Many organisations lose a significant amount of time each year manually sorting through, organising and filing paper documents. When you consider streamlining business operations and boosting efficiency, process automation becomes an invaluable tool.
More than 40% of workers dedicate at least a quarter of their workweek to manual, repetitive tasks, with the majority of their time spent on email, data collection and data entry.
However, you can minimise and streamline these tasks for improvement through intelligent process automation, freeing up the time for employees to focus on other areas of the business.
Process automation uses software to automate and simplify business processes, enhancing efficiency quickly and easily.
Process automation uses technology to automate various business operations and centralise information, all while reducing the need for manual interference.
Organisations like yours can remove obstacles, reduce errors and eliminate the risk of losing data using process automation. It also helps increase transparency, improves communication and enhances processing speed substantially.
Process automation follows logic statements, such as “if/then” statements. For example, if an invoice with a value of £100 was received, the system would automatically approve this.
In contrast, if an invoice of £101 or more was received, this would be routed to the appropriate department or individual for approval.
In this scenario, intelligent process automation negates the need for an employee to sort through the incoming invoices manually and reduces the likelihood of human error during the sorting process.
This is just one example of what can be achieved with process automation and document management.
DocuWare’s document management and workflow automation software allows organisations to achieve such outcomes. Automated workflows digitise and organise documents automatically, completing a wide range of manual tasks in much less time.
For example, Stuart Plumbing & Heating Supplies leveraged Docuware’s intelligent process automation capabilities to automate their 2,000 invoices a month. With this, the company reduced its invoicing time by around 40%. Along with the time savings and increased accuracy, Stuart Plumbing has also reduced the amount of paper being used as invoices are entered straight into the system without being printed first, further reducing costs.
You can read about how DocuWare helped this family-run business and others like this here.
Process automation is a valuable tool for streamlining processes and improving efficiencies so businesses can reduce errors, save time and enhance productivity.
In fact, 31% of businesses have fully automated at least one function, showing just how invested businesses are becoming in this new way of working.
The frequency of errors can be dramatically reduced by automating processes. Using an automated system to handle repetitive tasks such as sorting, filing and organising data means human intervention is no longer needed. Therefore, it minimises the chances of human error.
Process automation can also save organisations time in their daily operations. For example, manually completing processes such as filing and retrieving documents can be time-consuming. However, business process automation allows you to complete these activities in a fraction of the time.
Process automation simplifies operations requiring many steps across different departments, reducing time spent substantially.
One of the most critical aspects of intelligent process automation is its ability to free up resources across the business.
Without process automation, employees may have various mundane, repetitive and time-consuming tasks. However, when adopting process automation, employees will have the capacity to focus on more productive tasks.
Intelligent process automation is scalable and valuable for organisations of varying sizes. It can adapt to changing business demands and handle many tasks.
You can benefit from the numerous advantages of using business process automation. It is a powerful tool you can apply to the entirety of your organisation or specific departments.
Regardless of the level of implementation, process automation delivers a wide range of perks for organisations that choose to utilise it, such as higher productivity, increased compliance, reduced costs and minimised errors.
All these benefits align with the capabilities of DocuWare's document management and workflow automation solutions.
DocuWare's workflow automation allows businesses to design and implement automated workflows for document-centric processes, ensuring documents move seamlessly through various stages without manual intervention.
Additionally, DocuWare's centralised document management ensures accurate and up-to-date documents are accessible to authorised users, minimising the potential for mistakes due to using outdated information.
DocuWare's automation capabilities decrease the time and effort spent on tasks like document filing, retrieval and routing, contributing to overall operational cost reduction.
Furthermore, DocuWare’s audit trail and version control features provide transparency and accountability, essential for compliance and regulatory purposes.
The benefits of process automation align seamlessly with DocuWare's capabilities, creating a synergy that optimises document-centric processes, enhances collaboration and drives efficiency throughout the organisation.
Organisations can achieve greater operational excellence by leveraging automation and DocuWare's solutions.
Automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks can significantly streamline various business operations.
Here are some everyday use cases for process automation:
The synergy between intelligent process automation and document management arises from their shared goal of optimising business processes and enhancing overall productivity.
Although process automation is an ideal solution for organisations that wish to improve productivity, doing so without the appropriate document management software can slow processes down.
Document management software works hand in hand with process and workflow automation software to keep important information archived and available for organisations to retrieve whenever needed.
Process automation and document management complement each other by enhancing workflow productivity, improving data accuracy and boosting overall business performance.
Organisations that leverage the synergy between these two elements are better positioned to optimise their operations and achieve higher productivity levels.
Implementing automation involves a systematic approach that is built on several key steps.
Integrating intelligent process automation and document management systems creates a powerful synergy that enhances document-centric processes and collaboration. This combination improves efficiency and ensures accuracy, compliance and streamlined collaboration among teams.
For example, in a finance department, receiving, reviewing and approving invoices can be automated using a workflow automation tool.
When an invoice is received, the automation triggers a workflow that routes the invoice to the appropriate department for review. The document management system stores the invoice and relevant information, such as vendor information and due dates.
Once reviewed and approved, the invoice is automatically moved to the next stage and payment information is updated in the system. Any correspondence or notes related to the invoice are also tracked.
This integration ensures invoices are processed faster, reduces the risk of errors and maintains a clear audit trail.
In another example, intelligent process automation and a document management system streamline the process from document collection to approvals during employee onboarding.
When a new employee is hired, the automated workflow generates a checklist of required documents. The document management system stores these documents securely and each relevant department is notified to upload or review specific records.
Once all documents are collected and verified, the workflow triggers approvals and equipment provisioning and training assignments. The document management system keeps all employee-related documents organised in a centralised repository for easy access by HR and managers.
In each of these examples, the integration of process automation and a document management system streamlines workflows, reduces manual intervention, ensures data accuracy and facilitates transparent collaboration.
This synergy leads to increased efficiency, faster decision-making, compliance adherence and improved outcomes for internal processes and customer interactions.
Document management systems and process automation offer compelling advantages that enhance business operations.
Document management systems provide centralised storage, organised retrieval, collaboration and robust security for documents, ensuring efficient information management.
On the other hand, process automation streamlines tasks, boosts efficiency, reduces errors and enables consistent, scalable processes.
Integrating document management systems and process automation amplifies these benefits, improving document-centric workflows, seamless collaboration and heightened operational excellence.
By leveraging these technologies, organisations can achieve enhanced efficiency, accuracy, compliance and innovation, ultimately gaining a competitive edge in their respective industries.