Grand Payoffs From A Workflow Software

When it comes to the terms, “Streamline Operations” or “Reduce Operating Expenses” and “Cut Labor Costs”, do you really have any idea what these terms actually mean? How much money does the company actually want to save? And how does workflow software help the company to achieve this seemingly insurmountable goal?

When it comes to workflow software, every company definitely has their own sets of procedures as well as methods that they implement when it comes to handling all sorts of day-to-day operations in and out of their companies such as the following: invoicing, time sheets, status reports, new account setup and you might as well include everything else that will be able to make your business tick. The term workflow in workflow software actually refers to the tasks, personnel, procedural steps, required information as well as the various tools that are needed for the steps that the business has to take in order for it to become successful.

Every company has a unique and different process as compared with other companies in the business, this is why a lot of growing companies usually end up with a highly unorganized business process when it comes to email templates, spreadsheets, shared documents, paper forms and even trivial knowledge which the employees should know in order to be able to handle the day-to-day business.

Majority of the time, such chaos and disorganization often leads to various frustrations and problems for the small company, such every day hassles include: missing paper work, missed deadlines, lost as well as incorrect information as well as extending heavily on working hours in order to complete a certain task. This is what usually happens to unorganized offices and is often referred to as “red tape.” The bottom line is that when the red tape starts getting on your customers nerves, it would soon be a downward spiral for your company as well.

So to your company’s rescue comes workflow software automation. But what exactly is a workflow software? And how can it help you out in this company crisis? Workflow software is actually still relatively new to the corporate setting wherein it is a combination of a to-do list as well as project management tool, only set on a different scale.

When it comes to workflow software just think of having a simple to-do list at your hands wherein through the workflow software, that to-do list can now also be accessible by other employees from your company through the company network. This simple to-do list can actually, on its own, keep track of all the items that need to be addressed by everyone in the company. Also, through the workflow software, once certain tasks are completed by the assigned company employees, the workflow software will actually automatically send off other to-do tasks to the appropriate company employees.

The workflow software is actually smart enough to also pass whichever documents or data that are needed to be able to perform whichever tasks that it sends out to the employees. And lastly, if the workflow software’s features are not exciting enough then there are other great features that this automation software has in store for its users. The workflow software can also do some visual status tracking of the tasks at hand, due data monitoring (which ensures every member of your team that a deadline has been set and has to be especially met by the employees, business rules). The workflow software will always make sure that the employees continuously adhere to the company’s rules and regulations, e-mail and database capabilities.

It is incredibly important for a company to have a well sorted out database in order to prevent people from panicking once a certain file has mysteriously disappeared most especially during the time that their boss needs it. All these are jam-packed in the workflow software automation wherein it will certainly be able to help you and your company, and most especially the employees to have a simplified working environment which is highly geared towards being able to produce the best results at any given time. The workflow software will actually enable employees to be able do their job well since they would not be scrambling for lost files anymore as well as all sorts of other hassles that may erupt when you are in a highly disorganized company. It is also equally important that the employees are highly skilled but their skills will not be a match to the cluttered chaos that will be caused by disorganization.

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Workflow and BPM: What?s the difference?

I am often asked “What’s the difference between workflow and BPM? Are they not the same thing?”

 

Vendors typically offer either workflow or Business Process Management software.  Some larger software vendors offer both. Workflow is standard functionality included in many Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software systems.  Once you understand workflow you’ll understand why.

 

A Business Process Management suite of tools (BPMS) is an alternative to workflow.  A BPMS can be used in lieu of workflow where additional functionality is required. It’s important to understand how these two products differ.

What is Workflow?

Unstructured content, better known as an electronic image of paper document, has a specific lifecycle within a business.  In this case we define a “lifecycle” as the period of time a piece of content is useful to a business operation. An example of unstructured content might be the electronic image of a purchase order. A purchase order is a common document used by many businesses.    

 

Electronic document images flow between the various workers of a business. The workers need to reference the document images to accomplish their work. Workflow is nothing more than the work tasks a piece of content is involved in over its lifecycle.

 

Let’s use as an example a purchase order scenario. If we follow the steps a purchase order takes throughout its lifecycle we can understand what “workflow” is. Imagine a company needs to replenish their stock of office supplies. They send a purchase order to an office supply vendor for the supplies they require. The office supply vendor receives the customer’s order. The office supply vendor’s subsequent processing of the order is an example of a workflow.

 

Once received and prepared, the purchase order is scanned to create an electronic image of it. This is where the purchase order document workflow begins. After the image is created it is sent to the order entry clerk’s work queue of orders to be processed. The clerk views the purchase order image. From the image the clerk enters the products and quantities into an order processing application. The application forwards the order and the supporting purchase order image to the warehouse for fulfillment.

 

The entered order and purchase order image are routed to the work queue of a warehouse clerk. The clerk will have the items on the order picked from warehouse stock. Once collected the office products are packaged by a shipping clerk to be sent to the customer. Using the order management application the shipping clerk manually confirms the order has been completed and it is ready for shipment. As one last check the clerk views the packaged order and compares it to the products listed on the image of the original purchase order.

The next step in the workflow is the shipping clerk releasing the package for shipment. The shipping clerk then forwards the order along with the purchase order image to the billing department.  The billing department generates an invoice which will be sent to the customer. The billing clerk electronically marks the order as completed and archives the purchase order image in an electronic folder. This is the final step of our purchase order workflow example. Our example shows workflow as the automation of paper flowing through a process. Instead of moving paper physically, we’re moving images of that paper electronically through a sequence of work tasks. Now let’s look at Business Process Management.

What is Business Process Management?

Business Process Management (BPM) is a business discipline. It encompasses a methodology which is used to continuously optimize the way a business operates.  To satisfy comprehensive BPM requirements a suite of integrated business process tools (a BPMS) is required. A BPMS enables the understanding, management and optimization of business processes. Let’s again use our purchase order example but this time let’s put it in the context of BPM.

 

The objective of workflow is to replace the physical movement of documents with the electronic movement of documents in a pre defined sequence. The objective of BPM is overall business management and optimization using process centric technology.

 

BPM starts with the quantitative analysis of existing business processes. This type of process analysis is referred to as Business Process Analysis (BPA). To perform BPA you first need to establish a baseline of characteristics for your existing processes. The baseline is established by discovering in depth details of the current state of the business processes.

 

This current state, referred to by business analysts as the “AS IS”, is discovered by the business analyst interviewing various subject matter experts who are responsible for specific business processes.

 

With the “AS IS” discovered the next step is to develop an improved future state process design. The future state design is referred to as the “TO BE”. The end goal of the business analyst is to evolve the AS IS to a TO BE design using various optimization techniques.

 

Identifying issues and opportunities for improvement within the existing process is often a goal of the business analyst throughout their interviews with the subject matter experts. By understanding the properties of the AS IS process along with capturing any issues or opportunities for improvement, the business analyst will gain an understanding of what process design changes are required..

 

Another goal of the business analyst is to substantiate any process design changes by performing a gap analysis. The gap analysis compares the AS IS with the TO BE process model. A quantitative gap analysis involves process properties. Common properties used in a gap analysis are cycle time and process costs.

 

Let’s assume using our purchase order example the office supply vendor has completed their discovery of the order entry AS IS process.  Then they performed a gap analysis of the AS IS versus the TO BE process designs. Their analysis determined the order entry process can be streamlined by eliminating two unnecessary activities, by doing another two activities in parallel and by fully automating three manual activities.

 

Before the business analyst gives the TO BE process design requirements to the development group for implementation, the business analyst might perform simulations of the TO BE design. Simulations might be run to determine how the new process design will react to increases in the order volume. Using a variety of “what if” scenarios the TO BE order entry process design is proven out as an optimum  new process design. The development group then creates a new order entry application from the business analyst’s TO BE process design.

 

Now, when the office supply vendor receives a purchase order it is immediately scanned and specific information is automatically recognized and extracted from the paper document. Once extracted the data is used to validate customer information on the purchase order directly with information from a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application. Based on the TO BE order entry process, if the purchase order is from a new customer the customer information will be automatically added to the CRM database. This newly automated step was proven during analysis to save not only time but also money.  Another aspect of the TO BE design is that the office supply vendor can now accept orders directly from their web site.

 

Product information on the purchase order is automatically recognized and extracted and input directly to the order management application. The order is validated for completeness and correctness now in a fully automated manner. If the order passes all checks an electronic message is generated for the items being ordered to be picked from warehouse stock. Once picked the products are packaged and shipped to the customer. An invoice is automatically generated and delivered electronically to the customer who placed the order as soon as the order is shipped.  The customer also receives an email with a delivery status.

 

Using BPMS our office supply vendor will also implement monitoring of their new order entry process. They can closely manage the cycle time of their process from order receipt to shipment. They implement Business Activity Monitoring (BAM) to instrument their new order entry application.

 

Using BPM the office supply vendor has the ability to re-analyze their order entry process model anytime their business environment changes. Now instead of analyzing process metrics gained during interviews, process analysis will be based on metrics measured during process execution. This is why a truly integrated BPMS is important.

 

An integrated BPMS ensures any re-analysis will be based on real world execution statistics. Execution data is collected during the monitoring (BAM) of the order entry application.

Conclusion

BPM is understandably mistaken as workflow and visa versa. Typically companies start with the implementation of an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system. The goal of which is to reduce their overall use of paper documents. A subsequent phase of an ECM implementation is to replace the physical movement of documents with an electronic orchestration of document images. This is workflow.

 

BPM provides more than electronic document movement. BPM is a technology-based approach for understanding, managing, and optimizing business processes. Some companies that start with workflow and then graduate  to BPM. Some start with BPM. What did you do?

 

 

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Contact Management Software That?s Easy to Use

Contact Management Software

Contact Management Software in its most basic form is a software program designed to collect and record the personal information for the people you associate with. This typically includes name, phone number, address, and email address. This is the information that is most useful for keeping in touch with close associates. In a business environment, Contact Management Software takes on a much more complex role. The information needed in this environment is often much broader and more elaborate, and is related not just to the people you work with but the companies as well. It often includes names, phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses for people and companies as well as a history of the related communication and events.

Contact Management Software for your business

Contact Management Software for your business should provide you with not only the basic information about the people you work with, but the information for the companies as well. It should provide you with an easy way to review the history of any related communication and interactions for those people and companies. Programs such as Prophet 4.0 create just this type of relational system inside a very familiar environment, your Microsoft Outlook.

Prophet 4.0 utilizes the existing capabilities of Outlook to handle contacts, emails, appointments and tasks and adds to that the ability to organize all this information at the company and contact level. Prophet 4.0 has a Company record, so seeing which people are associated with a specific company is as easy as selecting the Company view in the Prophet Contact Manager. The Company record details all the relevant information for that company, such as address and account number, and shows you a list of associated people.

Reviewing contact management history

Reviewing the history of communication you have had with your clients is a vital component of a Contact Management Software program, and should be a simple process. When working in a Contact Management Program, you want to be able to see all the activities related to a specific person or a company. The Prophet Contact Manager allows you to select a specific contact or company and see all the related emails, appointments, tasks and even sales opportunities. The Contact Manager presents you with tabbed sections that allow you to easily switch between viewing emails, appointments, tasks and attachments for a specific contact or company.

If you are looking for an email from one of your clients just click their name in the Contact Manager window, then select the “Emails” tab. You can now find that email from any folder in your Outlook, and with a simple click open it to review the specifics. That message is opened directly from your Outlook. This can be a vital function of Contact Management Software in providing a consistent and reliable history of your relationship and communication with a client.

Choosing contact management software

Contact Management Software will provide your business with the ability to track the contact information for both the people and the companies you work with, it will create relationships between the two, and will provide you with a way to see a comprehensive history of activities in an easy to navigate interface. Prophet 4.0 creates all this for you inside a system you are already using, Microsoft Outlook. You can continue to work in Outlook as you always have, and utilize Prophet’s advanced Contact Management features to keep tabs on every communication and activity you have for a specific client. This can be an important advantage if your company is already using Outlook, as it dramatically shortens the time it takes for users to become familiar with the new Contact Management features. Prophet’s integration with Outlook also eliminates the problem of having customer data in two places. With Prophet your contact data is in only one place… Outlook.

About Avidian Technologies:

Avidian Technologies is a software company specializing in creating software solutions for users of Outlook and Exchange. Prophet, developed by Avidian Technologies on the .NET platform, is the leading contact management and sales CRM software built in Outlook. The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. For more information, please visit http://www.avidian.com or call 1-800-860-5534.

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Workflow Management: The Key to World-class Customer Service

There are a lot of processes that are involved in business operations, and one of them is workflow management. This basically refers to the passing of data—may it be in image, document, or whatever else—from one person to another. It may also be passed on through the use of a machine. The key here is that every procedure should be according to the policies and rules that have already been determined, established, and practiced by the organization.

The Use of Technology in Workflow Management

Let’s pretend that you will have a monthly employee evaluation in your team. If you don’t make use of any kind of technology, you may have to let them fill out a survey form, perhaps with boxes that they are going to tick, depending on their chosen or preferred answers. When they are done, you still need to tabulate their answers. If you have 15 forms and it takes you 5 minutes to tabulate each of them, spending more than an hour just doing this menial task. Tabulation, moreover, is not the end of the entire process. You are still going to interpret the results, then submit them to your HR manager. All in all, the entire process is lengthy, time-consuming, and very prone to error.

With the integration of automation tools, however, you can greatly improve your efficiency, accuracy, flexibility, and, most of all, customer service.

The Benefits of Workflow Management

1. You can greatly improve the effectiveness of the business processes. By using an automated workflow management tool, you can get rid of steps that may no longer be necessary. In the example given above, you can perhaps cut down on the tabulation process, as the software may already have the ability to generate results based on the data that you have encoded. You can also skip the use of survey form and allow your employees to fill out e-forms, which could then be connected to your workflow management tool. Most of them can generate reports immediately, so analysis can be done constantly. You can also save these reports in the company portal, to be accessed by your HR manager.

2. It enhances customer service. Because the processes are very clear and are followed properly, customers are more secured that they can obtain precise and immediate answers to their questions. Moreover, the workflow management tool can be used to determine the performance of your sales agents. Since their roles and responsibilities are already streamlined, you can easily determine areas where they need some improvement or training. When your sales agents can better serve your customers, the latter will be more satisfied. In turn, they will be coming back for repeat orders and even recommend your business to others.

3. You can conveniently identify where the process may have gone wrong. A workflow management makes it easy for you to point out where the broken chain is and what could have possibly caused it. Moreover, since the roles of every employee will be more detailed, you can make them more accountable for their own actions.

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So you Think you Know CRM Software?

A year ago if someone asked me if I knew my way around the CRM Software Industry I would have confidently said yes, however, as it turns out the old saying the more you learn the more knowledge you realize you lack, is true. When talking about the CRM Software Industry it is almost impossible to actually say that you know it inside out since there are so many CRM vendors around the world, all developing their technologies at such a rapid pace. As if it wasn’t hard enough for a company to make a decision regarding; what they require, how it can help their business and so on, these technological advancements are always followed with a marketing campaign each speaking of how much this new feature or functionality will help you.

So the question stands at, you think you know CRM Software? This is difficult to answer with all the hype surrounding the industry combined with the relative youth of Web-based CRM and the large number of vendors. It is also difficult to produce a linear comparison since each vendor has their own set of terms and names for features. So where do you begin? You can learn the basics of Web-based CRM Software fairly easily with a quick search on Google, however I would like to mention a few points that are more difficult to uncover; the hidden costs associated with purchasing CRM Software, what to avoid, how your CRM can go beyond simply contact management and where the industry is going.

When a company decides it’s time to make the move to Web-based CRM Software they should first develop a plan on how they expect this new implementation to boost their companies productivity and revenue. The largest roadblock in achieving a fast ROI is all the hidden costs that are not clearly listed on vendor’s web sites. In researching to develop a comparison of some of the major players in the CRM world including Salesforce, Netsuite and Salesboom.com, the majority of my time was spent researching pricing for different platforms, upgrades, implementation, customization and customer support. Salesboom was actually the only one at the time to have a page with their pricing listed clearly.

To just go out and purchase a CRM Edition and think you are done is nowhere near the truth, this is just a base point from which pricing begins. This leads me into what to avoid when seeking your future CRM Software. What you need to look into and ask questions about is; storage limits and the cost of additional storage, maximum number of custom tabs & fields, maximum number of applications you can add, this being particularly relevant for Salesforce, and any other limitation which could later force you to upgrade.

If you have implemented a CRM Software Solution and reached any of these mentioned limitations I’m sure you can vouch for my statement that it comes at a great cost. What is often the case is that the edition a company is currently working with is doing a great job but for example they have reached their storage limits. An edition upgrade for a company with roughly 750 users can amount to around 2 million dollars above what they were already paying. With this upgrade of course comes more features and functionality however they are features and functionality which will not increase your ROI simply because your company doesn’t need them.

Now that the buyers beware and the negatives are out of the way we can focus on the positives. When you implement your new Web-based CRM you have just knocked down all the walls separating your departments or office’s, no matter their location and you did it in real-time. Once up and running your CRM goes far beyond contact management software with vendor’s now integrating front and back office functionality. Netsuite has a strong back office, which makes sense knowing their background in back office ERP solutions; however I find their SFA or front office not to be up to the standards of some others. Salesforce and Salesboom.com both offer a well rounded CRM solution for companies of all sizes, between these two it really comes down to price.

With more than just contact management capabilities CRM Software is a great tool for your; marketing department with in depth campaign and lead management tools, your customer service department since a complete history of all clients and cases are a mouse click away, your back office including inventory, billing & invoicing by taking advantage of real time workflow processes and of course your sales force with features like escalation rules or in more recent times offline and mobile editions.

Today CRM Software vendors are coming out with Offline and Mobile Editions giving new ways to never lose contact with the office. This brings us to the future of Web-based CRM Software, where is it going? Well over the past year we have seen great advancements with the use of AJAX, or as it’s known to the tech world, Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This code underneath your CRM Software eliminates the need for you to refresh your web browser whenever you make a change. This can be seen in some social networking sites, a popular one being facebook. Here AJAX is used to allow for drag and drop customizations to appearance and the arrangement of applications. The idea is the same with CRM Software, a simple down mouse click and drag will allow you to customize the appearance of your dashboard without an IT department, so you can focus on the information most relevant to you.

The other benefit that AJAX will bring us in the future when combined with faster internet speed is the elimination of load time, maybe not completely but at least the majority of it. This sort of functionality is now only seen with On-premise software since all information is stored within your computer or server you don’t need to wait for the internet to download any data. AJAX comes into play here since you don’t require a browser refresh you can continue working while only that portion of the web page is reloaded. I predict that the gap between Web-based and On-premise CRM Software will be much smaller by the end of 2008 and we will see the same trend with businesses leaving their On-premise for Web-based CRM, like was seen in 2007.

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