Explore the Power of Automation: How Workflow Management Software simplifies workflows

Independent of size or industry, companies make an effort to find the best ways to ensure an optimised workflow, so as to increase productivity, and secure a competitive advantage. Workflow management software implementation is one of the most important ways to optimise business workflow.

It makes things that might be complex and nuanced into simpler, more straightforward processes, and turns tedious, repetitive tasks into automated, effortless processes. In this week’s Aproove blog, we’ll be talking about our WM software, and/or workflow management software.

Background of Workflow Management Software

The history of work management software is a response to the large-scale adoption of the personal computer in the late 20th century and the internet in the 1990s and early 21st century. In the 1980s and ’90s, businesses experimented with using digital solutions for work management, giving rise to early project management and task-tracking software. These task management tools focused on tasks, scheduling and capacity planning. While these tools offered a basic level of functionality for organizing work, they were not yet of the type we’re discussing. It wasn’t until the early 21st century, with the advent of fast internet and the explosion of digital capabilities, that work management software began to come into its own, offering tools such as collaboration, workflow automation and integrations.

In fact, today’s work management software is capable of an immense list of advanced functions, which help companies to achieve their business goals more effectively and efficiently by streamlining workflows and boosting productivity. Our team at Aproove offers a comprehensive suite of features for modern work management.

Understanding Workflow Management Software

The role of workflow automation software in modern organisational infrastructure can’t be understated, as it enables organisations to effectively orchestrate and optimise complex sets of business processes. Workflow automation software is a digital platform that enables the organisation and automation of workflow, which is a set of procedures to accomplish a task. As we've now pointed out, workflow management has a relatively recent history in organisations, which dates back to the adoption of business process automation in the late-20th century. It became a necessity to improve productivity and reduce the number of manual inefficiencies. In many years since, technological advancement has moved the field of workflow management forward from primitive paper-based workflows to contemporary complex digital workflows that can orchestrate sophisticated workflows across different sectors of the global economy.

Common features include: task management tools; process modelling; collaboration tools; real-time tracking and monitoring; reporting analytics; and integration with existing software systems. There are many different types of Workflow automation software, from the simple to-do list app to the complex enterprise workflow automation suite with functionality designed to serve industry- or business-specific needs. Examples of the latter include project management software, BPM (Business Process Management) suites and document management systems.

The usage of the workflow automation software system improves efficacy, lowers expenses of working procedures, increases the productivity, compliance, resources allocation and general communications of the company in more straightforward and orderly way. Workflow automation software is quite a perfect solution for contemporary businesses that need the optimization of work procedures and sustainable company development.

Simplifying Workflows with Automation and using Workflow Management Software within Business Operations

Workflow automation software is particularly useful for optimising your business operations, especially considering factors that are important for running a successful business:

·It greatly enhances efficiency and productivity by automating the repetitive and essential tasks, by reducing redundant work, and by optimizing available resources. Managers and IT teams can better distribute tasks and track progress in real-time because they can now access a centralized task managing system.

· WM software can improve collaboration by enabling team members who are scattered all over the world to communicate with each other easily and quickly, sharing files, collaborating on documents, and making use of a wide variety of integrated communication channels, all of which can create a culture of teamwork and knowledge sharing and hence boost productivity.

Integration with workflow automation software is important to minimise the risks of error and reduce the risks associated with tasks being done manually in an ad-hoc way by ensuring a standardized workflow with validation checks built in to make sure that a task is performed correctly, that regulatory or other compliance requirements are satisfied, and – where an error is made – that it is caught quickly and corrected.

Work Management software enhances transparency and accountability by making every workflow stage visible, from task assignment to completion.

This way team members can see when things are done, look into the history of the projects, track performance and evaluate metrics, measure productivity and identify bottlenecks. No more excuses. With WFM, everyone becomes accountable for what they do with the working time allocated and so colleagues no longer have the possibility to blame everything on a “busy” boss or colleagues who “don’t want to do extra work”. By reducing unnecessary overheads and bureaucratic handling of work, WFM software allows companies to be more flexible and respond to new market dynamics and new business opportunities. Streamlining processes, and creating seamless applications reduces administrative overheads and allows businesses to be more innovative and respond quickly to the changes in customer behaviors and market trends. Workflow management software is an important part of the business operational framework and could be a vehicle for increasing business efficacy and work collaboration, which in turn could be attributed to rising business success, just like any built system or systems of processes, without which the business will not truly succeed or grow.

Key Features and Functionalities of Workflow Management Software

With multiple key features and functionalities, workflow management software helps the organisation to develop a way of working that manages complex processes efficiently. A core feature is automation and routing of tasks, which allows an organisation to automate repetitive tasks and then define the workflow and task routing to the right person, depending on set rules and triggers. Centralized task management allows for having all tasks and assignments in one system, so the team can have a single view of all the work they need to get done and when they need it. Real-time viewing and reporting for all relevant teammates so everyone can track the work and tasks in real time, find potential bottlenecks and make decisions in real time to maximise performance.

Integration allows connection with other software systems or tools. A workflow automation system can be programmed to automatically communicate with as many third-party tools and applications as needed, without requiring manual input or management. For example, a workflow automation tool can be integrated with design tools, with customer relationship management systems, with document management systems,  with cloud storage, or with a multitude of other specialised applications. Data can be transferred between processes, silos can be eliminated, processes can be made more efficient, and work can become more streamlined. Organizations can customise workflow automation software to serve their business needs and be able to adapt workflows as needed, as well as scale up to ensure that their systems can handle growing business needs.

Compliance and security are a priority for organizations in healthcare, finance, insurance and government, with powerful security controls and compliance functions a key consideration for when choosing work management software. Embedded access controls, encryption, audit trails and compliance-reporting capabilities help organizations remain compliant with associated regulations and mitigate security risks.

Every organization has specific workflows and business processes, which have to be tailored and customised to fit the exact needs and preferences. Workflow automation software offers a broad customization and flexibility framework, whereby processes can be designed the way an organisation wants them to, allowing for simple linear workflows to complex branching processes, and virtually any workflow scenario in any organization can be automated, enhancing work productivity and can be quickly adapted to changes in business requirements.

By using workflow management software to streamline your business processes, you can embrace automation to improve efficiency, collaboration, visibility and customisation, and help your organisation achieve your business goals in a more agile and efficient manner. From automating repetitive tasks, to enhancing team’s collaboration, to ensuring compliance and security of your business process, workflow management software enable organizations to thrive in the competitive business environment.