10 Amazing Tips to Improve Team Productivity with Workflow Management Software

• Table of contents
  • Workflow Management Overview
  • Benefits of Workflow Management Software
  • Conclusion

According to recent statistics, there has been a 44% increase in remote employment over the last 5 years. Needless to say, the whole COVID 19 fiasco of 2020 sent this rate shooting up like a rocket, and now predictions are rife stating remote work will level with office jobs by 2025.

Clearly, companies are and probably should be, getting ready to send their workforce home and have full-fledged freelance teams working from different parts of the country; perhaps even the world.

What this means though, is that it is going to get all the more difficult to manage these teams, considering that they are all out of immediate physical reach, on top of the fact that they are working from the comfort of their homes. With family and pets around, it is indeed going to be a challenge trying to maintain team productivity levels and teaching teammates how to be self-accountable. On the same note, during difficult times like these, office-bound teams too are finding it difficult to maintain their productivity and efficiency.

Workflow Management - Efficient Combination of Systems

What you need is something that will help you not only manage your team’s work efficiently but also keep to your deadlines, while ensuring the highest quality of output.

Seems like a very difficult feat to pull off, but not with the workflow management software.

That’s right.

With efficient workflow management software, you can do all that and more. You will be able to combine efforts in a timely manner, put in smart work, and get more tasks accomplished as a team.

And by using an integration tool, you can further enhance your workflow and improve your productivity. In fact, integration is what will help you make the most out of a workflow system.

Zapup is one such smart software that comes with an array of features to suit different business models and processes. It will make sure that the most important aspect of a team is maintained seamlessly – communication!

To effectively “manage” workflows within a team is not just about making sure that everyone does their job. It is also about making sure that everyone is on the same page so that everyone can do their job without wasting resources, in a way that benefits the organization in the best way possible.

Benefits of Workflow Management Software

1. Build a Seamless Flow of Tasks

A workflow system allows you to create an easy-to-follow set of tasks to complete within a process, in black and white. Rather than explaining the workflow manually to employees, with a management system and flow charts, the sequence of work is visible and accessible to all employees on their computer or mobile screens. This can be further clarified by integrating apps that different workers use.

Zapup features a very user-friendly drag and drop app integration builder, where you can simply drag and define apps to integrate within your workflow management, set automatic actions, reminders, and triggers to sync data throughout each step of the workflow, etc., and ensure a seamless flow of work. This means that each step of the workflow gets updated with data from the previous step, which eliminates any redundant tasks as well.

2. Improve Accountability with More Measurable and Defined Tasks

One of the main reasons why productivity falls in a group is the lack of clearly defined tasks for each member. With effective workflow management software, you can set clear-cut tasks for each step of the workflow, with measurable goals for the end of the day or hour for each employee. As each employee has his or her own specific set of tasks to achieve throughout the day, rather than a collective set of tasks for the team, you can hold them accountable for their duties. In fact, clarity in tasks creates a sense of self-accountability in your teammates as well. Useful features like pre-set reminders and notifications for deadlines will allow you to easily manage your team’s work in a timely manner.

3. Reduce Redundancy by Automating Simple Tasks

Several statistics reveal that almost 20% of a CEO’s time is spent on repetitive and mundane tasks like generating reports, signing documents, and reviewing internal employee requests for off days, etc. This means that almost every manager has a set of such mundane and mechanical yet time-consuming set of tasks to do that keep them from focusing on their core duties.

Workflow management software can help you automate these tasks and delegate other tasks effectively, leaving more room for you to exercise your intelligence and skills on more important tasks.

And an app integration tool such as Flow.ly allows you to integrate multiple apps into your workflow too. Its unique triggers feature lets you sync data across the apps and set automated actions for each trigger. Talk about combined efficiency!

4. Reduce Manual Errors in the Workflow

Human errors are pretty much inevitable in any workflow. What we can do though, is try and reduce the steps or elements throughout the process that are more prone to manual errors. That’s what workflow management software does for you. By eliminating the need for you to perform mundane tasks like generating reports and documentation, you can reduce the window for manual errors and speed up the process. You won’t have to waste time going back and fixing the errors, neither will you have to repeat the same tasks to get it right. This way you get to spend more time on the more important steps of the workflow, thereby increasing productivity.

5. Improve Communication and Collaborate Effectively

Throughout a process, different team members may be working on different steps, with different applications and tools. By using an app integration tool, like Flow.ly you can combine and sync data across the system, wherein every worker that is a part of the process is up to speed with the progress of the project. They can hence effectively collaborate to get the best results in a workflow. Besides that, all employees can communicate through a single portal in a workflow system which makes everyone available for important clarifications or exchange of information.

6. Store All Data Related to a Project in a Single Space

Since all related communication and applications of a project are integrated into a single space with workflow management software, you have all relevant resources collected in a single space. Information is more streamlined and available for everyone to refer to. Even if you need to look back and find documents or information that you previously sent to your teammates or clients, all you have to do is look up the resource database of your workflow management software. It eliminates the need to store separate records and makes the workflow and lot smoother and more effective.

7. Track Employee Performance Easily

One of the most effective advantages that you receive as a manager with proper workflow management software is the ability to track the performance of your workers easily. You can set and delegate tasks and define each person’s list of things to do. You can easily generate automated reports on their delivery, gauge their ability to follow instructions, and their ability to stay accountable as well. With each person’s performance, you can clearly determine what your team’s strengths and weaknesses are. This will allow you to delegate work more effectively in the future, according to the tasks that your employees are particularly good at. This also brings more stability and of course, improves productivity. Under normal circumstances, this kind of effective performance analysis would only be possible at your regular quarterly or yearly appraisals.

Hungarian psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explained the concept of a good flow back in the 1990s. He said, “Flow manifests itself when a person's natural skills align with the challenges they face.” This is exactly why it is important to find your workers’ strengths and weaknesses and assign tasks accordingly.

Entrepreneur and founder of BodeTree, Chris Myers incorporated this very concept in order to find his flow and succeed in his venture. Brand pointed out his story on Forbes for inspiration.

8. Determine the Effectiveness of Your Processes for Improved Organizational Performance

Workflow management software has advanced analytical solutions that will help you deeply understand the effectiveness of each step in your workflow, and also your processes. Once you develop a process of work, there is no conventional method to analyze the quality of the process, without having to spend hours or days studying the system.

With a workflow system though, you have a centralized platform containing all the details of your workflow and processes along with the outputs of the same. It also provides insightful reports and statistics on the quality of the process as well, by which you can actually decide if the designed processes are working for you, or if you need some restructuring. This in turn helps you improve the performance of your organization as a whole and take necessary steps to correct anomalies.

9. Add New Members Without Disrupting the Momentum of the Workflow

Oftentimes, whenever there are new additions to the team or even eliminations from the team, the workflow gets affected. The new person may need some time to get accustomed to the processes, let alone match the efficiency of the person that left the team. With workflow management software though, since the entire workflow is spelled out in crystal clear format, and is available for access with the click of a button, any newcomer can quickly learn the system and get themselves acquainted with the flow very easily. As the tasks for each person are also clearly defined, new members only need to follow the given instructions and be accountable for their share of work. This eliminates the need for a process orientation ritual as such. It also doesn’t cause any disruption to the existing flow of work in the organization.

10. Build a More Responsible Team of Employees

Last but not least, a workflow management software system makes your processes more transparent and easy to comprehend. There is much less chaos, as each member is well aware of what he or she is responsible and accountable for.

Even if different steps in the process use different applications, you get to effectively sync data and update the members with the progress at each step using an app integration tool like Flow.ly. This allows the next worker in the process to follow up with the tasks promptly and not waste time performing unnecessary tasks. This way, the entire process is more streamlined and crisp, where there are fewer chances for conventional team issues like blaming colleagues or complaining about the non-availability of resources. In the long run, this kind of smooth workflow creates a happy and supportive team of workers.

Bottom line

If we were to pull out a single most important tip to improve the productivity of an entire team, it would be effective communication. Period. Without proper communication between team members, it would not be possible to build an efficient team or improve the performance of an organization. And that is exactly where workflow management software combined with an app integration software proves most useful. It creates a clear, transparent, and seamless platform where employees can collaborate and work in a way that complements each other, thereby improving everyone’s productivity and efficiency.

This is why app integration is inevitable in workflows. It is the ability of app integration tools to combine and sync data across applications that makes all of this possible.

Suffice it to say, that workflow management software along with an app integration tool makes working on projects a lot easier and smoother while building an efficient team at the same time.