As a result, more companies are undergoing digital transformations. They’re turning to solutions like workflow software and robotic process automation (RPA) — using software “robots” to perform basic and repetitive tasks.

If you’re not already leveraging these solutions, you’re missing out on opportunities to boost productivity across the board.

In this article, we’ll look at how workflow automation can help you manage and advance automation initiatives at your company. We’ll also look at automation initiatives that you can get started with today.

Click the links below to jump ahead:

• How Workflow Software Helps You Manage and Advance Automation Initiatives
• When Should You Consider Automation Initiatives?
• Automation Initiatives You Can Start Today
• Best Practices to Help Your Automation Initiatives Succeed

How Workflow Software Helps You Manage and Advance Automation Initiatives

Relying on manual processes may work in the early stages of a company. But as you start to expand, automation is a must if you want to scale your business processes.

Here’s how workflow software can help you manage automation initiatives.

It Keeps Everything in One Place

A workflow is a series of steps that you follow to accomplish an objective — onboarding a new hire, procuring goods and services, approving a sales order, etc.

Here’s an example of a purchase order workflow:

These are just a few examples. However, there’s a good chance that your company relies on dozens or even hundreds of workflows to get work done.

Workflow software like frevvo enables you to keep your workflows in one place, making them easily accessible when you need them most.

It Improves Visibility 

Before you can automate a process, you need to understand how it works first.

Workflow software allows you to map a workflow in its “as-is” state — how a process looks before you make any changes. This makes it easier to analyze your workflows and identify steps that you can automate.

For example, you might notice that an employee has to constantly track down their manager to approve a purchase order. In this instance, you can add a step to your workflow to automatically route forms to the right approver. 

It Acts as a Single Source of Truth

70% of automation initiatives are held back by data silos — a depository of data inaccessible to certain areas of an organization.

Making informed decisions depends on having the latest data. Because of this, the decision-making process can be stalled when data exists in silos. If someone needs information, they’d have to manually log in to different systems to retrieve it.

Workflow software can help your automation initiatives by connecting your data sources and creating a single source of truth, giving your employees a more unified view of your data.

Having connected data sources also means that you won’t have to copy data back and forth between different applications, which is time-consuming and prone to errors. 

It Provides Real-Time Data

Not all automation initiatives are successful. 

Whether you’re leveraging automation to reduce data entry, update customer records, or even onboard new hires, you need a way to determine that your efforts are working as intended. A failed implementation can prove costly in the long run.

Workflow software provides real-time data, allowing you to track and measure the impact of your automation initiatives. These insights can prove especially valuable as they can help you determine what’s working and adjust what’s not.

When Should You Consider Automation Initiatives?

If any of the following are becoming more commonplace, then you’ll want to implement workflow software sooner rather than later.

Your Team Spends Hours Each Week on Manual Tasks

Consider a common scenario: a new position just became available, leaving it up to HR to manage the hiring process and sort through hundreds of applications.

Applications are then forwarded to a department head, and promising candidates are called in for interviews before an offer is finally extended. It’s a lengthy process that can consist of dozens of emails, countless printouts, and numerous back and forth calls to HR.

When you consider just how much manual work is involved, it’s no surprise that 53% of employees estimate they can save up to two hours a day with automation.

So, turn to automation. Not only do electronic forms make it easier to collect information, but you can connect them to automated workflows.

Your Team Has a Hard Time Tracking Their Tasks

90% of employees are frequently burdened with monotonous and repetitive tasks. 

When employees are stuck with manual tasks like data entry, they have less time to focus on the skill-based work they’re hired to do. 

Workflow software can free up your team to focus on more important tasks. Examples include using automation to reduce data entry and update records.

Forms Are Frequently Lost or Held Up Due to Slow Approvals

Handling paper forms can be problematic. They can go missing or get lost entirely while they’re being delivered to an approver. When this happens, you’ll have to recreate the document and start the process over.

This was a problem that Activ8 was dealing with. 

Before switching to frevvo, its sales team would fill out a paper form in a customer’s home and mail it to the office for processing. However, missing forms and data entry mistakes would frequently slow this process down.

After digitizing its forms and connecting them to an automated workflow, Activ8 no longer has to deal with lost paperwork and data entry mistakes. It can now assess solar readiness and even process customer payments without having to wait for lengthy approvals.

Your Team Is Constantly Switching Between Different Systems

There are applications for practically every business function. However, when your team is frequently jumping between different apps, they’re also wasting valuable time.

One example is matching invoices against purchase orders to verify their authenticity and identify any discrepancies. Performing these steps involves logging into multiple systems, but it can easily take hours depending on how many invoices you need to verify.

With workflow software, you can connect your forms to your accounting system to perform this matching automatically and save your accounts payable team a great deal of time.

You’re Facing Compliance Issues

Finally, another reason to adopt workflow software is if you’re facing compliance issues. 

Just consider the expense approval process. Employees are entitled to reimbursement when they make company-related expenses.

However, ensuring compliance with your expense claim policy isn’t always easy. Expenses that aren’t covered can slip through the cracks if your finance team is reviewing each claim manually.

Automation initiatives can help you address compliance issues. For example, you can create forms that connect to your accounting system and flag any discrepancies for review. You can even require that employees submit receipts for each expense.

If your company continues to encounter the scenarios described above, then it’s time to start exploring automation initiatives.

Automation Initiatives You Can Start Today

There’s a reason why 93% of business decision-makers plan to extend the use of automation across their company — it can improve productivity, reduce repetitive tasks, and lower costs. 

Leveraging automation software can have the same positive impacts on your company. But where do you even start?

Here we’ll look at a few automation initiatives that you can get started with using frevvo.

Create Digital Signature Workflows

Obtaining signatures on paper forms can take days or even weeks. If you’re still relying on paper forms, one of the first automation initiatives you should tackle is to create dynamic forms. 

With frevvo’s drag-and-drop form builder, you can easily design and customize electronic forms without any coding.

You can also position a signature control anywhere in your form, so you can collect wet and digital signatures from any device.

Forms rarely live in isolation. They’re typically part of larger workflows that consist of people, data, and business systems.

With frevvo, you can connect your forms to a document approval workflow, define who they need to reach, and notify approvers that a form requires their signature. 

Validate Form Data Automatically 

Few things are as frustrating as having to send a form back because it contains missing or invalid data. This wastes valuable time and slows down key processes.

While electronic forms enable you to capture data faster, they’re still prone to data entry errors like incorrect formats and missing values.

Business rules enable you to add dynamic behavior to your forms. For example, you can specify custom formats for certain fields and display errors if the data doesn’t fit the requirements.

Here’s an example of what that looks like:

It’s a simple yet highly effective way to prevent simple errors from slowing a process down.

Pre-Populate Form Fields

Employees waste time when they have to manually fill out the same forms over and over. The next automation initiative you can undertake is to automate manual data entry. 

With frevvo’s connectors, you can seamlessly connect your forms to external systems like SQL databases, Google Sheets, or any cloud service that you use. Once connected, you can have your forms automatically pull in data from any source.

Here’s an example of a purchase order that automatically pulls in customer data:

Pre-populating fields greatly cuts down on manual data entry. It also helps minimize the risk of human errors (e.g., typing a “0” instead of a “9”).

Connect Workflows to External Databases

Instead of switching back and forth between different systems, you can connect your workflows to the applications and databases that your company already uses.

For example, you can connect an employee onboarding workflow to your HR system. When new hires fill out and submit their onboarding forms, their information will automatically show up in your HR system. It’s more efficient than copying and pasting data from one source to another.

Streamline Approvals With Dynamic Routing

Some forms require multiple approvers before they can be processed. But routing documents manually is slow and cumbersome. 

With frevvo, you can streamline approvals and seamlessly move electronic forms from one person to the next. There’s no coding required when you use the workflow builder.

Here’s an example of an expense claim workflow:

You can also incorporate dynamic routing into your workflows. For example, you can add a rule that routes expense claims to a department head if it’s over a certain value.

There’s no shortage of automation initiatives that you can implement. But the ones detailed above offer a great starting point.

Best Practices to Help Your Automation Initiatives Succeed

Automation can be a complete game-changer, but making the transition isn’t easy. 88% of IT decision-makers reported at least one challenge with a process automation project.

Follow these best practices if you want to succeed with your automation initiatives.

1. Make Automation a Priority

72% of organizations that reported success with automation say that making automation a strategic priority was one of the most important factors. 

Don’t let automation projects take a backseat. Get buy-in from your entire team and have managers set a positive example by leveraging automation in their daily work.

2. Establish Clear Goals

It’s essential that you track and measure your results. But first, you’ll need to establish clear goals. This will help you plan your automation initiatives and keep your team on track.

3. Use the Right Automation Tools

For any automation initiative to succeed, you need the right tools. Choose a tool that can help you scale your automation efforts. It should include essential features like a no-code interface, a visual form builder, real-time tracking, built-in mobility, and third-party integrations.

4. Pick an Appropriate Process

Don’t overwhelm yourself by automating all your processes at once. Start with “lightweight” processes like travel requests before moving on to more critical ones.

5. Provide Employee Training

Automation initiatives will undoubtedly bring about new changes to your team’s workflow. Make sure to define the roles and responsibilities for the stakeholders involved in the process, and provide adequate training to help your team become well-versed with the software.

Conclusion

Whether you’re onboarding new hires, preparing purchase orders, or approving travel requests, there’s no reason to continue losing valuable time to repetitive tasks. 

Workflow software like frevvo can help you manage and advance your automation initiatives. The platform features a fully visual interface, so there’s no coding required.

The post How Workflow Software Helps You Manage Automation Initiatives appeared first on frevvo Blog.

These processes are more useful when they’re connected to data. Examples include connecting time off request forms and onboarding workflows to your HR system.

So how can you connect forms and data to your workflows? How can you make your data available to the right person at the right time?

The answer is with data workflows.

In this article, we’ll cover what a data workflow is and look at use cases with examples. We’ll also go through the exact steps to creating a data workflow.

Click the links below to jump ahead:

• What Is a Data Workflow?
• Data Workflow Use Cases
• How to Create a Data Workflow

What Is a Data Workflow?

A workflow is a series of activities that you perform to accomplish a specific task. It allows you to standardize how work gets done and ensure consistent results.

Workflows provide more structure to your processes and improve efficiency. They also help minimize the risk of errors and safeguard against loss or theft in some cases.

However, workflows rarely live in isolation. They typically contain data, which is often forwarded to a manager for review or a client for a signature.

A data workflow moves data in business systems from one step to the next. It’s often driven by forms and documents.

As an example, consider a purchase order workflow — an employee fills out a PO and routes it to their manager for review and approval. 

This workflow uses all kinds of business data, such as:

• Product names, descriptions, and pricing information
• Part numbers and existing supplies from an inventory database
• Approved vendors from a vendor management system

Even the number of approvers could depend upon data in external systems. For example, you might require additional approvers for POs above a certain value. 

Managing the flow of data between different systems isn’t easy. If your systems aren’t connected, employees will waste time switching between different applications. 

It’s an inefficient and error-prone way of working. An employee could enter the wrong data or forget to update records in a database.

Data workflows enable you to connect your processes to business systems like databases and applications, allowing your employees to work more productively.

Data Workflow Use Cases

There are countless use cases for data workflows, but here are just a few that you can create with workflow automation software like frevvo.

Employee Onboarding

A strong onboarding process integrates new hires into your company and prepares them for their roles. It can also increase engagement and retention rates.

But before a new hire can start working, you’ll need to prepare various forms for tax and legal purposes. You’ll also need to add new employees to internal authentication systems and assign equipment like computers and phones.

With frevvo, you can create data workflows to:

• Collect personal information
• Enter employees into payroll systems
• Set up company accounts and assign equipment

Here’s an example of an employee onboarding form:

The data in the form automatically routes to HR for processing. You can even set up a workflow that routes the data to IT to get a new hire entered into internal authentication systems.

Employee Offboarding

Every company experiences turnover. That’s when employees leave or are let go for various reasons. When this happens, you want to ensure that your bases are covered.

Offboarding is the process of formally separating an employee from your company. It encompasses different processes, like:

• Revoking access to sensitive data
• Collecting company equipment
• Documenting institutional knowledge
• Conducting exit interviews
• Transferring job responsibilities
• Issuing final paychecks

With frevvo, you can create data workflows that initiate these processes. When an employee leaves, their manager can fill out a form and have the data routed to HR to issue a final paycheck and to IT to revoke access credentials.

Procurement

Procurement is another area that can benefit greatly from data workflows, as these processes are often weighed down by tedious and repetitive tasks.

To procure the goods or services you need, you would fill out a purchase order with details like product descriptions, quantities, prices, and delivery dates. Creating a purchase order would be more efficient if you connect your forms to a database that you and a vendor maintain.

An employee simply selects the product they need to order from a picklist, and fields like item descriptions and unit prices automatically fill in.

Here’s an example of how that looks:

You can take this a step further. For example, you can connect your forms to a vendor’s database so that employees can check how much inventory is available before placing an order.

Contract Approvals

Most business deals start with a contract before any work starts. The contract approval process can vary, but it generally follows these steps:

1. Contract origination
2. Contract review and approval
3. Signatory contract review
4. Contract amendment
5. Contract execution

However, lengthy contraction times can occur when you don’t have a streamlined process to review contracts and manage change requests.

A data workflow can help you streamline contract approvals. For example, you can set up digital signature approvals and add dynamic routing based on the data entered.

Expense Claims

A third of organizations surveyed take eight days or longer to process expense claims. This can happen if an employee’s claim gets rejected because it contains out-of-policy items.

Data workflows allow you to replace the tedious act of filling out expense claims and entering transaction data into a spreadsheet — something that employees know all too well.

What’s more, once an expense claim is approved, the data can be sent to an accounting system so the employee is reimbursed and the company’s books are updated right away.

With frevvo, you can connect your forms to a database that contains a list of items eligible for reimbursement. You can even set up customized workflows that route expense claims above certain values. This can help prevent expense fraud.

How to Create a Data Workflow

70% of business executives say that customer and account data appear in too many places to easily make sense of it. This can happen when you have data that exists in siloes.

With frevvo’s workflow automation software, you can connect your workflows to the business applications and cloud services you already use. This enables data to flow seamlessly between different systems.

Follow these steps to get started.

1. Select a Workflow

The first step is to choose a workflow that you want to connect to an external system. It should follow a repeatable series of steps and accomplish a specific task — onboarding a new hire, approving a sales contract, etc.

Start with any workflows that are isolated from your business systems. 

For example, you might notice that when employees submit a time-off request form, they have to ask their manager how much time they can take off. In this instance, you could create a form that automatically pulls in this data.

Here’s an example of a form that displays the number of PTO days that employees have:

Employees can simply select their names from the picklist and see how much time off they can request without having to ask their managers. If their request is approved, the data in the connected Google Sheet updates automatically.

2. Create a Data Workflow Diagram

The next step is to create a workflow diagram — a visual representation of a workflow that uses standardized symbols to show each step from start to finish.

Gather as much information as you can to help with this step. Walk through the workflow yourself and seek input from those involved to ensure you’re not missing anything.

Then list each step between the start and endpoints of the workflow. What happens at each step, and who’s responsible? Make sure to document these as you create your workflow diagram.

frevvo’s workflow wizard makes it easy to map out your workflows.

Enter a name for each step, and the wizard will automatically generate a fully functioning workflow with a basic form and dynamic routing.

Creating workflows from scratch gives you more flexibility. But if you want to speed up your automation efforts, you can choose from over 40 workflow automation templates.

3. Connect Your Forms and Workflow to a Data Source

With frevvo’s connectors, you can connect your forms and workflows to the applications, databases, and cloud services your company uses. This enables you to reduce repetitive tasks like manual data entry.

Here’s an example of a form that pulls in customer information from a database:

Employees won’t have to switch back and forth between a vendor management system. All they have to do is select a customer from a picklist, and details like contact names, phone numbers, and addresses automatically port in.

You can also connect your forms and workflows to external systems to:

• Match invoices against corresponding purchase orders 
• Display reimbursable items for expense claims and flag discrepancies
• Show vacation time available with data from an HR system

These are just some examples, but the applications are practically endless. You can use connectors to read and write data from a wide variety of business systems, allowing your team to work more productively.

68% of employees say they spend at least 30 minutes a day switching between apps. 

Connecting systems will allow you to eliminate data silos and make the right data accessible. You can connect to virtually any HTTP-based web service via an API.

4. Save Documents and Data to Business Systems

When you create new data, you also want to update external systems. 

For example, once you’ve onboarded a new hire, you’d want to enter their records into your HR system. However, manually copying and pasting data from one system to another is tedious and prone to errors.

With frevvo, you can write data to a SQL database, save PDFs to a document management system, update records in your cloud services, and more.

Watch the video below to see how you can save data to SharePoint:

With frevvo’s point-and-click wizard, you can automatically save data from forms and workflows to your SharePoint library or list.

5. Test and Deploy Your Data Workflow

At this point, you should now have a form and a workflow connected to an external business system. But you’ll want to test your workflow to ensure that everything works.

A good place to start is to implement User Acceptance Testing (UAT) — a type of testing that end users perform. If you’re implementing a data workflow to streamline procurement, make sure to get input from those on the purchasing team.

Once you’ve finished addressing any concerns that users have, you can deploy your new data workflow. Remember to provide training and update your standard operating procedures (SOP) to include the new information.

6. Analyze and Continue to Optimize

Even after you’ve deployed a new data workflow, your work isn’t finished. You need to analyze your workflows to ensure you’re getting the results you’re looking for.

frevvo’s analytics dashboard enables you to track key performance indicators (KPIs) like cycle times and output across an entire workflow.

Continually seek ways to improve your workflows, as small changes over time can lead to huge long-term improvements.

Start Creating and Automating Your Data Workflows Today

Companies rely on various workflows to get work done. But those workflows are more powerful when they’re connected to data, as neither stands alone.

frevvo’s workflow automation software enables you to connect your forms and workflows to the business systems and applications that your company already uses.

With frevvo’s connectors, you can extend your workflows into the cloud — save data from your forms to a SharePoint library or list, pre-fill forms with data from your SQL databases, read/write workflow data to Google Apps, and more.

The post Data Workflow: Definition, Use Cases, and How to Get Started appeared first on frevvo Blog.

But once your company grows and you have entire teams and departments dedicated to specific business processes — like sales or customer service — a lack of integration can lead to severe inefficiencies.

For example, suppose your support agents use a helpdesk completely separate from the CRM your account managers use. In that case, both sides lack any true insight into the journey of every customer they interact with.

Workflow integration can help you avoid these issues, eliminate inefficiencies throughout your company, and streamline the customer experience.

In this article, we’ll explain what workflow integration is, showcase examples, and guide you through the process of integrating workflows in your own company.

To skip ahead, click the links below:

• What Is Workflow Integration?
• Why You Need Workflow Integration
• How to Start Integrating Workflow in Your Company
• Workflow Integration Example: Sales and Shipping Samples
• Common Workflow Integration Challenges and How to Overcome Them 

What Is Workflow Integration?

Workflow integration (also known as process integration) is the act of integrating the tools, business systems and workflows different teams use when interacting with customers or completing certain tasks.

Most companies use a wide range of software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps and tools to complete different business processes. This can lead to data silos and create a culture of poor interdepartmental collaboration and communication.

Workflow integration is a process and cultural shift away from the traditional patchwork approach toward the consolidation of different tools, techniques, and workflows.

For example, if your marketing team works with multiple platforms, they have to move data across them manually to generate meaningful reports. You could integrate the platforms and automatically generate full-scale performance reports, saving time and creating more accurate reports faster.

If you’re still not on board with the idea, let’s cover some of the core benefits of integrating your workflows.

Why You Need Workflow Integration

You need workflow integration to combat workplace silos, streamline workflows, and eliminate communication issues.

Combat Data Silos

The average company used 110 different SaaS applications in 2021. That almost guarantees a lack of cohesion throughout the different workflows in your organization.

This large number of different applications (when not integrated) leads to data silos, increasing the risk of human error. It also leads to slow and poor decision-making (not based on the whole picture).

If sales and marketing are working in different tools to nurture and close leads, they won’t be able to deliver a congruent customer experience. If your sales and accounting staff use different tools, it can lead to mistakes in billing and ruin customer relationships.

Speeds Up Complex Processes

A complex workflow often adds unnecessary work, leading to overstaffed teams and extra payroll expenses. In a recent survey, 43% of companies said they plan to reduce staff due to technology integration.

A core tenet of effective business process management is to create cohesive workflows that are as easy to complete as possible. Working through five different tools and manually moving data from each stage to the next is obviously not part of that.

By making it easier to complete a complex process (like generating a marketing performance report through integrations), you can give your staff more time to focus on tasks that matter or even downsize staff that isn’t necessary anymore.

Integration is the Foundation for End-to-End Visibility

67% of organizations are implementing business process automation solutions that increase end-to-end visibility across different systems. That means they’re investing in integrating various solutions and creating one cohesive dashboard for their operations.

Robust integrations between all your applications (either native or through APIs/third-party tools) are the foundation of impactful workflow automation.

If you want a better handle on how your company is doing in real-time, from processes like billing to support and even content creation, you need to invest in integrations.

How to Start Integrating Workflows in Your Company

Now that we’ve covered the benefits of workflow integration let’s dive into how you can actually start integrating workflows throughout your company.

1. Identify Inefficient and Detached Workflows

The first step is to identify which workflows need the most attention. You’re looking for a workflow that fits the following criteria:

• You use multiple different software tools to manage it.
• Multiple different teams or departments are involved at different stages.
• There are multiple bottlenecks caused by either software or inefficient structure — for example, one person having to review everything manually.

Once you start looking for them, you’re probably going to find more than one. But if you’re just starting out — unless it’s a huge project with a generous budget — it’s better to start with a single workflow.

So single out the process you think is the most impaired by a lack of integration and get to work.

2. Map Out the Different Tools and People Involved

Next up, you want to map out the different tools and people involved with completing various tasks within the process.

For example, for closing and billing new customers, your employees will use tools like invoicing software, payment processors, and digital signature software for the contract.

The people involved are at least a sales representative and a manager to sign off on the deal, but over time, also someone from accounting or data analysis.

Just go through each stage of the workflow, each specific task, and think who does what using which tools.

3. (Where Possible) Replace with a Complete Solution or Native Integrations

Once you’ve broken down the workflow, it’s time to integrate the various moving pieces.

There are three different approaches here:

• Custom solution: Develop a complete in-house solution (or pay a vendor to do so).
• API-based integrations: Use an application programming interface (API) to develop custom integrations between all your tools.
• Native integrations: Find a platform that integrates with all your tools or a set of apps that all integrate “natively” with each other already. Native just means the platform itself created and supports the integration.

A custom solution is prohibitively expensive for most companies and also requires a serious time commitment.

Native integrations are great when available, but outside of maybe marketing, it’s not realistic to expect complete integration across the workflow.

Often, the best you can do is find a platform that natively integrates with some other tools and also offers a robust API that makes it easy to integrate with the rest.

Don’t be scared of working with an API. “Native integrations” are often facilitated through that technology, and even with a smaller dev team, you can usually set things up in weeks, not months.

4. Automate Repetitive Tasks & Optimize the Overall Process

Once you’ve connected the tools, you should work to automate as many previously manual tasks as possible.

A few common examples of tasks you can automate include:

• Moving data
• Double-checking numbers against a source
• Generating cross-platform reports
• Notifying other teams or employees based on task status

5. Measure the Impact of Your Improved Workflow and Make Adjustments

Once you’ve created a new cohesive workflow, it’s time to measure the results.

It’s much easier if you use a core platform that integrates with the other tools you use. For example, with a workflow automation platform like frevvo, you get a real-time view of the state of the process.

For example, an accounting overview of budgetary compliance and all expenses might look something like this:

In this case, a successful transition would be a reduction in spending exceeding the budget, as well as more accurate forecasting and budgeting in the future.

Workflow Integration Example: Sales & Shipping Samples

Varex Imaging is an independent supplier of medical image processing solutions with a complex sales process.

Typically, it involves requesting and shipping custom samples to interested companies around the globe.

Before using frevvo to integrate the different stages of the workflow, the process took place over email and other platforms, and it often lasted a whole month. The new workflow that uses smart forms with conditional routing and automatic notifications has sped up the process to just two days on average.

Instead of:

1. Manually looking up information in the ERP
2. Then communicating to sales reps through email
3. Looking up customer information in the CRM
4. And finally, using an invoicing tool to create the invoice

Everything happens on a single, integrated platform.

From creating and approving a request to generating and sending out packing slips and invoices, frevvo handles it all. 

No longer is a specific person responsible for starting the process. Any sales rep can initiate a shipping request workflow. That removes one of the most important bottlenecks that drastically slowed down this process.

Plus, the forms include a point-and-click wizard and dynamic rules that reduce human errors and ensure each application is filled out correctly, avoiding having to start from scratch because of things like address typos.

Dynamic business logic ensures the right compliance information is filled out to avoid delays and issues. And conditional routing sends each form to the right approver automatically.

All-in-all, it creates a much faster, more cohesive workflow without any of the typical bottlenecks that lead to serious delays.

The backbone for this transformation was the robust native integrations that frevvo brings to the table — it can read/write from your SQL database, save documents, or form data to SharePoint or any other document management system. 

frevvo also integrates with Google’s entire suite of Workspace tools (Sheets, Docs, etc.) and supports Active Directory or other LDAP-based systems. And if you want to integrate other tools, our robust programmatic API makes creating custom integrations simple.

Common Workflow Integration Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Before you jump in and try to maximize the benefits of workflow integration for your company, you need to understand the most common pitfalls of the process. 

No Budget/Time to Develop In-House Solutions

Even if you’re interested in digital transformation, most companies simply don’t have the budget or time to develop in-house solutions. 

Work on finding well-supported solutions with robust native integrations, and use third-party software to fill in where needed.

For some use cases, such as marketing, you can find a suite of tools where everything works together, from the CRM to the email marketing tool to the social media planning platform, etc.

But even for more complex use cases where this isn’t possible, you’re not out of options.

Wide Variety of Apps with Limited Native Integrations

The starting point for many companies is that they use a large number of different SaaS applications for most business processes.

While native integration is the cheapest solution, it’s unfortunately not realistic for most use cases.

Instead, the best option is to choose third-party workflow automation software and use its API to bridge the gap.

The benefit of using this type of software as the foundation is that it’s naturally designed to integrate and process data from other sources, which makes using the API a lot less challenging than when trying to integrate five different platforms separately.

Lack of Employee Buy-In in New Processes and Tools

To help get your employees on board, include them in the decision-making process, and highlight that the end goal is to make their lives easier.

If you make it about the employees, instead of making them feel like you’re just working to replace them, you’ll get a lot more buy-in from low-level employees.

Their interest in the project is crucial for swift and successful adoption of your new tools and workflows, so you can’t afford for them to be jaded and uninterested.

Want to Integrate and Automate Workflows Without Breaking the Bank? 

Are you ready to start integrating your workflows and automating the many routine tasks that hide in your inefficient processes?

Once you’ve figured out which workflow to tackle and defined which tools and roles are involved in the process, you’re ready to start implementing a new solution.

frevvo is a workflow automation platform that offers drag-and-drop visual workflow building tools and an easy-to-use visual rule builder to help companies transform how they work. Our robust API also makes it easy for teams to integrate a wide variety of tools to create seamless workflows.

The post Workflow Integration: What It Is And How You Can Use It to Boost Productivity appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Examples are simple data entry (because of missing integrations), creating reports, sending follow-up emails, or even training new employees in internal software.

The good news is that you can optimize significant chunks of workflows in every department, from sales to support, marketing, and IT.

Digital process automation is the next evolution of “business process management,” where the aim is to automate as much of the process as possible, not just optimize the workflows.

In this article, we’ll break down what DPA is, cover the top benefits, highlight some examples of it in action, and show you how to implement it for your business.

Want to skip ahead? Use the links below:

• What Is Digital Process Automation?
• Benefits of Digital Process Automation
• Digital Process Automation Examples
• How to Implement Digital Process Automation in Your Company

What Is Digital Process Automation?

Digital process automation is an approach where you use digital technologies to automate menial/unnecessary parts of existing processes and workflows.

For example, you can create an entire digital onboarding process that trains new employees in crucial software and methodologies without needing much (if any) active guidance from senior team members.

Traditionally, this is a multi-day or even multi-week process where someone would need to spend significant time with the new hire in person.

But with DPA, your new employee could learn most of their responsibilities without taking up any unnecessary time from other workers.

Typically you achieve this by using some form of business process automation software. It will bridge the gap between learning platforms, software tools, and the employee, creating a repeatable process that you can use for any new employee.

Digital Process Automation (DPA) vs. Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

While digital process automation and robotic process automation sound similar, RPA focuses more on specific tasks than high-level business processes.

An example of RPA is an application that automatically scans spreadsheets for financial information and fills out the necessary tax forms.

On the other hand, DPA focuses more on managing the human elements and interplay between different software applications used for business processes. For example, you can automate the invoice approval process, using dynamic rules to ensure applications always reach the right person.

Benefits of Digital Process Automation

The name gives it away — the core benefits of DPA are all things that seem like natural results of automation: saving time, lowering costs, reducing human errors.

But let’s take a closer look at what the data says about DPA and what it can do for your business.

Cost Savings

On average, McKinsey predicts digital automation will reduce costs in health care by as much as 30%.

While some of these cost savings come from RPA applications and actual robots, anyone who’s been to a hospital knows how clunky the managerial processes can be. It leaves a lot of room for efficiency improvements through DPA.

By eliminating slack and reducing human errors and delays, DPA can help you reduce the costs involved with complex and demanding processes.

Save Time and Speed Up Processes

Are you tired of internal approval processes that take weeks or even months to finish? Using email or Slack, it’s easy for miscommunication and simple forgetfulness to bog down a workflow.

With DPA, you don’t have to worry about any of that. For example, Cricket Australia sped up its typical approval processes by 50% using frevvo.

With automated notifications, smart assignment rules, less manual work, and integrations across platforms, DPA can really speed things up. There’s no downtime between each step, so you can cut the average time spent on your workflows, sometimes cutting weeks down to days.

Lighten the Managerial Workload

Gartner predicts 69% of tasks currently done by managers will be automated by 2024.

With notification systems and automated approval workflows, managers can spend more time on training new employees and performing tasks that matter, not checking in and micromanaging.

With a system that oversees each step in a process, managers also get a unique real-time view of the processes they’re responsible for. Instead of having to ask around, they can immediately identify problems like overdue payments or contracts.

Reduce Human Errors and Delays

By removing the (often unreliable) human element, you can reduce the risk of human errors in cross-platform data entry and avoid delays caused by miscommunication through process stages.

While automation can seem scary to low-level employees, they’re often the ones that appreciate DPA the most. The software handles menial tasks like notifying managers and adds a safety net against errors with dynamic rules for form submissions — like checking the format of entered phone numbers for contacts.

Digital Process Automation Examples

So DPA sounds great in theory, but you might be wondering what it looks like in real life — how it actually changes the working lives of employees.

In this section, we cover three examples of DPA in various business processes, from onboarding to sales to accounting.

Recruiting & Onboarding

First, let’s take a look at how DPA transformed the lives of the HR staff at Living Innovations. Before frevvo, they used paper documents to track applicants and onboard new staff in 15 different offices across four states.

Needless to say, this meant a lot of calls and even traveling between offices during the hiring process.

By going digital and using frevvo’s low-code builder, they were able to automate their applicant tracking and employee onboarding processes in just a few weeks.

Now they have an electronic system that automatically generates required documents like a W-4, I-9, etc.

The result? Both the time and costs associated with hiring a new employee were virtually cut in half.

Invoice Processing & Accounting

Another process you can easily automate with DPA software is invoice processing or any other part of billing or the accounts payable process.

Invoice automation can help you populate invoices with data (like product prices, etc.) from other platforms and databases.

 It can also automatically validate amounts, notify the right decision-makers, and more.

When everything happens in a controlled system, invoicing is faster, less prone to errors, and better for compliance and audits.

You can even bake stakeholders into the process. This can include notifying key suppliers immediately whenever a big order for certain products comes in.

Sales Processes

But it’s not just internal processes like hiring and accounting that you can optimize with DPA. You can also transform your sales processes and how you interact with leads, prospects, and existing clients.

medi USA is a manufacturing company that produces a wide range of products, from medical aids to fashion pieces.

With hundreds of different customers across the country (and the globe), it’s a lot of work to do things like approve credit or get contracts signed and approved.

With frevvo’s drag-and-drop automation platform, medi’s IT team was able to completely digitize and automate the credit approval and contracting processes. Instead of a time-consuming process using physical contract agreements, these forms are now automatically generated as legally-binding signable digital documents.

How to Implement Digital Process Automation in Your Company

Now that you’ve learned some of the benefits of DPA and seen examples of it in action, you’re probably tempted to start taking advantage of this technology in your own company.

This section breaks down exactly how you can do that, starting from the very bottom — figuring out what processes need improvement the most.

1. Identify Ineffective Processes

The first step toward using digital process automation software correctly is figuring out which processes to tackle.

To help you decide, focus on employee and customer experiences. Does your customer support get complaints about contract approvals taking too long? Which processes do the team members (doing the hands-on work) think are clunky or need improvement?

That’s a great place to start. The end goal of a DPA process is to make your employees’ lives easier and deliver a better customer experience.

2. Map Out the Ideal Workflow

Once you’ve settled on a process to improve, you can move on to the process mapping stage. Basically, you visually break down what the current process looks like, from start to finish.

Include different factors like all tasks, authorizations, required documents, and more. 

From there, try to re-imagine the workflow without the fluff. Your goal should be to eliminate menial and repetitive tasks wherever possible.

For example, take verifying invoice price points against the numbers in your database. This type of data entry or verification can often be automated through integrations.

3. Set Goals & KPIs to Measure the Success of Your DPA Effort

The next thing you need to do is set clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) for your project.

Effective goals for digital process automation include:

• Less employee time spent on menial tasks
• Overall cost reduction
• A faster and more cohesive customer journey
• Integration of all required business applications

Figure out what matters the most to your company, and then define how you’ll measure the outcome.

For example, you can do a performance review before and after the changes to see the difference in costs and hours spent. You can also survey customers and stakeholders to gauge their reactions to the change.

4. Find a Digital Platform to Help Put it Into Practice

The best DPA tools help companies without million-dollar development budgets transform their business processes.

For example, low-code workflow automation software like frevvo makes it easy to get started.

With a drag-and-drop builder, you can visually map out how the process will take place.

You can then add dynamic business rules at each stage that control who will be notified or what forms to generate.

5. Customize Workflow Templates to Your Company’s Needs

Starting from scratch isn’t necessary. It can often be easier to start with industry templates and simply customize them to your needs.

For example, in this form template for onboarding employees, you can add any relevant information you need and then edit the follow-up process accordingly.

6. Track the Results and Adjust Where Needed

Whenever businesses take on a digital transformation project, executives often tend to be quite optimistic. They’ve seen the data on how it can transform their business, and they’re ready to start benefiting from that.

The truth is that you probably won’t perfect a process on the first try. Even if you see benefits like faster processing times or happier employees, don’t assume your job is done. Track the results against your goals and KPIs, and adjust the course where needed. 

For example, you might notice a completely new bottleneck that has arisen because of the new process — even if it’s still faster than the original one. Often, fixing this is as easy as getting more specific with business rules and sharing responsibilities.

The long-term goal of DPA is to optimize your core business functions completely and automate as much as possible. Don’t just assume that the first thing you implement will work perfectly.

7. Start Automating & Improving Other Processes

Once you’re happy with how the business process flows and the customer experience it delivers, it’s time to move on and improve other areas of your business.

It can often make sense to start in adjacent areas, as the staff is already tuned in to the idea of automation and process improvement.

For example, if you started off with invoice processing, contracts might be a logical next step.

Quickly Transform Your Processes with Digital Process Automation

Digital transformation doesn’t have to start with a giant multi-million dollar project. The most efficient (and much more affordable) approach is to handle one crucial business process at a time.

The best part is that you can start seeing the benefits in weeks, not months or years. Just be sure to map out the process, set and measure KPIs, and pick the right software.

With frevvo, anyone can design and automate a process — you don’t need senior developers or a giant IT department. Try frevvo’s free trial today to see how simple automating your business processes can be.

The post What Is Digital Process Automation? Definition, Benefits, Examples, and More appeared first on frevvo Blog.

In a best-case scenario, this only leads to confusion when teams have to collaborate. In the worst case, untidy process management can also lead to issues like double-billing, lost deliverables, delays, poor work quality, and more.

Without a reliable system for managing mission-critical business processes, your company isn’t running efficiently.

That’s where process standardization comes in. It can help you break down and document processes so that there’s no friction between teams, and you can cross-assign tasks without issue.

In this article, we’ll cover what a standardized process is, its benefits, and how you can easily standardize and even automate processes using frevvo’s automation software.

Use the links below to explore any section that interests you:

• What Is a Standardized Business Process?
• Why Standardized Processes Are Important to Business Success
• What Is an Example of Business Process Standardization?
• How to Kickstart Standardization with Process Management Software
• Beyond Standardization: Automate Menial Tasks and Workflows

What Is a Standardized Business Process?

A standardized business process is a clearly defined and documented process that remains the same throughout the entire company, regardless of department or team.

It might sound easy in theory — just write it down — but in practice, setting up standardized processes throughout your organization is a challenging task.

• You need to document all existing processes and compare them across teams.
• You must establish standards that are robust enough to withstand key employees leaving.
• You need buy-in from everyone involved.
• You have to bake standardization into the company culture.

These challenges lead to a reality where most companies leave it to individual teams and managers to control their own processes. In some areas, this is fine. 

But when it comes to security, billing, accounting, and other crucial business functions, the cost of potential mixups is too great.

Let’s dive into why process standardization is a must for any business, even an SMB.

Why Standardized Processes Are Important to Business Success

Standardized business processes help you limit risk and improve efficiency by reducing variables. Standardization can have a wide-reaching impact and improve your bottom line.

Reduce Costs and Improve Productivity

69% of executives focus on business processes to improve productivity and reduce costs. As those are the main goals of any manager or executive, that’s not a surprise.

But you might not realize the damage that unchecked processes can do to your overall productivity. Teams in many companies often have different operating modes, which can lead to all sorts of confusion, double-bookings, and delays.

And if your onboarding workflow is to have new staff learn “how things work around here,” it can take weeks or even months before they’re productive.

With well-documented processes, there’s no confusion between teams, and new employees can start contributing meaningful work from day one.

Reduce the Risk of Costly Human Errors

In our new digital world, a single slip of a finger or poorly thought out password can cost companies big. The average cost of a data breach caused by human errors was $3.3 million in 2020.

As work is increasingly digitized, more and more employees have access to sensitive data and software that can break processes or lead to serious problems if leaked.

Standardized processes are a must for maintaining the security of your company’s and your client’s data. Company-wide rules on two-factor authentication are a good example.

Stop Losing Crucial Work Knowledge Alongside Employees

70% of executives agree that it takes time and money to replace employees with unique work knowledge when they leave.

If you don’t have protocols in place, a single employee will often end up responsible for a business-critical process without documenting how others could handle it. Creating a standardized offboarding process can help you avoid just that.

You can start interviewing resigning employees and creating process documents to smooth over the hand-off process.

Any work you do standardizing processes while they’re working there will also help reduce knowledge loss.

Delivery a High Quality of Work Consistently

By removing the discrepancy between teams and employees, you can eliminate any tendencies toward lower quality work and reduce bugs/flaws in finished products.

For example, an average developer just writing code produces between 15–50 bugs per 1,000 lines of code.

It’s only through a rigorous testing process that your team as a whole can bring that number down and deliver software that works. And it’s the same for other industries as well.

If you have no standard checks in place, you risk sending out defective products to your customers and running customer relationships.

What Is an Example of Business Process Standardization? 

An example of standardizing a business process is how many telemarketing companies write a complete script for their sales associates to follow along.

The telemarketing industry wouldn’t exist without process standardization. Why? It has record-high turnover, with large call centers losing over 44% of employees to attrition each year.

Plus, new hires may have absolutely no idea how to sell products over the phone.

Standardization is what keeps everything going smoothly. Telemarketing companies often have a standard workflow that covers everything from who to call, what to say on the phone, how to respond to objections, and more.

And while it isn’t as visible in other industries, it can be just as useful for your business. A good place to start is with business process modeling, where you visually outline every stage in a process. 

You can, for example, use the process mapping method from Six Sigma.

That’s what a simplified process map for making sales calls might look like.

Be careful not to overlook any potential stages and dilemmas a worker might have. Every uncovered question is a potential bottleneck.

This type of modeling is a key part of any process improvement plan, but it’s only the first step. The best way to make a company-wide impact is to use a dedicated software solution.

How to Kickstart Standardization with Process Management Software

70% of companies use software tools to help them optimize their processes and experience benefits like reduced complexity, increased collaboration, and improved internal and external process interactions.

Business process management software makes it easy to standardize processes and helps ensure your employees follow protocol.

Let’s walk through how you can use software to standardize processes.

1. Create and Reuse Workflow Templates Throughout Your Company

With frevvo, you can use and edit our catalog of 40+ workflow templates for a variety of business processes.

You can also create your own custom templates, save them, and reuse them throughout your company.

For example, you can set up approval workflows with multiple steps and conditions that ensure high-quality work every time.

When setting up conditions and business rules, it’s important to consider every possibility. Remember the process modeling exercise from earlier, and dedicate the same level of detail to every workflow. 

Every set of rules will directly impact how your employees do their job, so don’t dial it in. This is the modern equivalent of a 100-page standard operating procedure document.

2. Manage Interactive Processes with Custom Forms and Review Protocols

Dynamic forms with custom requirements can also help you manage your workflow.

With these forms, you minimize mundane human errors like forgetting to fill in a required field or using the wrong format for an address.

frevvo’s drag-and-drop dynamic form builder goes way beyond basic rules. You can even connect the form output with automated approval workflows.

3. Generate Official Forms From Digital Data with a PDF Mapper

You can even use a PDF mapper to generate custom forms like a Federal or State W-4 or any internal documents you may have.

These forms make onboarding smooth and painless if the job requires handling a lot of lengthy official documents.

frevvo’s PDF mapper features a simple drag-and-drop interface that makes it surprisingly easy to use. You can use it for official federal or state documents or internal documentation without issue.

4. Get a New Level of Visibility of All Processes with Real-Time Tracking

It’s not easy to stay on top of everything going on in your business at any given time — especially in an increasingly remote work environment.

If you’re investing in software, you want a dashboard with metrics that show how your team members perform in real-time.

frevvo lets you build a custom dashboard to highlight your key performance metrics. Any major stakeholder in a process, like a VP of finance, can create a live view that gives them the data points they need.

With our robust API, you can also include crucial data points from your enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. 

5. Gradually Work At and Improve Your Processes

With access to real-time data and templated workflows, business process management (BPM) is a lot easier.

But a core tenet of any process improvement methodology is continual improvement. It’s not just about automation and smart solutions but about changing the culture in your organization.

You can map out processes as much as you want, but if your employees don’t follow your rules, it won’t impact your business results.

By finding a methodology that everyone agrees with and setting goals everybody can work toward, you get better cohesion between employees and teams. A company works best when everyone’s pulling in the same direction.

Beyond Standardization: Automate Menial Tasks and Workflows 

Consistent quality comes from a robust and efficient process that overcomes the human tendency to err. But software doesn’t just help you structure your workflows — it can also help you automate significant chunks of them.

The average office worker spends over three hours a day on easily automatable tasks. That’s almost half of an average working day.

Now, some of these are complex tasks that might require an expensive custom-coded solution. But a lot are simple tasks hidden throughout various stages of a process — like notifying a superior or transferring data from one platform to another.

Workflow automation lets you automate these menial tasks, speeding up the overall process and eliminating delays from forgetfulness or human error.

It also lets every employee focus on their own workload with fewer interruptions. It’s easier to get work done when you can jump straight from one task to the next without worrying about the next stage in the process.

Start Putting Process Standardization Into Practice Today

Many process improvement efforts are high-level and theoretical, like 50-page docs on the company’s philosophy of excellence and why each employee should place every screw with abject care.

They have their place, but a more practical application of process standardization will serve most companies better.

Try mapping out your existing processes, figuring out how you can do them better, and then recreating them in BPM software. 

With frevvo, you get drag-and-drop form builders, smart business rules, automation, PDF mappers, and more to help your employees get their jobs done. With robust workflows, you can eliminate the risk of mistakes and faulty products.

You can create an environment where new employees can start their job feeling confident, even if it’s their first time doing the work. Want to see what it can do for your company? Give frevvo a try with a 30-day free trial.

The post What Is a Standardized Process? And Using it to Boost Productivity and Quality appeared first on frevvo Blog.

While BPM and workflow automation aim to improve efficiency, the terms aren’t exactly the same. Understanding the differences will help you find a solution that meets your needs.

In this article, we’ll cover the differences between BPM and workflow automation. We’ll also look at which one is right for you.

Click the links below to navigate to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is Business Process Management (BPM)?
• What Is Workflow Automation?
• BPM vs. Workflow Automation: What’s the Difference?
• BPM vs. Workflow Automation: Which One is Right For You?

What Is Business Process Management (BPM)?

Let’s start by defining a “process.”

A process is a series of activities that you perform to achieve an organizational goal. One of the key aspects of a process is its repeatability.

Take the procurement process as an example. To procure the goods and services that your company needs to operate, you might follow these steps:

1. Identify internal needs
2. Evaluate and select a supplier
3. Negotiate contracts with selected vendors 
4. Approve internal purchase requisition
5. Release a purchase order
6. Receive an invoice
7. Receive and audit delivery

Each step is structured and clearly defined. Most importantly, they provide clarity for employees who are responsible for performing each step.

Procurement is just one process that your company might have. Chances are your company relies on dozens of processes to onboard employees, approve documents, and more.

However, these processes can become inefficient over time if you don’t regularly revise them. So, how do you keep your processes from stagnating? How can you ensure they continue to align with your business goals?

This is where business process management comes in.

BPM is the practice of managing and optimizing existing processes. It uses various tools and methods to support ongoing improvement efforts and measure performance.

BPM is an organizational discipline that encompasses six elements to improve operational efficiency and ensure processes align with organizational goals.

These core elements are:

• Strategic alignment: BPM initiatives should always align with and support your company’s objectives. 
• Governance: Governance provides more structure to your processes. It entails establishing clear roles and responsibilities for your team.
• Methods: Methods refer to the methodologies you use to improve a process. An example is DMAIC, which stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control. 
• Technology: BPM frequently relies on technology to streamline processes. For example, frevvo’s business process automation software lets you automate your processes and reduce repetitive tasks.
• People: For your BPM efforts to succeed, you need support from your entire team. Any holdouts can create friction within the company.
• Culture: Companies must have a culture that supports and embraces continuous improvement to generate consistent results.

In short, BPM is the practice of making business processes more efficient. And BPM software like frevvo makes that process a whole lot easier. 

75% of organizations believe that BPM processes and technologies have helped them accomplish their goals.

Now, let’s look at what workflow automation is.

What Is Workflow Automation?

A workflow is a series of steps that you carry out according to a set of procedural rules to achieve a specific outcome.

Here’s an example of a workflow for purchase orders:

Workflows help you standardize how work gets done and ensure that everyone follows the same set of steps. However, workflows aren’t always efficient.

94% of employees say they perform repetitive and time-consuming tasks in their roles. What’s more, the average knowledge worker spends 60% of their time on non-value tasks like hunting down documents and chasing approvals.

This is where workflow automation comes in.

Workflow automation uses software with rule-based logic to automate a series of tasks with minimal or no human intervention. It can help your company boost productivity, reduce errors, and increase efficiency. 

As an example, consider the steps for an invoice approval workflow:

1. Receive an invoice
2. Verify the contents of the invoice 
3. Check for irregularities and exceptions
4. Approve the invoice
5. Release the payment
6. Record the invoice 

While these steps may seem straightforward, manually performing them can increase cycle times and delay payments. There’s also the risk of errors occurring — an employee could make a calculation error or forget to get the right approvals.

Workflow automation software like frevvo lets you create automated workflows and reduce repetitive tasks. For example, you can set up your workflows to automate document routing and even implement business rules to reduce common errors.

Instead of wasting hours chasing signatures or filling out the same forms, employees can focus on more productive work instead. 

75% of technical leaders report saving the equivalent of four hours a week using workflow automation software.

For example, Central Wyoming College (CWC) had a paper-based process to manage its purchase orders. However, its staff was spending hours on mundane tasks like chasing approvals and filling out forms by hand. Getting a purchase order approved could take days or even weeks.

By using frevvo, Central Wyoming College was able to create an automated purchase order approval workflow. As a result, CWC staff could spend more time on its students and less time on administrative tasks.

Now that we’ve covered BPM and workflow automation, let’s look at what the differences are between the two.

BPM vs. Workflow Automation: What’s the Difference?

Workflows are often part of a much larger process. For example, purchase orders are part of the procurement process to purchase and acquire goods.

With workflow automation, you’re automating steps in a single workflow. This helps reduce time-consuming tasks and increase the scalability of your workflows.

In contrast, BPM looks at the bigger picture. It involves taking a more methodological approach to managing, analyzing, and improving processes across your entire organization.

Let’s use an analogy to further illustrate the difference between BPM and workflow automation.

Imagine that you’re running a restaurant. You’ll have individual workflows to order ingredients, set up the display, prepare dishes, and deliver food to takeout customers. 

However, your customers are complaining because they have to wait a long time. Keep this up, and your restaurant won’t be in business for much longer.

How can you improve the food preparation workflow?

Instead of having staff write down orders on paper, you could equip them with tablets and have orders sent to a terminal in the kitchen. You could also prep ingredients ahead of time, upgrade your equipment, and hire more staff. These measures can help you speed up service.

Of course, any restaurant owner will tell you there’s more to running a restaurant than just preparing meals. There are also the day-to-day operations of the business — ordering inventory, scheduling shifts, complying with safety regulations, closing the register, etc.

If workflow automation involves automating and speeding up individual workflows like food preparation, then BPM is all about managing and optimizing the processes that keep the restaurant running. Both are equally important in the grand scheme of things.

BPM vs. Workflow Automation: Which One is Right For You?

If you’re looking to automate a single workflow, your company can use workflow software to reduce repetitive tasks and increase productivity.

For example, if your accounts payable department is struggling to keep up with invoices, an automated workflow can help streamline approvals and lower processing costs.

However, as your company starts to scale and add new processes, you’ll want to opt for a more robust solution. frevvo’s business process management software gives you all the functionality of a workflow automation platform and more.

The platform includes the following features:

• Visual workflow builder
• Drag-and-drop form builder
• Workflow management
• Dynamic routing
• E-signature support
• Built-in mobility
• Business rules engine
• Notifications and reminders
• Business system integration
• Authentication and security features
• Audit trails
• PDF generation
• Dashboards

With the built-in reporting features, you can measure key performance indicators (KPIs) across all your processes.

Tracking KPIs will help you identify inefficiencies and find ways to make your processes even more efficient.

Get Started With BPM Software Today

To summarize, both BPM and workflow automation aim to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and increase productivity. Companies use them to streamline their operations and lower costs.

The difference lies in their approach. BPM focuses on the bigger picture of managing and optimizing your processes, while workflow automation is about improving a single workflow.

If you’re not sure which one is right for your company, a BPM tool is always a safe bet. You can optimize your processes on a smaller scale and expand your efforts as you start to see results.

The good news is that you don’t need a team of developers or a large budget to get started.

With frevvo’s BPM platform, there’s no coding required — you can use visual tools to design dynamic forms, create automated workflows, and set up business logic. 

Plus, you get enterprise-grade software at an affordable cost with rock-solid security, audit trails, mobile responsiveness, accessibility features, and more.

Sign up for frevvo’s 30-day free trial today to see how our BPM software can help optimize your processes and streamline your operations.

The post BPM vs. Workflow Automation: The Differences and Which Is Right For You appeared first on frevvo Blog.

Businesses must constantly evolve to adapt to these changes. Otherwise, they risk stagnating and losing a competitive advantage.

So, how can you help your company meet new challenges?

Editing your business processes is a good place to start.

Continually revisiting your processes can reveal inefficiencies that are affecting your bottom line. However, you need the right tools to analyze and update your processes.

In this article, we’ll look at how you can edit your business processes using modern and low-code process management software from frevvo.

Click the links below to head to the section you want to learn more about:

• Why You Should Edit Your Business Processes
• How to Analyze Your Business Processes
• How to Edit Your Business Processes With frevvo

Why You Should Edit Your Business Processes 

A business process is a series of steps that help you achieve a specific objective.

Processes are important because they provide structure to your operations. They also deliver more consistent results by establishing guidelines for how employees should perform a task.

70% of organizations are reworking their processes to improve productivity and lower operating costs. However, these aren’t the only reasons to revise a process.

Here’s why it’s important to continually edit your processes.

Processes Become Outdated Over Time 

As a company grows, it adds new processes to support its operations. But these processes can become inefficient over time, which can reduce productivity and lead to more errors.

Let’s use invoice approvals as an example.

Processing invoices is simple enough if you have one vendor — you receive an invoice, verify its contents, and issue payment. However, this process isn’t always scalable.

What happens when you add more vendors?

The original process you followed to approve an invoice can quickly become a bottleneck, which can hurt your ability to make timely payments.

By improving business processes, you can address inefficiencies before they impact your bottom line. For invoices, that could mean deploying an invoice approval workflow.

New Technology is Transforming the Market

Technology can help your company stay competitive. But problems can occur if you don’t update your processes accordingly. 

For example, let’s say your company is implementing new customer relationship management (CRM) software. However, if an employee doesn’t enter new leads into the system, your sales team could miss potential deals.

Industry Regulations Are Constantly Changing

Regulations are always changing, which means your company must update its processes accordingly or risk paying hefty fines due to non-compliance.

One example is the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law that your company must comply with if it collects and stores personal data on EU residents. This applies even if your company doesn’t have a presence in the EU.

A more recent example is the value-added tax (VAT) rules in the EU. Previously, goods valued at €22 or less were exempted from VAT. But as of July 1, 2021, all goods imported into the EU are now subject to VAT.

These are just a few examples of how industry regulations can cause you to change your processes. Failure to comply can result in penalties or even legal action.

How to Analyze Your Business Processes

Before you edit your processes, you should have a clear understanding of how they work and the issues they have. Then you can put together and implement a process improvement plan.

Follow these steps to analyze your processes and identify areas of improvement.

1. Define Which Process to Edit

For now, start with one process to avoid overextending yourself. It should follow a series of well-defined steps and get repeated often.

Then, get input from process stakeholders and create a business process diagram — a flowchart that depicts each step of a process using standardized symbols.

This will give you a top-down view of how a process works, which will come in handy later. Be sure to map a process in its current state.

2. Establish Baselines

It’s important to establish how a process currently performs. Without baseline data, you’ll find it difficult to measure the impact of any changes you make (if any).

Choose a key performance indicator (KPI) to determine success. A common KPI for many business processes is cycle time — how long it takes to complete a process. Reducing cycle time can improve the turnaround times of key activities and reduce operating costs.

3. Conduct a Process Analysis

Inefficiencies aren’t always apparent at a quick glance. Business process analysis involves diving into a process and finding ways to improve it. 

Refer to the process diagram you created in the first step. Then ask the following questions to help with your analysis:

• Where do bottlenecks occur?
• What steps are confusing or even redundant?
• What complaints do employees have?
• Where are human errors likely to occur?
• Can you automate any tasks?

Other methods to conduct a business process analysis include:

• Root cause analysis: Root cause analysis (RCA) is a methodology that seeks to get to the underlying cause of an issue and identify appropriate solutions. A simple tool is the “5 Whys” — asking why five times to get to potential causes of a problem.
• Gap analysis: Gap analysis involves comparing how a process currently performs against its target state. Then your company can analyze the “gap” and evaluation solutions to fill it in.
• Observational analysis: Observational analysis involves observing a process in a real-world setting to identify inefficiencies. It’s used when other data collection methods aren’t effective. 

Finally, don’t forget to seek input from key stakeholders, as they’ll be able to share insights on tasks that are time-consuming or keep them from more productive work.

How to Edit Your Business Processes With frevvo

It’s time to gather the insights you’ve gained and use them to make your business processes more efficient. But you’ll need the right tools to achieve this, which is where frevvo comes in.

Let’s look at how you can edit processes with frevvo’s modern, low-code business process automation software.

1. Install a Template or Create a Workflow From Scratch

frevvo offers a library of pre-built templates for common processes like employee onboarding, contract approvals, expense claims, and more. Each template comes with a basic form and a functional workflow with routing and business rules.

Alternatively, you can use the workflow design wizard to create a workflow from scratch. Simply answer a few questions, and the system will generate a workflow in seconds.

Refer to the business process diagram you created to help with this step.

2. Start Editing Your Workflow

Once you’ve created a basic workflow, it’s time to implement some changes. Here’s an overview of how you can edit and improve your processes in frevvo.

Add Steps and Assign Roles

Adding steps can help you enforce stronger internal controls. For example, you can add a senior executive to a process to conduct a further review.

In the workflow editor, simply click “+” and “Add step.”

Then, you’ll see the following window.

Select the step type and enter a descriptive name. Then select an assignment type. You can select an email address, a user, or a role within the organization.

Add Conditional Routing

Processes can eat up a lot of time when one step always has to go through a certain person. For example, having one person review every purchase order can quickly turn into a bottleneck. Conditional routing lets you route forms to approvers based on certain conditions.

With the rule builder in frevvo, you can create a rule that routes purchase orders above $10,000 to a senior executive.

Here’s what the workflow looks like with the rule above:

With this rule, purchase orders that are below $10,000 only require approval from a manager before they’re routed to Finance.

Here are additional examples of business rules that you can create with the rule builder.

Set Up Notifications

Setting up notifications ensures that approvers are notified right away when they need to take action. In the “Messages” tab, you can customize the message to send to approvers.

Add Escalations

Even with notifications, approvers can get busy with their own work. With frevvo, you can set up escalations and send periodic reminders to keep processes moving in the right direction. You can also reroute the process automatically if a stakeholder is unable to perform the task.

Integrate to Your Databases

Employees waste their time when they have to repeatedly enter the same information. With frevvo, you can integrate your forms to an external system and automatically populate certain fields.

Here’s an example of a purchase order form with fields that pre-populate:

Add Electronic Signatures

In frevvo, you can add a signature control to your forms. Users can click the field and add a signature with their mouse or finger.

frevvo also supports digital signatures, which offer a more secure way of signing documents.

In both cases, the e-signature removes the tedious and time-consuming job of printing, signing, scanning, and emailing documents to the next person in the approval chain. Electronic signatures can also be applied from anywhere, even using a mobile device, which reduces delays due to managers traveling or being away from the office.

Calculate Totals Automatically

Performing calculations manually is time-consuming and prone to errors. In frevvo, you can implement business rules into your forms and perform calculations automatically.

Make Certain Fields Required

Sending a form back because of missing information creates unnecessary delays. To prevent these delays, you can make certain fields required.

If a required field is missing information, the field will display an error, and users won’t be able to submit the form.

These are just some of the different ways you can use frevvo to edit your processes and improve their efficiency. Remember to save any changes you make to your workflows.

3. Conduct User Testing

Before you deploy a new workflow, it’s a good idea to conduct user acceptance testing.

Run through several tests with your team, and get their feedback. Did they run into any issues? Do they have any suggestions? Did they have trouble with a certain task? Take these insights and iterate your process a few times before deploying.

There’s always room for improvement, so continue to change and refine your workflows. Use frevvo’s analytics dashboards to track KPIs and identify areas you can improve.

Start Editing Your Business Processes Today

Inefficient processes can manifest themselves in different ways — long lead times, continuous errors, a backlog of work, dissatisfied users, etc. These inefficiencies can hamper operations and affect productivity.

Fortunately, low-code platforms like frevvo make it easy for you to edit and improve your processes. If you’re comfortable using Excel, you can easily create your own dynamic forms and automated workflows without writing any code.

Ready to get started? Begin your free 30-day trial today to start using frevvo’s low-code platform to edit and improve different processes across your organization.

The post How to Edit Your Business Processes to Make Them More Efficient appeared first on frevvo Blog.

However, problems like role ambiguity, lack of transparency, and low employee engagement can occur when processes aren’t clearly defined — all of which can lead to inconsistent results and poor customer experiences.

So how can you standardize how work gets done? How can you keep your teams aligned and on the same page?

Creating business process flows can be a good place to start.

Keep reading to learn more about business process flows, including what they are, how to create them, and practices to follow to make them work for you.

Click the links below to jump into the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is a Business Process Flow?
• What Is the Value of Creating Business Process Flows?
• 5 Steps to Create a Business Process Flow Diagram
• How to Make Business Process Flows Work For You

What Is a Business Process Flow?

A business process flow is a flowchart or diagram that illustrates each step of a process, including what tasks are performed and who is responsible for them.

Whether it’s preparing a contract or processing an invoice, defining the exact steps needed to achieve a desired outcome helps your company standardize its processes and keep teams accountable.

Here’s an example of a process flow diagram for purchase orders:

A business process diagram uses standardized symbols to denote each step:

• Oval: Ovals indicate the start and endpoints of a process.
• Rectangle: Rectangles represent a task or activity (e.g., create a purchase order).
• Diamond: Diamonds indicate a decision, typically in a yes or no question.
• Arrow: An arrow shows the direction of a process from one step to the next.

Creating process flow diagrams sounds like a no-brainer. But most companies still rely on processes that aren’t documented.

Just 2% of organizations have modeled all of their processes, and 62% have only documented up to 25% of their processes.

If you’re still taking an ad-hoc approach to processes, you’re missing out on opportunities to streamline operations and improve efficiency.

Take Activ8 as an example.

The company had a process to assess solar solution readiness for prospects. But it was unorganized and frequently bogged down by paperwork.

A salesperson would fill out a form in a customer’s home and mail it to the office for someone to manually input the information in the system. These steps had multiple points of failure and created an inefficient sales cycle.

Activ8 turned to frevvo’s business process automation software to fix its process. 

With a new customer order workflow, sales teams can determine eligibility and deliver accurate estimates in an instant. Customers can quickly sign an agreement and have the details emailed to them without having to wait days for snail mail to reach them.

What Is the Value of Creating Business Process Flows?

You may have a clear idea of how a process works. But unless it’s clearly documented, it leaves a lot of room for error — an employee may accidentally skip a step or neglect to follow a rule.

Creating business process flows can help your company internalize processes and continue delivering value to your customers.

Here’s how.

Increases Role Clarity and Engagement

Do your teams know what’s expected of them? All too often, employees receive a task with little guidance and are expected to know what to do.

Nearly 50% of employees across all sectors lack role clarity, suggesting that managers aren’t doing enough to set expectations. This can affect overall performance and even lead to burnout.

What’s more, just 36% of employees are engaged at work. 

Business process flows help improve role clarity as they define what happens in each step of a process and who is responsible for them. 

They also give employees a sense of ownership and autonomy over their work — both of which can increase job satisfaction and engagement. 

Improves Employee Training

New hires don’t just hit the ground running on their first day. Even with a strong onboarding process, employees still need time to learn and adjust to their roles.

In fact, it takes employees at least six months to learn a new job.

You can use process flow diagrams to improve training materials and reduce time to proficiency for new hires. If employees have questions about a process, they can simply refer to the right diagrams.

Promotes Workplace Collaboration

Quality communication is key to promoting better performance. 

However, 80% of employees report feeling stressed because of poor communication. 70% feel overwhelmed because of fragmented information. Providing your employees with ways to communicate helps them stay aligned and encourages collaboration. 

Workflow software like frevvo includes functionality for teams to collaborate and stay connected throughout a process. For example, as a process moves from one step to the next, the system automatically notifies the person in charge.

Helps Enforce Compliance

Every company is subject to regulations. You can implement business rules into your business process flows to enforce compliance with company policies and regulations. 

Since each step of a process is clearly mapped out, organizations can ensure they have the necessary records and documentation in place to meet compliance standards. 

Take Varex as an example. 

Varex incorporates business logic into its forms to require customs compliance information for international shipments. This ensures the logistics team has all the information they need when shipping orders abroad.

Now, let’s look at the actual steps to creating a business process flow. 

5 Steps to Create a Business Process Flow Diagram

As we’ve seen, business process flows are valuable tools that can help increase role clarity, promote collaboration, and enforce compliance. 

They also give you a high-level view of a process, which can uncover inefficiencies and help you put together a process improvement plan.

The good news is that creating a process flow diagram is easier than you think, especially when you use a low-code workflow platform like frevvo.

Follow these steps to get started.

1. Choose a Process

The first step is to choose a process that follows a defined set of steps and achieves a specific objective. It should also help your company generate a financial benefit when it’s optimized.

For example, slow invoice approvals can increase processing costs and hamper your ability to capture early discounts. Optimizing this process would have a positive impact on your company’s bottom line.

Here are other processes you can create flow diagrams for:

• Employee onboarding
• Purchase orders
• Contract approvals
• Procurement management
• Expense claims
• Time off requests
• Timesheet approvals
• Customer onboarding

Creating multiple business process flows at once can be challenging. Start with just one for now before moving on to other processes.

2. Define the Main Components of the Process

The next step is to break down the process. This will help you understand how it works and will come in handy when you create a flow diagram.

Processes consist of the following components:

• Name: Add a descriptive name to your process.
• Boundaries: Establish its start and endpoints.
• Activities: List out each process flow step in detail.
• Inputs: Determine the resources needed to complete a task.
• Outputs: Describe the desired outcome after completing the process.
• Roles: Define who is responsible for each step.

Get input from your team and consider walking through the process yourself to ensure you’re not missing anything.

3. Create Your Process Flow Diagram

The easiest way to create a workflow is to simply use a pen and paper. Draw the start and endpoints, and fill in the rest. Be sure to use standardized symbols as you map out each step.

Using a pen and paper is certainly convenient, as they’re readily available. But it’s not easy to “save” or share with others.

With a business process management (BPM) tool like frevvo, you can use the code-free interface to map and automate each step of a process — no need to hire a team of I.T. developers or allocate a huge budget.

You can start with a pre-built template, which contains a basic form, dynamic routing, and business rules to enable dynamic behavior.

Alternatively, you can also use the workflow wizard to create a business process flow from scratch. Fill out the details for each step, and the system will instantly generate a fully functional workflow.

Once created, you can use the drag-and-drop interface to customize the workflow to fit your business needs. 

4. Analyze and Update the Process

Processes can become inefficient over time as your company grows. Your process flow diagram can help you find ways to improve them.

Ask the following questions as you analyze a process:

• Are there any redundant or unnecessary steps?
• Which steps frequently lead to bottlenecks?
• What tasks can you automate or eliminate?
• Are there any overly complex steps?
• Where are human errors likely to occur?

Let’s look at invoice approvals as an example.

Having one senior executive approve every invoice can quickly become a bottleneck depending on how many invoices your company processes a month. This can delay payments and hurt relationships with your vendors.

To update this process, you can assign more approvers. You can also use frevvo to add conditional routing to your workflow. For example, you can create a rule that routes invoices above certain values to a senior executive.

Here’s an example of an invoice workflow with conditional routing:

Once a manager approves an invoice below $10,000, it automatically routes to Finance for payment. This is just one example of how you can make a process more efficient.

Other ways you can use frevvo to improve workflow efficiency include:

• Auto-populating forms to reduce manual data entry
• Validating form submission data to prevent errors
• Sending reminders to speed up approvals
• Saving documents and writing data to external systems
• Collecting digital signatures instead of relying on snail mail

Make sure to run through several tests to ensure everything is working. Get feedback from your team and iterate a few times before deploying across your company.

5. Monitor and Iterate

Updating a process isn’t a one-time event. Continue to monitor your processes and seek improvements.

With frevvo’s analytics dashboard, you can track key performance indicators (KPIs) like output and cycle times across your processes.

Measuring the performance of your processes will help you spot potential bottlenecks and plan improvements. It’ll also help ensure that processes haven’t stagnated. 

How to Make Business Process Flows Work For You 

Business process flows can have a positive impact on your bottom line when done right. Here are a few best practices to make them work for your company.

Involve Your Entire Team

Any changes you make to a process will likely affect how others perform their work. Make sure to involve your team from the start.

Involving your team demonstrates that you value their contributions. It’ll also help prepare them for any changes you implement.

Start With a Small Project

It’s easy to get carried away when embarking on any kind of project. 

However, making lofty changes is sure to cause confusion and create some resistance. Start with one process to map and optimize. Then, you can gradually scale your efforts as you start seeing results.

Leverage Automation

So much valuable time gets wasted on mundane work. 94% of employees say they perform tedious and repetitive tasks in their roles. 

As you create business process flows, look for steps that you can automate. For example, let’s say that employees frequently create the same forms.

With frevvo’s automation software, you can connect your forms to a database and automatically populate certain fields.

This helps to reduce manual data entry and minimize the risk of human errors.

Establish the Right KPIs

KPIs enable you to evaluate your improvement efforts on an ongoing basis, which can help steer you in the right direction. However, it’s important to establish KPIs that align and support business objectives.

Celebrate Milestones

Changing processes is by no means easy. Don’t forget to celebrate important milestones with everyone involved.

Recognizing your team for their work can go a long way toward facilitating change and building a stronger work culture.

Create Business Process Flow Diagrams Today

Business process flows help you standardize how work gets done, which can deliver more consistent results and increase operational efficiency. No matter what process you’re looking to map and improve, make sure you have the right tools.

frevvo’s workflow automation software makes it easy to create fully automated workflows without coding or requiring significant resources for a custom solution.

Ready to get started? Try a free 30-day trial to create your first business process flow in minutes, or request a live demo today.

The post How to Make Business Process Flows Work For Your Company appeared first on frevvo Blog.

However, as more work takes place outside the office and across the globe, one challenge that companies face is getting documents signed in a timely manner.

Obtaining wet signatures can take days or even weeks for paper-based processes, leading to a backlog of work and stalled projects.

Fortunately, there’s a better way to collect wet signatures.

In this article, we’ll explain what a wet signature is and when you should use it. We’ll also look at how you can use frevvo’s digital signature software to modernize your signature processes.

Click the links below to navigate to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is a Wet Signature?
• When Do You Need a Wet Signature?
• Can Electronic Signatures Replace Wet Signatures?
• What’s the Difference Between Electronic and Digital Signatures?
• Why Use Electronic or Digital Signatures Instead of Wet Signatures?
• How to Create an Electronic Signature Workflow in frevvo

What Is a Wet Signature?

A wet signature is when you physically sign a paper document with a pen or seal. It refers to the fact that “wet” ink needs time to dry, hence the name.

Wet signatures have been used for hundreds of years to form legally binding contracts and prevent fraud. One example is the Statute of Frauds of 1677, an Act of the English Parliament that required signatures for documents like contracts and wills.

Even today, some documents still require wet signatures. However, there are numerous downsides to collecting handwritten signatures.

These include:

• Long lead times: Obtaining wet signatures can take days or weeks because you have to print and mail out the documents.
• Higher costs: Direct costs for collecting signatures include paper, ink, and postage, while indirect costs include lost productivity from processing extra paperwork. 
• Increased risks: Failing to secure paper documents properly can lead to loss, misuse, or even theft of confidential information.
• Potential roadblocks: Getting signatures can present roadblocks for prospects who may not be able to print or mail forms on time.

Despite these drawbacks, there are some instances when you must obtain wet signatures. 

When Do You Need a Wet Signature?

A Notary Public in the U.S. may require a wet signature to verify the signer’s identity when drawing up legal documents like promissory notes and deeds of trust.

Other documents that require wet signatures include:

• Wills
• Mortgages
• Court orders
• Power of attorney (POA)
• Advanced directives

Some business documents may also require verified wet signatures, which include:

• Articles of incorporation
• Memorandum of understanding
• Commercial leases
• Construction agreements
• Loan agreements

If you’re unsure whether certain documents require a physical signature, it’s best to seek legal counsel to be on the safe side. Finally, while it may sound old-fashioned, some recipients may insist on using wet signatures when formally endorsing an agreement.

Can Electronic Signatures Replace Wet Signatures?

Yes, but it depends.

As more business goes digital, many new laws and regulations give electronic signatures the same legal effect as wet signatures.

In the U.S., Congress passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act into law in 2000, along with the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA). Both laws grant legal recognition to electronic signatures.

Other laws that make electronic signatures legally binding include the Electronic Identification and Trust Services Regulation (eIDAS) in the European Union, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada, and the Electronic Transactions Act (ETA) in Australia.

Thanks to these laws and regulations, more companies are adopting electronic signatures to get important documents signed.

However, electronic signature laws and requirements for their use vary across jurisdictions, so you should be familiar with the laws in your country before adopting them.

Click here to learn more about e-signature laws around the world.

What’s the Difference Between Electronic and Digital Signatures?

There are two types of electronic signatures — standard electronic signatures and advanced digital signatures.

Electronic and digital signatures are often used interchangeably, but they’re different in many ways. Understanding these differences will ensure you adopt the right processes and reduce compliance risks.

Electronic Signatures

Electronic signatures are a way to electronically obtain approvals for documents like sales contracts, vendor agreements, and change orders.

An electronic signature is defined as:

“Any electronic sound, symbol, process that is attached to or somehow associated with a record or contract and executed by a party with intention to sign.”

This definition encompasses different ways to sign a document electronically. For example, you can type your name, upload an image of your signature, click a checkbox to signal your intent, or use your finger to draw a signature if you’re on a mobile device.

Electronic signatures offer a convenient way for recipients to sign documents without printing a form or running to the post office. However, the downside is there’s no authentication process to verify the signer’s identity. 

That is where digital signatures come in.

Digital Signatures

Digital signatures are electronic signatures that provide a more secure and tamper-proof way of signing documents.

Only a certificate authority (CA) can issue a digital certificate, which uses Personal Key Infrastructure (PKI) to verify and authenticate each party signing a document. 

These types of signatures are generally recommended for any situation where it’s crucial to protect the integrity of the document being signed, as there are built-in mechanisms in place to protect against tampering. 

Digital signatures also create audit trails that provide traceable information like who signed a document and when they signed it.

In frevvo, valid signed sections are displayed with a green background.

If the system detects any evidence of tampering, the signature is removed, and the section displays a red banner with an error message.

These security measures ensure the integrity of a signature.

Why Use Electronic or Digital Signatures Instead of Wet Signatures?

77% of organizations say that electronic signatures support business resilience.

What’s more, companies that have digitized their document processes report fewer at-risk customers and less at-risk revenue than those with paper-based processes.

Here’s why more modern businesses are embracing digital processes that support electronic signatures and why you should too.

Reduces Turnaround Times

To collect a wet signature for a physical form, you’d have to print a document, mail it to a recipient, and wait to receive it. The entire process can take days or even weeks.

Any delays can give potential clients or new hires a chance to consider other opportunities. That could mean lost revenue for your company.

With a digital signature workflow, you can collect signatures in a matter of hours rather than weeks. It’s as easy as opening a document and drawing your signature or clicking a button to add a digital signature.

Saves Resources

Collecting wet signatures isn’t cheap, as it requires tons of paper and expensive printer ink. You also have to consider storage costs and the time it takes to retrieve documents.

37% of organizations say that reducing printing and storage costs is the most important benefit of digital document processes.

By using frevvo to digitize your processes, you can cut down and even eliminate costs that are associated with paper forms altogether.

Provides a High Level of Security

Paper forms can get lost or stolen. They’re also susceptible to damage and even theft if they’re not stored or handled properly.

Digital signatures use advanced encryption to create a virtual “fingerprint” that verifies a signer’s identity. The technical protocols used to encrypt signatures also protect against tampering.

If your company is audited, ensuring that documents are safe and free of any tampering is critical to avoid lawsuits and fines.

Centralizes Your Documents

Another problem with traditional paper filing systems is the amount of time that employees spend retrieving a document. 85% of employees say they waste time during the workday searching for documents.

With frevvo’s digital signature software, you can integrate your workflows with electronic document management system (EDMS) platforms like Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, Ricoh DocuWare, and more.

These integrations allow you to centralize your documents and simplify retrieval. If there’s a dispute regarding a sales order, an employee can search through the EDMS and instantly pull up the right file to clarify any details.

Increases Visibility

Documents like contracts and service-level agreements typically go through multiple steps before they’re approved. But tracking these steps can be difficult with a paper-based process. 

A digital signature workflow gives you full visibility across your processes, allowing you to track which documents have been signed and which still need signatures. This level of visibility enables you to keep processes on the right track and send follow-ups to the right parties.

Electronic signatures offer clear benefits, as described above. 

However, there are four major requirements that you must meet to ensure electronic signatures are legally binding under the UETA and the ESIGN Act.

These requirements are:

• Intent to sign: Signatures are only valid if each party demonstrates a clear intent to sign. Using a mouse to draw a signature or clicking a button fulfills this requirement.

• Consent to do business electronically: All parties must agree to do business electronically. In most cases, selecting an “I agree” checkbox meets this requirement.
• Association of signature with the record: Electronic signatures must be clearly associated with or affixed to specific documents to prove their validity.
• Record retention: All documents must be retained for future retrieval. Digital signature software addresses this requirement by letting parties download a copy of the document.

As long as you adhere to these requirements, your company can adopt electronic signatures into its processes and enforce their validity.

Now let’s look at how you can create a workflow for electronic signatures using frevvo.

How to Create an Electronic Signature Workflow in frevvo

Creating automated electronic signature workflows can help your company speed up its processes and deliver huge savings. Follow these steps to get started.

1. Create Your Form

Start by using the form builder to create a form that fits your needs. With the drag-and-drop interface, you can easily add text boxes, radio buttons, and more to your forms.

Alternatively, you can also install a template to kickstart your efforts. Each template comes with a basic form, dynamic routing, and business rules already pre-created.

2. Add a Signature Control

If you’re creating a form that doesn’t require the same level of security as a digital signature, you can add a regular signature control to your form.

With these signature controls, users can click anywhere in the signature field and use their mouse or finger to add a “wet” signature.

However, for documents like sales contracts and vendor agreements, you’ll want to use a more secure method of signing.

In addition to basic electronic signatures, frevvo supports two types of digital signatures:

• Email verification: Recipients open a link from an email and click a button to sign the form. frevvo will verify that the recipient entered the correct email address and lock the data in that section once it’s signed.
• Identity verification: Signers must authenticate to frevvo using the built-in login system or a single sign-on (SSO) method like Active Directory. Once authenticated, a user clicks the Sign button, and the section will lock down to prevent any tampering.

Here’s an example of a signed section with email verification:

Here’s an example of a signed section with identity verification:

Use the chart below to help you determine which signature controls you should add to your forms.

When you’re dealing with sensitive documents, you’ll want to use digital signatures with identity verification to ensure those signatures are legally binding.

Make sure the Lock Signed box is checked. That ensures that the data in a section cannot be altered or changed once signed. You can check the Must Sign box to make these signatures required.

You may wish to collect wet signatures for PDFs like W-4 forms. With frevvo’s digital signature software, you can map and transfer signatures to a PDF.

3. Customize and Deploy Your Workflow

Most forms require approvals from multiple parties before they can be processed. Use the code-free workflow builder to customize your workflow to fit your business requirements.

Here’s an example of a time-off request workflow:

Once an employee completes and signs a time off request form, it automatically routes to their manager for review and then to HR for final approval.

Test your workflow and iterate a few times. Then deploy across your organization and continue to monitor your workflow to seek out areas where you can improve.

Create Automated E-Signature Workflows Today

Paper-based processes just aren’t practical in the long run — they’re slow, expensive, and insecure. Switching to electronic signatures can help your company speed up approvals and save valuable resources.

frevvo’s digital signature software supports both electronic and digital signatures. You can use the software to create automated workflows and fast-track approvals for any process. 

The best part is that you don’t need any coding experience or a huge I.T. budget to digitize and automate your processes.

Get started today with a free 30-day trial to add electronic signatures to your workflows.

The post What Is a Wet Signature? (And Why Modern Businesses Are Going Digital) appeared first on frevvo Blog.

However, these processes can become inefficient or redundant for various reasons — new industry regulations, increased market demands, changing customer expectations, etc.

Achieving process efficiency helps your company meet these challenges.

So how can you make your processes more efficient? How can you measure workflow performance and track your progress?

Keep reading to learn more. In this article, we’ll look at what process efficiency is and how using frevvo’s business process automation software can help improve your operations. 

Click the links below to head straight to the section you want to learn more about:

• What Is Process Efficiency?
• How to Measure Process Efficiency
• 6 Ways to Improve Process Efficiency Using frevvo
• Using Custom Dashboards to Measure Workflow Performance

What Is Process Efficiency?

Process efficiency is a measure of how much effort it takes to achieve a specific result, like producing a product or delivering a service. Measuring this metric helps you establish baselines and develop a plan to address weak points. 

Inefficient processes have a direct impact on profitability. If a product has long lead times or is poorly made, customers will search for other alternatives. Likewise, if a product’s manufacturing cost exceeds its sale price, you won’t stay in business for long.

There are also lost opportunity costs.

Tasks that stem from inefficient processes take employees away from high-value work like researching new markets and developing new products.

Achieving process efficiency offers the following benefits:

• Increases productivity: More efficient processes can help you increase output with the same resources. 
• Reduces errors: Efficient processes leverage automation technologies, which can help reduce and even eliminate common errors. 
• Improves customer satisfaction: With leaner processes, your employees can focus on those activities that increase customer satisfaction.
• Lowers operating costs: Reducing lead times and eliminating instances of waste helps your company lower overall operating costs. 
• Improves employee engagement: When processes are optimized, employees can focus on more productive work instead of wasting their time on mundane tasks. 
• Maximizes resource utilization: Understanding how a process works helps you forecast and utilize resources to their full potential. 

Despite these benefits, processes aren’t always as efficient as they should be. 

38% of employees say their companies still rely on manual administration processes. 48% believe they’d be more productive at work if they had better tools.

The data suggests that companies aren’t doing enough to improve their processes. They’re also not doing enough to equip their employees with the tools they need. 

Take a common task like getting forms approved. Employees waste time when they have to chase down their managers. 

With software from frevvo, you can automate everyday processes like invoice approvals or vacation requests and have documents routed to the right approver — no need for employees to manually route forms.

How to Measure Process Efficiency

You’ll struggle to improve a process if you don’t know how it performs. Measuring process performance is a crucial step to maximizing efficiency.

Use the Process Cycle Efficiency (PCE) formula, also known as “Flow Efficiency” or “Value Add Ratio,” to measure process efficiency:

• PCE = (Value-Added Time / Cycle Time) x 100

Let’s break this down.

Value-added time directly impacts the outcome of a process — preparing a sales contract, calculating estimates for quotes, etc. In other words, it’s the work that employees are trained and hired to do.

Then you have non-value-added time. This is time that doesn’t add or contribute any value to a process. Examples include routing documents, waiting for approvals, fixing errors, etc.

Cycle time is the total amount of time it takes to complete a process. It includes value-added time and non-value-added activities.

Let’s use the purchase order process as an example. If its value-added time is five hours and its cycle time is 30 hours, then its PCE is about 17% based on the formula above.

The higher the percentage, the more efficient a process is. The example process above could use some work.

Another formula to calculate process efficiency is to compare the values of outputs and inputs:

• (Value of Outputs / Value of Inputs) x 100

For example, let’s say your company spends $100,000 a month (input) to manufacture a line of jeans, but the factory only produces about $70,000 (output) worth of clothes. In this case, its process efficiency would be 70%, meaning it’s not very efficient.

However, if the factory delivers an output of $200,000 a month, then it has a process efficiency of 200% and is operating at a profitable level (based strictly on outputs and inputs).

Other metrics to measure process efficiency include:

• First pass yield (products made correctly without any rework)
• Scrap rate (percentage of materials that cannot be restored)
• Resource utilization (efficiency rate of available resources)
• Throughput (amount of materials that pass through a machine) 

You should choose a process efficiency metric that works for your business and aligns with organizational goals. 

Now, let’s look at ways you can improve a process.

6 Ways to Improve Process Efficiency Using frevvo

Achieving process efficiency helps your company increase productivity, reduce operating costs, and improve customer satisfaction — all of which can lead to higher profit margins.

It’s easier said than done, of course. But with process management software like frevvo, you can reduce and even eliminate the tasks that are slowing your team down.

Here’s how frevvo can help improve your processes.

1. Auto-Populate Digital Forms to Reduce Data Entry

Whether it’s entering information into a form or copying and pasting data between apps, manual data entry is time-consuming and prone to errors.

Common mistakes include typos, such as inputting a “9” instead of a “0,” or entering data in the wrong fields. Fixing these mistakes (if someone catches them) can lead to unnecessary delays and increase processing costs.

With frevvo’s connectors, you can connect your forms to your business systems and have the fields auto-populate to reduce manual data entry.

Here’s an example of how that looks using the Database Connector to integrate with a SQL database:

What’s more, you can also use the Visual Rule Builder to set up business rules to pre-fill fields based on the logged-in user or based on actions they take while using the form.

Auto-populating digital forms and implementing rules helps reduce manual data entry and prevent costly errors.

2. Validate Form Submission Data to Eliminate Errors

Managers waste time when they have to send forms back for corrections. Examples include errors like missing data or incorrect formats.

To prevent these types of errors, you can set up your forms to automatically validate submission data. It’s an effective way to prevent simple errors.

For example, if a new hire enters their Social Security number in the wrong format on an onboarding form, the system will prevent the user from submitting it.

Here’s an example of how the system validates form submission data:

Descriptive errors on the form tell users the exact format they need to follow. 

You can also make certain fields required, which can help enforce compliance with internal policies. For example, you can set up your expense approval process to automatically flag out-of-policy items and reject claims that aren’t submitted with the proper receipts.

3. Dynamically Route Documents to Avoid Delays

Chasing down managers is an example of a non-value-added activity. It only adds to the total cycle time of a process.

With frevvo, you can set up automatic routing so that forms are sent to the right approver — employees won’t have to chase down their managers or physically mail a form. It’s easy to configure the system so it dynamically determines the right manager based on corporate policies and forward to that person. 

You can even set up conditional routing. For example, your company may have an internal policy that requires a senior executive to approve invoices above a certain value.

In this workflow example, invoices above $10,000 route to a senior executive. Anything below that amount gets routed to Finance for payment.

Instead of chasing down managers for signatures or mailing paper forms, frevvo enables you to automate document routing and avoid delays.

4. Send Reminders to Approvers to Take Action

When a task moves to the next step, you want the person in charge to take action. However, people are busy with their own work, so you want to make it easy for them to approve a form.

With frevvo, you can configure your workflows to automatically notify approvers that a form requires their approval. Approvers can simply click the link in the email to review a form and add their signature.

You can also set up escalations and send periodic reminders if a task is not completed in time or even route forms to a secondary approver to ensure approvals are completed before the deadline.

5. Collect Electronic Signatures to Speed Up Approvals

Most forms require signatures before they can be processed. However, approvals can take days or even weeks when you’re printing and mailing documents to get them signed.

With frevvo’s form builder, you can digitize your forms and add signature controls. Users can add their signature by using their mouse on a desktop or finger on a mobile device.

frevvo also supports digital signatures — a highly secure method of signing documents. It uses a certificate-based digital ID to validate and authenticate a signer’s identity.

Logged-in users can simply click a button to digitally sign a form and lock down the section to prevent any tampering.

All forms are mobile-friendly out of the box, enabling users to add their signature from any device.

Click here to learn how to create a digital signature workflow.

6. Integrate With External Systems to Access Data in Real-Time

Poor data quality costs companies an average $12.9 million per year. Data inaccuracies can hurt productivity, lead to missed opportunities, and affect decision making.

To ensure that employees always have access to the latest business data, you can integrate your workflows to external systems and access data in real-time.

Here’s an example of an order form that pulls product information from a SQL database:

When filling out an order form, employees can simply select a product from the picklist, and information like descriptions and unit prices will automatically populate.

Integrations work both ways.

For example, you can have form submissions update the data in your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. This ensures connected systems have access to the latest information and keeps decision-makers from using out-of-date information.

Click here to learn how to create an automated workflow.

Using Custom Dashboards to Measure Workflow Performance

Measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) will help your company achieve process efficiency. 

frevvo includes a drag-and-drop dashboard designer that lets you add various data visualization elements onto a canvas, so you can visualize the metrics that matter most.

Here are some visualization types you can use to measure workflow performance.

Radial Gauge Charts

Radial gauge charts help you measure and track the progress of a single KPI. The needle shows how a process is performing, and the shaded areas represent how good (or bad) the current metric value is.

Pie Chart

Pie charts let you view data as a fractional part of a whole. For example, you can use this visualization to get a full spending breakdown across each department. However, pie charts are generally not useful for showing changes over time.

Line Chart

Line charts are useful for tracking changes over a period of time. One way you can use them to improve workflow efficiency is to plot and track cycle times for processes like procuring goods or approving sales contracts.

These are just a few of the data visualizations you can add to your dashboard in frevvo. Others include: 

• Column charts
• Scatter charts
• Radar charts
• Data tables

Choosing the right data visualizations can reveal valuable insights and help inform decision-making. 

Start Improving Your Processes

Businesses rely on countless processes to run their operations. But any inefficiencies in those processes can lead to lengthy delays, higher costs, and dissatisfied customers. 

Letting these inefficiencies go unchecked can also take a heavy toll on your employees and have a direct impact on your bottom line.

frevvo is a powerful workflow automation tool that facilitates process improvement. With its intuitive interface, even non-technical users can create fully automated workflows. There’s no coding required, and you don’t need to hire a team of developers.

Click here to start your free 30-day trial to see how you can use frevvo to achieve process efficiency.

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