Assignment: Future Workflow Processes
Assignment: Future Workflow Processes
Assignment: Future Workflow Processes
Assignment: Future Workflow Processes
Week 1 Identifying Gaps Paper Write a three- to four-page paper that describes a minimum of two gaps that you have identified in current and future workflow processes in your organization. Propose possible solutions for the gaps identified. Follow APA format and provide a minimum of five scholarly resources. Examples of scholarly sources include professional journal articles and books obtained from library databases, national guidelines, and informatics organizations, published within the last five years.
Technological innovation is rapidly shaping the way we live and work. Workflow automation is one such innovation, now at the heart of how many operate.
Although the concept of workflow has been , it started to tap into its automation capabilities in the 1980s.
can add business value in many ways. It decreases the need for paper-based processes, improves work quality and compliance and decreases the time in which a process is completed.
Moreover, workflow automation software has already reached the cloud, making it easier for people to collaborate within different cloud-based applications, .
Going forward, what does the future of workflow automation look like?
Workflow Will Function Through the Entire Hierarchy of Business Processes
Before we understand how workflow automation will evolve and benefit businesses in the future, we should look at how fundamental business processes are structured.
Nintex Senior VP of Technology Strategy Ryan Duguid explains this structure in the shape of a pyramid.
1. The Top of the Pyramid: Strategic Processes
The top of the business process pyramid carries the highly complex industry-specific strategic processes the few high-level processes that stem from the essential purpose of a business.
For example, if you work within a business that carries out credit or loan approvals, then the actual process of approving a loan is your businesses strategic process. It usually involves moving around large amounts of money and has an enterprise-wide impact.
2. The Middle of the Pyramid: Operational Processes
These are the processes carried out within the various departments of a business. If there are only a few strategic processes in a business, then there are a lot more operational processes.
Cnsider the loan or bank approval business again the operational departments in this business include the HR department, IT department, customer service department, and .
3. The Bottom of the Pyramid: Manual Processes
These are the large number of smaller processes carried within the operation departments of a business.
For example, the loan approval business might have an employee solely in charge of entering data into a database and updating client information after every approval. This is a manual process.
Currently, workflow automation software lives mostly in the middle of the pyramid, making operational processes faster and easier to complete. The software pushes up on the strategic processes from the middle, so businesses can focus on their primary strategic problems without needing to worry about how work is flowing operationally.
But what about the thousands of little manual tasks that need addressing in the bottom of the pyramid?
This is where we see the future of workflow automation software heading in the years to come.
Although workflow effectively automates operational processes, it needs to become more technically accessible on an employee level and easier to use within an individuals level of work. Currently, a lot of interesting automation and collaboration tools like Trello and Asana exist to increase an individuals productivity. In the future, workflow automation software will enter this realm as well.
