Time is the key to success for all types of business, be it small, medium, or large. Every day, your team works on different tasks and processes. These daily basis tasks are known as the workflow of your business processes. If you are able to optimize your workflow efficiency, it can save a lot of time by cutting down on time-wasting tasks. Undoubtedly, this results in enhanced productivity.

In order to achieve greater workflow efficiency, it is essential to focus more on the critical processes of your company and streamline all the necessary tasks. This will boost your accuracy, speed, and quality as well.

Eliminating redundancies that waste time helps you and your team focus more on essential elements that can take your business to the next step. For instance, you get time to focus on upcoming strategies and innovations. Workflow efficiency helps in maximizing the value of money and time. Alongside it decreases the risk of errors and turnaround time.

Before diving into the ways with which you can increase your workflow efficiency, let’s first look at some of the factors that decrease workflow efficiency.

Factors That Affect Workflow Efficiency 

All the departments of an organization are interconnected. If any of the departments are affected, it will cost you money, productivity, and time. The main reasons behind the workflow inefficiency in an organization are:

• Miscommunication
• Employee management issues
• Technological obsolescence
• Unnecessary tasks
• Lack of productivity

With the boost in workflow efficiency, you can detect and analyze severe issues in your organization and overcome them by improving business collaboration, technological advancement, analyzing necessary tasks, and performing better employee management. 

How To Improve Workflow Efficiency 

1. Analyze your Current Situation and Existing Processes

The initial step should be to evaluate where you are standing at the moment. What are your desired results, and if the current procedures are producing an effective outcome. Communicate with the employees and have their feedback. Alongside, keep an eye on the routine tasks if they are being done on time or not. 

The data you will collect can be used to identify healthy opportunities to improve your workflow. Look into the process and tasks that are slowing you down. Once you have identified them, you will need to focus on these areas. 

2. Arrange your Tasks First

Since you have understood how your current process is going and what areas you need to work on, it is essential to prioritize the tasks and events on the basis of daily, weekly and monthly schedules. 

Skip the unnecessary actions and organize all the tasks so that you can easily track them. Delegate assignments to your employees, making sure that each and every task is being tracked in your ongoing process. 

3. Optimize your Workflows

Now, the ultimate goal of the workflow is to improve employee productivity so that tasks can be done within fewer steps. 

Analyze the potential of your employees, and their skills and figure out what works best for you and your team. Make adjustments according to your needs. An effective process will help you meet objectives such as:

• Speed up workflows 
• Minimize distractions 
• Simplify information sharing 
• Continuously analyze for future and current improvements 

4. Leverage Automation

The next step should be to automate various tasks in your organization. A low-code automation platform can help you do this. 

You might be wondering how automation works with organizational workflow. There are tons of ways depending upon how you leverage automation. For instance, you can simply automate the whole process of emailing your clients using an email automation tool. This will save a lot of time, and effort and can maintain a significant pace and productivity. 

The next big question is how to integrate automation with your business to enhance workflow efficiency. It varies from software to software.  For different software, you may need to vary your integration method. Well, in general, the integration of software for workflow automation may include the following steps:

a. Picking Up The Right Workflow Solution

Initially, you will have to look for a suitable workflow automation tool. Look for the functionalities that the tool has and what is the primary focus of that particular tool. Check for its API and whether it could be integrated easily with your existing tools (built-in integration), or you will need a custom third-party solution. 

Most importantly, consider if it requires a lot of coding to be integrated and operate the solution. Or is it a low-code platform that is easy to manage and uses user-centric visuals? Comidor is one of the best low-code automation platforms which can boost your workflow efficiency. 

 b. Document Your Plans

The next step would be to analyze how this workflow automation is going to impact your business outcomes. You can simply create an impact analysis. Highlight the expected changes and how you can cope with any undesired event.

c. Create A Test Environment

It could hurt if you are planning to implement the new workflow in the entire company. In the beginning, test the automation software. Use a testing environment or implement it in a particular department for a few weeks. 

Now, it’s time to observe how the new automated workflow is impacting that specific department. 

• What problems do your employees face after integrating automated workflow solutions?
• Does the new workflow solution really affect their work?
• Has it affected the performance of other departments as well?
• How does it impact other departments’ work and efficiency?

Running this test can help you identify problems and answer the above-mentioned questions. You will be able to address the issues before you roll out the automated solution in all the departments or your organization.

d. Demonstration To The Employees

According to Dissertation Assistance, “It is important to gain the trust of your employees before applying any sort of the change in the organization.“ 

Show them the benefits of automation software. How it will impact the company and how it can make their job easier with the improvement in productivity. 

This will help employees accept the change and adapt to the new workflow quickly.

5. Analyze and Redesign your Strategy

It will take a few attempts to design a good workflow with effective outcomes. Do not expect it to be done with a single try. You may need to perform some minor adjustments to attain an ideal system for your organization. 

Regularly analyze and monitor how new workflow and tactics are affecting your employee productivity. Continue to test advanced solutions and keep analyzing their results. Comidor is once again best with this as it allows you to analyze and provides instant workflow analytics. The more you analyze the gaps, you can get better opportunities to rectify them. Build future strategies accordingly so that you boost your workflow efficiency gradually.  

Final Thoughts

One could say that workflow efficiency is a measure of the effectiveness of the process of improving the necessary steps to complete a business process. The key to improving workflow efficiency is to identify and eliminate any inefficiencies that exist in your current workflow. After identifying them, you should determine what can be done to improve their performance. Automation is the first thing on your list since it enables you to automate and streamline your workflow. Finally, picking the right automation software solution plays a crucial role in the implementation of those improvements that have the highest impact on your team productivity and business performance.

Author Bio
Claudia Jeffrey is currently working as an Editor QA at Crowd Writer. She helps students when they ask to write my dissertation. Claudia is a tech-geek, and to keep herself updated with new tools and advancements, she reads tech related blogs and spends her time surfing on the internet.

Businesses require consistency and predictability. Without those essential factors, an organization is forced to operate with uncertainty and a lack of reliability, neither of which are conducive to business sustainability. However, attaining consistency and predictability within a business is not easily done, which is why any business concept, that helps achieve that, must be actively considered. Business process flows are an excellent example of such a concept. They are a practical way of ensuring that two essential things are achieved in any process: focus and consistency.

This article will provide an overview of the definition, the principal benefits of business process flows, and the simple steps to create successful business process flows. 

Process Flows in Context 

At its simplest, a business process flow is the sequential representation of a process and the various components thereof. These components can include operational factors such as actions required and the people and resources needed to achieve them, as well as applicable timelines. It helps define and layout all the aspects of a business process, so that said process is easily understood. One could say that a process flow provides a ‘snapshot’ overview of a given process. It allows employees to have a good understanding of how a business works. 

Importantly, a process flow can be devised for any type of work or process in any type of organization. Therefore, a process flow can be as effectively used to describe how a purchasing order should be processed by the finance department, as it can be by a sales team to pitch a new product to potential customers. Process flows are used by industries as diverse as software development, auto assembly, and healthcare management. Below is a standard template for a process flow that can be used by a company’s to automate HR-related processes like the onboarding case: 

As can be seen in the process flow diagram above, a business process flow provides a breakdown of the various inputs and outputs within a process. Each of these workflow components is usually denoted by means of shapes, typically ovals, diamonds, and rectangles, with each being connected by lines that indicate the possible paths. The ‘flow’ within a business process flow and workflow design usually follows an A to Z logic, i.e. from commencement or start of a process to its logical conclusion or end-goal, whatever the latter might be. 

Benefits of Business Process Flows 

There are many benefits to having process flows, including process mapping, the principal ones of which include: 

• Communication: everyone can understand a specific process, and be trained accordingly. 
• Standardization: processes can be reliably replicated. That is why they should be an integral and invaluable part of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
• Comprehensiveness: process flows can be established across all verticals and at all levels within an organization. 
• Maximization:  all resources can be used to their full potential. 

 There are also systemic benefits to having business process flows in place: 

• Cost minimization: understanding exactly how processes work means that cost efficiencies can be implemented where possible. 
• Risk management: understanding your process means being able to identify potential risks and better able to mitigate them. 
• Agility: process flows should ensure fewer (or no) bottlenecks, errors, and duplications, making for a more Agile business. 
• Continuous improvement: knowing each step of a process means being able to improve processes as needed. 

These benefits are applicable to process mapping itself, which is the actual diagrammatic compilation (i.e. mapping) of a process and its various components. 

Simple Steps to Create Process Flows 

The beauty of process flows is their simplicity, however complicated or technical the actual process might be. As such, simple steps can be taken to ensure that your process flow will be effective: 

Step 1: Name it – the process flow should be specifically named according to the naming conventions used by your organization. 

Step 2: Give it a purpose – what is the intent of the process flow? Why is this specific process flow in place and to what end? 

Step 3: Scope it – give the process flow the needed extent of the scope by asking a simple question: what inputs and outputs should be included and excluded? 

Step 4: Map inputs and outputs – go through each stage/phase/level of the process and identify the required inputs and outputs for each. Be specific in the inputs and think of possible variables for outputs. 

Step 5: Provide direction – a process flow should comprise a series of directional arrows based on ‘Yes/No’ or ‘What If/What Then?’ questions posed that help connects inputs and outputs (i.e. components within the process flow). 

Step 6: Assign duties and responsibilities – where needed in the process flow, applicable responsible people or line management should be indicated. 

Step 7: Make it visual – a process flow should be mapped and its diagrammatic representation/workflow diagram to be readily available to any person who may need to understand the process and its objectives/intent. 

A final point: consider workflow automation powered with RPA and AI/ML capabilities of your business flows: Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is already being used by many businesses to enhance and automate repetitive process flows. RPA software can be used in order to choose which processes in a business should benefit from automation. Sales ordering process, enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer service, and payroll are just four examples of typical processes that can benefit immensely from Robotic Process Automation. 

Conclusion

In today’s fast-paced and competitive world, organizations are constantly looking for ways to increase their efficiency and reduce costs. Business process flows are a critically important means by which a business can give itself the structure and sense of purpose needed to succeed. Process flows can help foster transparency, enhance collaboration, and create business intelligence.

Comidor workflow automation platform allows users to design any type of business process flow, automate and optimize workflows end-to-end, and incorporate intelligent automation functionalities, like RPA, AI, and Ml. There are many benefits associated with Comidor. It can help organizations save time by automating tasks, enhance customer service, and improve company culture through transparency.

In closing, value-adding performance by management and employees alike don’t just magically happen. It is the culmination of intelligent automation decisions made and actions put into practice. The real magic is in being able to ensure that business processes are created appropriately and work as planned again and again. 

Author bio
Bryan Christiansen is the founder and CEO of Limble CMMS. Limble is a modern, easy-to-use mobile CMMS software that takes the stress and chaos out of maintenance by helping managers organize, automate, and streamline their maintenance operations. 

More and more companies are embracing the benefits of technologies like workflow management and workflow automation. When implemented properly, workflow automation can drastically improve productivity and boost efficiency. In addition to streamlining various processes, automation also saves employees from performing tedious and repetitive tasks. By enabling employees to accomplish more with less time, automation also reduces costs for businesses. Due to its benefits, many companies eagerly adopt automation without sufficient planning. This often leads to workflow automation mistakes. Fortunately, most of the common workflow automation errors have quick and easy solutions. If you want to avoid costly errors, here are six of the most common workflow automation mistakes and ways to avoid them.  

Not Researching The Right Processes To Automate

Whether a company adopted automation eagerly to keep up with its competitors or as a quick solution to problems with efficiency, rushing into automation can be a costly mistake. Identifying the best processes to automate is crucial if you want to maximize the benefits of your investment. Failing to do this, might inadvertently result in automating a process that didn’t require automation in the first place. Companies that automate wrong are unlikely to see improvements in their productivity. They essentially render their expensive investment useless.

As a business, take the time to learn about automation and its current applications. Afterward, evaluate your existing processes to determine which processes can be efficiently automated. Consider which processes would benefit the most and achieve the best results with automation. Taking the time to plan your automation strategy before implanting it can save you a lot of time, money, and effort.  

Automating Based On Profit Not Improvement  

It’s understandable why a business would want to automate the processes that would produce the most profit. Automation is after all designed to increase productivity and in turn, maximize profits. However, it’s a mistake to ignore processes that require improvement in favor of those that can generate the most revenue. Making the mistake of focusing solely on profits might be beneficial in the short term, but it’s highly inefficient in the long run.  

Instead, focus on automating processes that ease the workload of your employees. Automate processes that improve the safety and efficiency of production. Consider the long-term implications of your automation strategy. Adapting this future-oriented, improvement-based plan for automation will likely be more profitable anyways.   

Automating Everything All At Once  

Many companies rush into automation in the hopes of either catching up or staying ahead of their competitors. This can be extremely overwhelming for the company and its employees. The mistake of automating several processes at once can result in confusion and mistakes. While you appear to be progressing faster by quickly implementing automation, you’re actually slowing down your real progress. Careless adaptation of automation does not yield the same results as a proper implementation that helps employees get familiar with the technology.

Instead of automating several processes at once, consider focusing on just one workflow, first. By automating this single workflow, you can understand more about automation and solve any issues that arise. This also gives your team the opportunity to learn about the process well and adjust to it. 

Investing In Data Collection But Not Analysis  

As data proves to be increasingly valuable to businesses across all industries, companies are excitedly investing in automated data collection processes. While it’s important to invest in data, it’s equally as important to understand it. “Many businesses spend a substantial amount of money on data infrastructure, but forget to invest in insights,” warns Kelly Parks, a business writer at Paper Writing Service. “Your data is only as good as your ability to pull meaningful pieces of information from it.”   

Without insights, data is essentially worthless. Data insights allow companies to gain valuable information about customers and their preferences. This well-informed decision-making gives companies an advantage over their competitors. Thus, it’s crucial to invest in the analysis and interpretation of data as much as its collection.  

Not Asking An Expert To Guide Your Transition  

Despite its ability to streamline and simplify work processes, workflow automation can be complicated to implement without an expert. Some companies attempt to save money by skipping out on expert consultation. This is a huge workflow automation mistake for many businesses especially those who have never automated their workflow before. Expert guidance allows companies to take advantage of the full potential of automation. Refusing to hire an expert means missing out on the full applications and the best approaches to automating your workflow processes.  

Instead of trying to implement workflow automation blind, consult with an expert to make the transition as seamless as possible. This allows your company to take full advantage of automation and its benefits.  It’s vital to mention, that in addition to expert guidance, the choice of the best workflow automation software vendor is important, too. The workflow management system of your choice should meet your business needs to make your business life easier. 

Forgetting To Re-evaluate Processes  

Some companies make the mistake of adopting automation for a workflow process and then never revaluating it again. If you want to have a leading edge over your competitors, it’s crucial to continuously evaluate and search for new ways to optimize your workflow. Improving efficiency is a never-ending process, not a one-time goal you accomplish and forget about.  

Conclusion  

Transitioning into automation can be an overwhelming process for a lot of companies and workers. Making mistakes is unavoidable in the learning process. However, by avoiding these common workflow automation mistakes, you save your company a lot of wasted time, effort, and money.  

Are you tired of struggling with various tasks and multiple processes? Do you know what is workflow management? Workflows can be described as roadmaps that define, execute, and automate business processes and help them run smoothly and on schedule. Such processes involve passing tasks, like information and document handling, from one person to another, while following a set of procedural rules. 

Workflow diagrams and charts make visualizing your processes just a little easier. So, as you work to get a process done, consider a workflow as your roadmap to do so effectively. With that said, let’s take a look at how to create a workflow and why this is such a beneficial part of completing your business processes.

How to Create a Workflow:

1. Start At The End

The first step in how to create a workflow is to NOT start at the beginning. You heard right! DO NOT start at the beginning. Instead, think first about the end. When you start, having the end in mind allows your team to focus on the end goal and purpose of a workflow. When you know how you hope your process will end, you can better create a workflow that matches that intention. So, in hindsight, you’ll be working backward. 

As you work your way backward, you’ll figure out the right path to get to where you need to go. Once the right path is noticeable to both you and everyone else on your team, you’ll eventually determine a suitable workflow. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

• Which are the systems required to reach the endpoint? 
• What processes and activities need to be performed in each stage? 
• What kind of workflows are necessary? 
• Are there any best practices needed to reach your goal? 
• Who and or which team will lead the entire process, as everyone follows the established workflow roadmap?

If desired, you can create a checklist on what’s needed and what priorities come first. Your checklist should also note who will be partnering or grouping with (if applicable), to ensure that every single task is assigned to the right user and finally completed. 

2. Define a Workflow

When it comes to how to create a workflow, you’ll need a purpose. To begin with, your workflow purpose tells people in the team why the process or project matters to them. 

For example, the purpose is to launch the best product for your clients, right? Additionally, it lets your team know what role they play in the workflow. A workflow doesn’t work unless every member understands their part. Here are three steps for defining a purpose, as you create a workflow:

Workflow diagram. First, create a workflow diagram that realistically shows the proposed workflow. The workflow diagram should depict all the tasks each team member will perform to complete the process (i.e. roles and responsibilities). Plus, the roles and responsibilities must be defined in a way that everyone on the team is aware of them. Remember: All roles and responsibilities must be realistic and doable or else you won’t be able to move on to the second step. Not sure how to create a workflow diagram? No problem — Comidor has you covered with our BPMN 2.0 Comidor Workflow Designer!  

Team consensus. Have each member of the team agree to the proposed workflow. 

• If not everyone on the team agrees to the proposed workflow, then go back to the first step and revise it. 
• If everyone agrees to the proposed workflow, have them sign off on it, and then adopt the plan. 

Tool functionality. Finally, match the accepted workflow process to a tool functionality, so that the tool selection depends on the defined workflow.  Matching processes to tools allow people to make the right choice on which tools to use for each task. In other words, the selection of tools won’t drive the process, unless team members discuss what tools they’ll need in advance. 

Selecting the Best Tool for Workflow Automation 

Workflow automation tools enable organizations to implement automation to create an effective flow of information among teams that are responsible for any business operation. Keep in mind that the best workflow automation solutions offer a graphical interface with drag-and-drop functionality in order to visualize your processes, a form designer to create digital forms with dynamic user fields, role-based access control, and a wide range of automation features and smart capabilities. 

3. Test Your Workflow

After you’ve defined your workflow, it’s time to put it to the test. This is where you’ll see just how your workflow functions in your workplace. Errors and bottlenecks may occur despite your detailed planning, and it’s best to catch these from the start to improve your workflow.

You’ll want to ensure that there is ample testing time, so you may need to try out your workflow for a few weeks before you fully understand where improvements need to be made. From there, it’s back to the drawing board with your team to brainstorm solutions and implement new steps into your workflow.  

Comidor’s Workflow Simulator allows businesses to test different scenarios and generate predictions and projections about process outcomes. With the Workflow simulator, users can also spot errors that would not otherwise be able to identify in the initial steps of workflow designing. 

4. Optimise And Analyse a Workflow

Once you’ve tested your workflow and are content with how it works, you’ll need to optimize it by implementing workflow automation. Automation helps you streamline the internal workflows by canceling out any manual data entry and request handling. Moreover, it lets you track the status of workflow tasks (i.e. completed, pending, or in-progress). 

In addition, automation software help teams stay on track. In fact, automation will let you and your team know of the following: 

• When task status is prone to delay or there’s a deadline approaching, automated notifications are sent to the team member responsible for that task. 
• When a task is completed, you and your team will be notified, too. 
• The transition from one task to another is also made easy with automation. 

Plus: Intelligent workflow automation and RPA offer advanced automation capabilities since these technologies automate complex tasks and projects. Find out the role of RPA in Project Management. 

After optimization, it’s important to analyze your workflow to identify new trends and bottlenecks. Consider the following factors: 

1.  The performance of your workflow 
2. The performance of the teams and team members involved 
3. Process redundancies and ways to eliminate them 

Automation platforms, like Comidor, allow you to virtually map and track any organizational process through their workflow-designing functions. Process automation tools should be able to help you navigate and modify existing processes, or create new workflows using a feature that lets you drag and drop your options. In many cases, these tools also offer business applications like project management, case management, sales, and marketing automation.

Why Create Workflows? 

You know how to create workflows, but what exactly are the benefits of having these in place? There are quite a few, including: 

• Increased productivity.With repetitive tasks being streamlined, your team has more time in the day to focus on larger projects and focus on customer relationships.  
• Visible accountability.Everyone has a designated role in a workflow. By creating a visual workflow diagram or chart, there will be increased transparency and accountability as projects move through the process.   
• Improved collaboration.In addition to accountability, team collaboration can soar with workflow automation. Leave notes, send notifications, and see where projects sit in real-time for better collaboration within your team.  
• Business process improvements.Last but certainly not least, your processes will see a tremendous improvement with workflows. You’ll be able to clearly see where bottlenecks occur and create automated solutions to keep your work moving through the pipeline.  

Comidor Workflow Automation 

Creating a workflow doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, four steps are all you need! 

Remember: One of the best ways to start using more workflows is to be more conscious of the steps that you take each day. That means, whenever you’re going through a process, look at how everything is running. As you do so, keep in mind these questions:

• Is everything running smoothly? 
• Who is responsible for what? 
• Is there any friction in any areas of the process? 
• What happens next? 

As you keep in mind the above questions, you’ll soon develop an effective workflow that will not only help you get your project or process off the ground but will also help your team stay on course. Now, while some workflows won’t work for you, others will. All you have to do is A/B test your options and see which ones best fit your work.  Remember: Each change to your business is an opportunity to create workflows, refine them, and make them better. 

Ready to create your own workflows? Check out Comidor’s workflow automation technology to get started. The BPMN 2.0 Comidor Workflow Designer allows you to visualize your workflows in a whole new way. Create, test, and implement your new workflows in one convenient location.  

 Good luck! 

The article has been co-written by Comidor and Kristin Herman. Kristin Herman is a writer at UK Writings. As a marketing writer, she writes articles and blog posts about the latest trends in digital advertising.

Managing your business operations is a challenging endeavor that often requires a high level of time, attention, and manual labor. Luckily, the digital transformation taking the workplace by storm has set its sights on automating these business operations through Business Process Management (BPM) and workflow management. 

You may have previously heard these terms used interchangeably, but we’re here to let you know there are actually quite a few differences between these terms. We’ll kick off this article with a quick overview of what exactly BPM and workflow are. 

What is BPM? 

So, what is Business Process Management? BPM refers to the way in which businesses create, implement, and manage necessary business processes. These processes are made up of activities or tasks pieced together to complete an operational goal. BPM assists businesses in defining, analyzing, and improving business processes for a more efficient workplace. 

Many businesses manage their processes using Business Process Management software. This software provides businesses with the tools to automate their business processes for improved accuracy and efficiency. 

What is a Workflow?

Chances are, you’ve heard the term “workflow” at least once in your workplace. But what does it mean? A workflow is a sequence of tasks that are needed to achieve a business goal. Workflows are often used to automate repetitive tasks that occur in a specific order over and over.

Similar to BPM, businesses will often use workflow automation software to manage and automate their workflows. Daily tasks can be automated for faster completion using custom business rules for improved workflow management. 

BPM vs. Workflow

Now that we’ve defined BPM and workflow, let’s look at how these two work together and the key differences that make them so unique. 

Similarities

To start, we’ll discuss how BPM and workflow management work together. Both of these tools are used to automate work functions. Whether it’s simple, daily tasks or entire processes, BPM and workflow management work hand-in-hand to make our days a little easier. 

Workflows are the sequences of tasks that go into completing a project. BPM, then, could be described as the management of a set of workflows from multiple departments that come together to achieve an operational goal. Since both BPM and workflow are important factors in the workplace, they are often found in every organizational aspect. 

In addition, the end goal of BPM vs. workflow is similar. They both serve to automate tasks in the workplace as a way to increase productivity and improve accuracy.

Differences

Despite the seamless way BPM and workflow management seem to work together, there are key differences that make each a unique part of a digital workplace.

When we talk about BPM vs. workflow, we can think of these two in terms of large-scale vs. small-scale operations. BPM focuses on large-scale processes. This management system handles the workflows, data, and people that work together to reach goals. Workflow management, on the other hand, takes care of small-scale operations. Workflows are made up of the sequences of steps that will eventually lead to BPM’s larger-scale processes. 

In this way, workflow management software allows you to organize your workflows through additional steps, software integration, and more. BPM, on the other hand, offers a big-picture look at every process in your company. BPM takes company organization a step further, combining workflow management with detailed analytics, reporting, and process monitoring.  

As your company grows, BPM is an essential component that must remain flexible to meet changing business needs. BPM software allows you to easily adjust business processes to better match the goals your company is focused on achieving. Workflow management, on the other hand, can extend the horizon of business process management. Workflows can be enhanced with AI/ML and Robot Process Automation (RPA) capabilities that make business processes intelligent. 

Comidor BPM and Workflow Management

Falling in line with the digital transformation, Comidor is revolutionizing the way that businesses manage their operations. With state-of-the-art BPM software and workflow management, we’re redefining the management of business processes. 

Our No-Code Hyperautomation tools allow you to efficiently manage and automate your business processes and workflows with ease. Simply go beyond streamlining processes and instead unlock a wide range of automation opportunities with Cognitive Automation and RPA. 

Contact us today to learn more about how to bring BPM and workflow management into your business!

* Featured image: Funtap/Stock.adobe.com

It’s not uncommon to hear “workflow” and “process” used interchangeably in the workplace. But did you know they’re actually two different terms with unique purposes? That’s right, workflow and process actually refer to distinct business terms. Let’s take a look at the relationship between workflows vs. business processes.

What is a Workflow?

Let’s start by defining what a workflow is. Workflow is a sequence of simple steps to reach a specific business goal. In simpler terms, a workflow automation software automates and streamlines repetitive tasks that are completed in a specific sequence every time. Typically, a workflow is created to visualize and orchestrate the connected stages of a process that can be performed in parallel or sequentially depending on specific rules or decisions.

Workflows constitute a model for how employees should be completing their tasks. That means that every person in the company follows the exact same steps to complete their tasks.

A solid, well-defined workflow allows data and tasks to flow through an organization. This enables employees to understand clearly their duties and managers identify bottlenecks and improvement opportunities. Generally, by automating workflows, you can save time and money that would otherwise be spent on repetitive, manual processes and tasks.

What is a Business Process?

So, what exactly is a business process then?

A business process refers to a set of activities or tasks, often connected and automated, triggered by an event to carry out a predetermined specific operational goal. Each activity (e.g., a task), included in a process, is assigned to a team member or to an entire department.

Every organization should define its processes, analyze and measure the results to ensure that the process is meeting expectations and is getting improved.

There are three main categories of business processes:

• Operational processes that are essential and keep a business running
• Management processes that plan and control any operational process
• Supportive processes that support operational processes

Many businesses streamline processes through the use of Business Process Management (BPM) software. This tool allows businesses to solve large-scale problems. With a BPM software, they manage and automate their processes to operate smoothly, increase productivity and accuracy.

Workflow vs. Business Process

With such similar roles in a company, it’s easy to understand why workflows and processes may be used interchangeably. However, while they are quite similar, there are key differences that make the terms stand apart. Read on to learn the relationship between business process vs workflow below.

To fully understand the differences between these two terms, it’s important to know how they relate. Both workflows and processes clarify how work gets done and how the business runs. In essence, a business process is composed of multiple interconnected workflows. A workflow is a set of steps used to accomplish a given goal, and a business process is a group of these workflows together used to complete a business operation.

Despite this connection, there are a few distinct differences between workflows vs. processes. These differences include:

• When creating workflows, the sequence of steps is the primary consideration. On the other hand, processes, take into account the workflows, people, and data involved.
• The purpose of a process is to complete a larger business goal. The purpose of a workflow, on the other hand, is to provide the tool and mechanism to accomplish this business goal.
• Processes tend to be more flexible and are always being improved upon as the company grows and changes. Workflows tend to be more specific and detailed with less flexibility as to how a sequence of tasks is completed.
• Processes can occur without designated workflows, but workflows are created with the intent to assist a process.

Though the relationship between these two terms can seem a bit confusing, implementing them in your workplace doesn’t have to be. Keep reading to learn how to automate your workflows and business processes.

Automating Workflows and Business Processes

With BPM software comes the ease of streamlining and automating both workflows and business processes.

To start, you’ll have the opportunity to design and implement your workflow patterns to automate those tedious, repetitive tasks that often take up too much time. Through the No-Code environment of this software you can map out your workflows so your team can best complete these tasks using role-based rules. In this way, collaboration is easier than ever before. You can share information, store data, and receive accurate reports right in your business process.

Improve Your Business Operations with Comidor

At Comidor, we’re ready to help you tackle this technologically advancing world and keep up with competitors using state-of-the-art software. Using Comidor’s BPM 2.0 Workflow Designer, you create and automate your processes in one convenient location. With this software, you can:

• Design and simulate a workflow to ensure the highest level of optimization before fully implementing.
• Automate administrative, rule-based, and time-consuming tasks with RPA bots and AI/ML components.
• Improve business processes based on real-time and accurate reports.
• And more!

Contact Comidor today to learn more about workflow and business process automation and how you can introduce this software into your workplace!