Workflow Automation

How to Use Automated SMS Workflows to Resolve Common Customer Service Issues

Marketing Team — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 10:07:43 +0000

Have you ever wondered why your customers feel frustrated when they can’t get a quick answer to their queries? The answer is simple: customers expect immediate and personalized responses to their needs. Traditional customer service methods, often involving long wait times and repetitive interactions, can lead to dissatisfaction and churn. To address this challenge, businesses are increasingly turning to automated SMS workflows. This innovative approach offers a streamlined and efficient way to handle common customer service issues, providing timely and personalized responses that delight customers.

Let’s explore in more detail how automated SMS workflows can transform and automate customer service operations. But, before we move forward, let’s clarify the meaning of automated SMS workflows.

What automated SMS workflow is?

Automated SMS workflows are pre-programmed sequences of actions that are triggered by specific events or conditions. In the context of customer service, these workflows are used to send automated SMS messages to customers based on their interactions with a business. For example, an automated SMS workflow could be triggered when a customer places an order, and it sends a confirmation message with the order details.

Main Components of Automated SMS Workflows

Customer Service Area	Triggers	Actions	Responses
Order Status Updates	Order confirmed Order shipped Order delivered	Send SMS with tracking link Notify about delivery	Customer confirms receipt Customer reports issue (e.g., missing items)
Appointment Management	Appointment scheduled Reminder due in 24/48 hours	Send SMS reminder Provide rescheduling or cancellation option	Customer confirms, reschedules, or cancels via SMS
Payment and Billing	Payment due date approaching Failed payment attempt	Send SMS payment reminder Offer payment link or alternative options	Customer completes payment Customer requests support or grace period
Account Management	New account created Password reset request Login issue detected	Send account activation link or OTP Provide password reset link	Customer confirms activation Customer resets password or contacts support
Product Returns & Refunds	Return request initiated Refund request submitted	Send SMS with return instructions Notify when refund is processed	Customer provides tracking Customer confirms refund receipt
Support Ticket Updates	New support ticket created Ticket updated or resolved	Send SMS with ticket number and status Notify when resolved	Customer confirms resolution Customer requests further assistance
Outage and Service Notifications	System downtime detected Scheduled maintenance reminder	Send proactive outage SMS Notify when issue is resolved	Customer acknowledges receipt Customer asks for status updates
Survey and Feedback Requests	Service completed Purchase made or issue resolved	Send SMS survey or feedback request Follow-up reminder if no response	Customer submits feedback Customer requests follow-up conversation

Main Benefits of Using SMS Workflows for Customer Service

SMS has become a popular and effective communication channel for customer service due to some unique benefits as outlined below:

Instantaneous Communication: SMS is like sending a digital note. It reaches the recipient almost immediately, providing fast and efficient communication.
Direct Reach: Unlike email, SMS bypasses spam trigger words and goes straight to the customer’s phone. This ensures a higher open rate and better engagement.
Personal Touch: SMS feels more personal than email or phone calls. It allows for a direct conversation with the customer, building trust and loyalty.
Cost-Effective: SMS is a relatively inexpensive communication channel, especially compared to phones, making it a viable option for businesses of all sizes.
Multi-Channel Integration: SMS can be easily integrated with other communication channels, such as email and social media, to provide a seamless customer experience.

How to Implement Automated SMS Workflows for (Customer Services) Common Issues

Trigger: Incoming message

Workflow: Trigger on incoming message → Auto-reply acknowledging receipt → Provide estimated response time

Liya, a busy working professional from Michigan, USA, decided to purchase a new smartphone online. She visited an e-commerce website and selected a model that met her requirements. After placing the order, she didn’t receive an automated confirmation SMS with the order details and an estimated delivery time. So she sent the message:

Liya’s Message: “Hi, I ordered a smartphone on [date] and haven’t received a shipping confirmation yet. Can you please check the status?”

Automated Response: “Dear Liya, thank you for contacting us from Ahmedabad. We apologize for the delay in processing your smartphone order. Your order is currently being prepared for shipment. We will send you a shipping confirmation with tracking details as soon as it’s available. Please allow up to 24 hours.”

Trigger: Order Tracking

Workflow: Trigger on order status change → SMS notification with tracking details

A few days later, Liya received another automated SMS informing her that her smartphone had been shipped from the warehouse in Michigan. The message included a tracking number, allowing Liya to monitor the delivery progress.

Automated Response: “Dear Liya, thank you for your order. Your [mobile phone model] has been confirmed and is scheduled for shipment on October 20, 2024. You will receive a tracking number once it’s shipped from our Michigan warehouse.”

Trigger: Complaint Submission & Handling

Workflow: Trigger on complaint submission → SMS acknowledgment → Follow-up for additional information or resolution

When the smartphone arrived, Liya was excited to unbox it. However, she noticed that the camera was faulty. Disappointed, she contacted customer support through the website. An automated acknowledgment message was sent to her immediately, assuring her that her complaint had been received.

Liya’s Message: “Hi, I just unboxed my new smartphone and noticed the camera is faulty. I’ve submitted a complaint through the website. Please let me know how soon I can expect a resolution. Thank you!”

Automated Acknowledgment: “We apologize for the inconvenience. We have received your complaint regarding the faulty camera on your smartphone. Our team will investigate the issue and provide a resolution as soon as possible.”

A customer support representative from the Michigan-based team followed up with Liya to gather more details about the issue. They arranged for a technician to visit her home to inspect the device. After confirming the camera fault, the technician promised to replace the smartphone.

“Hi Liya, Our technician, Mr.Jezz, will be at your home on Thursday, October 24 at 3:00 PM to check your [mobile phone model]. Please be ready.”

Trigger: FAQs and Product Information

Workflow: Trigger on keyword detection → SMS response with FAQ or resource link

While waiting for the replacement, Liya had a question about the warranty coverage. She sent a message to customer support asking about the duration of the warranty and what it covered.

“Hi, I recently purchased a [mobile phone model] and would like to know more about the warranty coverage. Can you please provide information on the duration of the warranty and what it covers?”

An automated response was sent to her, providing a link to the warranty terms and conditions: “Hi Liya, Your [mobile phone model] comes with a 1-year warranty. For more details, check out [Link to warranty terms].”

A few days later, Liya received her replacement smartphone.

Automated Response: “Hi Liya, Your replacement [mobile phone model] is ready for pickup at our Michigan store. We’ve missed you! Enjoy your device. Thanks for choosing [Your Company Name].”

Trigger: Handling Complaints and Feedback

Workflow: complaint submission → SMS acknowledgment → Follow-up for additional information or resolution

She was satisfied with the prompt resolution of the issue and the excellent customer service provided. As a thank you, she shared her positive experience on social media: “Just wanted to give a shoutout to [Your Company Name] for their amazing customer service! They quickly fixed the issue with my [mobile phone model] and went above and beyond to ensure I was happy. Highly recommend them!”

Automated Response: “Hey Liya, Thank you for taking the time to share your positive feedback. We’re delighted to hear that you’re satisfied with the repair of your [mobile phone model]. Your satisfaction is our top priority, and we’re committed to providing the best possible customer service. We hope you continue to enjoy your [mobile phone model]. Thank You!”

Throughout her smartphone journey, Liya benefited from the automated SMS workflows. The timely notifications, efficient complaint handling, and instant answers to her questions made her experience seamless and hassle-free.

Best Practices for Using Automated SMS Workflows

Implementing automated SMS workflows in customer service can significantly enhance the customer experience when executed with best practices in mind. Personalization of messages is crucial; customers appreciate receiving tailored content that addresses their specific needs and preferences. By leveraging customer data, businesses can craft messages that resonate with individuals, making them feel valued and understood.

Furthermore, it is essential to ensure compliance with regulations, such as opt-in requirements, which safeguard customer privacy and maintain trust. Customers should be given clear options to opt in for SMS communications, and businesses must respect their preferences at all times.

To maintain the effectiveness of automated workflows, organizations should regularly review and optimize their workflows and processes. This involves analyzing engagement metrics and customer feedback to identify areas for improvement, ensuring that the SMS communications remain relevant and effective over time.

Lastly, integrating SMS with other customer service channels, such as email and chat, can create a seamless experience for customers. By establishing a cohesive communication strategy, businesses can provide timely and consistent support.

Comidor Workflow Automation – SMS Component

Comidor allows seamless integration of SMS notifications within automated workflows, provided there is an SMS service provider. The SMS workflow component can be customized by adding the settings as described in the respective guide.

These SMS notifications can be dynamically connected to various workflow events, gateways, or activities using conditional flows, ensuring timely and automated communication within business processes.

Conclusion

In wrapping up our discussion on automated SMS workflows, it’s clear that the benefits are not just advantageous—they’re transformative. So, why wait? Take the leap and explore SMS automation solutions that can redefine how you connect with your customers. Let SMS be your secret weapon in the quest for customer satisfaction and loyalty!

Author Bio:
Philip Portman is the Founder and CEO of Textdrip, a business texting platform catering to industries such as Solar, Travel & Tourism, E-Commerce, Insurance, Hotels & Hospitality, Car Dealerships, Real Estate, and Healthcare. He has successfully launched several startups including landlineremover.com and argosautomation.com. With expertise in SMS marketing and digital automation, Philip is also an esteemed member of the Forbes Technology Council.

The post How to Use Automated SMS Workflows to Resolve Common Customer Service Issues appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

10 Workflow Optimization Best Practices for 2024

Comidor Team — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 15:12:53 +0000

You’re scrolling through your feed, sipping on that freshly brewed cup of coffee, when suddenly it hits you: “Is my business running as efficiently as it could be?”

Now, before you spill your coffee in shock, let me tell you, you’re not alone in this mid-sip revelation.

Everyone needs a little nudge (or a big push) towards workflow optimization, streamlined processes, and the kind of efficiency that doesn’t just save you time but also keeps those grey hairs at bay.

And guess what? You’re in the right place for it.

So, tighten your seatbelts and maybe get another cup of joe.

Let’s get brewin’, shall we?

What Are The Top Workflow Optimization Best Practices?

Workflow optimization is a necessity in today’s fast-paced business world.

But what is the best way to optimize a workflow? It’s not just about tweaking what’s already there.

It’s about taking a hard, analytical look at your existing workflows, identifying potential bottlenecks, and implementing measures to create streamlined workflows.

It’s a blend of art and science, intuition and analysis.

Ahead, a robust list will guide you through the top workflow optimization best practices. Each pointer is a step towards a more efficient, productive, and, dare I say, smoother business operation.

Read on and prepare to supercharge your workflows!

1. Engage Stakeholders

Imagine setting off on a voyage without checking in with your crew first – sounds a bit risky, right?

Similarly, failing to engage with your team members can lead to choppy waters in the realm of workflow optimization. These stakeholders, whether from the IT department, marketing, or anywhere in between, possess valuable insights throughout the project’s life cycle. Their firsthand experience and understanding of specific challenges can provide pivotal feedback. By involving them from the get-go, you’re building a more informed strategy and fostering a collaborative environment crucial for completing successful projects.

After all, it takes a village—or, in this case, a well-engaged team—to truly optimize and innovate.

2. Set Clear Objectives

Diving headfirst into a workflow optimization project without setting clear objectives is like embarking on that aimless road trip.

Without a definitive goal, you might optimize repetitive tasks that don’t bring much value. It’s about setting clear, actionable objectives from the start. Setting clear and actionable objectives from the start provides a roadmap for your team members. This ensures that everyone is aligned, understands the direction, and can efficiently work towards eliminating bottlenecks and enhancing the processes that matter most.

By defining what you hope to achieve, be it reducing bottlenecks, eliminating redundancy, or simply making a process more user-friendly, you give direction to your efforts. Moreover, having well-articulated goals ensures that team members are on the same page, reducing confusion and misalignment.

3. Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Defining KPIs will allow you to measure the results of your workflow optimization efforts. Before optimizing your workflows, get a baseline measure of the KPIs you want to track. These can then be used to analyze your organization’s specific workflow optimization benefits.

Some sample KPIs you might want to consider are:

Task Completion Time: This KPI measures the average time to complete a specific task or process.

Example: If an invoice used to take three days to process, and after workflow optimization, it now takes one day, this KPI has shown a significant improvement.

Error Rate: This metric calculates the percentage of tasks that contain errors or require rework.

Example: If out of 100 data entries, five entries previously had mistakes, but optimization has reduced it to two, the error rate KPI shows a positive shift.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): A direct measure of a customer’s satisfaction with a product, service, or process.

Example: After streamlining a product return process, a post-interaction survey indicates that 90% of customers are ‘Very Satisfied’ compared to 70% before optimization.

Employee Productivity Rate: This KPI gauges the average output of an employee over a specific period, helping businesses understand workforce efficiency.

Example: If an employee used to handle 20 support tickets per day but now manages 30 with the same quality, there’s an evident boost in productivity.

Cost Per Transaction: Monitors the average cost associated with each business transaction or process.

Example: Suppose the average cost to manufacture a product was $10, and after workflow optimization, it’s reduced to $8. This KPI highlights the cost savings per item.

Aiming at quantitative over qualitative KPIs can help set employee, contractor, and partner expectations. It helps everyone hold each other responsible when objectives are not met. With clear KPIs, you combine the creativity of your strategy with the precision of data, driving informed decisions and sustainable business growth.

4. Understand and Document the Current Process

You must fully grasp your current operations before beginning a new workflow optimization strategy. This means meticulously documenting processes to identify bottlenecks, redundancies, or potential areas of improvement. Creating a comprehensive workflow diagram lets you visually represent every step in the process, showcasing how different steps interlink, the pain points, and where inefficiencies lie.

Some of the main components of a process diagram include:

Activities: These are the tasks or operations performed, like ‘Review Document’ or ‘Approve Request.’
Decisions: Points where a choice needs to be made, often represented with a diamond shape, e.g., ‘Approve or Reject?’
Flow: Arrows that indicate the direction or sequence of tasks.
Roles: Specifies who is responsible for what, for instance, ‘Manager’ or ‘Analyst.’

By visually mapping out your process, you identify areas for improvement and make it easier for team members, especially those less technical, to understand the workflow. These visual workflow diagrams are a universal language, bridging communication gaps and fostering better collaboration.

5. Eliminate Unnecessary Steps

When it comes to workflow optimization, less can often mean more. One of the foundational steps in optimizing workflows is to weed out any superfluous actions that don’t add value to the existing workflow. Those closest to the process, the sponsor users, are best equipped to pinpoint these redundant steps. After all, they’re the ones executing the tasks daily.

A simple yet effective method to identify unnecessary steps in your current workflow is to ask ‘why‘ for each step. Is it essential? Does it contribute genuine value to the end outcome? If a step only adds time without contributing to the end goal of the business process, it may be ripe for elimination. By paring down and focusing on the necessary actions, you streamline operations, driving efficiency and productivity to new heights.

6. Reduce Bottlenecks

Workflow optimization is akin to fine-tuning an engine, and bottlenecks? They’re those pesky hiccups that prevent you from reaching your maximum speed. Much like a deadlifter whose grip strength limits their overall lifting capacity, bottlenecks in one area of your business can cap the efficiency of multiple workflows.

Even if 9 out of 10 processes in your company are streamlined and firing on all cylinders, that one sluggish process can drag everything down.

Consider this: If a deadlifter’s grip maxes out at 300 lbs, but their overall strength can manage 500 lbs, the grip is the limiting factor. Similarly, if one workflow can’t keep pace in business, it doesn’t matter how efficient your other processes are; that lagging segment still holds you back.

To truly optimize workflows, it’s essential to identify and address these choke points, ensuring consistent efficiency and maximizing business profitability.

7. Automate Where Possible

Integrating workflow automation software into your processes reduces execution time and the potential for human error. In doing so, you ensure tasks are completed consistently, allowing for more precise measurement of workflow statistics.

Here are some benefits of embracing workflow automation:

Efficiency Boost: Automated processes generally run faster than manual ones, reducing turnaround times.
Error Reduction: Mistakes are less likely to creep in with less manual intervention.
Resource Savings: Fewer manual tasks mean you can reallocate human capital to more value-driven activities.
Accurate Metrics: Automated workflows can provide detailed stats, aiding in further optimization efforts.

Embracing automation isn’t about replacing the human touch; it’s about enhancing it, ensuring that every step in your business processes is as streamlined and error-free as possible.

8. Keep It Simple

Simplicity is often overlooked in workflow optimization. An optimized workflow doesn’t necessarily mean a complex one. The more straightforward a process, the swifter its execution. A streamlined, straightforward approach minimizes process deficiencies, reduces the scope for human error, and makes monitoring a breeze.

By stripping away the unnecessary and focusing on the essential, you achieve:

Speed: A simple process is often faster, reducing wait times and increasing output.
Clarity: Clear, straightforward workflows are easier for team members to understand and follow without a complicated workflow analysis.
Reliability: With fewer moving parts, less can go wrong, ensuring consistent results.
Ease of Monitoring: Simple processes are more transparent, making it easier to spot issues and optimize further.
Maintenance: The more simple your workflow, the less maintenance is required when using workflow software.

Complexity doesn’t always equate to capability. Often, the most powerful solutions are the ones that are easy to grasp and execute.

9. Standardize Processes

At the heart of workflow optimization lies a golden rule: consistency.

Standardizing your workflow processes ensures that the approach remains uniform no matter who’s on the task or when it’s executed. This consistent methodology bolsters workflow performance and guarantees that clients, stakeholders, or team members receive consistent and timely responses every single time.

Think of having standardized processes as setting a gold standard for operations. Once a process is standardized, it becomes a well-oiled machine, producing reliable results and eliminating variables hindering optimal output. Exactly what you need for business success.

10. Continuous Monitoring, Iteration, and Feedback

Workflow optimization is an ongoing commitment. The work isn’t over even after you’ve revamped a process workflow.

Proper implementation is only as good as its continuous evaluation. Regularly monitoring existing workflows and seeking feedback ensures systems remain efficient and relevant.

The business world is dynamic, with challenges and opportunities continuously arising. By keeping a finger on the pulse of your processes, adjusting and refining based on real-time feedback, you maintain a proactive stance, always ready to pivot and adapt for optimal performance.

Engage with team members, assess workflow management metrics, and observe the performance of your business processes. Doing so lets you identify areas that might benefit from incremental improvements. It’s these small, consistent tweaks that, over time, compound to create workflows that are not just optimized but are optimally optimized.

The optimization journey is never complete; it evolves and matures with each feedback loop.

What Is Workflow Optimization?

Workflow optimization is the strategic process of analyzing and refining your current workflow to enhance efficiency and productivity.

It’s about making the best of what you have. Instead of reinventing the wheel, workflow optimization aims to fine-tune the existing mechanisms, ensuring tasks are completed with greater speed, fewer resources, and minimal hiccups.

Put simply, workflow optimization helps to streamline operations, removing any obstacles or redundancies and paving the way for smoother, more efficient business processes. It’s the art of making work work better.

Why Does Successful Workflow Optimization Benefit You?

Workflow optimization has tangible, real-world advantages for your business. Automating repetitive tasks and optimizing workflows are setting your operations up for success.

Here’s what workflow optimization aims to achieve and why it’s beneficial:

Efficiency Boost: By removing unnecessary steps and redundancies, tasks are completed faster, saving valuable time.
Cost Reduction: Streamlined processes often use fewer resources, leading to significant cost savings.
Consistent Quality: A well-optimized workflow ensures that outputs are consistent in quality, building trust with clients and stakeholders.
Increased Productivity: With fewer hitches and snags, teams can achieve more in less time, leading to heightened productivity levels.
Employee Satisfaction: A smooth workflow reduces frustration and burnout, leading to happier, more engaged team members.

Having optimized workflows is an investment that pays dividends in efficiency, quality, customer experience, and overall business health.

Wrapping Up

Staying static is not an option in our fast-paced, digitally-driven business landscape. Optimizing your workflows is more than a luxury—it’s necessary for efficiency, productivity, and sustainable growth.

As your businesses grow and evolve, so must your processes. Harnessing the power of workflow automation software enables your business to stay ahead of the curve. Such tools streamline operations, minimize errors, promote collaboration, and save precious time.

If you’re serious about taking your business to the next level, now’s the moment to consider adopting a workflow automation platform. Why just adapt to change when you can be the one driving it?

FAQ

What is workflow process improvement?

Workflow process improvement is a focused approach that targets enhancing individual tasks and sequences in a business process to ensure a more streamlined workflow. This might involve eliminating redundancies, introducing new tools, or simply rearranging steps for maximum efficiency.

What are the main workflow optimization techniques?

The primary workflow optimization techniques are:

Process Mapping: Visual representation of every step, helping to identify redundancies or inefficiencies.
Automation: Using technology to automate repetitive tasks, minimizing manual input and reducing error rates.
Standardization: Ensuring consistent processes across the board to maintain quality and efficiency.
Continuous Monitoring: Keeping a close eye on workflows, allowing for real-time adjustments as needed.
Stakeholder Feedback: Actively seeking insights from those involved in the workflow, ensuring it’s efficient and user-friendly.
Integration: Integrating your workflows end to end for less swivel chair and improved efficiency.

Each of these techniques plays a pivotal role in the overarching mission of optimizing workflows driving businesses towards better efficiency and results.

What is workflow automation?

Workflow automation is a subset of workflow optimization focusing on leveraging technology to enhance business processes. It uses workflow optimization software to automatically manage, execute, and monitor tasks without extensive manual intervention. Whether automating a procurement and payment process, documentation processes, or any other task, the goal is optimizing workflows through technology to achieve greater efficiency and accuracy.

What are the 3 basic components of workflow management?

Workflow management, a cornerstone of workflow optimization, hinges on three fundamental components:

Process Design: This involves mapping out the steps of a process, from start to finish, ensuring each step flows seamlessly into the next. A practical design lays the groundwork for an optimized workflow.
Execution: Once the process design is in place, the execution component runs the tasks manually or through automation. Proper execution ensures the workflow runs as intended, hitting its efficiency and accuracy targets.
Monitoring & Oversight: This component involves monitoring processes as they unfold, ensuring they stay on track, and stepping in to make tweaks when necessary to optimize workflows further.

These components form the backbone of effective workflow management, driving streamlined operations and delivering consistent results.

What is an example of workflow optimization?

Imagine a project management workflow where tasks are communicated via email, progress is tracked on physical whiteboards, and documents are stored in disparate locations. This setup is ripe for miscommunication, delays, and inefficiencies.

An optimized workflow, in contrast, would involve the integration of a project management tool. This tool would centralize task assignments, monitor real-time progress, and store all relevant documents in one accessible location. By transitioning from a manual, scattered approach to a unified, digital platform, the project management process becomes streamlined, reducing delays and enhancing team collaboration.

This transformation exemplifies workflow optimization in action.

Author Bio
Julian Lankstead is the founder of JulianLankstead.com. He helps businesses increase revenue by providing strategies to improve business process efficiency.

The post 10 Workflow Optimization Best Practices for 2024 appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Streamline Laboratory Management: Unlocking Efficiency with Workflow Automation

Comidor Team — Thu, 29 Jun 2023 12:00:32 +0000

While the concept of laboratory management and automation started in the 1950s, the process of automating lab workflows only really started to take off during the technological revolution in our own time now. The standardization of laboratory systems and procedures across an entire organization is essential in establishing and maintaining the validity of any scientific establishment.

Workflow automation has dozens of benefits, not only for employees who get to work more closely with each other than they would in isolated positions, but also for lab results in general. Let’s look at some of these benefits and explore ways to implement workflow automation in your laboratory-based organization.

What is Lab Management and Automation?

Lab management involves the integration of both software and hardware to streamline and automate laboratory processes. The implementation of software for lab workflow management will have a significant effect on lab results in terms of their accuracy.

For example, a blood sample vile that spins 1,000 times will deliver a different result than a vile that spins 1,001 times. Accuracy is vital to laboratory processes like these, and workflow automation software removes the chances of human error, while adding consistency across an entire organization.  

The automation and management of lab procedures aim to streamline all steps in every process of your research, including:

The collection of samples
The storage of those samples
The analysis of samples
The archiving of results
Accessibility of those records

Suffice it to say that workflow automation is about more than simply speeding up research. It’s about focusing on the quality, accuracy, and objectivity of the research your establishment is entrusted with.

The Manifold Benefits of Automating Laboratory Workflows

Companies may wonder about the value of automating processes in the workplace, especially those relative to their laboratory workflows. The following advantages show it leads to a high ROI, and individuals can use this to motivate leadership or investors why laboratory automation should be a priority in the current market.

Automation Increases Employee Effectiveness

Streamlining laboratory processes not only speeds up the workload but also adds to the productivity of employees. While employees are still very much involved in day-to-day lab procedures, workflow software works with those employees to modernize processes in an accurate and structured way. 

By removing the chance of errors (see more in the point below), employees have the freedom to focus on the research objective itself, rather than the correctness of their analysis.

Laboratory Management and Automation Reduce the Chance of Errors

As mentioned, human error is a real concern when it comes to the accuracy of analysis in laboratory testing. Automation further assists employees by removing human error and creating a workflow system that is coherent with the standards of the testing set forth by the organization in question. 

Removal of errors from all processes speaks to the reputation of your laboratory. This reputation of high accuracy will cultivate trust among your clients, and ensure more work for the future.

Improves Research Quality

The reputation of any laboratory organization hangs on the value of its research. Since we have already shown that errors are removed and speed and accuracy are increased, achieving the highest quality research is a subsequent positive side effect.

Improves Data Accuracy

Laboratory workflow software that can be tailored to match a set of criteria is almost completely free of error. An organization’s reputation and value once again depend on the accuracy of data derived from its respective research.

Data accuracy in research is essential in today’s information age. When it comes to any scientific research, details matter. The more we discover, the stronger our desire to be fastidious about what we learn.

Cuts Expenses and Saves Money

There’s a lot to be said about how much money can be saved during the long term when adequate workflow processes have been put into place. Employee participation is reduced, research processes run faster, and less time is spent overall in the collecting of data which would otherwise take days—even weeks—to complete.

Tips for Improving Lab Sample Management Workflows

Now that you’re persuaded of the benefits of implementing a laboratory workflow system, you may be asking, “How do I get started?” Let’s discuss the steps you can take to make this happen in the most effective way possible.

Standardize the Processes Within Your Lab

The standardization of all laboratory processes creates a controlled environment where all procedures are synchronized and unvaried. With one set of goals in mind (accuracy, quality, objectivity, and coordination) across all sample analyses, your entire organization will gain more direction in obtaining the most valuable results.

Standardizing any laboratory requires the integration of workflow software that can be set and adjusted according to the mission objectives of your organization. There’s also the mission objective of your clients to bear in mind, which must be meticulously maintained.

Know Your Capacity & Work Within it

Whether your laboratory is small, medium, or large, the workflow automation possibility will depend on your capacity. Fortunately, laboratory workflow software can be tailored to accommodate any size, purpose, or objective you might have.

It takes your employees into account, manages samples and their corresponding data, and can even be tweaked to adapt to new criteria when needed. 

Establish Proper Channels of Communication

If synchronization is to take place and ultimately lead to success, communication is a key element. An important contribution of workflow automation is that it puts every department within your lab on the same page.

Communication and collaboration across all sections within your laboratory become a natural result when every bit of data is accessible. Employee communication is also improved because vital and accurate data is now available at their fingertips.

Employ an Integrated LIMs System

LIM (Laboratory Information Management) is crucial to the workflow success of any laboratory. Data can be retrieved according to a hierarchy of accessibility, and a history of results is stored for later use.

The convenience of integrating a LIM system cuts costs, streamlines processes, and creates a digital workplace that thrives on quality research.

Finalize

As a laboratory manager or in any similar role, your concerns are diverse. There’s the duty to your employees, a responsibility to your clients, and an overarching desire to maintain the reputation of your establishment. Implementing automated workflow processes for your laboratory answers all of these concerns while saving you money and reshaping your organization for the better.  

Ready to revolutionize your Laboratory Management?
Embrace Workflow Automation today!

JOIN US FOR A LIVE DEMO

The post Streamline Laboratory Management: Unlocking Efficiency with Workflow Automation appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Payroll Automation Solutions for Growing Businesses

Comidor Team — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 14:24:11 +0000

Payroll automation has become a buzzphrase recently.

Why so much noise around it? One of the reasons is that digital transformation isn’t leaving anything untouched in business. Automated payroll solutions have been applied by companies worldwide, as they introduce intelligent automation to HR.

Did you know that 67% of medium and big-size corporations have already automated payroll? Roughly half of those take advantage of on-premise apps for payroll management, while the other half implement cloud-based solutions.

This article will give you thorough answers to the top three questions concerning payroll automation:

What does payroll automation mean?
Why is it worth investing in?
How to find the best payroll automation software for an expanding business?

Let’s start, then, shall we?

Automating Payroll: What it Implies and Why Growing Businesses Definitely Need It

Payroll Automation – Defined and Explained

Payroll automation is a set of methods and practices to streamline payroll via automation approaches and technologies, and process automation solutions.

Its fundamental principle is a simplification of payroll processing by delegating manual tasks and activities to digital automation systems. When the software automates salary-related procedures, it addresses everything: attendance tracking, wages and benefits calculation, payment distribution, deduction of taxes, etc.

How can your business benefit from it? Find the answer in the next paragraphs.

Key Advantages of Payroll Automation Solutions

It’s highly beneficial to incorporate a payroll automation solution into your workflow management. It can assist you with the following:

Reducing costs

What if we told you that you can cut expenses on payroll processing by 80%?

Not to mention that manual errors in calculations may be too pricey. For example, in 2021 the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collected over $6 billion in fines paid by employers because of payroll mistakes.

Eliminating human intervention and mistakes

33% of employers are prone to making payroll errors habitually, according to the IRS. The most common triggers for them are:

Misclassification of employees
Confusion between taxable vs non-taxable income
Incorrectly deducted taxes from paychecks
Miscalculation of worker’s hours
Untracked absence/overtime, etc.

These flaws not only cost business owners whopping sums of money and civil penalties but also result in losing talent. 49% of workers consider leaving the company after two occurrences when their salary is miscalculated.

Saving time

Depending on the number of employees, poorly-performing organizations may spend as many as ten days to cope with the repercussions of a single payroll mistake and fix one completely. Better performers need from two to four days to do this.

Do you have so much time to squander? In fact, streamlining financial tasks can save managers 20% of their time, based on McKinsey’s research.

Enhancing data safety

Using spreadsheets may easily lead to a security breach. 86% of data breaches are financially motivated, with personal credentials and payment details targeted the most often.

Automated tools for payroll can boast reliable information encryption methods and increased protection. They secure access with passwords or even offer multi-factor authentication.

Achieving adaptability and resilience to financial challenges

Your company can become even more flexible and resilient to any situation and financial risks with predictive analytics provided by automated software for managing staff payments. Predictive analysis is crucial for strategic HR management. It allows planning budgets more efficiently and distributing the money in full compliance with your finance and accounting tasks.

These are only a few benefits that businesses get with payroll automation. As you can see, it’s indeed worthwhile to use a dedicated tool for automated employee hours tracking, salary and benefits calculations, tax withholdings, analytics, reporting, and so on.

There are tons of tools for automating payroll. How to pick the best one to meet your particular demands? Read on.

How to Select the Right Payroll Automation Software

Here’s a list of the must-follow tips that will help you decide on the most suitable payroll automation tool, based on your business requirements.

1. Identify your payroll needs and decide on the budget

Answers to the following questions will help you outline compulsory necessities and specify the demands you have:

What’s the quantity of workers in your company?
How fast is your business growing?
Do you have part-time or seasonal employees?
Would you like to sync payroll with other workflows?
Do you plan to use any custom apps and integrate them into the software?
Will you have only one payroll system administrator?
How much are you ready to invest in payroll automation?

Evaluating the payroll software, consult your answers and make a decision in favor of the one that suits your needs the best.

2. Scrutinize the payroll automation software features

Does the payroll automation software allow managing contractors?

Pay attention to the app’s functionality and some essential features:

Time and attendance tracking
Calculation of tax withholdings
Real-time analysis for compiling statistics
Reports creation
Instant notifications about the progress of the processing
Reminders about the time for paychecks, etc.

Give due importance to typical and niche-specific features.

3. Prioritize payroll software with broad integration capacities

What if you’ve decided to go with payroll invoice factoring for better cash flow? In this case, the factoring company collects and processes invoices. You might need to ensure you’re on the same page all the time.

If you use factoring software, for instance, flawless integration with your payroll system is obligatory. Make sure your invoice approval workflows will be streamlined without issues and invoices will be handled accordingly.

4. Consider payroll tools that offer robotic process automation (RPA)

RPA is a subset of hyper-automation which, in turn, appears to be one of the leading digital transformation trends.

Payroll falls into one of the RPA use cases. Robotic process automation in payroll management guarantees high-level accuracy, boosted security, increased productivity, speedy solutions, and more.

5. Request demos and start with free trials

You would want to see how everything works when the chosen tool automates your payroll procedures, wouldn’t you?

Check a product’s demo version to get a comprehensive visual explanation. Alternatively, sign up for a free trial to test it out.

How fast can it manage processes? You’ll never know without trying.

Ready to Automate Payroll and Manage it Seamlessly?

The future is now. The necessity to transform businesses to keep up with it makes entrepreneurs rethink their methods and adhere to automation. One of the golden rules of automating business processes is to know which tasks and processes are best automated. Payroll automation is one of them. It has gained topicality not without a good reason. Growing companies should give top priority to automated payroll solutions due to their valuable benefits demonstrated above.

Automating workflows and business processes like payroll is a must if you aim at cost-efficient and quicker decisions. Comidor can help you with HR automation for spotless timekeeping and payroll management.

Achieve the greatest results in managing workflows with RPA and low-code automation and head towards the future with the winning digital solutions offered at Comidor.

The post Payroll Automation Solutions for Growing Businesses appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Workflow Analysis | What Is It and Why Is It Beneficial for Your Company?

Comidor Team — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 15:17:57 +0000

Workflow Analysis Guide:

What is a Workflow?
What is Workflow Analysis?
What are the Workflow Analysis Steps?
The Benefits of Workflow Analysis
Conclusion

Numerous processes are carried out daily in every organization, some of which haven’t been revised in many years. If there is a series of sequential steps to carry out in order to execute a business process, then this process constitutes a process workflow of any given business. Workflows can be used to automate and streamline recurring business processes, lowering the risk of error and boosting productivity. Your business is considerably improved as a result. Employees are given the freedom to work together more productively and quickly, and managers may make decisions fast and intelligently.

However, inefficient workflows could harm the productivity of your team and end up being quite expensive for your business. You can analyze and improve your business’s workflows using workflow analysis methodologies.

Do you want to learn more about workflows and workflow analysis? Keep on reading! In this article, we will learn what workflows are and the meaning of workflow analysis. Further, we will see how workflow analysis is beneficial for your business. So, let’s dive right into it.

What is a Workflow?

A workflow is a recurring process made up of several tasks that often have to be finished in a particular order. Consider the process as a work that progresses through stages until it is completed. Workflows help ensure that crucial procedures are completed accurately and consistently. For example, to make sure that all new hires receive the information, guidelines, and resources they require to perform their roles, you may establish a process workflow for onboarding new hires.

Or, if your business relies heavily on its website, and you regularly require website maintenance, you should establish a workflow with all the maintenance steps required to audit and update your site to achieve high site health. This way you can ensure smooth navigation and retain the prospects on your website for longer.

What is Workflow Analysis?

The process of reviewing a company’s workflow(s) is called a “workflow analysis,” which is typically done to improve workflow efficiency and increase operational effectiveness. It involves looking over and evaluating a business workflow map.

Users can identify the following through workflow analysis:

Useless and ineffective tasks.
Processes that should be automated for improved outcomes.
Unreliable workflow(s).

Business users can adjust workflows for optimum effectiveness and workplace productivity by examining workflows at the task level. Process bottlenecks, superfluous processes, and areas for increased automation are frequently found through workflow analysis. Improved customer service and satisfaction, workforce collaboration, and increased revenue are all facilitated by effective workflow analysis.

What are the Workflow Analysis Steps?

Workflow analysis consists of the following steps:

Step 1: Evaluation of the Workflow

Organizations must use a qualitative evaluation strategy while analyzing workflows. During the evaluation phase, the user should pose several queries, including:

What is the purpose of the workflow in the first place?

By doing so, it will be possible to decide whether the process is essential for the company’s operations or not.

When should the workflow be used?

What if the workflow is only carried out three to four times a year by the company? In such a case, it might not be worthwhile to optimize the workflow.

Who is a part of the business and who is involved in the workflow?

Organizations ought to examine their internal stakeholders. Here, the business regularly engages with both clients and suppliers. Businesses should invest in digital process automation platforms that make it easier for customers and suppliers to communicate, as well as for teams to have an instant overview of the users involved in processes.

Step 2: Collection of Data

After comprehending the business workflow, businesses should learn more about the reasons why specific problems are occurring. Users may gather information by

Quantitative data, such as data outlining the drawbacks of the workflow and suggestions for improvement, and
Qualitative data that may refer to information collected to enhance processes. Users can produce additional information as a result of this.

Then consider:

The volume of workflow instances that were started over time.
The minimum and maximum time limits, as well as the typical amount of time needed to complete each task.
How many instances have been completed?
How many products were rejected, declined, or refused?
How frequently a situation calls for clarification or further details?
How many times has an assignment been postponed or denied?

Step 3: Data Analysis

After you’ve collected all of the information, you should then merge all of it together and analyze it. Data analysis is done in this step to ensure that the data is accurate, complete, and relevant and it is possible to extract meaningful information and insights into what worked and what didn’t.

It may be helpful to identify and section off data that required time and labor-intensive work for the process. You might be able to find inefficiencies or bottlenecks by grouping these tasks together, looking for correlations between them and the time they take, in order to find areas where improvements can be made.

Step 4: Obtaining User Feedback

Feedback is the most important part of the workflow analysis process. It helps in understanding the needs and expectations of employees and end users. Feedback from users can be obtained in person or online. Together with your team, brainstorm the workflow analysis result and any ideas for modification and improvement. Once feedback is obtained, the next step is to analyze the feedback and identify patterns. This helps in understanding what kind of changes will be more appreciated by users. The final step is to decide what to do with the feedback and make changes accordingly.

Step 5: Put the Changes into Practice and Follow Up

It’s time to take action and put into practice any available process improvement methodologies. Implement each modification that emerged from your workflow analysis once you have listed them all. Any changes should be communicated to all stakeholders, who should be informed whether there will be any downtime and how to manage items that are already in a modified workflow. Workflow analysis is useful for more than just determining whether a workflow needs to be changed. Additionally, you may create valuable reports and determine which processes and certain components of processes are assisting your firm in developing. It’s crucial to regularly review and enhance your workflows.

The Benefits of Workflow Analysis for Your Company

1. Greater Understanding of Business Processes

You can acquire a more precise, top-down perspective of your business by outlining your approaches in a workflow. Even if your company processes are well-established, do you know if they are helping you achieve your goals? Are the processes as effective as possible?

Workflow analysis is significant since it gives you more knowledge about your processes, which is one of its main benefits. You may then use the insights to enhance your workflows and boost your company’s bottom line, resulting in greater earnings.

2. Boost Accountability While Scaling Back on Micromanagement

Micromanagement in the workplace can lead to a number of issues. Micromanagement, according to studies, is frequently listed as one of the main causes of job resignation. But occasionally, micromanagement may be the only viable option. Many people lack the motivation to complete the critical task that needs to be done.

Everyone will be aware of the tasks that need to be accomplished, the individuals who will be handling them, and the deadlines by which they must be completed if your workflow process is clearly mapped out.

This method of precisely outlining the workflow process allows managers to spend less time micromanaging their staff. The team as a whole is in complete agreement about what is happening and what has to be done.

3. Redundancy Assessment

Numerous companies perform a ton of everyday actions that are redundant and unneeded. You can decide which actions are actually necessary once you have a better understanding of your operations.

There are many advantages to finding and removing unnecessary work:

It adds value to your company.
Your employees will be able to concentrate on what’s important and what actually benefits the company rather than wasting time on a pointless task.

Therefore, the more pointless operations that are eliminated, the better off your organization will be.

4. Achieving and Maintaining Regulatory Compliance Becomes Simpler

To make sure that all the procedures required for regulatory compliance are recorded and reported as appropriate, you can employ workflow analysis tools. Numerous rules and reporting requirements apply to all industries, especially the healthcare and financial sectors.

You may instantly generate audit trails by including accountability and step reporting in the workflows. This makes it simple to always have compliance-related information on hand when it’s required. Additionally, it makes annual report creation much simpler.

5. Better Communication

A typical digital workplace issue that frequently goes unaddressed is poor communication.

Workplace communication is essential since it has an impact on every other part of the business. There are situations where miscommunication between management and staff results in the primary dispute inside the organization, despite the fact that both parties are working toward the same objectives.

This brings us to another key reason for the need for workflow analysis: accountability and transparency of processes can significantly improve workplace communication. Employee turnover will be decreased as a result of better communication, which will also improve overall daily operations.

6. Improvement of a Company’s Quality Assurance Standards

Many times, rather than choosing the person with the best skill set for the task, employers choose staff for projects based on availability. Workflow analysis is crucial since it enables you to consider and select the people who are most qualified to carry out the available duties.

Additionally, you can lower the probability of human error by automating manual processes. As a result, your goods and services will eventually be of higher quality.

7. A Happier Workforce

None wants to believe that they are constrained by antiquated procedures and equipment. When employees take an effort to offer prospective areas for improvement but nothing is done, they may start to believe that no one is paying attention or showing any interest.

They will then become disengaged from their work and may even consider quitting because they no longer care about it. When things like that go undetected, they might end up costing a business a lot of money.

You can reassure your staff that you value them and are doing your best to make their lives simpler and better by devoting time and resources to workflow analysis. Employees feel valued when they understand that the business cares enough about their area of expertise to spend money on new technology and tools and make it simpler for their team.

In the long run, this improves employee morale and results in greater employee productivity, greater engagement, and lower attrition.

8. Makes it Possible to Deliver Superior Customer Service and Satisfy Customers

Your company cannot function without its clients, and therefore, it’s crucial to continually look for ways to enhance the consumer experience. Sadly, if you still use antiquated manual processes, it’s easy to miss client requests or complaints.

Customers that are unhappy as a result will eventually take their business elsewhere. However, workflow analysis can aid in improving customer service and accelerating the resolution of consumer concerns.

Workflow analysis can result in happier consumers when used properly. For instance, workflow analysis can help you comprehend how your contact center functions. Then, when it comes time to make decisions regarding employment or technology, you do so based on effective workflows.

Additionally, you have the option to make choices that will enhance those workflows even further. In the end, clients are far more likely to stay loyal to your business when they feel heard and know that help is readily available through live chat, voice call, or email.

Conclusion

The success and growth of a business are significantly impacted by workflow analysis. It does more than merely identify and help the rivals. The ability to track the fresh outcomes of the adjustments made, however, is helpful to users. Most processes are aided by workflow automation, which helps companies save time and money.

Author bio
Vaibhav Kakkar is the Founder and CEO of Digital Web Solutions, a globally trusted agency with a full suite of digital marketing services and development solutions. Vaibhav believes in building systems over services and has helped scale up agencies from scratch to niche-leaders with million-dollar turnovers.

The post Workflow Analysis | What Is It and Why Is It Beneficial for Your Company? appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

How to Create Invoice Approval Workflows in Minutes

Comidor Team — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 09:53:28 +0000

The global business world is more interconnected than ever before. Most of the products and services provided by businesses to consumers and other businesses rely on each other in some way. It’s this interconnectedness that powers most of our modern industries and keeps the global market operating smoothly. Having invoices paid on time, every time is critical to keep these valuable business relationships in good standing.

Herein lies the value of invoice approval workflows. These processes structure and organize the way that invoices get validated and paid to keep payment consistent and reliable. Automated invoice approval workflows can help to streamline your invoicing processes and save your organization time and money.

All you need to create invoice approval workflows is a solid understanding of what these processes are and how they operate. You also need to know which workflow tools to use to ensure that your workflows are as smooth and efficient as possible.

Here’s what you need to know to create a successful workflow for invoice approval.

Understanding Invoice Approval Workflows

Invoice approval workflows are processes that businesses can follow to streamline invoice processing and invoice approval for quick payment. They are similar to checklists that determine whether or not an invoice is accurate and valid.

These workflows begin when a vendor submits an invoice for payment. The invoice gets reviewed to ensure that the billed services, information, and amounts within it are valid before settling it. After everything is validated and the invoice approved, payment can get processed.

Steps to Create an Invoice Approval Workflow

Invoice approval workflows will naturally vary from business to business. But the basic steps needed to set them up are similar.

1. Establish a Database for Invoice Reception

Your invoice approval workflow should start by diverting all invoices to a queue for validation. This will simplify the process of tracking and processing them in an organized way.

You can either create a designated email address to receive only invoices. Or you can create a customized invoice submission form that will automatically add any submitted invoices to a queue.

2. Specify Conditions of Approval

Your team will need to determine whether each invoice you receive is valid before it’s processed. The conditions for this process will differ depending on your industry and the products and services you supply. Some common questions that you can use to review an invoice include:

Has the vendor delivered the billed product or service?
Are there any inconsistencies in the invoice that need addressing before settlement?
Have any issues arise regarding the product or service billed for that would justify a discount or reorder?
Is the invoice complete and accurate, and does it contain all the data required for processing?
Does the amount specified on the invoice align with the prices established between you and your vendor?

3. Create a Hierarchy for Approval

Most businesses have dedicated people or teams responsible for the validation of invoices. However, inefficiencies can still occur if you don’t have a clear approval hierarchy in place. If you have a larger business, you may appoint department heads or managers to make decisions on the invoices specific to their departments.

Smaller businesses may have their accountants or other specific team members appointed to validate their invoices instead. Ensure that you have a clear idea of who is responsible for approving invoices and which invoices they’re tasked with handling.

4. Specify Workflow Routes

Invoice approval workflows usually follow an ‘if-then’ structure, which enables you to confirm that basic information is in order and slowly increases the complexity of your validation workflow. For instance, if the invoice specifies a bank account for payment remission, you can move it onto the next item on your list. If the invoice does not supply this information, then you will need to contact the sender to request more information.

You can use this same process to establish an approval hierarchy for your workflow too. For instance, if the invoice is submitted by a web developer, send it to your IT department for validation. Many developers use invoice templates that provide a full breakdown of the completed work. But if this breakdown is full of technical jargon, it needs validation by someone who can understand and verify that the costs are correct.

Once your workflows are established, you’ll have the ability to minimize any uncertainty involved in your invoice processing protocols. This will make it easier for your team to approve invoices faster.

Invoice Processes built with low-code | Comidor approach

Use Comidor to Create Your Invoice Approval Workflows

According to accounting statistics from G2, 80% of companies who are already experiencing the benefits of invoice automation expect to increase their investments over the coming three years.

Automated workflows take full advantage of organizational structure to provide intuitive process design and action monitoring. Comidor No-Code/Low-Code and Hyper-automation platform can be used to customize and automate workflows to save you time, reduce the margin of human error involved in processing and approving invoices, and simplify the processes involved in settling the invoices you receive from your vendors.

Use our Workflow Designer to navigate and modify existing processes, create new workflows tailored to your business using our user-friendly BPMN 2.0 drag-and-drop tools, and test and optimize your workflows with our first-in-class Workflow Simulator.

Check out how our client, McKesson, automates invoice approval processes in lighting fast cycles
with Low-code and RPA

READ OUR SUCCESS STORY

The post How to Create Invoice Approval Workflows in Minutes appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Business Rules

Comidor team — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 08:20:18 +0000

Comidor offers a variety of features in order to apply business rules in processes and custom apps to cover any possible scenario and to enhance the capabilities of your apps and workflows.

In particular, you can include the following business rules:

Gateways
Conditional flow
Field rules
Field validations
Shell commands
Scripts before save

Gateways

One of the business rules in a workflow is Gateways.

A gateway is used to determine the branching, forking, merging, and joining of paths drawn by sequence flow. In Comidor we have Exclusive, Inclusive, and Parallel gateways.

Inclusive (OR) Gateway: Inclusive Gateway refers to activating one or more flows when dividing. For incoming, all paths may be taken/fulfilled, from one to all.
Parallel (AND) Gateway (Fork/Join): Parallel Gateway refers to dividing into two or more flows (fork). For incoming flows, the parallel gateway waits for all incoming flows before continuing (join).
Exclusive (XOR) Gateway: Exclusive Gateway refers to choosing “either/or” and limits the outcome to exactly one single flow of the output branches.

Conditional Flow

Through Conditional Flows, you can connect your workflow elements (activities, gateways, or events) and design any possible/desired alternative path. For example, once a Task is created you should connect it with the previous element with a Conditional Flow. In the conditional flow form:

Drag and drop a conditional flow from a Start Event to an Activity and select the Target State, which is the initial state of the target activity (state can be Scheduled or Running). Type a brief description of the conditional flow to help users in understanding this part of the workflow.
Drag-and-drop a conditional flow from an Activity/Gateway and select the Source State and Target State, which are the trigger state (can be completed/failed/canceled) and impact state (can be scheduled/running/paused/completed/canceled/failed), respectively.
Conditions can be added in both cases from the Advanced Conditions tab/Custom condition builder. Add further conditions through custom condition builder using either database system fields or any custom user fields you have created in User fields and have added in a User form.
In more complicated workflows, there might be a need to combine and use more complex Advanced conditions. In these cases, the workflow checks more conditions as you can see below. Click on icons “<“,”>” to add a parenthesis before or after the condition you want, and select AND, OR between the conditions in each case accordingly. With the “+” and “-” buttons you can add or delete a condition.

Once the above step(s) have been completed, a conditional flow with your brief description is added to your workflow design between the standard start event and the task you have created or between activities/gates.

Diamonds in the conditional flow refer to Source state and arrows to Target State, blue: Running, green: Completed, black/white: Canceled, red: Failed, grey: Scheduled, orange: Paused.

Field Rules

Another type of business rule is available both in workflows & the app designer, for process and non-process enabled apps.

The field rules functionality enables you to hide or show fields inside forms when certain conditions are met.

Create custom condition scenarios for fields and select in which scenario the fields are going to be shown or hidden.
Select more than one scenario – field condition for a specific field. This enables you to cover multiple scenarios.
Eliminate the number of forms that need to be created and make your adjustments to one simple form.
Hide sensitive information which should be displayed only for certain users, roles, or groups in a workflow.

To access Field Rules go to the App Factory icon > Workflow Automation > Workflows. Access the Workflow you are working on and select the tab Field Rules.

Create Field Rules

To create a new Field Rule press on the “+” button, and a creation form opens.

Give a Rule title
Select the Action to be performed: you can either Hide or Show a field
Choose the name of the User Field that you wish to perform the above action to
Set in which Form you wish this rule to be applied (from the user forms that the selected field is displayed)
Select the desired Save option (refer to Quick Reference Guide)

Custom Condition Builder

After saving the Field Rule, and while being at the view form, you can add conditions.

Click on the ‘+’ icon to insert a new row
Select the unit that the field comes from (Process, Application name, etc.)
Choose the Name of the Field and its value
Use AND, OR, and parenthesis to form your conditions
After adding all the rows of conditions you need, click on the Publish condition button.

Manage Field Rules

If you want to make any changes to a Field Rule, simply select the respective Field Rule and click on the pencil icon.
After making any changes click on Save.
In order to change the conditions, simply make the changes you wish in the view form of the Field Rule, and then, press the Publish condition.
You can Delete one or more Field Rules, by multi-checking them in the Field Rules table and then clicking on Delete.

Field Validation

This kind of business rule can be applied both to process-enabled and non-process-enabled apps.

In the form designer, you can set desired properties to each user field:

The value on the “Pattern” field should be a “Regular Expression” in order to validate the input data on the field. The “Pattern Error Message” field is the custom error message that should be displayed if the validation fails.

Links for creating and testing “Regular Expressions”: https://regexr.com/ and https://www.regular-expressions.info/

Here are some examples of “Regular Expressions”:

Search for an email address: \b[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,}\b
Email field with the option to leave the field empty: ^$|^([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)@([a-zA-Z0-9_\-\.]+)\.([a-zA-Z]{2,5})$
Text field with only alphabetical characters: ^[a-zA-Z ]*$
Numeric field having only digits: ^[0-9]+$
Numeric field with only 3 digits between 1 to 9: [1-9]\d\d
Integer number that can be negative and has a maximum of 10 digits: ^\s*-?[0-9]{1,10}\s*$
Allowing the field to remain empty use this string : ^$| and then use the correct pattern.
- Note: In a non-mandatory field with a pattern, if the pattern is not set to allow the field to be left blank, the “Pattern Error Message” will be displayed.
Pattern for Greek IBAN:^GR\d{9}[0-9A-Z]{16}$ (you can find IBAN patterns in this link)

Additionally, you can hide user fields if their value is not set, or only when they have value – depending on your scenario. Choose the respective option in your form.

Shell Command & Script before save

You can add scripts to a workflow design within forms to the “script before save” section and/or to the Shell Command component of the workflow design.

Scripts can also be added in the form of non-process enabled apps in the app builder.

When adding a Shell Command you can define that:

The Title is one of the required fields.
The Parent Stage is the stage of the parent process as soon as this step is reached.
The Shell Type, selecting between Unix (sh), Windows (cmd), Windows (Powershell), Platon script, Sikuli script.
The Shell Script Variables by giving the Key, the Field (Runtime value), and its Value.
Tip: By clicking on the “+” button you can add as many keys as required or needed.
The Shell Script Body text.
The Shell Response.

If you add a script within forms to the “script before save” section, the script will run after the user saves the form/completes a task with this form.

We commonly add a “script before save” to check the user’s input and populate error messages. For example, we can include if statements to check the values of fields, assign values to fields, and many more.

This removes the need to add a shell script to the workflow.

For more info regarding scripting please contact us at support@comidor.com.

The post Business Rules appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

Finance & Accounting Automation in 2022 and Beyond

Comidor Team — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 14:50:30 +0000

The Finance and Accounting industry is a veritable warehouse of data. Banks and other financial institutions compile and maintain paperwork that counts for gigabytes of electronic information. For instance, building a specific finance or accounting report requires multiple employees to visit the site where data is stored, make copies, and organize the information into a presentation.

This setup is very inefficient. The process consumes resources that could have been diverted to other important accounting tasks within the organization or the financial department. Fortunately, the digital age has introduced numerous solutions that could help streamline various financial and accounting processes. In other words, finance automation is now a reality.

How Accounting Automation Can Help the Finance & Accounting Industry

Automation can improve the efficiency of the following processes in the finance & accounting industry:

Accounts Payables

Accounts payable processing deals with humongous amounts of data. The sheer number of invoices alone makes the human user prone to mistakes and inconsistencies. Automation, however, avoids these shortfalls and shortens the processing time of invoice approvals.

Source-to-pay

Automation can significantly shorten the turnaround time for extracting supplier invoices, gathering payment details, and forwarding the money to the vendors themselves. Automated tools are now able to access vendor emails to read invoices and gather other relevant information needed to complete the transactions.

Data analysis

Before automation, employees had to pore through stacks of documents to find and then copy data for their reports. Computers reduced the amount of paperwork, but manpower still had to manually copy and paste information. With automation powered with RPA and other intelligent technologies, however, the software will analyze the data and present it according to the parameters set by the user.

Credit risk assessment and management

Automation helps finance companies accurately measure a prospect’s risk and charge the appropriate interest rates, or deny financing altogether. Credit data can be instantly updated from the credit bureaus, and automated analysis can make instant decisions on approval or rejection.

It’s interesting to think about how financial and accounting automation can be achieved. There are various methods of automating finance and accounting processes in particular. These technologies are outlined in brief below.

Technologies used for Accounting Automation

Workflow Automation

Workflow automation is a great way to improve the efficiency of accounting work. There are many benefits of using workflow automation for accounting. It’s not only about saving you time by automating the most tedious parts of accounting and finance processes, it’s also about saving money, improving accuracy, and generating better results.

When it comes to accounting and finance, the ability to free up resources and allow employees to focus on other tasks plays a crucial role. Normally, massive paperwork and manual entry are required to be done by Accounting professionals. With workflow automation, all these time-consuming tasks are automated, run in the background, thus, freeing up time for users. Capabilities like integration with third-party systems, business logic implementation, workflow controls, and task escalation are only some of the must-have features of workflow automation software.

Robotic Process Automation

Scripts, macros, and bots are some of the earliest technologies used in automation since they have helped free up time and improve people’s efficiency and productivity over many years. McKinsey estimates that these early technologies are capable of automating 42% of activities in the finance department. Automation using scripts, macros and bots becomes tricky when the need to interface between multiple applications arises. In this case, there are other methods of creating and using scripts. The bottom line – all processes still take time and tie up manpower. That’s where Robotic Process Automation or RPA comes in.

RPA is simply software that acts as a middleman between two unrelated systems. RPA, for instance, can extract the invoice data from a PDF file and then upload them directly to another system. For example, in a sales order process, RPA bots replicate human actions, send data, and create an order in the ERP system.

RPA bots are autonomous and do not rely on a mother program like Excel to work. They can also be used by individuals with virtually no programming knowledge. Most importantly, it takes but a few minutes for a well-trained employee to create the automated process.

Cognitive Automation

Artificial Intelligence is the pinnacle of automation technology. AI is a piece of software that follows a preset algorithm but can make intelligent choices, within the predefined limits, involving the inputted data. This capability allows the software to perform a thorough analysis and present the data in a structured manner without errors or inconsistency.

AI also gives way to intelligent automation. IA combines the analytical capabilities of Artificial Intelligence with the capabilities of Robotic Process Automation. The most notable implementation of IA in the finance industry is the Erica virtual assistant developed by the Bank of America. Erica is capable of analyzing each customer’s banking history and making intelligent recommendations of financial products to the user.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms constitute a great choice when there is a constant flow of data, and the decision-making process is extremely difficult and complex. Such examples include the generation of financial reports, payrolls, procurement process, analysis of employee productivity, new product launch, or predicting future churn rates.

Summary

All in all, time and manpower are the two crucial elements of business efficiency. A business process that ties down these two resources can have adverse effects on productivity and performance. Simple as they are, mundane tasks like data management and entry can still consume precious time and personnel.

Finance and accounting automation enhances business efficiency by shortening the time required to perform these routine tasks. At the same time, automation also ensures that all reports generated continue to be accurate and reliable. This perk allows managers to make timely and sound decisions. Indeed, accounting automation is an asset that every financial or accounting department should not be doing without.

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The post Finance & Accounting Automation in 2022 and Beyond appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

11 Marketing Automation Workflow Examples

Comidor Team — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 13:38:57 +0000

Marketing automation is the future of marketing. It enables marketers to handle their social media, email campaigns, and other daily marketing activities in a more automated and convenient way. For instance, you can set up an auto-responder to send discounts to people who buy during that time frame if you’re making a sale on your website. It will save you so much time because it’s all done automatically. Marketing automation is also great for small businesses because they don’t have time or money to hire someone just for these things.

In this article, we aim to walk you through the top 11 marketing automation workflow examples to give you an overview of how workflow automation can benefit your marketing activities.

1. Automate Greeting Messages

A welcome email is a must for subscribers who sign up for your content, and it creates the foundation of a lasting relationship with your subscribers. Moreover, it lays out some ground rules from day one – which means you should make sure it’s perfect. This workflow example shows how easily these emails can be automated, with fewer variables involved than other examples in this guide. Additionally, as part of the onboarding process, it’s essential to set up DMARC to enhance email deliverability and security, ensuring that your welcome emails reach subscribers’ inboxes reliably

2. Automate Gated Content Offering

Lead generation is a two-way street. You need to give your prospective customers more than just information, and you also have to ask what they think. Curious about one of the most efficient ways to go with? Gated content – whereby providing something valuable in exchange (like downloadable e-books or webinars) users will provide their contact details and other helpful data such as company name, phone, etc.

Simple example: people who want to study French can give your CRM an email and get a PDF file with the most commonly used words. This kind of automation is simple and easy to be implemented.

3. Automate Lead Management

Marketing automation can make nurturing new leads more accessible and more effective. Lead nurturing aims to guide potential customers toward a conversion, which starts at the earliest possible point in their sales funnel. Your marketing workflow should start with subscriptions or requests for demos from subscribing users – this way, you can inform them about what products will best suit their needs and provide incentives that motivate people into taking action!

4. Automate Getting Feedback

Client feedback is a valuable tool for improving customer service and building trust. With an automated workflow that collects customer satisfaction data, you can gather information much more efficiently. First, decide what touchpoint should trigger the request to provide feedback- maybe it’s when someone purchases something from you? Perhaps they have some other interactions that led them here today to look into how we work. Whatever their reason might be, telling us about themselves will help tailor our communication accordingly. This helps avoid gaps between what we say after hearing from them vs. reading social media posts where people leave comments.

5. Automate Onboarding

It’s essential to onboard new employees or customers with automated emails that will help them use your site or product. You could send these follow-ups after they create an account or purchase from you, depending on when best for their needs concerning signing up and making purchases with other companies’ services/products rather than having everything come at once. It might be overwhelming if too much information was given all at once instead of gradually introducing people into what you do or offer. Hence, they know step by step how things work before going any further!

6. Automate Offers

Personalized campaigns are a great way to build loyalty and keep top-of-mind with clients, especially if you offer rewards that they might find motivating, such as discounts on future purchases!

7. Automate User Acquisition (UA)

A re-engagement marketing workflow will help boost engagement with your content and products. The first step is to define an inactive user who may have been subscribed for a while without opening any emails or buying anything from you in that period – they could be on vacation or busy being productive elsewhere!

Reach out sooner rather than later by defining how long it has been since someone last responded before entering their contact details into this system so we can get back into touch again soon.

8. Automate Marketing Campaigns

With the right strategy, you can successfully deliver new marketing campaigns. It requires the appropriate planning and management of the work that should be done before the campaign execution. Another important factor is the effective collaboration among the team members that participate in the project. An automated workflow helps Sales, Marketing, Advertising, and Communication teams to manage efficiently their time, meet deadlines, optimize marketing processes and achieve remarkable results. Moreover, managers are able to approve marketing material and take fast decisions, while the whole team is kept updated on the marketing campaign progress.

9. Automate After-sales with Ticket routing automation

All customer service automation relies on a well-organized and well-thought-out knowledge base. Connect your resource center to your current customer service channels, such as chatbot support. Modern internet platforms for assisting individuals are frequently combined with information sources in order to provide even more support in less time.

Chatbots are rapidly advancing, but they are still confined to dealing with basic customer request tickets. More complex issues should still be handled by your staff, but intelligent automation is an important component of building a ticket routing system that can accommodate your growing customer base.

10. Automate Lead Scoring

You always want to know which contacts are the most promising leads and how close they are to purchasing. You can quickly identify these prospects with just one small data point with lead scoring! It is assigning points based on prospective customers’ behavior – this helps better target marketing efforts to be more effective at converting them into sales or other actions that will generate revenue.

11. Automate Video Creation

The act of employing a video editing tool to automatically produce short, engaging films you can use for marketing and promoting your content is known as automated video creation. Sifting through hours of long-form material to discover highlights and memorable moments may rapidly become time-consuming if you’re producing many pieces of long-form content each week.

You can consistently produce unique, high-quality videos by automating that process. As a result, you can swiftly test novel marketing methods while adding diversity to your content. You may quickly A/B test several format types or compare two highlights to discover which connects most with your audience. For instance, modern-day video editing websites allow users to convert text to video. This helps to automate the creation of videos from blogs.

Achieving Marketing Automation with Comidor

If you are ready to build your own marketing automation workflows, look no further than Comidor. Comidor has all the tools you need to achieve the ultimate marketing automation, from lead generation and management to customer journey automation and campaign planning, execution & monitoring. Contact Comidor today to learn more about the tools that can help you accelerate marketing automation!

Summary

The tips we have mentioned in this article should help you to create a marketing strategy that works. You can use these principles for automation and data-driven decision-making, which will lead to more sales and less wasted time on ineffective strategies.

Author bio:
Ryan is a passionate blogger and writer who likes sharing his thoughts and. Now he works as a content editor and internet researcher, you can check his website. He likes to travel and explore new countries.

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The post 11 Marketing Automation Workflow Examples appeared first on Comidor Low-code Automation Platform.

10 Free Workflow Automation Software for Your Business

Comidor Team — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 12:37:23 +0000

Workflow automation makes managing complicated corporate operations much easier.

With automation software, intelligent tools and bots can process, transport, or alter data when a form fill, user action, or internal signal is triggered, following business rules. This hands-off method speeds up time-consuming and repetitive tasks.

Workflow automation software can help your team move faster through tasks and processes, and it might even come with advanced built-in analytics to help you find inefficiencies.

Most workflow automation systems include a visual interface that allows you to create workflows without having to know how to code or have a lot of technical knowledge. This software is ideal for marketers, salesmen, medical and industrial professionals, and even educators, thanks to drag-and-drops, forms, and flowchart settings. Many providers also put at their disposal flexible adaptations for small enterprises and processes that are one-of-a-kind.

The product selection tools below can come in handy if you are just getting started trying free workflow automation solutions. These can help you save time and money as we give you insight into the best free workflow automation tools – with a free plan or free trial – available at the moment.

1. Kissflow

Kissflow is one of the most popular workflow solutions on the market due to its ease of use and inexpensive pricing. The software is simple to use, with drag-and-drop editing and intuitive process visualizations. Integrations like APIs, WebHooks, and Zapier bring different technologies together in one location and send you notifications so you can keep track of your activities.

You can create permissions for different user levels and generate detailed reports depending on the metrics that matter to your team with the correct customizations. Kissflow’s designer is ideal for simple needs and for both mobile-first enterprises and e-commerce sites.

2. Nintex

Nintex belongs to the group of low-code platforms with a drag-and-drop builder that allows you to view workflows as you create them. The platform allows you to create and sign documents directly in the software, then save them to your workflows for convenient access. Nintex also promotes collaboration by sending automatic messages in response to triggering events.

Nintex can be used on-premises, in the cloud, or in a hybrid environment.

3. Comidor

Comidor is a Low-Code and Hyper-automation platform that provides the fastest and most efficient way to build, automate and share applications and workflows for fast growing businesses. More specifically, Comidor offers businesses a synthesis of Low-Code framework, a business process management software and state-of-the-art RPA/AI technologies, that enable organizations to go beyond simply automating small routine tasks. Instead it helps organizations to unlock a wide range of opportunities such as, streamlining and automating end-to-end business processes efficiently and deploying a digital workplace where users and intelligent robots work together.

The Comidor BPMN 2.0 workflow designer provides an easy visual model-driven environment for professional and non-professional developers to visualize all types of business processes easily, automate workflows end-to-end using advanced RPA/AI components as well as monitor and track the performance of every workflow with real-time analytics.

Comidor can be installed on-premises, in a public or private cloud, or in a hybrid environment. The company also provides clients with a user-friendly mobile application.

The Comidor pricing plans start from $8 per user per month.

4. Integrify

Integrify takes a service-based approach to best practices and process improvements, which include support and consultation. The software was created with ease of use in mind, and most processes are created employing a drag-and-drop editor.

All of the tools are ideal for beginners in workflow automation and may be used on any mobile device.

5. ProcessMaker

ProccessMaker is a minimal-code workflow automation solution that is noted for its ease of use. Visual flow charts aid in the creation of approval-based workflows and notifications are included in each step. The system is entirely web-based, with WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) capabilities that lower the entry barrier for users in any field, including manufacturing, education, healthcare, and telecommunications.

ProcessMaker has predetermined pricing for the platform, plus a monthly fee for each user. API access for developers it possesses allows larger businesses and more sophisticated procedures to customize the program.

6. Flokzu

Visual workflows of Flokzu include icon-based flowcharts that allow you to visually map out your business processes without needing to know how to code. Using related tools such as Zapier and WebServices, task-oriented interfaces and workflows connect to over 700 existing application connections. The workflows adapt to personalized procedures based on the duties and needs of your team. If you need help getting started, Flokzu offers process templates.

This cloud platform ensures data security with end-to-end encryption, and a comprehensive set of process analytics allows your team to analyze and improve processes.

7. TrackVia

Cloud-based workflow visualizations contained in TrackVia make it easy to automate your manufacturing and warehouse processes with apps you already have. The program connects existing siloed apps, allowing them to communicate and send notifications to the right people. Sensitive data is kept safe on the TrackVia cloud servers thanks to end-to-end data encryption.

Although its specialty in manufacturing, the web and mobile-ready interface has a low-code design, making it an accessible alternative for a variety of use cases. Developers have access to the API, but TrackVia also has hundreds of ready-to-use connectors.

8. Gravity Flow

The automation solutions from Gravity Flow allow you to integrate customer and internal workflows straight into your website. Anyone with a basic understanding of app development can simply create custom workflows. Developers can also use open-source coding to create a configuration that matches their site’s special requirements.

Stripe, PDF Generator, and Flowchart are just a few of the extensions available, with additional cost since extensions are not included in any of the four subscription tiers that exist separately from the most expensive.

9. Kofax Process Director

Process Director from Kofax, based on BP Logix’s Process Timeline software, combines the power of BPM with document sharing, notifications, visual workflows, and reporting. This forward-thinking solution does not require flowcharts or coding. Optional notifications help keep stakeholders informed at every stage of the process you are running.

Analytics and reporting are integrated with customer-facing forms and backend processes, and the Process Timeline software offers changes based on predictive modeling using past data gathered throughout workflow execution.

10. Zapier

Because of its simple UI and easy app connection, Zapier is a great solution for marketing and project management users. The platform allows you to create whole workflows with several integrations ranging from email marketing – which can be backed up, updated, and visually improved with various platforms such as VerticalResponse – and document sharing to social networking and project management.

Zapier has a free plan that gives you access to current apps and allows you to complete 100 tasks per month. There are different pricing plans for beginners, professionals, teams, and companies.

Conclusion

Keep in mind that workflow automation software is frequently coupled with a business process management (BPM) tool or built into a broader software suite, such as people management tools or customer relationship management systems (CRM). This is advantageous since it allows you to access a wide range of features at once, but some purchasers may prefer a best-of-breed solution.

Find out how Comidor Workflow Automation can accelerate your business!

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