What

Automating your organisation’s most commonly used or most important processes can be a great way to save time, money (and trees). You could be looking for a better way to coordinate approvals for a request or a document, or to track issues. Whether you’re from finance, HR, IT, business development, quality management, or project management, there’s a plethora of solutions out there for automating your common business processes. But the best solution for your need could be to leverage technology you already own.

SharePoint has basic workflow out of the box, for simple processes like document approvals. This functionality is augmented by complementary products like InfoPath and SharePoint Designer. For even more flexibility, there are numerous 3^rd party products that extend SharePoint’s capability, using the plug-in approach rather than extensive customisation. Our clients are usually pleasantly surprised when they learn that a solution can be just days away (sometimes even hours!) via their existing SharePoint platform.

Here’s what our customers are asking us:

• Is this business process conducive to automation? What’s my return on investment for the automation project?
• When should I choose SharePoint as my workflow platform, vs SAP (or other existing ERP system)?
• Should I choose a 3^rd party product, like K2 or Nintex, for my workflow needs, or do I need to customise?
• I have SharePoint 2007. Should I invest in an automation solution now, or wait until we upgrade to SharePoint 2010? What’s the opportunity cost?
• I have a great workflow solution in place with my SharePoint 2007 platform. How do I bring this solution over to SharePoint 2010 when we upgrade?

How

We start by developing a detailed understanding of your business process, and your objectives for the workflow project. Cost-savings? Better tracking and auditability? More accuracy? Better customer service? We can run the business workshops, document the process, and identify bottlenecks or unnecessary complexities. Let’s ensure your process is optimized, documented, and endorsed by stakeholders first.

Then we can help you find the right solution for the specific need, and guide you on the decision on which product to use (if use). We usually base this on factors like fit-for-purpose, cost, scalability and ability to meet future requirements for your organisation. 

We can provide advice for your own team to do the implementation, share best-practices, and ensure you understand the upgrade implications. Or our experts can deliver the entire solution for you, end-to-end.

Sometimes, we develop a decision-making framework for you, so you can identify the best business process technology to use for a range of workflow needs. 

Can we help you with your forms and workflow challenge? Let’s talk.