“How to work faster and better with approval workflow solutions”.
Have you ever wasted hours on the phone with a customer service representative who can’t seem to solve your issues? If you have, you know that delays like this often leave you feeling frustrated and with a negative feeling towards the company.
As you probably have guessed, situations like this happen because a large number of organizations struggle with timely processing, such as managing approvals.
This means that answering important requests, approving budgets or managing claims often through phone calls and emails, end up in delays. Which very often affects due dates, internal team members and customers.
So why does this happen?
The reason for slow resolution is often tied to the fact that organizations still heavily rely on manual approvals and work. And these lead to cumbersome business processes.
This generates a higher cost and also hinders the organization’s growth by delaying action.
Here is where approval software or automated workflows come in.
Process automation allows companies to create custom approval workflows and speed up decision making, improve compliance, and save money, among others.
How to automate your approval workflow end-to-end
A good number of approval workflows involve multiple departments and a large number of repeatable steps. Let’s take for example a project budget approval workflow for a marketing department.
+ The marketing manager makes an approval request recommendation for how much the department will need in the next year. It’s a big number, so it’ll require approvals from many executives.
+ The manager then sends this document to the CMO. He needs to approve or reject it and notify the finance department if approved.
+ In the finance department, many people will review the request until it makes its way to the CFO, or final level of approval process.
+ Once with the final approver, there are questions about resource allocation. So now the entire process is back at the first step.
With stakeholders having to review the request multiple times, the budget process can lead to errors and confusion. Without the right approval management system, this can become a project management nightmare.
Approval workflow software can make every step much easier. With a web form builder, for example, you can create a workflow for any type of approval workflow process in place in your organization (e.g. invoice approval, new employee approval, purchase order approval, etc.).
Example of how to use dynamic forms to automate approval workflows.
You can actually add approvers catering to all that your workflows require. With it you can manage requests and process approvals faster with real time access to information and decisions.
Automate your approval workflows in minutes!
How to apply rules and conditions
With approval workflow software, you can automatically route work and send emails following the approval steps you define. You can also route information to a team, a department or employee.
The manager in charge can make certain documentation mandatory, so no submission will be made with missing information.
You will design the workflow following industry and internal regulations. Therefore making sure the organization is compliant all the time a request is submitted and processed.
The system automatically generates an audit trail to simplify internal and external audits. Involved parts will have full visibility regarding the status of its request so decisions can be made faster, saving you time and money.
» Automatically route work following the approval steps you define. Route information to a team, a department or employee. Create multi step approval digital processes in minutes!
Benefits of an approval workflow software
When creating an approval process with a workflow management software, the benefits are many. These are some of them!
1- Streamlined process: With automation, you can create standardized forms that use drag-and-drop capabilities for consistency and ease of use. With cloud-based solutions, you can also keep documents in one place.
2- Faster results: Reduce friction and waiting times with automated approval workflows. Improve efficiency across your organization.
3- Compliance and Audits: Design processes that meet regulatory requirements. You will guide users to follow them every time, automatically creating audit trails.
4- Improved Document Management: With an automated approval workflow, you can automatically share, access, and store information in seconds.
COMPLEMENTARY ARTICLES:
Tips to streamline your approval processes
You will first need to identify which process automation software is the right one for you.
We recommend using one that doesn’t create silos inside the organization. Instead, adopt one that helps you to streamline all business areas, not only one.
We also recommend adopting one that doesn’t require coding.
These are called No-Code Process Automation Solutions because no IT skills are needed to automate processes.
To learn more read: 8 No-Code Automation Tools to know in 2022
Once you identify the solution that is right for your custom approval workflow, make sure you follow these tips:
+ Select the approval process that is giving you the most headaches.
+ Identify unnecessary steps that can be eliminated or automated.
+ Map your approval workflow. This means to define participating departments, involved staff, sequence or steps, interactions, required documentation, and information.
+ Set permission levels. This will eliminate vulnerabilities for data breaches by limiting access to information.
+ Include automatic email notifications and alerts.
+ Choose a tool that creates automatic audit trails or activity logs and maintains approval history.
Automate your Business Processes with Virtus Flow
Virtus Flow allows any person to automate business processes without the need for IT. We simplify process automation by allowing you to streamline operations from day one. Let us know what you are looking to solve and we will go above and beyond to help you.
