A well-implemented process design delivers significant results to any organization including:

• 95% reduction in errors
• 60% real-dollar savings
• Eliminate or reduce labor
• Improve cash flow and profitability

A typical manually-operated process includes processing paperwork. Paper forms and applications are the workhorse of data collection processes (consider registering a car at the department of motor vehicles, or visiting a doctor, or applying for life insurance). Paper is the first tool employed in most processes because it is inexpensive and the labor of filling out the form appears free because it is borne by the customer. After the form is filled out the operations team must hand-enter the data into a computer system. Manually processing paperwork has many points of failure including shipping, handling, and data entry.

Reducing Errors

The number one cause of errors is human interaction with a poorly designed system. When paper forms are used within a poorly designed system the process becomes very hard to improve upon without eliminating the paper-based forms. For example, a paper form cannot remind the user to complete required fields before turning in the paper, but an electronic form can. A manual process cannot self-regulate the process' rules, but an automated process can. A manager cannot ask an employee to operate above and beyond the process design so an automated system is one of the few ways to enable improvement without enhancing the employee's skills.
A simple way to determine when to automate is to separate tasks into two categories: those that are repetitive and rules-based vs. those that require intelligent or creative decisions. All tasks that are repetitive and can be run by rules can be automated by computer systems and business rules management, and errors can be reduced by 95% or more. The remaining 5% or less of errors that occur are the result of process conditions that have not been defined or handled within the main process.

Real-Dollar Savings

The Gartner Group, a well-recognized research organization, has determined that for every dollar spent producing a paper form, $30 to $60 is actually spent manually processing those forms. To calculate these numbers, Gartner Group looked at the cost of handling, shipping, re-keying data, rejecting transactions, misplacing documents and routing information. A well-implemented enterprise workflow automation system could eliminate handling, shipping, re-keying, rejections, misplacing paper and routing information. Virtually all of the costs related to paper handling can be eliminated, resulting in real-dollar savings.

Eliminate Labor

Labor is the primary component of every manual process. By examining the rules and tasks of a process it is possible to eliminate labor by using computer-based systems. A workflow solution will incorporate business rules management that applies the rules according to conditions passed into the system. Business rules processing eliminates the need for human factors to measure and judge the rules, leaving the labor pool to handle more important needs (e.g. exception processing, customer service, etc.).

Improved Cashflow and Profitability

The classic sales process culminates in handing the customer a lengthy paper document to read, fill out and sign. Customers often delay completing these contracts by days or weeks. Eliminating paper forms and providing digital signatures, agreements can be prefilled, submitted, processed and signed digitally within minutes during the same client meeting. Automated sales processes can result in 99% faster revenue recognition.