Steps To Create Automated Workflows

Workflow – An Introduction

Workflows are rule-based, repetitive tasks to accomplish a business goal. They are a part of a much larger business process. For example, sales order processing is a workflow that involves repetitive tasks such as order generation, approval, signing, invoicing, payment processing, order delivery, and, finally, bookkeeping.

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Why Should You Automate Workflows?

Automating workflows reduce complexities and redundancies drastically in business processes. Other benefits of automated workflows include the following:

It enhances operational efficiency by reducing non-productive activities such as finding the correct files, chasing for approvals, etc.
Set out tasks and responsibilities for all stakeholders that increase workplace accountability
Streamlining of task management processes
Reduced errors resulting from manual workflows and oversights

Hubspot Marketing Hub workflows help you automate and simplify daily tasks to provide a streamlined experience for customers and leads.

How Does Workflow Automation Work?

Workflow automation runs the data through a sequence of tasks and activities until complete processing without human intervention. It enables the organizations to follow up and remind the relevant stakeholder about unfinished tasks. Additionally, it gives an overview of the workflow’s performance and identifies challenges so that the organization may take necessary actions to improve their workflows.

Here is your step-by-step checklist to create automated workflows:

1. Start Small

Identify one business process you want to automate instead of all operations at once. It will save you time and money and enable you to identify the success factors and challenges of creating workflow automation.

2. Set Goals

Understand the reason for introducing workflow automation in your organization. Do you want to save time or money? Are you trying to implement a better tracker for items? Do you want to relieve an employee of extra workload? Goals and objectives will help you focus on creating your workflow automation tool as per your organization’s needs.

3. Determine Stakeholders And Their Roles

Once the goals are in place, start identifying the stakeholders for each workflow stage and determine their roles in the business process. Are they going to initiate, manage, or approve the task? Do they have to collect data or generate reports?

4. Draw The Workflow Diagram

A workflow diagram is the best way to visualize the process, map the complexities and get an understanding of the timelines to complete the workflow. It will help you identify the pain points and find ways to simplify the overall process.

5. Execute Workflow Through Automation Tool

Based on the final workflow diagram, you can choose simple drag-and-drop automation tools to create custom software that best suits your goals and budgets. Numerous cloud-based solutions are readily available for automating workflows without relying on complex coding.

6. Test

Testing the tool is crucial to ensure a smooth flow of data and information to achieve the target outcomes. You must be confident that the tool aligns with your organization’s objectives, whether it is the input data type, information processing, or output quality.

7. Roll Out & Train

Once the testing is complete, you can roll out the tool in two stages. In the first stage, you can choose a smaller group of employees, train them to use the tool, if required, and get their insights on its functioning. In the second stage, you can open the channel for all.

8. Seek Feedback And Update

Regularly seek feedback to stay up-to-date on the tool’s performance and address issues raised by the users to improve your organization’s workflow automation software continuously.

Conclusion

Introducing workflow automation to your organization is the first step to taking your business to new heights. Follow the above steps to create an efficient workflow automation tool that will simplify your process and help you focus on strategies to grow your business.