Aiming for business process optimization through automation and digital transformation of workflow management activities.: this is the focus of workflow management solutions, which can revolutionize day-to-day business operations in a concrete way.
Already, workflow management: what is it? The literal translation is "workflow management," and it more concretely identifies all systems, digital and otherwise, that aim to better organize the different steps into which a business procedure such as a commercial offer or a purchase order is divided. These processes are generally standard and repetitive, which is why they can be made more efficient with more careful management and the right applications.
By intervening directly in document, approval and communication flows, it is indeed possible to speed up procedures, reduce related costs and, more generally, increase efficiency in the delivery of one's services to the satisfaction of one's clients and top management. Staff will be relieved of the effort associated with secondary practices, such as document sorting, gaining more time for more crucial activities.
What challenges to overcome with workflow management
As part of planning and resource management activities in the enterprise, the flow of documents is extremely varied and substantial. As a result, even low-value-added activities related to this context-such as, for example, sorting to the appropriate offices, audits, data collection and archiving-if carried out in the traditional manner by operators can be time-consuming, resulting in the risk of hiccups in the organizational process or in providing required feedback. The main challenges to be faced in these activities can be traced to:
- Make document and communication processes faster and more effective by streamlining information flows;
- need for interoperability among business systems and efficiency in sharing information and documents, even if one were to be out of the office;
- Contain workflow management costs;
- Monitor work progress and keep track of activities;
- Ensure data security in compliance with GDPR and compliance with industry-specific regulations.
By implementing the principles of business process management through a workflow management solution, these obstacles can be overcome and, indeed, turned into strengths by changing the operational approach through digitization.
How workflow management revolutionizes work
Through workflow management solutions, business processes are digitized and automated so that organization time is reduced: for example, paperwork is handled and filed faster because the process is done by the system that can process more information at a time.
Among the revolutions that workflow management brings to the work environment:
- integration with systems and a cloud architecture enable efficient sharing of material and data, even in smart working;
- costs associated with workflowmanagement are contained and, more generally, transparency on expense items is increased through technology;
- Improves adherence to KPIs as process efficiency is increased;
- compliance is ensured by adopting a solution built according to the criteria of privacy by design, in compliance with the GDPR, and customized to the specific needs of the target industry;
- the risks of human error are reduced.
Workflow management: security and data enhancement
The adoption of a workflow management solution brings with it several benefits and, not to be overlooked, increased security of documents and data. Through the digitization of processes such as document sharing and archiving, transitions from one environment to another, such as transit to the digital preservation system or between colleagues, are carried out automatically, without the need for additional operations that can create risk margins. It is, moreover, always guaranteed that the flows can be monitored constantly, so that the situation and processing status of the various activities are always under control.
Added to this is the enhancement of the data collected and managed. In fact, automation of flows enables effective analysis of information, even unstructured and from documents of different types, such as tables, charts, natural language texts, in order to process them and produce easily usable material and reports. In this way, data-driven governance can be enabled, identifying which are the weaknesses and which are the strengths, understanding where to direct their resources more strategically. So, it represents an important cue for growth.
