integrate various software applications. That means it’s easier to streamline workflow and manage different business functions seamlessly. 

For example, the ability to sync data between two platforms eliminates manual information transfer. In turn, that lets you increase efficiency and minimize errors. 

4. Involve Every Level Of the Organization

A successful digital transformation requires a strong foundation by creating the right culture in the company. A strong vision translated into a clear set of digital initiatives helps rally employees around them.

Getting employee buy-in requires a coordinated effort at all levels, including alignment at the top, agility in the middle, and mobilization at the front line.

It’s also important to address your employees’ concerns since many people feel threatened by the introduction of technology and automation. In fact, 27% of SMB owners cited their team’s resistance to change as a top challenge when implementing digital transformation.

To get internal buy-in, educate your employees on the benefits of digital transformation. For example, demonstrate how an online tool can help them increase their productivity. In addition, provide the necessary training to your team. They’ll feel empowered to use the technologies effectively to achieve their career goals.

5. Seek Out Technology Partners With SMB Experience

As a small business, you probably don’t have the budget to hire a large IT team. Instead, you can outsource most of your IT tasks to maximize your resources. It lets you focus budget on areas that have the greatest impact.

In addition, SMBs have unique challenges and need a different IT strategy than larger organizations. Look for technology partners, vendors, and consultants that have extensive experience working with small businesses. 

A service provider should recommend in-budget solutions that are compatible with your existing IT infrastructure. They should help you identify areas that can generate the highest ROI. It should also provide the necessary on-boarding and training so your employees can use the technologies most productively.

The most game-changing technology doesn’t have to be complex or expensive. Be wary of vendors that push for costly solutions without demonstrating how they can help meet your specific business objectives.

6. Don’t Fall Prey To the “Bright Shiny Object Syndrome”

It’s tempting to implement every new technology that promises the moon. The reality is that the wrong choice will use up your IT budget without much to show for.

Before deciding on which digital initiatives to implement, get clear on your vision and business objectives. Identify areas that will yield the most meaningful results. In an earlier article, we discussed the key areas on which small businesses should focus: customer experience, employee engagement, data analytics, business processes, and cloud computing.

Many small businesses can get the highest ROI by using simple technologies to streamline tedious and repetitive manual tasks. In fact, complex technologies designed for larger organizations could even create more confusion and negatively impact productivity.

As such, focus on how digital transformation can make existing processes cheaper and easier. Simple tools with high impact are ideal for small businesses. For example, predictive analytics software that optimizes online ad spend can stretch your ad dollars, generate high-quality leads, and increase your sales without the need to overhaul key processes in your organization. 

Final Thoughts

Starting a digital transformation initiative could be rather overwhelming. With careful planning, prioritization, partnership, and employee education, you too can leverage the power of technology. Workflow software for small business can increase efficiency, lower costs, improve the customer experience, and grow your business cost-effectively.

It’s important to align your digital transformation strategy with your company’s vision by establishing KPIs that reflect your business objectives. You can then track metrics that matter and fine-tune your strategies to maximize ROI.

The post 6 Keys to Digital Transformation Strategy for Small Businesses appeared first on frevvo Blog.