Business process automation (BPA) is a natural step in the growth trajectory of any organization. Just like consumers moving from purely in-store shopping to a combination of online and in-store shopping, automated processes are no longer a phenomenon to be feared. In fact, they are a necessity if you wish to stay relevant in evolving markets.
Why you need business process automation
BPA can bring plenty of benefits to organizations:
- Streamlined, efficient processes with minimized errors and bottlenecks
- Greater productivity
- Greater savings of time and cost
- Better allocation of resources and elimination of wastage
- Improved visibility into processes
- Greater compliance with industrial and legal regulations
- Happier employees
- Enhanced customer experience
Simply put, implementing BPA is a better way to do business.
For a deeper understanding of how BPA can transform your operations, let us describe how it can change five processes common to every organization.
How business process automation improves 5 processes
Purchase orders
In a typical purchase process, when a team has a requirement, they fill out a purchase requisition form with particulars of the need. The requisition form is sent to the purchasing team for approval. If rejected, the requesting team is intimated. If approved, a purchase order (PO) is created and sent to the supplier.
The supplier reviews the PO. Once approved by the supplier, it becomes a binding contract. When the delivery is made, the purchasing team conducts a three-way matching between the PO, invoice, and order receipts. On completion, the vendor’s invoice is paid and the purchase requisition is closed.
With automation the entire procurement process becomes streamlined and simplified from start to finish. The process progresses from one task to the next with minimal human intervention and optimum accuracy. The logs recorded during the process provide insight into vendor performance, which can help manage vendor relations better. Document management enables meticulous maintenance of records and facilitates audit trails.
Onboarding and offboarding
Human resources teams conduct onboarding and exit formalities multiple times in a month. They are processes that can benefit from automation.
Both onboarding and offboarding require plenty of documents to be collected and forms to be filled out. BPA can take away the tedium and simplify the processes. Onboarding formalities such as employee information forms, induction sessions, mentor assignments, training sessions, bank account setup, and others can be seamlessly managed and help new joinees settle in faster as well as support their productivity.
Exit formalities such as resignation approvals, final financial settlement, exit interviews, providing references, handover management, and others can also be executed effectively, ensuring that no details fall through the cracks.
Sales
Sales processes can be fraught with inefficiency if you depend entirely on spreadsheets and emails. BPA can help enhance the effectiveness of sales-related tasks such as:
- Emails
- Lead prioritization
- Document management and sharing across the team
- Lead distribution
- Creating sales quotes
- Reporting
Although this isn’t an exhaustive list, automation of sales functions have empowered sales teams and improved their efficiency by taking over mundane tasks and freeing up more bandwidth for higher quality work.
Expense approvals
When employees need expense reimbursement from the organization, the process can often take inordinately long and require multiple reminders from the requesting employee.
BPA can make expense approvals faster with minimal effort. Delays and bottlenecks are minimized with automation. BPA software also provides employees visibility into the current status of their reimbursement requests. Notifications and reminders help managers approve reimbursements in a timely manner. Employees only need to upload their bills and the rest is managed smoothly.
Leave requisitions
Applications for time off is another process that is present in every organization and requires better streamlining.
With BPA software, leave requisition process can become effortless. When employees raise leave requests, team managers can easily refer to the amount of paid leave accrued as well as upcoming workload and approve or reject the request. Additionally, HR and finance teams can also be kept in the loop for attendance and salary-related updates. Complete transparency facilitated by BPA systems helps teams stay updated on employee availability. Quick approvals also improve employee satisfaction.
A compelling BPM solution
Kissflow Process is designed to help you manage your processes with ease. Its no-coding, fuss-free interface helps you set up processes in a matter of minutes. The dynamic form builder allows your team to create processes as simple or complex as the need may be. With powerful reporting capabilities, you can effortlessly track the KPIs that really matter. Kissflow integrates easily with your existing applications, making data movement as fluid as possible. Role-based access ensures that your data is only made available to authorized users.
Take a customizable demo with Kissflow Workflow and choose to evolve.
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