What is an Online Workflow Management Software? Why is it so essential?

In today’s age, improving productivity is the concern of every organisation, no matter the size or scale of their operation. This makes it necessary for organisations to streamline their business processes for maximum efficiency. Online Workflow Management Softwares is the solution developed to these needs of an organisation.! These softwares allow organisations to collaborate effectively within their teams by providing a structured sequence of tasks which all members of the team can access. They provide you with tools that give team members the ability to identify redundant tasks, automate certain work processes, create and optimise the workflow, help in improving certain areas of the business process and ultimately boost the efficiency of an organisation to a great extent.

Online Workflow Management Software is, as the name itself suggests, a software that allows you to manage, optimise and automate your business processes. All the individual tasks in a business process that need to be completed by different individuals or departments need dedicated coordination and management. Improper management may cause productivity loss, bottlenecks and increase the overall expenditure. Workflow management software helps in the automation of this type of management and coordination. Certain tasks in the whole process may even be completed by the IT system and do not require monitoring. The whole workflow process becomes more visible to all parties, thanks to this software, and this leads to better awareness among all stakeholders about where the project is being held up and what has to be done to improve the workflow.

This type of software has become truly indispensable in today’s fast-paced distributed workforce. With the growing complexity of today’s workforce, companies need to utilise this software. The software adds structure and visibility to your current workflow process by aiding collaboration between different teams to complete a project. Online Workflow Management Tools help to evaluate a project’s progress by allowing the team member to schedule tasks, share documentation and manage workloads among themselves on a single platform. They help to leverage the power of automation ensuring that the project is delivered on time and the quality of the project is maintained. One of the key things to note about such software is that it is simple to use and does not require the user to have IT knowledge or expertise.

The following factors make online workflow management softwares essential for all type of business and organisations.

It helps to identify the exact location of errors in the workflow process and thus makes it easy to plan improvements. This leads to the omission of reoccurring errors and reducing the overall number of errors in a workflow. It helps to reduce the volume of rework, scrap and errors.

It helps to improve the connectivity and coordination among different departments in an organisation or different collaborators in a project. This type of software provides the added convenience of being able to communicate to the different departments and thus the status of the work is easily viewable for all. In the case of information exchange between the different departments, this is of great convenience as different levels of the management team can easily track the work and approvals for different phases of work can be given in real-time as and when required.

It provides the feature of better organisation of multiple simultaneous processes that helps the management see and monitor these processes better. Request handling is simpler, easier and more convenient as requests raised from different departments are automatically organised and presented to the management in a systematic and meaningful manner. Moreover, management can better match the task with the personnel. Tasks can be assigned to the right employee with the requisite skillset. In case an employee is busy with another task, management can track when it is completed and assign that person the task in a timely fashion. Employees also get the added functionality of being able to switch from one single task to parallel tasks.

It provides the benefit of multisystem integrability as work that is being done on different systems or software is all tracked and monitored by the workflow management software. It also provides the benefit of collecting data on how the work is being done in the different departments and thus helps to improve the overall workflow. The reliance on paperwork is reduced drastically as all important data and reports can be generated from one single place.

It helps streamline the overall workflow by automating certain components and reducing manual handling required. Redundant and time-consuming steps in a workflow can be eliminated. Productivity is thus improved as the workers can focus on important tasks rather than dull, mundane, repetitive tasks that can be easily automated with the help of certain pre-defined business rules. Workflow management software can be set up to automatically trigger the next phase of the work or project on completion of the previous step or on fulfilment of some pre-defined conditions. Employees are sent timely reminders and alerts for their tasks.

Delegation of work becomes easier for the management as micromanagement of different processes is no longer required. The employees know their role and responsibility very clearly and are informed of process changes or updates through the software very easily. With increased visibility and transparency, the workforce is in sync and alerted that the management team can track the progress of their work. Thus, miscommunication and time loss is reduced. Employees are aware that the exact data of their work is accessible to the management and have no room for dilly-dallying or mistakes. This promotes workplace accountability. Admins can still choose what information to display or withhold from a particular team as required. This can improve the overall work culture of an organisation as everyone in the organisation is included in the process of streamlining and structuring the work better for easy traceability, control, monitoring, and improved transparency.

Online Workflow Management Software is the future of workflow management as it is simply what all organisations dream of - ---one single system to take care of all productivity planning, bottleneck resolution, error management, task assignment, approval granting and other related functions. An Online Workflow Management tool, if employed, will help in reducing the overhead costs associated with employing multiple enterprise systems. Many companies use multiple tools for ERP, CRM and other functions. But However, with the help of Online Workflow Management Software, it can all be brought under one roof. In addition to the above-mentioned benefits, adherence to compliance norms also becomes simpler for organisations as it is more difficult for employees to circumvent defined business rules. I

There are many smart, well designed and comprehensive Online Workflow Management Tools available nowadays and Crotle is hands down one of the best available. Ease of use is the most important attribute to look for while differentiating among the various options available in the market. Crotle is unconditionally one of the best in this regard as it provides easy functionality coupled with comprehensive solutions to all your project management needs.