How Approval Workflows Eliminate Redundancies and Improve Efficiency

A software engineering team leader looking to take a week off, a sales rep offering a discount to a prospective client, a graphic designer creating data visualizations for a case study - do you know what’s common in all three scenarios?

In each scenario, the employee’s request or proposal requires proper approval from authorized personnel.

Reviews and approvals play a crucial role in facilitating business decision-making and team behavior management. But many organizations still use manual approval processes that rely on cumbersome email threads, phone calls, and in-person meetings.

Processes like these are usually ridden with bottlenecks and communication gaps. If this sounds like something you’ve encountered at your company recently, it might be time for an overhaul of how you handle approval workflows.

Traditional Approval Processes: The Drawbacks

Approval bottlenecks can slow down critical business operations and result in fatal errors. For instance, a sales rep wants to offer a time-sensitive service upgrade proposal as an upsell to a loyal customer, but they don’t have the authority to make unilateral decisions regarding pricing.

That means the rep will have to wait for approval from the account manager or sales manager. A delay in approving the discount can drive the lead away and result in revenue leakage.

Worse still, if the concerned manager isn’t available, the executive might reach out to other sales team members for approval. It can lead to further confusion and miscommunication. The last thing you want is for a pricing commitment to be made without consulting with the right authority.

How can you avoid losing customers and sales due to such delays and inefficiencies? An effective solution is to implement automated approval workflows.

Approval Workflows: How They Work

An approval workflow defines how a document, proposal, or task will be routed to one or more people for approval or rejection. The best approval workflows establish a hierarchical structure within organizations and streamline internal communications. They even use automated reminders to ensure the required item is approved on time.

That, in turn, helps minimize delays and inconsistencies associated with manual processes. Approval workflows come in handy for various departments, from marketing and sales to accounting and human resources.

Often, the design process for approval workflows starts by outlining the decision-makers involved. Next, they define the approval criteria to help decision-makers determine whether to approve or reject a request. They also specify the actions that need to be taken based on the outcome of the workflow.

You can implement approval workflows using various tools, including project management software, sales enablement tools, and customer relationship management platforms. Using a solution that offers built-in approval workflows can help optimize the process further.

Benefits of Implementing an Approval Workflow

The most significant benefit of an automated approval workflow is that it minimizes the need for manual follow-ups. It assigns a specific due date to each request and sends timely notifications and reminders to designated decision-makers.

It reduces the risk of requests getting lost or overlooked. That, in turn, means team members can focus on other important tasks instead of pursuing their seniors for approval.

Similarly, when a decision is made, the approval seeker is immediately notified. They can take the next steps depending on whether the request is approved or rejected. They don’t have to wait for another team member to tell them what to do.

Such a pre-defined workflow helps eliminate challenges arising due to delayed decision-making. It also helps boost employee productivity and morale by minimizing the need for mind-numbing follow-ups and reminders.

Moreover, approval workflow software eliminates the hassle of scrolling through multiple email threads to locate the document or file in question. Instead, decision-makers can use the software to access the required files. It’s another factor that helps cut down delays and boost efficiency.

It’s also worth noting that manual approval processes are prone to errors, such as misplaced documents and incorrect data entry. They can also result in inconsistencies when a reviewer makes changes to a file without notifying other stakeholders. In such a situation, two copies of the same file exist, which can be catastrophic when dealing with client contracts or marketing assets.

With an automated approval workflow, you can maintain a complete trail of who accessed, edited, and approved (or rejected) a file. That helps attribute each decision to specific team members, who can be held accountable in the future. It’s an excellent way to foster transparency and cultivate a collaborative environment.

New-age approval workflow software also provides you with a wealth of data on each request. It can help you identify points of friction within approval processes and weed out redundancies. That, in turn, boosts efficiency further.

Achieve More With Automated Approval Workflows

An automated approval workflow provides a framework to make accurate and swift business decisions. It helps eliminate bottlenecks from approval processes while ensuring compliance with company policies and other regulatory requirements.

Optimized approval workflows encourage seamless communication among team members while letting them focus on their core jobs. It helps build a collaborative work environment where employees don’t have to wait for days or weeks to get their requests approved. It helps skyrocket productivity and, ultimately, business growth.