Standardized workflows play an essential role in helping businesses optimize productivity and consistency. Luckily, workflow management platforms have been making standardization and implementation of workflows easier than ever.
Not every workflow management tool is as valuable as it should be, though. To choose the best one for your business, look for a solution that has the following essential qualities.
Ease of Use
Naturally, you want the opportunity to test any workflow management platform you’re thinking about using. You ought to get a chance to confirm it’s user-friendly enough to suit your needs.
But it’s worthwhile to recall that you probably won’t be the only one using your workflow management tools. Just because you believe a product is relatively user-friendly, that doesn’t necessarily mean others will agree.
Depending on the size of your firm, it may not be possible to let every team member who’s apt to use the workflow management solution test your options. Still, you do want to involve an array of team members to participate in the testing and review stages.
Input from others will help you identify the most user-friendly product with greater ease and confidence.
Reporting
One of the key functions of a strong workflow management platform is the ability to allow managers to get a clearer sense of their teams’ progress. It should also give them the freedom to review past processes and identify inefficiencies that may need to be eliminated.
Because of this, a workflow management solution must include reporting features that give users a thorough understanding of what is and isn’t working.
Workflow Creation and Modification
The odds are high you can identify several workflows within your company, depending on the various types of projects your teams work on. The workflow management tool you select should offer you the option of creating new workflows as well as modifying the existing ones.
Some programs require users to write new code when they create new workflows. For obvious reasons, that’s not ideal. You need to find one that lets users create new workflows without having to know how to code first.
Notifications
A useful workflow management tool shouldn’t merely allow you to keep track of the steps in a given process. It should also empower you to establish triggers so that once a step in a process is complete, the individual or team responsible for completing the next step gets notified.
Professional Appearance
The visual appeal of a workflow management platform may seem like an unimportant quality compared to the others listed above. Certainly, functionality is more critical than aesthetics.
However, it’s still a good idea to use a workflow management platform whose interface is relatively professional-looking. Studies have indicated that people are more productive when their clothes have a reasonably “professional vibe.”
It’s also been shown that a clean, organized, and attractive workplace has a positive impact on productivity.
People subconsciously associate certain visual qualities with the workplace. That’s why professional-looking clothes and sharp-looking offices are more conducive to productivity and engagement.
A polished-looking interface should have a similar effect. Keep all these points in mind when you seek a workflow management platform for your business.
Again, the tool can yield major benefits … but it’s more likely to do so if you choose one with the above qualities.
