Working with workflows

Workflow is a common term that’s thrown around in business. Many people are scared of the mere thought of trying to iron out a workflow, and start asking questions such as ‘How do I account for such a magnitude of people?’, ‘How do I align every step of this process to work for everyone?’, ‘How do I make sure people follow the process in the first place?!’. It’s at this point you need to stop yourself and begin thinking about the most important factor around workflows in general. The answer: simplicity.

Why do they affect you?

We as humans love to follow routines and practices to get us through our day to day lives. Think about your morning routine; how do get your head off the pillow and and out of the house? – You follow a workflow! As subtle as these workflows may be, they have greater impact than you may first realise. They instill a comfort within us, which helps us work more efficiently, and most importantly, give us a sense of stability.

In a similar fashion, workflows can be applied in business throughout a variety of industries. From selling goods at a farmer’s market, to selling IT software, there is an underlying factor that cannot be ignored – communication! Finding an appropriate line of communication across employees and departments can be difficult at first glance, but understanding how this communication should be controlled in a workflow can improve the efficiency of your company’s processes.

Defining a workflow that works for you

Establishing a workflow that works for your business is the most important aspect when considering the practicality of workflows (whether it be a new one, or refactoring an existing workflow). They can effectively mould the way that employees engage with each other, and the methods they use to do so. You need to think about how it will impact the business, customers, and employees. After all, you’re all trying to achieve a goal that will cross paths at some stage.

I find that defining a workflow comes naturally when you look at the end goal – What do you want to achieve at the end of all of this? You can easily backtrack from an end goal to get your initial workflow in place by asking the following questions:

• Who do I need to get involved to make this happen?
• What do those people need to do?
• Who do those people need to talk to?
• Repeat

Once you’ve answered them, you’re already halfway there!

Invotra and workflows

Invotra ships with three pre-defined workflows to enhance your publishing experience, each of which incorporate a layer of control throughout the business, allowing you to specify who can publish certain types of content, and when.

It may be the case that you only want department managers to publish new policies within their respective departments, but you also want employees within those departments to be adding their own content off the back of that – well, you can do that with the click of a button!

Invotra workflows not only allow you to control the workflow of content itself, they provide a framework for sharing content amongst employees, and across departments. By using workflows, you open your content to a world filled with different ideas, from different people – collaboration is key here!