|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Workflow
Automate Workflow. Reduce Chaos.
The #1 Workflow Software trusted by 10,000+ customers
Workflow system designed to boost productivity
Fluid forms
Design fully custom forms, tweaking everything from form layouts to elements and data sources
Visual workflows
Design the path your data takes through the process, using easy visual workflow automation
Access control
Define responsibilities and visibility according to the user's role, level, and the nature of form data
Reports and analytics
Get key insights into workflow processes with custom dashboards and reports giving you just the data you need.
Tailor-made features for seamless workflows
No coding necessary
The workflow manager that lets users manage workflows without code
Easy-to-use interface
In the sea of workflow tools, users value our uncomplicated, simple design
Integration-friendly
Link your workflow system instantly with APIs and handy tools like Zapier
Built for scalability
Handle increased users, data volume, and complexity easily with automation
Real-time analytics
Custom metrics keep you aware of the state of each workflow process
Everything you need for smart processes
Streamlined
Dashboards
Real-time information on every process, presented in a user understandable summary format
Dynamic reporting
Get key insights into processes with process metrics and custom reports
Process audit
Get an immediate digital or printable paper trail of all the steps in the process
Analytics and reporting
Generate custom reports, use dashboards, and derive actionable insights
Process optimization
Perform deep drilldowns into each process to eliminate bottlenecks
Visual process design
Create your workflow visually and make quick changes anytime you want
Agile
Dynamic routing
Items are automatically routed to the right team members based on SOPs
Ad hoc/dynamic assignment
Reassign items to the right team members, even while a process is in progress
Dynamic business rules
Handle complex decision branches and make instant changes as required
Agile deployment
Create your processes instantly, assign users to steps and launch without delay
Convenient
Intuitive user interface
Users get comfortable using Kissflow quickly, with its simple, easy-to-understand Interface
Code-free workflow forms
Build and tweak forms with rich content and media, without writing a single line of code
Instant access
Access to data from multiple devices, which translates to higher efficiency and speed
Powerful
Automate
Automated assignments, escalations, and notifications to increase speed and reduce error
Fast Integration
Link your workflows with third party systems using handy tools like Zapier
Task management
Exercise task-level control over every process; plan, control, execute and analyse tasks
REST API
Cross-system orchestration made possible through robust and extensive APIs
SLA Manager
Ensure that all SLAs are monitored and executed consistently well
Scalability
A solution that grows with you to support multiple teams, locations, and more
Team-Friendly
Communication
Process based activity feeds make for a collaborative workplace
Social tasks
Users can allocate task responsibilities ad-hoc throughout teams
Social collaboration
Get contextual information and alerts to work together seamlessly and simultaneously
Enterprise mobility
Don’t let locations limit your team members’ abilities to contribute
Document sharing
Attach documents from your file storage and we will take care of managing and sharing it contextually
Smart alerts
Get instant, automatic, and relevant notifications that balance the signal to noise ratio
Why Do You Need Enterprise Workflow Automation?
What is Enterprise Workflow Management?
Enterprise workflow management looks at the hundreds of processes involved that keep large organizations moving forward. Every department and team has certain standard processes to follow. Enterprise workflow management identifies the best ways to map, execute, integrate, improve, and automate workflows.
Why Do You Need Enterprise Workflow Management?
Enterprise workflow management elevates organizational operations. It ensures that businesses stay on the continuing path to growth and efficiency.
Minimize chaos
If every department and team runs its own unstructured process, chaos and mistakes will always be present.
Reduce costs
Organizations can eliminate redundancies and reduce wasteful practices using enterprise workflows.
Improve efficiency
Enterprise workflow management helps minimize errors and fix bottlenecks, boosting process efficiency.
Improve accountability
Transparency in processes improves accountability and brings greater clarity to operations.
Compliance
Enterprise workflow management keeps you compliant with industry regulations and provides valuable audit trails.
The Highest Rated Enterprise Workflow Management Software
G2 Crowd, a peer-to-peer business software review service, identified Kissflow as a leader in the Workflow Management Software category
Kissflow has all the most-required features such as:
Kissflow was rated higher than competing enterprise workflow management tools such as Nintex Promapp, QuickBase, PMG Digital, and Navvia.
Kissflow also scored the highest in considerations such as ease of use (90%), ease of doing business (87%), and meeting requirements (89%).
How Can Kissflow Enhance Your Enterprise Workflow Management?
No-code tool
The intuitive visual designer and simple drag-and-drop form builder make setting up enterprise workflows a breeze.
Easy integration
Kissflow can integrate seamlessly with other tools to provide a stress-free experience.
Secure data
Role-based access tightens data security and keeps information confidential.
Powerful reporting and analytics
With real-time reporting and in-depth analytics, Kissflow provides the workflow insights you need.
Scalable
Kissflow is built to enable enterprise workflow management no matter how big your need.
Anytime anywhere access
With cloud technology, you can access information from any location or device and not have to worry about network downtime.
Approval Workflow Software – Take Approvals To Peak Efficiency Levels
Ralph Waldo Emerson famously exclaimed, “How much of human life is lost in waiting!”
It’s almost criminally wasteful – waiting for the bus, waiting for a call, even waiting for approvals at the workplace!
Thankfully, approvals can be optimized for speed and efficiency with the help of workflow automation.
What is Approval Workflow Automation?
A majority of business processes require approvals from key positions before they can be completed. For such processes, businesses create approval workflows that sequentially lay out all the tasks involved. The surefire way to improve the efficiency of approval workflows is to automate them using workflow management systems.
An Approval Workflow in Action
A typical example of an approval workflow is employee expense reports. When employees incur expenses pertaining to work, they can either request funds in anticipation or claim reimbursements later. Either way, they need to submit expense reports and supporting bills.
As you can see, a simple process like expense reports can involve many people and require multiple approvals. When workflow automation is not applied, such processes can devolve into chaos and endless delays very easily.
The Need for Approval Workflow Software
Approvals can be much more efficient with the use of approval workflow software. These applications are necessary for businesses to achieve
Without approval workflow software, processes can tend to be inefficient, inaccurate, and time and effort intensive. Businesses that desire maximum efficiency invariably choose to invest in them.
Features to Look for When Choosing Approval Workflow Software
A checklist to identify approval workflow software best suited to your needs would include the following features.
Intuitive visual designer
The ideal approval software will score high in ease of use. Employees who don’t have coding knowledge should find the experience friction free.
Drag-and-drop forms
The form builder should feature exhaustive fields to enable maximum customization. Irrespective of the nature of the requirement, the user should be able to design a form with ease.
Cloud-based technology
If you’re seeking approval workflow software to maximize productivity, you’re better off considering options based on cloud technology. With minimal network downtime and a centralized database, your processes will see a boost in turnaround time.
Security
Data security is often a major concern for businesses that are considering moving to cloud-based applications. Effective approval workflow software addresses this through features like role-based access. You can restrict access to specific information to relevant people only, thereby protecting sensitive information.
Easy integration
Considering that businesses use a variety of applications, one of the topmost criteria for good approval workflow software is easy integration. Spending precious time and energy trying to integrate existing apps with the new software is inefficient.
Analytics and reporting
The right approval workflow software should feature powerful reporting and analytics abilities. The idea is to monitor, analyze, and improve processes cyclically to heighten efficiency.
Scalability
An often forgotten feature to consider is scalability. An approval workflow software should be viewed as a long-term investment and the application should, therefore, be capable of scaling alongside your growing business.
The Right Choice for Quick Approvals
If you wish to make your approval processes faster and more efficient, Kissflow can help you achieve that with ease. It checks all the boxes you need and is even fun to use.
Kissflow powers smooth functioning of processes through notifications that can be set up based on your requirements. Kissflow Workflow Software, streamlines the approval process across all industry business, Such as Marketing, Finance, IT, HR, Education, Government and other kinds of services. It helps you build insightful dashboards that can inform you of process status effortlessly. What’s more, the pricing model is transparent and as simple as it gets.
Workflow for Google Apps within G Suite
Access Your Kissflow Workflows from right within your Google Apps Suite. Once installed from the Google Apps Marketplace, Kissflow will be available to all your colleagues in the Google Apps Pull Down Menu.
Attach documents from Google Drive
Attach supporting documents for your requests on the fly. We deeply integrate with Google Drive and you can access and attach your documents from within Kissflow.
Sync with your Google Admin Console
Administration and Provisioning of users is as simple as clicking a button. We Sync your user base and your groups from Google to reduce your administrative burden.
Access anywhere. Anytime.
Connect Kissflow to all of your essential workflow automation tools
"The beauty of Kissflow is how quick and easy it is to create the apps I need. It is so user-friendly that I made exactly what I needed in 30 minutes."
Oliver Umehara
SoftBank Telecom
"Kissflow improved our global incentives program by reducing time and eliminating errors. Our international nominees are thankful for the quick process!!"
Brian Trier
Dominos
"As an organization, the word Kissflow is now synonymous with quality and staff of all levels have embraced the platform and all speak highly of it."
Craig Buck
Warwickshire College Group
10 Features Every Workflow Management System Should Have
What is workflow management?
Workflow management is creating and optimizing the paths for data in order to complete items in a given process. Workflow management includes finding redundant tasks, mapping out the workflow in an ideal state, automating the process, and identifying bottlenecks or areas for improvement.
Basic components of a workflow
A workflow is made up of three basic components.
Predefined steps
Steps are a predefined framework of tasks in the workflow. They provide clarity on what happens at each stage of the workflow until the endpoint. Steps may be manual or automated based on different workflows.
Steps in a workflow can be linear, branched, or a mixture of both.
Stakeholders
Stakeholders are the people who are responsible for carrying out specific tasks in the workflow. Stakeholders are assigned to either each step of the workflow, a group of steps, or to the whole workflow.
In some workflows, the steps are completely automated, making stakeholders less active. Stakeholders only step into the workflow during specific conditions or when problems arise.
Conditions
Conditions are rules for the workflow. They determine when a particular step is completed and what the next step should be. Conditions are most useful for approval-type workflows where some steps are skipped based on the information.
Here’s an example of a workflow.
3 basic workflow management practices
Workflow management is a company-wide practice that needs to be on every leader’s priority. Here are three basic workflow management practices to follow.
1. Clearly defined workflows
There are often hundreds of workflows in each team and department. These workflows are hidden among different tools and employees. The sign of good workflow management shows when the entire organization is aware of all these workflows.
There’s no pressure to automate each and every workflow, but they should be documented. When the right time comes, you don’t need to dig through a hundred emails and software to adopt automation.
Some workflows are clearly defined and visible, some are not. But you should constantly try to identify these workflows and document them.
2. Prioritized and streamlined workflows
Your top priority workflows should be running at their best health. They should be lean, agile, and goal-oriented.
For example, start with customer-facing workflows like sales processes and discount approvals, or employee-centered workflows like hiring and onboarding. These are crucial workflows that have a huge impact on an organization.
There are subsidiary workflows running inside these primary workflows. They should be given the next priority and always be focused on serving their primary workflows. For example, creative request workflows of marketing should be prioritized behind the important sales workflows.
3. Regular monitoring and optimization
The only way to have highly efficient workflows is through optimization. Your first attempt at building a workflow, no matter how smart and data-driven it is, will still be inefficient. Workflows on paper are perfect and inhuman. Workflows that run in real-time are imperfect and human.
An organization that runs on efficient workflows is equipped to tackle all business goals easily.
What is a workflow management system?
A workflow management system (WMS or WfMS) is a software tool designed to help streamline routine business processes for optimal efficiency. Workflow management systems involve creating a form to hold data and automating a sequential path of tasks for the data to follow until it is fully processed.
Tasks in workflows may be done by a human or by a system. With so many options and so many products calling themselves a workflow tool, it’s hard to know what you will get. What was yesterday a simple kanban project management tool is now claiming to be a fully automated workflow system?
What does a workflow management system (WMS) Do?
When you are in the market for a workflow management system (WMS), you are looking for something that
To get the true value for money that a WMS promises, it should at least have these 10 essential features. Don’t settle for something that can’t keep up with your sequence of operations and doesn’t deliver on productivity.
10 features every workflow management system should have
1. An intuitive, code-free workflow designer
If you ask a process owner to create a workflow, she is likely to draw a straight line with key steps in the process, each requiring input, approval, or denial.
If you ask a programmer to make software for invoice approval workflow, it will start looking like the family tree of Oedipus.
A great workflow management system lets you think in simple linear loops and does all the complex stuff in the background.
2. WYSIWYG form designer
In 2020, there’s no excuse for a form designer to be anything less than awesome. It’s got to be drag-and-drop. And you need fields, all the different types. Text, numbers, maps, calculations, drop-downs, and more! If you aren’t initially impressed at the form designer of your workflow management system, chances are that you will outgrow it pretty fast.
Want to select the next actor of a task from the form? Want to link your form to a different database? Want to display live data from a website? All of this should be very easy to accomplish.
Your form designer should be simple and intuitive and shouldn’t require a consultant to walk you through it.
3. Integration with other cloud apps
Integration used to be a nice-to-have feature for workflow management. Now it’s essential.
Workflows don’t operate independently from other processes. Documents, sales reports, cash-flows, calendars, and contact details should all flow smoothly from your workflow tool to your CMS, calendar, email, financial software and more.
If your workflow management system isn’t incredibly easy to set up to integrate with other tools out there, it’s already outdated.
4. Cloud-based technology
The cloud vs. on-premise debate is pretty much over. Choosing an on-premise option is like betting that MySpace is going to make a comeback.
And it’s not just about access to your data from any location. It’s about who’s in charge of updates and maintenance. It’s about compliance and privacy of data. It’s about building a partnership with a vendor rather than just making a one-time purchase. Your workflow management tool needs to exist in the cloud if you want any shot to make it useful for your team.
5. KPI-based reports
Lots of workflow tools out there will let you create a simple workflow. But if you are serious about actually achieving a new level of productivity, you are going to need some solid reporting features.
When you first automate a workflow, you are entering a testing ground. What you thought was running smoothly might be taking much longer than you anticipated. You may realize you need a new step, or find that you have too many steps. A robust KPI-based reporting function in your WMS will let you see and analyze where the bottlenecks are and where to focus your attention.
6. SLA status indicators
A good workflow management system will be your one-stop-shop for all the core processes in your organization. So, your workflow tool may have more than 30 workflows running at any time. When you think about viewing all of these on a dashboard, you need a way to make sure you are staying current on all of your tasks.
SLA indicators can let you know which ones are the most pressing, and which ones can wait while you handle other tasks. The dashboard of your WMS should use color codes or a similar tool to draw your attention to the most pressing workflows.
7. Notifications when and where you need them
The key to automated workflows is that you never need to push them. Like a pinewood derby car, as soon as you start a new process, it should keep going until it finishes without anyone needing to follow up.
The key to this kind of flow is notifications. An effective business Workflow Management System will send notifications via email or push notifications on your mobile to remind you of upcoming approvals. Users should also be able to customize the kind of notifications they receive.
8. Parallel branches
All workflows are sequential, but some are unique. Some sequential steps can happen at the same time. Take a travel request or a purchase requisition. It has a very predictable path, but what if it is for international travel? You may need a separate track that handles passports and other details of the upcoming trip.
Adding this kind of complexity should be easy and shouldn’t require a degree in computer science. Right from the form, you should be able to add a branch and create conditional tasks easily.
9. Role-based access control
Many workflows contain sensitive information that is not intended to be shared with everyone in the process. Every Workflow Management System should allow you to customize what each user can see and edit. Making a quick change to this part of the workflow should not break it or affect historical requests.
10. Transparent pricing
Why invest a huge amount of capital into software that may cause you more trouble than it is worth? What if you only want to automate one process between a few people? Do you still need to invest a lot of money?
The best Workflow Management Systems operate on a monthly pay-as-you-go model where the fees are all-inclusive of running costs and you only pay for the number of users accessing the system. If a workflow tool won’t tell you the cost right on the website, it means they are trying to figure out how much they can get out of you based on your size and reputation.
Pick a tool that is upfront and won’t give you sticker shock when the first invoice comes through. As you investigate your options, keep these 10 things in mind. Don’t settle for something less than amazing when it comes to keeping your workflows quick and seamless.
Questions to ask before you choose a workflow management software
1. What are your workflow needs?
You might require extensive workflow solutions for core processes that are spread across the entire organization. Or, you might need something more lightweight that puts the power of automation into the hands of your team leaders so that they can handle processes on their own. Have a list of your most important needs.
2. What are your non-negotiable features?
At their basic level, most workflow software is similar, but there are distinguishing features that can help you focus only on the best options for you.
Do you require on-premise hosting? How in-depth does your reporting need to be? Are there particular types of form fields you can’t work without?
3. How many users will you have?
Is this a software that will be used by the entire company, or just by a select group of people? Do you need to be able to add external users to enable them to start workflows? Check with different vendors to see what their current upper limits are for the number of users.
4. How soon do you want to implement the software?
If you are looking for a workflow software to only automate a single critical process, you can probably afford to take the time to get it right. But if you want something that will automate lots of processes in the organization, you want it to get off the ground as quick as possible.
Some workflow tools take many months to set up, get trained on, develop workflows, and then put them into production. Other no-code tools like Kissflow require little to no training and can be implemented the first day you use it.
5. How much support do you need?
The demand for support for software tools has grown a lot in the last few decades. Internal IT teams can no longer be experts in every tool. The vendor you are working with should be able to provide top quality support.
This usually comes in the form of instant chat support, broad documentation, and video guides. During your trial, intentionally interact with the support team to see how easy it is to get the answers you need.
Comparison of workflow management systems
Let’s get real. Choosing a tool for workflow management for your company is not easy. You need to consider so many factors that might slip through your attention. As mentioned above, there are so many features that can confuse you and make the decision difficult.
Workflow Tools of 2021–Feature Comparison (Updated)
What are workflow tools?
Workflow tools are the business user’s answer to BPM (Business Process Management) software because they are a human-centric approach to managing and automating common business processes. These tools are generally designed to require less coding and programming, letting the people closest to business processes use them.
But not every workflow tool is built the same. Common features like cloud integration and the ability to co-exist with other automation applications are given a different level of priority across various workflow management tools.
Here are some of the best workflow management tools:
1. Kissflow
This is a cloud-based service platform that lets business users create, model, and deploy business process apps, all with very little to no coding knowledge. It follows a lightweight approach compared to other workflow tools, empowering non-coding team members to design workflows that they are familiar with.
Kissflow doesn’t use BPMN 2.0 notation like some of the other options, but rather relies on an intuitive visual builder that you don’t need any training on.
This workflow management system offers a simple visual interface, with drag-and-drop features that let you create things like pre-populated fields and tables to design logic-based forms. You can also define workflows with sequential tasks, and get notifications and analysis by chosen metrics. Kissflow is integration friendly, though most integrations will either have to be hand-crafted or done through Zapier.
Kissflow users get access to KPIs, user management, dashboards, ad-hoc reports, ease of use, and easily affordable pricing plans.
What Customers Share About Kissflow Workflow: Our previous system was so difficult to use that we lost a lot of potential candidates. They didn’t want to go through the process because it was so cumbersome. – Griselda Juve, Olympus
2. Nintex
One of the best-known workflow tools designed for intelligent process automation, Nintex can automate the processes of collaboration and content management platforms. Content is available in multiple formats and from various sources; Nintex is adept at routing it to right recipients.
This workflow management tool can optimize processes, integrating content and making way for seamless collaborations for team members. The people-driven design helps users easily streamline processes. Nintex also offers flexible pricing schemes for small, medium, and large businesses.
Its Office365 version lacks a significant number of features that come in the on-premise version. There are also some niggling issues during integration with tools like InfoPath, as batch background operations cause lag. Nintex also has issues with how long it stores data for users and non-developers will have a hard time using it.
3. ProcessMaker
A solution designed for approval-based workflows, ProcessMaker enhances and streamlines the flow of data through systems and tasks. It uses BPMN 2.0 notations to depict processes. This is one of many open source workflow tools, and makes for an affordable option to model approval-based business processes.
ProcessMaker is known for its low overhead, and its light and efficient approach. Features include user management, dashboards and KPIs, responsive form designer, and output document builder.
Like Kissflow, ProcessMaker also features a drag-and-drop interface that enables business analysts to model (approval-based) workflows. However, when the workflow gets even a little more complicated, ProcessMaker’s simple approach isn’t the right fit. Reports need plugins, which come at an additional cost, and the BPMN 2.0 notation is hard to adapt to if you aren’t used to it.
4. bpm’online
With a highly interactive user interface, this is a suite of workflow tools. bpm’online takes care of sales, leads, and accounting operations. This tool’s emphasis on ease of use means that it comes with WYSIWYG process designing tool, and collaboration-specific features like file sharing and communication between team members. The entire system is designed for customization. You can deploy it either as a cloud-based service or on premises.
You can choose to buy one or more of products in bpm’online’s 3-product suite. However, you can’t buy the specific modules you need, which dampens some users’ enthusiasm. It’s also primarily a CRM tool rather than a workflow tool, so a few use cases might be disappointing.
5. Flokzu
Flokzu is another key player in the low-code workflow tools space. It uses the older BPMN system, and lets users model processes using a drag-and-drop interface. Note, though, that this can be a bit of a steep learning curve if you aren’t familiar with BPMN. In that case, you’re better off with an intuitive visual-based tool like Kissflow.
With Flokzu, users can manage time, tasks, deadlines, rule-based processes, and notifications without having to do any coding. Processes can be deployed quickly after they are modeled.
Conclusion
There is much more than five workflow management software out there; you can pick from nearly hundreds of workflow management tools today. But make sure you look for features that these five top workflow tools have, and you’ll have a reliable solution for managing business processes.
© Copyright 2000-2023 COGITO SOFTWARE CO.,LTD. All rights reserved
