Digital collaboration tools have been increasing in popularity in recent years as they provide opportunities for flexible working and cooperation between team members regardless of where workers are located.

The widespread adoption of cloud-based solutions further accelerated due to the pandemic, as organisations increasingly invested in solutions to support the borderless workforce. However, one of the most overlooked strategies and tools as part of this transformation was workflow management.
 
While companies were quick to integrate tools that facilitated easy collaboration, many missed opportunities to further optimise productivity by failing to invest in tools that manage workflows, which would have delivered automation for improved productivity, efficiency, and accuracy.

Workflows can be complicated, especially when managed manually. With so many moving pieces, including tasks and stakeholders, it's easy for small steps to slip through the cracks and lead to larger problems later on. However, investing in digital, cloud-based workflow solutions can help to streamline efficiencies and improve productivity across the workforce.

Here are seven reasons organisations should invest in cloud-based workflow software:

Scalability

It's essential to invest in solutions and processes that can scale with a business whenever it needs change. Cloud-based workflow solutions offer the flexibility to easily adapt to changing workforces.

Customisation and personalisation

Cloud-based workflow solutions can more easily be adjusted to meet business needs than their legacy counterparts. The more customisable the solution, the more aspects of workflows can be automated. This can lead to benefits including time savings, efficiency improvements, and the ability to redeploy staff members to more growth-oriented tasks.

Increased accessibility

Cloud-based workflow software solutions offer increased accessibility to users, letting employees access systems whenever and wherever they need to. This is essential for remote and hybrid working environments.

Centralised systems

Essential documents can be stored securely in a central database with cloud-based workflow solutions. This lets all stakeholders access necessary files as needed, while also providing more visibility over the documentation.

Greater collaboration

Coupled with greater accessibility and centralisation, cloud-based workflow solutions offer more collaboration to users. In an era where collaboration is a key facet of most work tasks, this lets organisations improve efficiencies and productivity across the board.

Easy integration

Cloud-based workflow solutions can more easily integrate with other applications by leveraging application programming interface (API) tools compared to standalone workflow management solutions. This lets organisations eliminate data silos and improve access to different files and systems.

Secure

Cybersecurity is an increasingly critical concern for every business. However, while some companies may express concern over the security of the cloud, cloud-based workflow solutions typically include robust security protections to ensure confidential company data is not compromised.

This can include conditional visibility and data encryption and prevent people from accessing sensitive documents without explicit permission.

Cloud-based solutions are becoming increasingly essential for organisations for business continuity. One of the most significant benefits of cloud-based workflow solutions is that organisations can outsource ongoing management and maintenance to a third-party provider, which means ongoing software updates are managed externally with minimal downtime.

Similarly, cloud-based workflow solutions put the power back in the hands of users, letting them develop their own workflows without needing any specialist IT or coding knowledge.