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The trend to work from home that emerged from the Covid-19 crisis is disrupting the way companies run their operations, including the execution of processes. Nintex’s Chris Ellis explains why companies need to recalibrate their processes to the new normal and how a process automation platform can help.

The move to remote work had both advantages and disadvantages. Many people have found that their productivity has increased and avoiding long commutes gives them time to focus on other activities. For others, however, the new paradigm has created stress and disruption. Earlier work patterns were interrupted, work processes changed and communication channels interrupted. In these cases, more work needs to be done to get operations back to normal.

In the pre-Covid-19 era, it was usually as easy to find information as asking a colleague. Now that a large number of employees work remotely, traditional communication options such as the water cooler or the café are suddenly gone.

In the meantime, existing processes have also come under pressure. Dusty procedural manuals and complex flowcharts are now even more rarely deciphered, leaving a large number of employees with little support for the day-to-day tasks they are likely to complete.

This is a situation that can cause significant stress to many people. As any new hire can attest, not knowing where to look for something, from documentation to software access credentials, can be a disturbing experience.

It’s also unproductive, and employees looking for information about what to do next or who to hand off tasks to can lose time and momentum. Often times, communication technology can also feel overwhelming, causing employees to find their own solutions.

A negative influence on company processes

The result is inevitably a process variation. As employees develop new methods of solving the problems they face in isolation, process execution becomes individualized. This creates significant instability as the steps are short and regulatory compliance takes a back seat. Such unmanaged process development creates outages and delays that can cost a company time, money, and the goodwill of the customer.

The best solution to this problem is to make process information available in such a way that employees can easily access it from wherever they are. You need cloud-based process management and automation tools that are both easy to use and powerful to invite engagement and support productivity.

Such an online process platform provides a central source of truth for everyone in a company. It makes processes clear and provides information that is easy to find and use. Linking process documentation to information management systems and document libraries ensures teams have everything at hand, from forms and guidelines to instructional videos and linked websites.

Support innovative thinking

While providing clear information about business processes to remote workers is critical to keeping things running smoothly, another benefit comes from having a cloud-based location that anyone can turn to when thinking about their processes. Such a platform also supports innovative thinking.

Employees’ tendency to find new approaches to challenges, eliminate steps, and change the way tasks are performed is a good thing. As workers adjust to the new world of working from home, they are likely to see places where efficiency can be achieved through new methods. In all cases, these changes require good governance.

Providing remote workers with a platform to make suggestions and hold litigation discussions allows those ideas to be brought to light, assessed, and approved. If they offer savings and improvements over the status quo, they can be scaled company-wide for greater efficiency and effectiveness.

When an organization takes steps to appoint process champions to promote and oversee these changes, it can ensure that process development is managed in a way that welcomes innovation but also protects stability and best practices for all.

Embrace new tools

When large numbers of people moved to work from home in 2020, many discovered technological tools that they had previously rarely considered. The introduction of tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet went through the roof.

Such new ways of thinking can also be applied to how processes are carried out. Automation software such as workflow automation and robotic process automation can accelerate process execution by taking over routine data processing and routing. You can reduce data transfer errors and speed up the handover points between employees and process steps so that employees can focus on value-adding activities that require a human touch.

It will take some time for Australian businesses to fully understand the impact of remote working. However, by taking the time to assess the impact on processes and finding the best ways to adapt to the new environment, organizations are prepared for the challenges ahead.

More insights from Chris Ellis:

Why an effective digital transformation eludes many companies
Build the right corporate culture to achieve business agility