Say Goodbye To Bottlenecks And Delays By Setting Up Approval Processes

There is nothing that feels better than being able to complete processes on schedule and as smoothly as possible. But in most cases, somewhere along the line, there’s usually a delay or disruption. The most common cause of bottlenecks in process workflows is manual approvals.

In most organizations, even the simplest process may require multiple approvals at various stages. Without a standardized approval management system, there will always be questions about authorization, responsibilities, and quality control. Furthermore, the sequence of actions that leads up to getting the right approvals can become disorderly somewhere along the line. Approval management systems automate several moving pieces in the approval process and also improve transparency and overall efficiency of internal processes. 

Challenges of Businesses Without an Approval Management System

Managing approvals the old school way-with emails and spreadsheets can be cumbersome and riddled with errors and inefficiencies. Businesses that handle approval management manually are bound to face challenges. Some of them include:

● Approvers are bottlenecks

Depending on the type of workflow you’re dealing with, there is likely to be a sequential chain of approval that includes managers, supervisors, directors, and so on. Considering how busy they are, it is not surprising that management is often a bottleneck. Each of these approvers represents a potential node for delays in the approval process.

Passing documents around manually from one level to the other can cause a significant amount of delay in decision-making. Experiencing bottlenecks in approvals like this not only wastes time, it also impacts operational efficiency on all levels. For instance, when too much time has been wasted getting approvals, those down the line of operations are pressured into completing tasks to meet up with deadlines.

● Low accountability

When you manage approval with spreadsheets and emails, there is no clear overview of how the approval process progresses. People often miss out on approval emails in crowded inboxes and finding information in a spreadsheet is not always easy. This is not an ideal situation as it makes it easy for inefficiencies to stay hidden.

● Maintaining the quality of output

One of the things using an approval management system helps you to do is standardize the quality of output. Approvers are often gatekeepers that uphold the quality standards of the company. Without a standardized approval mechanism, there is no way to ensure processes are being carried out in compliance with company policies and output standards.

● Managing miscommunication and mistakes

Whether it involves internal delegation or communicating with stakeholders, communication is a crucial part of every process in an organization. Handing approvals with emails and spreadsheets may involve sending out a barrage of emails and following up manually. Miscommunication are regular occurrences and something as simple as failing to update a column on a spreadsheet can cause a chain reaction of errors that can prove quite costly.

Approval Workflows are Key

The key to solving all of these challenges is to implement standardized approval workflows across your organization. Having a software that aids in visualizing workflows and helps streamline the approval process can go a long way in gaining greater control and avoiding mistakes. Here are some advantages of having an automated solution.

● Better structure

A dedicated solution helps establish a clear structure and guidelines for the process. Better structure helps streamline operations, minimizes errors, and prevents delays in the approval process. The result is greater efficiency and improved productivity.

● Higher visibility

Using an approval management software provides a clear view of every request in progress. This way, everyone knows the status of their requests, who’s queue the request is stuck in, and can estimate the time for each request to pass forward. In addition to helping to reduce bottlenecks, the increased transparency also makes it easier to set expectations, follow through on requests without being pushy, and reduce processing time.

● Greater transparency

With an automated approval management system, all the parties involved can directly track the progress of the approval requests. You can easily tell who is yet to respond to your request, trigger alerts, and reminders, or follow up with approval requests quite easily. All of these improve the overall efficiency of the approval process with minimal effort.

● Systemic improvements

Processes are always evolving. Steps can become redundant and sometimes the nature of the process changes entirely to suit operational needs and trajectory. Making large scale changes can prove to be a daunting challenge.

But knowing what to change or improve needs to be backed with data and actionable insights. An approval management system helps identify areas that need improvement by giving users the ability to track and measure crucial metrics. This way, users can make systemic improvements, remove redundant steps within the process, and greatly improve efficiency.

Managing approvals is essential in day-to-day operations for every organization. Businesses looking to streamline processes within the organization must take a closer look at approval management and find ways to improve efficiency and drive innovation.

A software like Kissflow not only helps customize workflows from scratch but can do so without needing to know how to code. This can give citizen developers the control they need to do what is required without having to depend on IT teams.