Since 1995, I have, as a workflow consultant, assisted over 300 clients ranging from 25 to 250,000 employees, across all industries and vendor platforms; with process improvement, and digital workflow planning including integration to related technologies such as capture, recognition, machine learning, content management, robotic process automation, AI, and electronic records management technologies.
What is great about digital workflow is instead of relying on phone calls, texts, email, or paper, a workflow can be triggered by a customer, internal request, automated task, or an event. Then workflow can automate decisions, allow for parallel / sequential routing of information and documents through your processes, and update data systems. The result? Workflow automation can smash paradigms, innovate an organization and provide improvement for Operations, Finance, Human Resources, Administration, Legal, Sales/Marketing, and many other departments.
Studies show that when properly deployed and integrated with process improvement methods workflow technology can improve a process from 25% to 75%, resulting in a return on investment up to 10x. Process methods to use with workflow include re-engineering, total quality management, BPM, LEAN, Six Sigma, and others. Each process improvement method can provide a different way of looking at a process and achieving results.
What are the five keys to workflow planning? First, develop a roadmap based upon user interviews and projected workflow ROI. Then, focus on processes that have high volumes, errors, or time required to complete. Third, clean up processes before automation and roll out procedural changes ahead of the technology deployment. Fourth, design and roll out workflow at a proper level, don’t over or under automate. Fifth, measure results and start again.
If you would like additional workflow planning ideas or to share your situation, feel free to contact me at consulting@cre8inc.com, 206-556-5958, or www.cre8inc.com. Happy to provide ideas. Best George Dunn, President CRE8 Independent Consultants.