A workflow is, essentially, a series of repeatable steps needed to take to achieve some sort of business goal. Without the right software, however, workflows are nowhere near as effective as they can be. Digital workflow software super-charges your workflows, increasing efficiency & allowing for automation.
What is Digital Workflow Software, Exactly?
Digital workflow software is the most efficient way to manage and track your workflows. It allows you to keep track of your workflows (deadlines, progress, etc.) as well as measure their efficiency. It’s useful for all sorts of things, from sending onboarding new employees to collecting data.
It also ensures consistency – you get to define each step in the process, and your employees have next to no way of messing it up.
Digital workflow software is the best way to eliminate guesswork from your business and create seamless processes that all of your employees can follow.
5 Things You Should Look for in Digital Workflow Software
Picking the right software, however, can be a bit complicated – there’s a bunch of tools on the market, each with their own spin on workflow management. To make it easier for you, here are 5 things you’d look for in the right digital workflow software:
Simple (But Powerful) Form Designer
In most cases, you won’t have someone with a Ph.D. in computer science designing the workflow. Rather, it’s probably someone in the middle management – someone with no coding knowledge whatsoever.
The digital workflow software should have a simple enough form designer that can be used by a first-time user without any training, onboarding, or expensive outside process consultants. It should, however, also have complex capabilities, allowing for a high degree of customization with the form.
Cloud-based Technology
Today, unless you’re using a cloud-based appl, you really are wasting resources. The other is to actually have the software installed on your servers, and that can be extremely time-consuming. This is usually the case with legacy business process management software (something like a predecessor to workflow management); it takes a team of skilled IT and a lot of time to set it up for your business. And to make things worse, whenever there’s any kind of issues with the software, you’ll have to call back the IT guys and hope they can fix it in time and on budget.
With the cloud, however, all you have to do is go online, register, and set it up. This makes the process significantly cheaper since all you have to do is pay the monthly software fees.
Customizable Notifications
Depending on the process, there’s can be a varying degree of urgency. One workflow might need a simple approval within the duration of a week, while the other might need an urgent meeting set up ASAP.
The right digital workflow software will allow for different types of notifications (email, phone, etc.), as well as the ability to prioritize different steps. Think, if the step is “urgent,” you’ll get a ringing notification on your phone as opposed to a passive email.
Analytics Dashboard
One of the most important reasons you’d adopt digital workflow software is because of its process improvement capabilities. To do this properly, however, you’d need to track and analyze the KPIs for your processes.
Any workflow software should have a single dashboard that gives you insight into how well each of your processes is doing, as well as spotting any missed deadlines or bottlenecks.
Seamless Integration With Other Apps
With older software, you’d need an IT army to figure out how to one piece of software to another. This tends to make automation extremely complicated and expensive. Which is a bit ironic, since workflows are rarely limited to working with just one system.
To be able to get the maximum out of workflow automation, you’d need to connect your digital workflow software to all the other tools you use. Thankfully, the right software allows for seamless integration with other SaaS apps, allowing for limitless automation capabilities.
What’s YOUR favorite workflow app? Is there any must-have feature we might have missed? Do let us know down in the comments!
Related Questions
What is digital workflow?
Digital workflow describes the way the work is carried out on a computer system with the help of computer programs, eliminating the traditional paper-based workflow. Imagine it like a digital assembly line that moves work from inception to completion and makes sure everybody understands what to do next. It replaces manual work, paper forms and email chains with a connected system that keeps everything organized and moving forward automatically.
What is the best workflow management software?
Although several options are available, Tallyfy is a particularly user-friendly and powerful solution. The right software is intuitive, fits your needs, and can scale alongside your business. Keep an eye out for features like drag-and-drop process design, real-time tracking, and connectivity to other tools you are already using. It has to be easy to use, the way your favorite app is easy to use, and perform complex operations behind the scenes.
How to digitize workflow?
First, lay out your existing process steps on paper or a white board. Next, choose the most basic workflow to digitize first — it’s like learning to walk before running. Divide everything into individual actions, consider who is going to manage what and select software that can manage this. Also, don’t forget to include your team – as they usually know best what do (and what doesn’t) work.
What are the benefits of a digital workflow?
Digital work flows are time-consuming by no means, because the processing time has been massively reduced and the number of errors reduced. They provide a clear path around who did what when, and are designed to help spot and remedy bottlenecks. Teams can collaborate more effectively because team members can instantly verify where tasks stand. And digital workflows can operate 24/7, automatically managing repetitive tasks, leaving you to do more valuable work.
How to implement digital workflow automation?
Like implementation best practice is start with something small and grow from there. First, select a simple process that gives you a headache frequently. Map It, Then Go Digital Use workflow software to create a digital version. This works for a small group, and then get feedback and iterate. Once that’s running nicely, move on to more complicated operations. Don’t forget to train your team along the way and, more importantly, celebrate the little wins.
What features should digital workflow software have?
Features Intuitive graphical designer for process Real time traking Automated notification are key analytics The product should also be available to access from a mobile device, integrate with other bricks and clicks tools, and come with the ability to customize forms. Search for applications that let you define automatic triggers and actions, so that processes can work themselves out, whenever they can.
How does digital workflow software improve customer experience?
Digital workflows, meanwhile, may speed up customer service by automating responses, monitoring issues and making sure nothing falls through the cracks. Customers sending in requests can get automatic updates about their status. This kind of openness fosters trust and happiness while removing your people to get on with the hard work of solving your customers’ unique problems.
Can digital workflows help with remote teams?
Absolutely! Digital processes are the ideal way for remote teams to work together as they offer a digital space where everyone can work regardless of their location. They offer transparency into who is doing what, they automatically pass things off between team members, and they make sure work quality remains constant, wherever in the world people happen to be working.
How do you measure the success of digital workflows?
Keep an eye on metrics such as completion time, error rates and customer satisfaction scores. And look at how many manual steps you’ve removed and how much time you save them. Today’s workflow software is full of detailed analytics indicating exactly where processes get stuck and how they might be improved. The most productive measure of success can be how much more your team gets done without working any harder.
What industries benefit most from digital workflow software?
Although any industry can be helped, the most impact is seen in those with complicated approval processes, regulation requirements or that have a high volume of transactions. This spans healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and professional services. Even small businesses can streamline their day-to-day by automating mundane tasks such as onboarding, purchasing, and customer service workflows.
