Why workflow is the no fuss revolution

THE FINANCIAL services industry is an information mover. We gather information, place it into databases, integrate it, analyse it and communicate it. It is when we are not doing this well that we suffer.

An automated workflow process can help businesses get on top of these issues by using a software system to send or receive information requiring an action or decision. This can take place from any desktop computer, and the action or decision that is taken will then determine where the new information is sent for further action or decision.

The benefits of this for a business include both the reduction in time taken to process information and in the cost of a process. Also, because processes are controlled by a set of business rules, senior staff can opt out of many processes releasing their time for strategic work.

Systems can be operated and supervised remotely, reducing travel costs, and clients of the business will receive a consistent experience regardless of location. Finally and arguably most importantly, more clients can be serviced by the same staff.

Savings with workflow can be significant especially in the paper-heavy environment of the compliance-driven financial planning business.

A quick search on the Internet shows there is more than anecdotal evidence to suggest that 90 per cent of the total time it takes to process business information is spent ‘in limbo’. Tasks stagnate in in-baskets, queue for people’s attention, become lost in-transit and are simply forgotten! Imagine if this in limbo time could be reduced by 50 per cent. This would result in a saving of more than 45 per cent of the total time it takes to transact information and decisions. Compare this against improving the 10 per cent of time it takes for the actual process. Reduce this by 50 per cent and you only have a five per cent productivity gain. It is for this reason that workflow is and will become the future of electronic business process automation.

Inside the organisation, failure to take up workflow technology will see the costs of transacting information soar, as wages increase and the cost of paper-driven information systems escalates.

A 1997 study by American Information and Imaging Management (AIIM) found 90 per cent of corporate memory is paper based. In the lifecycle of the average document, 19 copies will be made. An organisation spends $40 on labour for filing each document, with three per cent of all documentation being misfiled and another three per cent lost.

An organisation spends $12 to $240 searching for every misfiled document and spends a further $88 to $500 recreating each lost document.

Not to mention the benefits to your clients! All client contact will be delivered through a set of business rules giving a consistent client experience.

Business executives are always interested in saving money and spending it wisely. However, not until recently has the focus shifted to winning and maintaining client satisfaction. Creating more secure relationships with clients has become an important goal for organisations. At the same time, clients are demanding more and more, which is resulting in a greater financial burden, as the client to staff ratio is decreasing and planners have to deal with more client requests than ever.

By automating business processes that directly affect our clients, we free up time and allow a greater number of clients to be handled by an individual.

The ability to store and use data across the organisation, automate decision-making and apply business rules, reduces communication errors and rework. Ensuring that compliance processes are automated, have an audit trail and can be verified reduces liability. Added to that, an auditor can look at any information anywhere in the system. This increases the ability to supervise representatives in remote locations.

Not complying can cost you your business.

Following the mission-critical philosophy of streamlining business processes is becoming a proven way of growing a company. By applying workflow technologies, companies are saving time and money and promoting better, more secure relationships with their clients. Reducing the information transaction burden allows an organisation to better focus on its client’s goals, aspirations and needs. The true professional can concentrate on what he or she is best at …without worrying about outcomes of often-mundane activities.

The financial planning industry needs to carefully consider workflow’s benefits and not be left behind as other like institutions gear up to take advantage of this technology. Non-traditional providers of planning with reduced overheads and pre-planned workflows that are automated, could conceivably march into territory long held as being that of traditional financial planning businesses. Unlike some of the often incredibly expensive, often difficult and often heartbreaking business revolutions of the past decade, workflow is bringing significant benefits to those who implement it, with a minimum of fanfare and fuss.

Businesses are introducing these systems now and they will become essential in our highly competitive environment. This is what we have been talking about for the past few years with our goal of an efficient back-office.

Wes McMaster isadjunct professor offinancial planning atRMIT University.