Making Your Systems Support Your Workflow, And Not The Other Way Around
Workflows are as unique as your business – so you need to make sure they’re working hard for you.
The way you work within your business is unique. Every business will have different activities, done at different stages, to achieve different things. These are called ‘workflows’, and create the basis for how your business operates day to day. These workflows can vary from a simple series of basic activities, all the way up to huge, complicated groups of integrated processes.
When a company starts to scale up their workforce and operations, they might start looking for a workflow system to help manage things. But what should you look for if you want to make sure your system supports your workflows, and not the other way around?
What Is A Workflow Management System?
First things first – workflow management systems are software programs that help businesses to stay organised. They are basically a step up from simple task management, and helps businesses take control of their routine processes and manage them better.
In an ideal world, a good workflow management system will:
- Allow individuals within the business to automate their repetitive processes
- Follow up on uncompleted tasks in the process automatically, and notify the task owner
- Gives the business an overall picture of workflow throughout the business, along with performance metrics for individuals and tasks.
What Do I Need In A Workflow Management System?
That’s the killer question. And honestly? It depends on what your business does, what your unique processes are and how you prefer to work with software. But there are a few things to make sure your system has:
- A Code-Free Workflow Designer: If you asked the person who does the process to draw their workflow, they will probably draw you a straight line, with key steps in the process. Ask a programmer to make software for that same workflow, and it will start looking like the family tree of Oedipus! A good workflow management system doesn’t require any coding experience, and does all the complicated stuff in the background.
- Integration: Most businesses today are using at least one cloud-based service as part of their day to day operations. So being able to integrate with other cloud-based programmes is essential to get a complete overview.
- Customisation: Every business works in different ways, so the chances of finding a system that does everything you need it to straight out of the box is pretty low. But a good system will allow you to customise almost everything, giving you the flexibility to make it your own.
- Role-Based Access Control: A lot of workflows can contain sensitive information that you might not want to share with everyone in the business. A good workflow management system will allow you to customise what each user can see and edit at every level.
Choosing the right workflow management system can have a really positive impact on your business – provided it’s working for you, and you’re not working for it. That means you need to understand what your business needs from a workflow system, and how to use it effectively.
That’s where we can help. At Scale-Up Solutions, our experts can work with you to design your own workflows, and choose a system that will match your needs.
If you would like to find out more, please get in touch with us today.
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