All businesses deal with at least one workflow, no matter big or small. Even a simple lemonade stand, for example, has the process of creating a lemonade from raw lemons as a workflow.

How efficiently businesses execute their workflow(s) will ultimately determine their productivity and efficiency. Still, it’s also crucial to understand that a company doesn’t simply run by executing workflows and accomplishing the objectives. Workflows can be linked to one another, and every employee could have challenges in their unique workflows.

This is where workflow optimization is needed. Without a comprehensive workflow optimization and workflow management strategy, your business will miss more deadlines, be more exposed to risks related to human errors. It will use more resources to achieve your goals.

In short, your business will not be efficient, and it will be much harder to grow and scale your business.

Have you ever wanted to optimize your business’s workflows and improve your efficiency, but don’t know where to begin?

You’ve come to the right place.

In this guide to workflow optimization, we’ll share all you need to know about workflow optimization and workflow strategies you can use to improve your business performance. By the end of this reading, you’d have learned about:

• What is workflow optimization?

• Workflow optimization as a part of workflow management

• A step-by-step guide to optimizing your workflow

• How to optimize document management workflow to ensure its efficiency

• Actionable strategies you can implement to improve your business performance.

And more!

Let us begin this guide by looking at what workflow optimization means.

Document management can be a major headache for any organization.

When your organization is relatively small, and you only handle a small number of documents per week, document management might not be an issue. However, as your organization grows and needs to store and manage hundreds if not thousands of documents per month, you’ll see how document management can be a constant uphill battle. 

Data is now considered the most valuable commodity. The amount of data (and documents) coming in and out of an organization has constantly increased over the years, so you’ll struggle to keep up with the pace without a proper document management plan in place. 

Thanks to technology, now we also have the option to implement automation to the document management workflow. However, there’s one crucial thing to uphold: 

Automation is only beneficial when the automated workflow is already efficient.

Or else, automation will only amplify its inefficiencies and bottlenecks. 

So, it’s crucial to have a proper document management strategy in the first place and to optimize the process and ensure it’s as efficient as possible. 

In this expert guide to document management and automation, we’ll discuss how to tackle this issue precisely. You’ll learn everything from start to finish about document management as a workflow, and by the end of this guide, we will inform you about:

• The definition of the term ‘document.’ 

• The concept of document management

• Different aspects of document management workflow

• How to optimize document management workflow to ensure its efficiency

• How to implement automation to a document management workflow

And more!

BUSINESS CHALLENGE:

As one of the world's largest retailers, with annual sales of more than $121.1 billion (2019). With nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states, under 22 banner brands. Kroger’s Promotional Execution Team set out a transformation objective to change the performance across all Advertising and Display operations that orchestrate 600+ promotional content versions per week across Kroger’s 22 brands. With 2000+ employees in the end-to-end operating model, this presented a significant, enterprise-scale transformation program challenge.

When discussing business efficiency, the term “workflow” often gets mentioned. Yet, ask five different people for the definition, and chances are, you’ll get five different answers.

So, what is a workflow? How can you use workflow to improve your business’s efficiency and productivity? Is it worth your time?

In this guide, we will discuss all you need to know about business workflows, and by the end of this guide, you will learn about:

Implementing efficient and creative workflows always poses a unique challenge: we are essentially putting a structure over a creative process that’s supposed to be “free.” Thus, finding the right balance between optimal structure and creative flexibility is very important yet often very difficult.

Managing and executing projects can be challenging. According to research by KPMG, 70% of surveyed organizations have suffered project failures for one reason or another.

As the name suggests, workflow analysis is the process of analyzing an organization’s business process. However, before it can be examined, the business process needs to be correctly visualized in a workflow map.

First, what is a workflow?

A workflow, or a business process, can be defined as a collection of linked tasks (sequential or non-sequential) executed to achieve a particular business objective.

Corporations all around the world strive to become more efficient and productive.

When these workflows get executed efficiently, your business is also efficient, and vice versa: inefficient workflows will result in missed deadlines, lost opportunities, and losses in revenue, profits, and even reputation.

However, an organization and even a single team within the organization can consist of many people with disparate personalities and logical views. 

Each team member might have a different idea on how to execute a task efficiently, and in many cases, there is not a single, one-size-fits-all answer. This can often lead to disputes and confusion, which can lead to inefficiencies and other issues. 

So, how do you get your whole team and organization to perform a business process consistently in the most efficient way, every time? 

The solution is a workflow model. 

A workflow model, or workflow diagram, is a visual mapping for a workflow, a business process, a project, or a business case. By modeling a workflow accurately, everyone has the same vision and can execute it in the same way. 

This guide will tackle all you need to know about workflow models and how you can implement them in your organization. 

By the end of this guide, you will learn about: 

• The concept of workflow models

• Different types of workflows in a business environment

• How to model a workflow

• The benefits of modeling a workflow

• How to analyze and optimize workflow models

And more.

All businesses and organizations have workflows. Even individual workers always involve at least one workflow in their day-to-day operations.

When these workflows get executed efficiently, your business is also efficient, and vice versa: inefficient workflows will result in missed deadlines, lost opportunities, and losses in revenue, profits, and even reputation.

But what are workflows, and why is it important to document your workflow?

And more importantly, how can we optimize these workflows to be as efficient as possible?

In this guide, we will discuss:

• What is a workflow
• Different types of workflow
• Why you should document your workflow
• How to document your workflow reliably and accurately
• How to analyze the established workflow
• How to optimize the workflow to make sure it’s as efficient as possible

And more.