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.

Companies like Microsoft are now embracing hybrid working models — a structure that gives employees the option to work in the office or remotely.

But these changes also present several challenges, namely that organizations must ensure that their distributed workforce has the right tools to communicate.

Using enterprise collaboration software can help.

In this article, we’ll explain what enterprise collaboration is and why it’s important. We’ll also look at the different types of software available and provide recommendations.

Click the links below to jump ahead:

• What Is Enterprise Collaboration?
• What Are the Benefits of Enterprise Collaboration?
• Types of Enterprise Collaboration Software
• How to Get Started With Enterprise Collaboration

What Is Enterprise Collaboration?

Enterprise collaboration is a system of communication that makes it easier for employees to work together on key projects — even if they’re not in the same office.

The global pandemic accelerated existing trends in remote work, as companies had to give their employees more flexible options.

But something interesting happened.

Even with unplanned closures, 94% of employers say that productivity has remained the same or even improved with employees working remotely. Other studies have also found that working remotely has positively impacted productivity.

Of course, offering flexible work options isn’t without its challenges, as details can fall through the cracks without the right tools.

The goal of enterprise collaboration is to facilitate communication and collaboration. It helps remote employees work together on projects even from different geographic locations.

Technologies include software for instant messaging, video conferencing, storing and sharing documents, creating automated workflows, and more. These systems provide collaborative workspaces that distributed teams can use to accomplish their tasks.

What Are the Benefits of Enterprise Collaboration?

Enterprise collaboration systems are becoming more important as modern workspaces grow increasingly complex.

Here’s how these systems can benefit your company.

Improves Productivity

Nothing hurts productivity more than wasting hours trying to find the information you need for your work. An estimated 54% of employees say they spend more time searching for documents than replying to emails.

Enterprise collaboration platforms enable you to centralize your documents. Instead of wasting time searching for the information they need, employees can focus on more productive work.

Collaboration platforms can actually drive a 10% increase in productivity — equating to four hours per 40-hour week. 

Just imagine what your team could do with four extra hours a week. They could follow up with more prospects, improve their work processes, or brainstorm the next great idea.

Increases Employee Engagement

54% of employees aren’t engaged at work. Performing repetitive and mundane work is one contributing factor to these engagement rates.

Workflow automation software like frevvo limits the amount of time that employees spend on repetitive tasks like manual data entry. By providing employees with the means to focus on more challenging work, you can increase overall engagement. 

Enhances Transparency

Enterprise collaboration software drives personal accountability, as it allows employees to track their work and see how their contributions impact a project. 

It also enables managers to stay on their team’s work without micromanaging. This helps to create a culture of trust between management and employees.

Improves Communication

The global pandemic created numerous communication challenges.

No longer could you walk down to your co-worker’s desk to clarify certain details. Nor could you leave a sticky note on someone’s desk to follow up on a task.

Enterprise collaboration software helps your team stay connected — something that’s becoming more important as teams increasingly work in different locations and time zones. 

Instead of sending a group email and waiting hours (or even longer), you could send a quick message through real-time messaging apps like Slack and get a response much sooner.

Boosts Your Bottom Line

When you provide collaborative workspaces for your employees, they can work more productively and focus on the tasks that improve your bottom line.

That was the case for Activ8.

Activ8 had a process to assess solar readiness for its customers. A salesperson would fill out and mail forms back to the office to determine eligibility. But missing forms and data entry mistakes would slow down this process.

To streamline this process, Active8 used frevvo to create a customer order workflow that sales representatives could complete while using tablets in the field. 

Sales representatives can now provide accurate estimates and have customers electronically sign agreements and submit payments on the spot. Activ8 can close sales faster thanks to the customer order workflow.

Types of Enterprise Collaboration Software

Enterprise collaboration encompasses different types of software that facilitate collaboration and promote communication.

Let’s take a closer look.

Instant Messaging

Maintaining open lines of communication is key for any company. But this can be difficult to achieve when you have people working in different locations.

Slack

Slack is an enterprise collaboration software tool that allows remote teams to communicate and collaborate in real-time.

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Organizations create workspaces that consist of different “channels” — dedicated spaces that help you organize your work. For example, you can have a channel for the marketing team and another for the IT department.

Of course, you could also create channels for specific projects and topics. This helps you keep information organized in one place.

What makes Slack an attractive enterprise collaboration tool is the integration it offers. You can connect your workspace to third-party apps like Google Drive, Salesforce, Gmail, Outlook, and more.

Slack offers a free plan with unlimited private and public channels. You can even connect up to ten different apps. However, you can only view and search the most recent 10,000 messages. 

Virtual Conferencing

Virtual conferencing software has become indispensable, especially during the pandemic as more work shifted online.

Zoom

Zoom is perhaps one of the most popular video conferencing tools. It offers a clean interface and a robust set of features that enable you to hold virtual meetings in real-time.

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You can start a virtual meeting and send invites via email. Participants can still join a meeting even if they don’t have a Zoom account.

With the free version, you can host meetings with up to 100 people. There’s also no limit to the number of meetings you can hold. You also share your screen with others, draw on a whiteboard, and more.

Project Management

It’s not uncommon for enterprises to work on dozens of projects at a time. However, keeping track of these projects isn’t easy without robust project management software.

Asana

Asana is a flexible project management solution that lets you manage your work and collaborate from a single platform.

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Asana makes it easy to visualize your work and manage your projects. You can choose from different views depending on your preferred working style.

The list view enables you to organize and assign tasks. You can also customize each column, so you can see the most relevant information at a glance.

For longer projects, you’ll find the timeline view helpful. It shows the start and end dates of each task, along with milestones, dependencies, and more.

Asana Enterprise comes packed with extra features like robust security controls, third-party app access, and more. However, you’ll need to contact its sales team to request a quote.

Workflow Automation

Workflow automation is another way to collaborate in the enterprise, as business processes like procurement often span multiple departments.

frevvo

frevvo is a robust workflow automation software that lets you create dynamic forms and set up sophisticated workflows for any of your processes — without writing a single code of line.

The platform includes an extensive library of templates that allow you to streamline and automate processes like:

• Purchase orders
• Expense claims
• Travel requests
• Employee onboarding
• Procurement management

Getting started is as simple as installing a template and customizing it to fit your needs. You can also use the no-code platform to create your own workflows from scratch. Each comes with a basic form, dynamic routing, and business rules.

What’s more, you can connect your workflows to SQL databases, Active Directory, and other business systems to read and write data. All forms and workflows are mobile-friendly, so your team can get work done from any device.

Click here to start a free 30-day trial.

File Sharing

Using file-sharing software can help your enterprise centralize its documents, enable faster retrieval, and improve collaboration.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a cloud-based file-sharing platform that allows teams to store and manage their files from one place. 

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Dropbox is more than a tool for storing and managing files. Your team can also share and edit documents without having to switch between different applications.

Like the other business applications on this list, Dropbox also lets you connect your workspace to popular tools like Slack, Zoom, and more.

Dropbox offers an enterprise plan, which is tailored specifically for larger businesses. However, you’ll need to contact its support team for pricing information.

How to Get Started With Enterprise Collaboration

Enterprise collaboration software can have a positive impact on your bottom line. But you also need to have a strategy to maximize the value it offers.

Follow these steps to create an enterprise collaboration strategy for your company.

1. Establish Clear Goals

It’s important to consider how new technology fits into your organization. Assess your requirements and set goals on what you want to achieve.

What do you want to accomplish with enterprise collaboration software? Consider what’s important for you and your team to help with this step.

2. Identify Collaboration Challenges

Survey your team to identify any communication or collaboration challenges they face.

For example, let’s say your team struggles with transparency in a process. It’s not always clear who’s in charge of carrying out certain tasks.

In this case, using software like frevvo can help you address those challenges. You can use the platform to create a workflow diagram and provide visibility into your processes.

3. Choose the Right Software

Once you’ve defined your goals and identified the challenges that your team is facing, the next step is to research enterprise collaboration tools.

Here are some things to consider:

• Features: Does it offer the features you need? Choose software that meets your needs and aligns with your goals.
• Integrations: What integrations does it offer? Make sure it can integrate with your existing infrastructure.
• Scalability: How scalable is the software? Choose software that can meet current and future needs.
• Security: What security does it provide? Review the security page of the software you’re considering to determine how it secures your data.
• Support: What kind of support can you expect? Your team will likely have plenty of questions, so make sure to choose a solution that offers ongoing support.

While reading reviews can help with your purchasing decision, be sure to take advantage of free trials when they’re available.

4. Educate Your Team

Rolling out enterprise collaboration software requires careful planning. 

Emphasize how a piece of software will enable your team to work more efficiently to increase buy-in. It’s also important that you provide software training.

The good news is that many software providers offer helpful resources. Have your team go through these materials or even consider hosting a workshop.

New software will always have an initial learning curve. Encourage your team to reach out for help if they run into any issues. 

5. Track and Measure Your Results

Finally, you don’t want to end up with unused software.

Make sure to continually audit any communication tools you add to your technology stack. This will help you determine which ones to keep and which ones you should cancel.

Measure the results you’re getting against the goals you set. Is the tool enhancing collaboration between teams? Or is it hindering productivity?

Make sure to get feedback from the rest of your team.

Start Automating Your Workflows Today

Collaboration in the enterprise is more important than ever.

Enterprise collaboration facilitates communication. It encompasses instant messaging apps, project management software, and more to keep distributed teams on the same page.

Of course, workflow automation also plays an important role when it comes to collaborating in the enterprise. This is where frevvo comes in.

frevvo enables you to automate key processes across multiple departments. The software also includes a host of enterprise features — you get audit trails, hardened security, WCAG compliance, electronic signatures, multi-language support, and much more.

The post Enterprise Collaboration: Definition, Benefits, and How to Get Started 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.

The next immediate step then is to find another vendor.

But do you have a process in place to source vendors? Does the purchasing team know what their roles and responsibilities are?

To ensure minimal disruptions to your operations, you need to plan for contingencies like vendor bankruptcies.

This is where a procurement plan comes in.

In this article, we’ll explain what a procurement plan is and why you should create one. We’ll also cover the steps to creating one for your company. Finally, we’ll look at how you can automate your purchasing processes with frevvo’s procurement automation software.

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

• What Is a Procurement Plan?
• Why Do You Need a Procurement Plan?
• How to Create a Procurement Plan
• Automate Your Procurement Process With frevvo

What Is a Procurement Plan?

A procurement plan is a document that details the entire procurement process — the steps that companies follow to procure the goods and services they need to operate.

It also outlines roles and responsibilities for your purchasing team, defines vendor selection criteria, establishes the types of contracts you’ll use, and more.

The goal of a procurement plan is to streamline the procurement process. Instead of starting from scratch each time, you can simply pull up an approved plan and adapt it accordingly.

Procurement plans typically include the following details:

• Roles and responsibilities
• Needs and requirements
• Project timelines
• Project constraints
• Vendor selection criteria
• Contract types
• Payment terms and methods
• Risk management

We’ll dive into each of these in a later section. For now, let’s take a look at why you need a procurement plan if you don’t already have one. 

Why Do You Need a Procurement Plan?

Creating a procurement plan can help standardize your purchasing processes and even benefit your bottom line. 

Here’s how.

Reduces Supplier Risks

Managing supply chain volatility is one of the biggest challenges that many companies face. In fact, 56% of chief procurement officers have said that key suppliers have either gone bankrupt or have been severely hampered.

Creating a procurement plan to source and select vendors can help you reduce supplier risk. If a key vendor goes bankrupt or is unable to meet its obligations, your purchasing team can refer to the procurement plan to quickly find a suitable replacement.

Enhances Transparency

90% of business executives say that increased transparency leads to better decision-making across the organization. This also applies to purchasing. 

Without transparent processes, mistakes are bound to happen — employees may duplicate orders or make purchases using non-approved vendors. This can lead to overspending and even delayed projects.

A procurement plan makes the procurement process more transparent. And when you use procurement automation software, your purchasing team will be able to track each step of the process from one central location.

Helps Ensure Compliance

Creating a procurement plan can help ensure compliance with established policies.

Why is this important?

Aside from reducing the risk of errors, a procurement plan can prevent instances of maverick spending — when employees purchase goods or services outside of established policies.

Maverick spending can negatively impact your bottom line. In fact, companies lose as much as 16% of negotiated savings when purchasing teams don’t use preferred vendors. 

Enforcing a procurement plan can help ensure that all purchasing decisions comply with company-approved policies and vendors.

Lowers Procurement Costs 

With a comprehensive procurement plan, your company can source vendors faster, speed up negotiations, and pay invoices more quickly — all of which can help lower procurement costs.

In short, creating a procurement plan is extremely beneficial for your bottom line. It provides purchasing teams with everything they need and sets clear expectations.

Now, let’s look at how you can create a procurement plan.

How to Create a Procurement Plan 

Procurement varies from organization to organization. 

For example, large retailers will likely have different purchasing requirements than manufacturing facilities. However, there are certain details that every procurement plan should include.

Let’s take a closer look.

1. Describe the Procurement Process

In this step of the procurement plan, you’ll provide a complete breakdown of the procurement process starting from requisition to paying the vendor.

A typical procurement process involves the following steps:

1. Identifying internal needs
2. Evaluating vendors
3. Negotiating contracts
4. Approving an internal purchase requisition
5. Releasing a purchase order
6. Receiving and reviewing an invoice
7. Confirming and auditing delivery
8. Completing payment
9. Maintaining records

No matter what products or services you’re procuring, having a formalized purchasing process is key to creating a procurement plan. Work with your purchasing team to detail each step.

2. Outline Roles and Responsibilities

The next step to creating a procurement plan is to establish the parties involved in the purchasing process, along with their roles and responsibilities.

Here are some of the key functions of purchasing departments:

• Identify internal needs for goods and services
• Source reliable suppliers to meet requirements
• Negotiate prices and delivery terms
• Coordinate deliveries and shipments
• Run quality control and product testing 
• Ensure compliance with all regulations
• Manage budgets and maintain accurate records 
• Manage relationships with vendors

The purchasing team will consist of various professionals who are responsible for overseeing these tasks. These include a purchasing manager to supervise procurement-related activities, purchasing agents to evaluate suppliers, and a contract manager to prepare contracts.

Make sure that you outline the roles and responsibilities of your purchasing team. You should also specify who can make and approve changes to any procurement documentation.

3. Determine Needs and Requirements

This section of the procurement plan describes the goods and services that your company is looking to procure. It can include tangible goods like office equipment or raw materials and intangible goods like software licenses.

Regardless of what you need to procure, you should include all pertinent details — sizes, quantities, technical requirements, etc.

Make sure to also include a statement that justifies why you’re purchasing certain goods or services from external suppliers instead of sourcing internally. 

4. Define a Project Timeline

The next step is to set a project timeline. This is important because procuring goods before you actually need them will only take up valuable space.

An efficient procurement plan will include specific timeframes to minimize holding costs. This will also give your purchasing team deadlines for when they need to start and complete certain tasks.

5. Determine Project Constraints

Every project has constraints and limitations that it must abide by. Cost constraints are the most obvious example, as you may have a limited budget for purchasing goods and services.

Other types of project constraints include:

• Quality specifications
• Scheduling limitations
• Scope and deliverables
• Security requirements
• Industry regulations

Make sure that you detail any project constraints and limitations in your procurement plan.

6. Define Vendor Selection Criteria

In a typical procurement process, the purchasing department will issue a request for proposal (RFP) and vendors will respond with proposals or bids.

Then once the solicitation process begins, your team can collect proposals and evaluate each one. Defining vendor selection criteria can help you narrow down your choices.

Selection criteria can include:

• Costs: If a proposal doesn’t fit within your budget, you could either move on to the next one or enter into negotiations with the vendor.
• Delivery: If a vendor can’t deliver goods or services within your desired timeline, then look for one that can.
• Quality: Vendors must be able to meet certain quality standards before you can consider their proposals.

Establish selection criteria to find the right vendors. In this section, you should also specify who will make the final decision. You can also establish a small selection committee whose purpose is to evaluate and select vendors.

7. Select a Contract Type

Vendor contracts or vendor agreements are legally binding agreements in which both parties agree to exchange goods or services for compensation. 

However, there are different types of contracts that you can use. Common vendor contracts include:

• Fixed price contract: An agreement in which the buyer and seller agree to a fixed price regardless of other factors. 
• Fixed price plus incentive contract: An agreement in which you agree to pay a fixed price and an extra bonus if the seller delivers earlier than expected.
• Cost-reimbursable contract: An agreement in which a contractor receives a standard fee and reimbursements for any costs they incur on the job.
• Time and materials (T&M) contract: An agreement in which your company pays a contractor for their time and the materials used. These contracts are typically used in instances when you can’t estimate the size of a project upfront.

When preparing a procurement plan for any purchases, make sure that you select the right type of contract and get it signed.

8. Determine Payment Terms and Methods

This section of the procurement plan details the payment terms that you and a vendor have agreed upon.

It includes:

• Total costs
• Expected deliveries
• Due dates
• Payment methods

Some vendors may require advance payment, while others may offer more generous terms like net 30 or net 60. If you’re making stage payments over a period of time, make sure to specify exact payment dates to avoid any confusion.

9. Identify Potential Risks

There’s always a degree of risk when working with external suppliers. In this section of the procurement plan, identify any risks and outline specific strategies to mitigate them. 

For example, let’s say that a contractor fails to meet their deadlines. What impact would it have on your project timeline? In this case, you could either extend the deadline (and risk upsetting your customers) or hire an alternate contractor.

Follow the steps above to put together a procurement plan that you can use.

Automate Your Procurement Process With frevvo

With procurement software like frevvo, you can automate business processes like purchase requisitions, purchase orders, invoicing, and more.

The software includes pre-built templates and drag-and-drop tools, so you can easily customize your forms and workflows — without writing a single line of code.

Of course, any forms that you create for your purchasing processes will typically have to go through multiple parties for approval.

With the no-code workflow builder, you can incorporate dynamic routing into your workflows and ensure that your forms reach the right approvers.

Here’s an example of an automated purchase order workflow:

Once an employee creates and submits a purchase order, the system automatically routes it to their manager for further review.

Your forms and workflows are mobile-friendly out of the box, so your purchasing managers will be able to approve documents like contracts either from the office or on the go from a mobile device.

Start Automating Your Procurement Processes Today

Procurement plays a critical role for any business. 

However, purchasing the goods and services that your company needs to operate is a complex process. Missing any key information can result in delayed projects.

Creating a procurement plan can help you manage the purchasing process, from outlining roles and responsibilities to establishing vendor selection criteria and more. 

It can also make your purchasing process more efficient. If a vendor goes bankrupt, you won’t have to start from scratch to find an alternate vendor. You can simply pull up a procurement plan you’ve already created to speed up the process.

Of course, creating a procurement plan is only one aspect of purchasing. There are numerous steps involved between issuing a request for proposal and making a payment. Performing these steps manually will only slow down your purchasing process.

Fortunately, automation tools like frevvo make it easy for you to automate your purchasing processes. You don’t need a large budget or a team of developers either. The software is fully visual, so you can create your own automated workflows without coding.

Ready to get started? Sign up for a free 30-day trial to try frevvo’s procurement automation software for yourself.

The post How to Create a Procurement Plan in 9 Simple Steps appeared first on frevvo Blog.

So how can you help your company grow and adapt? How can you equip your team with the tools they need to excel in their roles?

By improving your process productivity.

Read on to learn more. In this article, we’ll look at the different factors that impact productivity and how you can make your processes more efficient.

Click the links below to jump ahead:

• What Is Productivity, and How Do You Calculate It?
• Factors That Affect Productivity in the Workplace
• Step-by-Step Guide to Increasing Process Productivity

What Is Productivity, and How Do You Calculate It?

Productivity is the amount of “work” that a company produces over a given period of time. It measures inputs like raw materials against outputs like finished goods.

Improving productivity is key to a company’s bottom line. Increasing output with the same resources can help you generate more profits.

That’s not all.

Increasing productivity can help you:

• Reduce turnaround times for products or services
• Improve customer satisfaction
• Utilize your resources more efficiently
• Negotiate better terms with your vendors
• Improve employee engagement
• Lower operational costs

More productive processes also deliver a distinct advantage. Delivering goods faster than your competitors would make your company a more attractive option.

Let’s look at the types of productivity and ways to calculate them.

Labor Productivity 

Labor or workplace productivity is the volume of output that an individual or company produces per labor hour.

You can calculate labor productivity with the following formula:

• Labor productivity = Total value of goods produced / Hours worked

Let’s say that an employee produced 25 units of a product in five hours. If each unit sells for $20, then the total value of the goods they produced is $500. Based on the formula above, this employee’s labor productivity is about $100 per hour ($500 / 5 hours).

Of course, there are different factors that affect productivity. But measuring labor productivity can help you track overall trends.

Process Cycle Efficiency

Another way to calculate productivity is to measure process efficiency — the amount of effort or time it takes to achieve a specific result, like processing an invoice or procuring goods.

You can calculate process cycle efficiency with the following formula:

• Process cycle efficiency = (Value-Added Time / Cycle Time) x 100

Value-added time is the time that you spend to improve the outcome of a process. It’s the work that you’re paying employees to do.

Cycle time is the total time that it takes to complete a process. It includes value-added time and non-value added time — waiting for approvals, searching for documents, etc.

Let’s use invoice processing as an example. If its value-added time is ten hours and its cycle time is five days (120 hours), then its PCE is about 8% based on the formula above.

Only 8% of the total time to process an invoice is spent on productive work. The rest is spent on things that aren’t important.

The following chart looks at PCE benchmarks on the low end and high end:

The process in our example definitely has room for improvement. By improving its efficiency, you can process invoices faster and take advantage of early payment discounts.

Factors That Affect Productivity in the Workplace

There are many factors that affect a company’s productivity — the economy, competition, supply chain, etc. But there are also certain elements that play a role in how productive employees are.

Let’s take a closer look.

Work Environment

An employee’s working environment includes its physical elements, such as lighting, sound, layouts, and even temperature. These all have a direct impact on productivity.

One study found that women performed better on math and verbal tasks when the temperature was higher, while men performed worse on similar tasks.

It’s not just the physical aspects of an office’s environment that affect productivity. It also includes the company’s culture. A positive culture is one of the most important factors of psychological safety — being able to speak up without being afraid of negative consequences.

Companies that foster more positive working environments are more innovative and agile. They provide an environment where employees feel supported and valued.

Processes

Employees spend approximately eight hours a week working inefficiently. This can happen when companies don’t have clearly defined processes in place.

If processes aren’t clear, employees won’t have any guidelines for the best way to handle certain tasks. They’ll attempt to figure things out on their own, which can lead to costly mistakes.

However, when you have clearly defined processes, employees won’t have to waste time figuring out what to do. They can simply execute each step from start to finish.

Technology

How companies deploy technology has a significant impact on productivity. The right tools enable employees to increase output without compromising on quality.

A good example is when Henry Ford installed the first assembly line for the Model T in 1913. This technological innovation reduced the time it took to build a car from 12 hours down to 1 hour and 33 minutes.

For modern workplaces, using tools like workflow automation software can help streamline your processes and improve productivity.

Training

New hires take at least six months to become proficient in their roles. However, they’ll spend approximately 28 hours per month working inefficiently because they’re still new.

If you can bring that number down, you can help new hires become more productive. Examples include investing more in training programs and creating documentation like standard operating procedures (SOPs).

When new hires and existing employees receive the right training, you can expect an increase in productivity.

Step-by-Step Guide to Increasing Process Productivity

There are countless ways to make a business more productive. But perhaps the best way is business process management (BPM) — the practice of continually improving processes within your organization.

More companies are reworking their processes. In fact, 70% of organizations are optimizing their processes to improve productivity. What’s more, 75% believe that BPM processes and technologies have helped their organizations accomplish their goals.

Follow these steps to increase process productivity.

1. Audit Your Existing Processes

Whether you’re onboarding a new hire, procuring goods, or paying an invoice, you generally follow a process to get things done.

However, these processes can become outdated over time. As a result, you could end up losing valuable time and resources on unproductive processes.

The first step to improving process productivity is to conduct an audit. This will give you a clear understanding of how a process works in its current state before you make any changes.

Ask yourself the following questions as you audit a process:

• Who are the people involved?
• Do they have everything they need to do their work?
• What are the exact steps from start to finish?
• Are there any redundant or unnecessary steps?
• Is your machinery and equipment in good condition? 
• Does the technology you’re using fit your current needs?

Consider walking through a process yourself or observing it from start to finish. Additional input from those involved will also help give you a more complete picture.

Bottlenecks aren’t always obvious. Only by diving into a process can you fully understand how it works. Then you may start to notice steps that you can streamline or eliminate.

2. Establish Baselines and Set Goals

Before you make any changes to a process, it’s important that you establish baseline metrics first. This will enable you to measure the effectiveness of any changes you make to a process.

Take a process you want to improve and use the process cycle efficiency formula to measure its productivity. To quickly recap, here’s the formula:

• Process cycle efficiency = (Value-Added Time / Cycle Time) x 100

Once you establish a baseline, use the SMART methodology to set a goal for your process improvement efforts.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.

3. Use Technology to Automate Your Processes

Once you’ve audited a process and established baseline data, you can begin implementing changes to improve its efficiency. But where do you even start?

With automation.

As much as 60% of all jobs can automate at least a third of activities. Automation is a powerful way to drastically improve productivity.

For example, is your team spending hours a week preparing forms and entering data into company systems? Using automation tools like frevvo can help you streamline these tasks.

With frevvo, you can:

Reduce manual data entry

Manually filling out forms like purchase orders is time-consuming and prone to errors. With frevvo, you can create dynamic forms and connect them to external databases to have the fields automatically populate.

The dynamic form builder is fully visual — there’s no need to code, as you can use the drag and drop builder to create your exact layout. 

Plus, you can customize the forms to automatically validate submission data and ensure that users are entering the right data. It’s an effective way to prevent simple errors from holding up a process.

Automate approvals

Documents like contracts and expense claims generally require approvals from managers and senior executives before they can move on to the next step.

However, approvals can take weeks or even longer when each step is performed manually. With frevvo, you can create an automated document approval workflow for any process.

Here’s an example of an automated workflow for invoice approvals:

You can even use business rules to make your workflows more efficient. 

In the example above, invoices are routed to a senior executive if their value is $10,000 or more. Invoices below that amount only require approval from a manager.

Of course, to ensure that documents don’t get “stuck” in processing, you can also configure your workflows to notify approvers that a document requires their signature. 

You can also send periodic reminders to ensure that tasks are completed on time.

Integrate to third party systems

Work increasingly takes place across different applications. But inconsistencies with your data can occur if these systems aren’t integrated.

Consider the invoice approval process. Before approving an invoice for payment, you’d perform a three-way match to ensure an invoice has a corresponding purchase order. 

This helps to prevent fraud, but it can also be incredibly time-consuming. Someone from the purchasing department would have to manually search for a PO in a database (or a file cabinet) and match each item on an invoice.

With frevvo, you can create a workflow that integrates with your accounting system and performs this matching automatically. It can even flag any discrepancies for further review.

These are just some of the many ways that you can use frevvo to improve your processes.

4. Implement New Changes to a Process

Start by making one change at a time. Making too many at once will make it harder to identify which ones positively impacted productivity and which ones didn’t.

Of course, make sure that you test any changes before rolling them out. For example, if you’re automating contract approvals, then test the routing and other aspects of your workflow before you deploy it.

You can test your workflows in frevvo and even see how they’ll look on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.

Run through your workflow and make any changes as needed before rolling it out. But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet.

5. Provide Adequate Employee Training

No matter what changes you’re making to an existing process, make sure that you provide adequate training. This will help ensure a smooth transition.

If you’re using new technology like workflow automation software, schedule sessions to provide practical hands-on training and update your SOPs if you haven’t already.

Finally, schedule regular check-ins with your team and get their feedback.

6. Measure Your Results and Continue to Improve

It’s important that you measure and track your results. While this may sound obvious, consider that 20% of organizations don’t know if their process practices were improving efficiency.

Track key performance indicators (KPIs) like cycle times. If you see a reduction in cycle times, this tells you that your changes are likely having a positive impact on productivity.

With frevvo’s analytics dashboards, you can track key metrics across all your processes, so you can measure your efforts over time.

Finally, remember that your processes are always a work in progress. Continue to monitor your processes and revise them as needed.

Start Improving Your Processes Today

Every organization relies on processes to get things done. 

However, your processes can become outdated over time if you don’t regularly revisit and revise them. This can have an adverse impact on productivity.

Automation software like frevvo can help you map and automate your processes. What’s more, the software features a fully visual interface. If you’re comfortable with software like Microsoft Excel, you can create your own automated workflows without writing any code.

Ready to improve your processes? Try a free 30-day trial of frevvo today to see how you can use workflow automation software to increase productivity.

The post How to Improve a Business Process and 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.

A robust accounts payable process helps you stay on your supplier’s good side and gives you a better overview of your company’s cash flow at all times. You also protect yourself against fraud from parties posing as vendors.

In this article, we’ll break down the accounts payable process, its importance, and common challenges. We’ll also look at how you can streamline it with process management software.

Want to skip ahead? Use the links below:

• What Is the Accounts Payable Process?
• What Is the 3 Way Match Process in Accounts Payable?
• Why You Need a Robust Accounts Payable Process
• Top Accounts Payable Challenges (in a Post-Covid World)
• How to Streamline Your Accounts Payable Process with Process Management Software

What Is the Accounts Payable Process?

The accounts payable (AP) process is how companies manage payments to suppliers and vendors for goods and services they purchase.

AP breaks down the ordering and payment process into four steps:

1. Keep and catalog purchase orders (analog or digital).
2. Receive invoices from suppliers based on goods or services rendered.
3. Review the vendor invoices (with the three-way match process).
4. Pay the invoices.

If you want to get specific, you can break it down further than that, but this is the core process.

Unlike the accounts receivable process — which is essentially about collecting owed payments from customers —  AP focuses on “outgoing” cash flow, not incoming. It’s about managing the money spent on supplies from vendors you need to create new products or deliver services.

What Is the 3-Way Match Process in Accounts Payable?

The three-way match process compares all incoming invoices against the purchase order and receipt bill.

These three documents are the key to maintaining a secure and accurate accounting system:

• Purchase order: The receipt of your original order from the supplier or vendor.
• Invoice: Bill for services rendered or delivered goods.
• Receipt or receiving report: Document that describes the goods or services received.

They’re the standard internal controls your team goes through before confirming any vendor payment. Only after your team ensures a complete match do they process any payment.

For example, suppose you order a new supply of leather to finish a batch of bags. In that case, your company will accurately track every detail of the transaction, including invoice receipts and receipt confirmation for goods, and they’ll confirm that everything lines up.

That’s the essence of the three-way matching process in AP. An accounts payable department that masters this process can help reduce risks related to sizable vendor orders.

You can reduce the risk of fraud, improve your payment management and supplier relationships, and more.

Why You Need a Robust Accounts Payable Process

55% of executives say AP is very or exceptionally valuable to their organization. A robust AP process is crucial for maintaining healthy supplier relationships and protecting yourself from fraud.

Let’s look at why you need a strong AP process in more detail.

Build Healthy Supplier Relationships

77% of companies are investing in deeper supplier relationships. But at the same time, many companies don’t even pay their invoices on time.

30% of small businesses experience negative effects from late invoice payments — it’s one of their main concerns about doing business with other companies.

Always paying your invoices on time with the correct amount the first time around is the foundation of a strong supplier relationship. 

Build rapport by never exceeding invoice due dates, making it easier to get special treatment when you need it — like fast handling on last-minute orders.

Protect Yourself Against Fraud

If you order a large volume of goods or services, especially digital services, maintaining the accuracy of every single minor transaction can be a challenge. Without proper bookkeeping, it’s easy to lose track and fall victim to fraud.

It even happens to the biggest companies in the world. Facebook and Google lost over $100 million to a single vendor fraud case, where a group of swindlers impersonated one of their suppliers.

By always comparing invoices to outgoing purchase orders and receipt reports and looking for discrepancies, you can avoid vendor fraud altogether. Your team will never authorize credit card payments for purchases that you never made. 

And this is only one of many procurement risks AP can help with.

Get a Better Overview of Your Cash Flow

Not having a handle on your cash flow can be a costly problem, stopping your business from taking on new projects and growing. 52% of U.S. SMBs have lost a project of $10,000 or more because of insufficient cash flow.

By documenting all vendor transactions, you can estimate monthly expenses and make better decisions about cash flow. It also makes it easier to create financial statements like a balance sheet for your company’s shareholders.

Of course, manually tracking every company credit card in an excel sheet isn’t the most effective way to get things done. Instead, automated invoice processing can help you match, process, and log all payments correctly without painstaking data entry.

But it’s not at all smooth sailing. Accounts payable departments worldwide are facing a growing set of challenges in a post-pandemic landscape.

Top Accounts Payable Challenges (in a Post-Covid World)

Let’s look at some of the biggest challenges AP teams faced in 2020 and what you should do about them.

Working Remotely Is Becoming the New Normal

2020 was a year that changed the working lives of virtually every AP department out there. While traditionally most worked in the office, now 91% of AP professionals work remotely at least some of the time.

That comes with its own set of challenges, like effectively digitizing the process and finding accounting software solutions to invest in.

It also highlights existing issues, like a workflow centered around printed receipts and invoices and manually confirming all invoice data.

Supplier Inquiries and Invoice Exceptions

In 2020, AP employees spent 22% of their time handling supplier inquiries. They might need extra time to deliver a shipment, or they may not be able to deliver the full amount.

That means you need to change everything from the original purchase order to the invoice in order to ensure that your numbers match up later.

A digital process and accounts payable automation can make it easier for your team to adjust to these types of changes. They can quickly look up original orders and then confirm and make changes to data while on a call with the supplier — no need to comb through filing cabinets.

Using Too Much Paper

With an analog approach, you print at least three sheets of paper for every purchase order and item you receive — the order, receipt, and invoice.

4 out of 10 accounts payable teams feel they use too much paper, especially as companies face increasing pressure to become greener.

The solution is simple but not easy: going paperless (more on this below).

Invoice Approval Takes Too Long

51% of companies say that invoice approval takes too long. With the traditional manual review process of invoice data, who can blame them?

If your backlog builds up, that can lead to an overworked AP department — more prone to human error — delayed invoice payments, and worsening supplier relationships.

A slow process also increases your risk of breaking payment terms and incurring late fees.

One of the root causes for slow invoice approval is incorrectly-filled-out purchase orders that lack information. A manual process leaves you vulnerable to delays caused by human error.

While the global pandemic hasn’t left AP unscathed, many top challenges are still the same as they were before, like using too much paper or taking too long to approve invoices.

How to Streamline Your Accounts Payable Process with Process Management Software

Using process management software like frevvo, you can streamline your AP process from start to finish without coding any complicated programs from scratch.

You can even automate certain parts of the process to eliminate the risk of human error, increase efficiency, and pay more invoices on time.

Let’s take a look at how you should set this all up.

1. Create Digital Ledgers for Vendors and Suppliers

The first thing you need to do is create digital ledger accounts dedicated to all your existing suppliers. This will help the system automatically index and categorize purchase orders and invoices according to the data in the form.

In essence, this is how you organize your “digital filing cabinet” with a smarter AP process. Most companies already have some kind of general ledger set up in their ERP (enterprise resource planning) software.

The problem is that most companies try to maintain the data in their ERP with manual processes and data entry.

Instead, you should set up a digital process that automatically collects, stores, and even matches and validates invoices.

2. Handle Purchase Orders and Invoices Digitally with Custom Forms

Set up custom forms for vendors and internal teams to digitize your records, plus eliminate paper waste and time-consuming data entry.

With frevvo’s dynamic form builder, you can easily create purchase order forms that suit the needs of you and your vendors — without writing any code.

You can start with a template and quickly add all necessary fields to ensure your employees fill out the required data points for each purchase order.

This is the first step toward streamlining your ordering and invoicing process with automated form processing — next up, you need to automate your authorization workflow.

3. Use Business Logic to Automate Complex Payment Authorization Processes

Even if you have a multi-faceted invoice authorization process depending on the amount, you can still automate it successfully. But to do that, you need a solution that can handle complex business logic.

For example, you might follow a process where different people authorize invoices of different sizes.

With frevvo, you can easily create a process like this for your purchase orders and invoices with our visual workflow builder.

For example, you can quickly set up rules that will automatically tie in a VP or head of departments to confirm large purchase orders.

You can also create rules based on factors other than price, such as purchase category. If an employee is ordering a marketing video, you can tie in the VP of marketing, not just the head of finance.

frevvo’s forms support authorization with legally binding electronic signatures, which means your team can quickly handle the entire process from start to finish within the platform.

For more tips on how to streamline this process for your vendors, check out our post on best practices for AP automation.

4. Track the Status of All Purchase Orders in Real-Time (And Eliminate Late Payments)

frevvo helps you integrate your invoice approval workflows into your ERP system and ensure your records are up to date.

You can even create a custom real-time dashboard that tracks your invoices due and helps you visualize your cash flow.

It may sound complicated, but Central Wyoming University was able to fully automate its purchase order workflow with frevvo in under ten days. 

They transformed from a completely paper-based system, struggling with human error and lengthy approval processes, to a smooth automated workflow.

Start Automating Your Accounts Payable Process Today

While most companies already have an accounts payable system in place, they likely face a wide range of challenges, including fraud, delayed payments, and poor supplier relationships.

Unless you want to invest big in developing a custom solution from scratch, a powerful no-code platform like frevvo is key.

With frevvo, you can streamline your accounts payable process from start to finish. You can even automate key elements of your AP process, like invoice authorization, and use digital forms to get rid of manual data entry.

With our drag-and-drop builder, your AP team can set up and control their own processes and digital workspace, ensuring fast adoption and no issues with developer miscommunication. Get started today with a 30-day free trial to set up an entirely new workflow.

The post Accounts Payable Process Explained: Challenges, Benefits, and Best Practices appeared first on frevvo Blog.

However, poor procurement practices and inefficient processes can result in slow approval cycles, missed payments, higher costs, and even instances of fraud.

An effective procurement management system can help you address these challenges.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at procurement management, including what it is and why it’s important. We’ll also cover the steps in the procurement process and how you can use frevvo’s automation software to automate them.

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

• What Is Procurement?
• What Is Procurement Management?
• Why Is Procurement Management Important?
• What Are the Steps in the Procurement Process?
• Top Procurement Management Challenges
• How Technology Can Improve Procurement Management

What Is Procurement?

Procurement is the process of purchasing the goods and services that a company needs to support its operations.

Procurement plays a vital function in every business. Operations will come to a standstill without the necessary goods and services a company needs.

There are three types of procurement:

• Direct: Direct procurement is obtaining anything you need to manufacture a product. Examples include raw materials, parts, and other components.
• Indirect: Indirect procurement means purchasing items that you need to support your daily operations. Examples include office supplies and equipment. 
• Services: Services procurement includes procuring people-based services (e.g., contractors, consultants, etc.).

The process for each type of procurement will generally follow the same set of steps, which includes sourcing, generating requests, negotiating contracts, and more.

What Is Procurement Management?

Procurement management is the practice of managing the processes that your company carries out to acquire the goods and services it needs to operate. These processes include evaluating vendors, creating purchase orders, approving invoices, and more.

Smaller companies may have just one person handling procurement activities, while larger organizations may have an entire department dedicated to purchasing.

There are three P’s in the procurement management process:

• People: People are the individual stakeholders responsible for different stages of the procurement process. Their tasks include creating contracts, approving invoices, and more.
• Process: A business process is a set of steps that employees perform to complete a task. Establishing well-defined processes ensures that employees follow the same steps, which delivers more consistent outcomes.
• Paperwork: Paperwork is the documentation that’s required for different stages of a procurement process. For example, one step of the procurement process is creating and approving purchase orders.

Properly managing each procurement process is by no means easy. But effective procurement management can help your company control its spending better and improve overall efficiency.

Why Is Procurement Management Important?

Supply assurance was one of the biggest procurement challenges that chief procurement officers (CPOs) faced in the past 12 months.

• 56% said that some key suppliers have gone bankrupt.
• 41% had to expedite shipping to secure timely delivery of goods.
• 36% said suppliers failed to meet new requirements.
• 32% said they were losing revenue due to supply shortages.
• 11% experienced brand damage because of supplier issues.

Without effective procurement management practices, your company can find itself in a position where it can’t secure the goods and services it needs in a timely or cost-effective manner.

Imagine that a key supplier goes bankrupt or is unable to meet its delivery schedule. If this happens, it can bring your business operations to a halt and cause your company to lose customers.

Having an efficient procurement management process to source vendors, negotiate contracts, and issue payments can help you manage supply chain risks and ensure business continuity.

Reducing costs is a top priority for 76.4% of CPOs. Procurement management can help your company lower its procurement costs by negotiating better contracts and improving supplier relationships.

What Are the Steps in the Procurement Process?

Procurement varies for every company. For example, a large retailer will likely have a different procurement process than a small business that specializes in a particular product. 

However, there’s a basic “blueprint” that many companies follow to procure the goods they need to operate. The procurement process typically involves the following steps.

Step 1: Identify Internal Needs

The procurement process starts with identifying internal needs. It involves specifying product requirements and setting criteria that need to be met before researching vendors.

It can also include software. For example, the HR department may submit a request for software that assists with the onboarding process. During this step, they may also work with your finance team to establish a budget based on their needs.

Step 2: Evaluate and Select a Vendor

The next step involves researching potential vendors, requesting quotes, and making a final selection based on extensive research. Most companies already have a list of approved vendors they have professional relationships with. 

Depending on your needs, this step may involve creating a Request for Proposal (RFP) — a document that includes details on goods or services you’re looking for. It allows you to collect offers and bids from potential suppliers.

Once the process is officially closed, the procurement team and evaluation committee will review the offers and determine which one best fulfills their needs.

Step 3: Negotiate Contracts

Once you’ve narrowed down your list and selected a vendor, you can begin the negotiation process. It could be straightforward or involve more back-and-forth discussions to negotiate the price and terms of the contract.

Then, once the details are confirmed and the terms are agreed upon, both parties sign a legally binding supplier contract.

Step 4: Approve a Purchase Requisition

It’s often the standard procedure for departments to submit a purchase requisition to the purchasing department for internal approval. This kicks off the purchasing process.

Here’s an example of a purchase requisition form:

When submitting a purchase requisition, you’re not actually purchasing anything yet. You’re getting approval from a manager or department head first. Using a purchase requisition ensures that employees follow business processes and can prevent instances of fraud.

Step 5: Create a Purchase Order

The next step in the procurement process is to create a purchase order (PO), which typically includes the following details:

• PO number
• Date of purchase
• Vendor information
• Buyer information
• Order details
• Delivery date
• Delivery address
• Shipping method
• Payment terms

Here’s an example of a purchase order form:

The purchase order becomes legally binding once a vendor receives and approves it.

Step 6: Receive and Review Vendor Invoice

Once a vendor receives the purchase order, they’ll get to work on preparing the order. In the meantime, they’ll send over an invoice along with prices and payment due dates.

This step typically involves matching invoices against a corresponding purchase order to validate the invoice. An invoice approval workflow that integrates with your accounting system allows you to perform this matching automatically.

Step 7: Confirm and Audit Delivery

At this point, the vendor will deliver the goods or services as promised according to the terms established in the contract. 

Once you receive the order, you’ll audit and confirm the delivery. If anything is missing or products don’t meet certain quality standards, you’ll file a discrepancy report with the vendor.

Step 8: Issue Payment

The next step in the procurement process is to issue payment. But first, you’ll need to perform a three-way match — matching the purchase order, vendor invoice, and receiving document. 

Performing this match is necessary to prevent instances of accounts payable fraud. If everything looks good, you’ll issue payment according to the contract terms.

Step 9: Maintain Records

Finally, maintaining accurate records is an important step in the procurement process. 

Not only does it allow you to maintain an audit trail, but it can also make it easier for your accounting team to see a full breakdown of spending by vendor.

Top Procurement Management Challenges

Procurement depends heavily on having clear processes in place to ensure that everything works efficiently. However, no process is immune to missteps along the way.

Here are some of the most common procurement challenges:

• Risk management: Risk is always a challenge in the procurement process —  non-compliance, supplier-related issues, and even fraud can affect your bottom line. Delivery delays can also hurt your business. 47% of organizations have experienced missed, late, or short shipments.

• Process inefficiencies: Relying on manual processes to manage procurement is time-consuming and prone to errors. Repetitive tasks like manual data entry also take employees away from higher-value work. 42% of business leaders say that automation can speed up task completion.

• Long cycle times: Without a system in place to procure goods, certain workflows in the procurement process can take longer than expected. This can prevent your company from capturing early payment discounts.

To give an example, companies that rely on manual methods to process an invoice take 45 days on average, while those with automated workflows take just five days — a difference of nearly 90%.

• Maverick spending: Companies can lose as much as 16% of negotiated savings when employees purchase goods or services without following pre-established procurement policies. This kind of spending is also more difficult to track, which can cause problems with spend management.

• Lack of transparency: 60% of business leaders say a lack of transparency in the procurement process is a risk to the company. A lack of transparency in the procurement process can slow down decision-making and make finding the information you need harder.

Using the right tools can help you address and overcome the procurement challenges described above. Let’s look at how in the next section.

How Technology Can Improve Procurement Management

Relying on manual methods for your procurement processes may work if you’re only working with a handful of vendors, but it’s not scalable, and it’s error-prone.

Here’s how using technology like frevvo’s process management software can help you improve procurement management.

Standardize Your Processes

The procurement process has a lot of moving parts with many people involved. If your processes aren’t standardized, it can lead to issues like maverick spending and non-compliance risks.

Using process management software allows you to standardize your processes, which can help enforce stronger internal controls and ensure that employees follow the same steps, whether they’re creating a purchase order or approving an invoice.

Standardizing your processes increases productivity, keeps your team members on the same page, and helps you manage procurement risks.

Streamline Approvals

Paper-based approvals are slow and prone to delays — employees waste time printing, signing, and routing documents to the right person for approval.

frevvo’s no-code platform makes it easy to create dynamic forms and automated workflows for your procurement processes. There’s no coding required, so even non-technical users can get started with the software right away. 

Once you create your form, you can incorporate them into a custom Workflow. As an example, let’s say you want to automate the purchase order process.

To get started, simply follow these three steps:

1. Install a pre-built template, or create one from scratch
2. Customize your form, and modify the routing as needed
3. Connect to external systems to auto-populate your forms

Then, test your workflow to ensure everything is working. You might also want to get feedback from the procurement department before deploying it.

Here’s an example of a purchase order workflow you can create in frevvo:

Once an employee creates a purchase order, it automatically routes to a manager for review and then to Finance for final processing.

Other procurement processes you can automate with frevvo include contract approvals, invoice approvals, and more.

Collect Electronic Signatures

It’s always in your company’s best interest to collect signatures on important documents like contracts and purchase orders. But printing and mailing forms is incredibly inefficient. It can also lead to long lead times.

With frevvo’s form builder, you can add legally binding signature components to your forms. The platform supports wet and digital signatures — a secure method of signing documents that uses a certificate-based digital ID to verify and authenticate a signer’s identity.

Watch the video below to learn how you can create legally binding signatures with frevvo:

Define Roles and Set Up Notifications

You can improve role clarity by defining clear roles for the procurement team.

By using frevvo to digitize your procurement processes, you can define roles and set up notifications to ensure that approvers are immediately notified when a document requires their attention. This can help you prevent workflow or approval issues. 

Perform Three-Way Matching Automatically

Matching invoices to purchase orders and receipts is time-consuming, but it highlights any discrepancies. 

With frevvo’s software, you can integrate your workflows to external databases like your accounting system to perform this matching automatically.

Centralize Procurement Documents

85% of employees waste time searching for documents.

You can use frevvo’s built-in connectors to store documents generated by your procurement workflows in an electronic document management system (EDMS) like Google Drive, SharePoint, DocuWare, etc.

Improve Spending Visibility

Using frevvo’s automation software can help you automate purchase order tracking and provide more visibility into organizational spending. 

Analyzing these trends can lead to substantial savings. For example, you can track spending with different vendors and build stronger relationships with the ones your company works with most. This can help you negotiate better procurement contracts in the future.

Create Audit Trails

27% of organizations say that increasing transparency in the supply chain can reduce disruptions in the procurement process.

Digital processes create clear audit trails that help procurement professionals track and manage each step of the procurement process.

Generate Detailed Reports

Monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) in real-time can help your company identify bottlenecks and uncover areas for improvement.

With frevvo’s analytics dashboards, you can monitor metrics like active procurements, average cycle time, expedited purchase counts, process errors, and more. Using these insights can help you further improve your processes.

Start Automating Your Procurement Processes Today

Procurement management plays a critical role in helping your company secure the goods and services it needs to operate.

However, managing each step of the procurement process manually isn’t practical in the long term. It can lead to longer turnaround times, data inaccuracies, and even invoice fraud — all of which can hurt your bottom line.

A workflow automation tool like frevvo can help your company automate and streamline your procurement process. Using the no-code interface makes it easy for you to create custom forms and automated workflows in practically no time.

The platform comes with a drag-and-drop interface — create dynamic forms, customize your workflows, set up dynamic routing, and more. Plus, you can analyze your workflows and make continuous improvements to your processes with the built-in reporting dashboards.

You don’t need to be a technical expert either to start automating your processes. Anyone comfortable with using Microsoft Excel can create and customize their own workflows without writing any code.

Get started today with a 30-day free trial to start automating your procurement process.

The post A Complete Guide to Procurement Management appeared first on frevvo Blog.

So how can you manage assets in your organization? How do you keep your systems running efficiently and mitigate security risks?

This is where systems management comes in. 

Systems management is a far-reaching subject, referring to IT systems management, document management, and HR management. 

In this article, we’ll cover all three of those elements of systems management and recommend the best software for your enterprise business.

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

• What Is Systems Management?
• What Is Document Management Software?
• What Is a Human Resources Management System?

What Is Systems Management?

Systems management is the centralized administration and management of a company’s information technology (IT) infrastructure.

It encompasses a broad range of systems and subsystems, including:

• Asset inventory: Asset inventory involves managing and monitoring the hardware and software assets in your organization.
• User profile management: User profile management allows you to manage users across the network and assign permissions based on their roles.
• Software distribution: Software distribution is the process of distributing business software and applications to your users.
• Backup and recovery: Backup and recovery is the process of storing copies of data in a secure location to protect against data loss.
• Capacity planning: Capacity planning ensures that your company has the available IT resources to meet its requirements. 
• Document management: Document management is a system for organizing, storing, and retrieving company documents. 
• HR processes: HR processes are all about managing the entire employee lifecycle. They include recruitment, hiring, onboarding, training, offboarding, and more. 
• Job scheduling: Job scheduling is the process of provisioning system resources to the applications and processes that need them. 
• Networking: Networking refers to connecting computing devices so that each endpoint can exchange and share resources with each other.
• Security and compliance: Security and compliance is the practice of protecting your systems against malware and ensuring compliance with regulations. 

Effective systems management is crucial for any company. Even one system breaking down can stall your operations and lead to costly downtime. However, trying to manage all the systems that make up your IT infrastructure is difficult without the right systems management tools. 

Here’s a look at the top systems management software on the market.

SolarWinds

SolarWinds is an IT system management software that offers advanced application performance monitoring across your entire network. 

It offers a system management bundle, which consists of four different tools:

• Server and Application Monitor: SolarWinds offers over 1,200 monitoring templates that give you full visibility of your private, public, and hybrid cloud environments. The tool lets you view performance, track different metrics, and do more across your IT stack. You can also monitor infrastructure for both Azure and AWS.

• Virtualization Manager: With this virtual machine monitoring tool, you can monitor your entire IT environment. It enables you to monitor bandwidth usage and pinpoint the cause of a slow application, which makes troubleshooting issues much easier.

• Log Analyzer: Log Analyzer is a log monitoring tool that lets you consolidate and analyze data from your systems. You can even use SolarWind’s Orion Platform to configure customizable alerts and receive notifications. 

• Server Configuration Monitor: Systems and applications are constantly being configured, but these are often responsible for performance issues. This system administration tool lets you track and identify the impact of those changes to ensure continuous uptime.

The tools included in the systems management bundle enable you to monitor and manage applications across your entire network — all from a highly visual dashboard. This lets you identify and troubleshoot issues before they become problematic.

The tool isn’t limited to the Windows environment. You can also monitor Linux and VMWare applications if your company uses them. Other features include built-in virtualization monitoring, storage monitoring modules, configuration management, log management, asset management, and more.

ManageEngine

ManageEngine offers a suite of enterprise IT management software that lets you manage your data center, monitor network performance, and more from a unified console.

Some of its products include:

• Desktop Central: Desktop Central is a monitoring solution that lets you manage your company assets, including desktops, smartphones, and tablets. It also supports all major operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, Mac OS, and more. 

• OpManager: OpManager is a network management solution that provides real-time monitoring and complete visibility of network devices such as routers, switches, firewalls, servers, storage devices, and more. 

Customizable dashboards provide comprehensive infrastructure monitoring, so you can monitor performance and drill down to root causes of any network issues.

• Application Control: Application Control helps your company enforce the principle of least privilege (PoLP) — a principle that means users should only have access to the minimum access privileges they need to perform their work. 

The applications manager also allows you to create a whitelist of applications and a blacklist of untrusted applications to keep out of the network. 

These are just a handful of the products that ManageEngine offers. Pricing will depend on the products you need for your company.

Atera

Atera is a bundle of software that provides robust network monitoring features from one all-encompassing platform.

Some of its features include:

• Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM): The built-in remote monitoring software allows you to get real-time status on system resources. 

It also offers a platform for automating patch management for updating your hardware. You can also gather asset information for devices with the Atera agent installed. 

• Professional Service Automation (PSA): Atera includes PSA software that’s designed to help IT service professionals manage their customers. It includes customer relationship management, help desk and ticketing, knowledge base, and more.

• Remote access: Atera offers remote support software, allowing you to access any computers, desktops, and servers on the network. All remote sessions are also protected with 256-bit AES encryption for extra security. 

Atera offers the tools you need to manage your IT assets and troubleshoot issues from a centralized location. It also includes comprehensive reporting and analytics, so you can make informed decisions.

What Is Document Management Software?

Document management software is software that enables you to store, organize, and manage electronic documents.

Employees waste time when they can’t find the documents they’re looking for.

85% of employees say they’ve spent time searching for documents, and 60% say they’ve found it difficult to find the information they need for their jobs.

Document management software can save your company time and money. It allows you to centralize your documents, which helps increase overall productivity.

Other benefits of document management software include:

• Reduced storage space: The cost to physically store paper can add up. Office space in the U.S. costs about $285 per square foot on average. Document management software helps you reduce storage space.

• Easier retrieval: Employees waste time when they have to walk to a file cabinet and search for the documents they need. Document management software makes it easy for users to search and find files in an instant.

• Improved security: Document management software allows you to encrypt digital documents and restrict access. In addition, these systems also leave an audit trail, so you can see who has viewed and edited a document.

• Better collaboration: Work increasingly takes place outside the office. Document management software makes it easy to share and collaborate on various documents. 

• Disaster recovery: Storing physical documents is risky, as they can be damaged or destroyed in natural disasters. Document management software enables you to store documents in the cloud and restore important documents if you need to.

• Version control: Document management software typically allows you to track a document’s history, so you can see what changes have been made and revert to a previous version if necessary.

In short, document management software can help your company work more productively. 55% of decision-makers agree that accelerating document processing is the most important benefit of digital document management.

Here’s a look at just a handful of service providers to manage your documents. We’ll also look at how you can use automation software to improve your document workflows. 

Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud-based storage platform. It includes a suite of productivity tools, which includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides. These web-based office suite apps are accessible from any device and make collaboration easy with file-sharing features.

Compatibility is rarely an issue. Google Drive supports over 100 file types, including PDFs, images, videos, and more. You can even import and convert Microsoft Office documents to a Google Doc, so you can work on them online.

Google Drive is powered by Google’s advanced search capabilities, enabling your team to quickly find the files they need to work productively. 

All plans let you store up to 15 GB of storage for free, but you can also upgrade your plan if you need more space.

M-Files

M-Files is a document management system that lets you store, organize, and manage your documents. Like most service providers in this space, it offers a host of features that help your team work more productively.

Similar to Google Drive, you can search for documents by name, keyword, file type, and more. You can also search inside documents to quickly find what you’re looking for.

M-Files has a mobile application for iOS and Android devices, so your team can access the files they need from anywhere. The platform supports integrations with a range of third-party apps, including Microsoft Office, Google G Suite, Salesforce, and more.

M-Files doesn’t provide pricing information on its pages, but you can contact its sales team and request a quote. 

DocuShare

DocuShare is a cloud-based document management system that’s geared more toward mid-sized and large businesses. It offers both cloud-based and on-premises solutions.

DocuShare comes with all the features you’d expect in a document management system. You can import files, collaborate on documents, search items in folders, view activity logs, and more.

Unfortunately, there’s no pricing information, so you’ll need to reach its sales team to request a quote.

Automate Your Document Workflows With frevvo

Document management software enables you to store, track, and share essential files from one location. This makes accessing and finding the right documents much easier.

However, for processes like contract approvals, many companies are still printing, scanning, and emailing documents for signatures. These steps are slow and inefficient.

This is where frevvo comes in — process management software that lets you automate your business processes without any coding required.

That’s not all.

With the drag-and-drop form builder, you can create dynamic forms and incorporate them into your workflows. Simply drag the form controls from the palette to customize your forms.

There’s no coding required. 

You can even add business rules to your forms to cut down on manual data entry. For example, your forms can automatically populate with data based on the logged-in user.

With frevvo’s built-in connectors, you can store the forms and data generated from your workflows into your document management system.

Connecting frevvo to your document management system means you can eliminate paper forms and greatly improve turnaround times for many of your processes.

What Is a Human Resources Management System?

A human resources management system is software that helps your company manage and automate HR processes.

HR work is more complex than ever. Without a system to manage processes like recruitment and onboarding, your HR team will quickly become overwhelmed.

Using a human resources management system helps your company:

• Reduce manual data entry
• Centralize employee records
• Streamline workflows
• Ensure compliance
• Improve collaboration

It’s no surprise that more companies are using software to manage their HR processes. 47% of large-sized organizations now use a human resources management system.

While there are countless HR processes, here are just a few that you can automate with frevvo’s HR workflow software.

Recruitment

Recruitment is a key responsibility for HR. It involves attracting, screening, interviewing, and selecting qualified candidates. 

However, it’s easy to get lost in the paperwork if you don’t standardize this process. This can mean missing potential candidates who would’ve been a great fit for your company.

HR workflow software lets you automate parts of the recruitment process, allowing your HR team to spend more time on finding qualified candidates and less time on tedious paperwork. 

Here’s an example of a job application that you can have candidates fill out:

Then HR can screen applications more easily and reach out to promising candidates who meet certain qualifications.

Onboarding

A strong employee onboarding program is key to preparing new hires for their roles and making a great first impression. However, employees are often left with stacks of forms to fill out on their first day. This can leave new hires feeling overwhelmed before they even start. 

Just 12% of employees say their company does a good job of onboarding. One way you can improve the onboarding experience is to automate it.

Here’s an example of an automated workflow for onboarding new hires:

Instead of sticking new hires with piles of paperwork, you can digitize these forms with frevvo and send them to employees before their start dates.

You can also use the software to generate and map data from your forms into official government documents like W4 and I9 forms.

Once completed, the forms are automatically routed to HR for processing who can then start the next phase of the onboarding process.

Vacation/Time-Off Requests

Employees should be able to easily submit vacation or time-off requests and get them quickly approved. But this process is often overly complicated or hampered by long turnaround times.

With frevvo’s HR workflow software, you can create automated workflows for time-off requests. What’s more, you can even integrate your forms and workflows into the HR systems that your company already uses.

Here’s an example of a time-off request form that connects to an internal database:

An employee selects their name from a picklist, and the form shows exactly how many days they have left.

With the workflow builder, you can even incorporate dynamic routing into your workflows. For example, your company may have a policy that requires additional approval for time-off requests that are five days or longer. In this case, you can add a rule that routes these forms to a senior executive for approval.

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

With the workflow above, time requests that are less than five days only require approval from a manager. Adding conditional rules to your workflows can make them more efficient.

These are just some of the many HR processes you can automate using frevvo’s workflow automation software. You can also use the software to create workflows for:

• Timesheet management
• Performance reviews
• Expense claims
• Employee requests
• Offboarding

Employees are your company’s most valuable assets. Automating HR processes helps you create a more productive environment and improve engagement.

Conclusion

System management is a broad subject that encompasses systems management, document management, and HR management — all of which are key to ensuring business success.

System management software allows you to centralize the management of your IT assets and track the performance of key applications across the network. Document management software enables you to store and manage electronic documents.

With frevvo’s HR workflow software, you can automate HR processes like recruitment, onboarding, and more.
Get started with a free 30-day trial today to automate and integrate your processes into the systems your company already uses.

The post Best System Management Software to Manage Your IT Infrastructure appeared first on frevvo Blog.