An approval that takes days to complete. A document that no one finds when you need it. Several versions of the same file circulating between emails, shared folders, and chats internal.
Business automation goes far beyond reducing the use of paper. Involves transforming the way a company captures data, running processes, protects information, collaborate across teams and measured results.
In most cases, the problem is not in the people. Also in the lack of tools. The challenge is usually in the processes that grew up without a clear structure for managing information, approvals and documents.
For this reason, more and more organizations are looking for ways to automate repetitive tasks, sort your information and to reduce the dependency on manual processes.
However, the good news is that this does not mean to lose control. In fact, when the automation is implemented correctly, the exact opposite happens: the increased visibility, improved traceability and facilitates the monitoring of each process.
Sectors such as pharmaceutical, healthcare, retail, financial, manufacturing, logistics and regulated services are increasingly dependent on the documentary processes secure, available and auditable. In these industries, these processes have a direct impact on productivity, regulatory compliance and business continuity.
When the approvals become a bottleneck
Scan approvals means to replace manual processes, scattered, and difficult to audit, flow, structured, measurable and traceable.
In purchase requests, document validation, internal clearances, contracts, operational changes, or regulatory processes are often dependent on one or several people before moving on.
The problem appears when these approvals are handled through emails, internal messages, attachments, or traces manuals.
In that scenario, it is common that there are delays, duplicate files, lack of visibility on the status of an application and difficulties to reconstruct what happened when you need an audit or a review.
With tools such as Power Automate, it is possible to manage approvals, requests or internal operational processes integrated with SharePoint, Dynamics 365, Teams, and OneDrive. Thanks to this, you can assign a responsible, conditions, notices, statements, evidence, and response times associated with each task.
But there is a condition, automate processes do not automatically corrects your problems; it just moves to the digital environment.
Therefore, before implementing this solution, it is crucial to understand how the current process, identify bottlenecks, and to clearly define responsibilities, rules and points of control.
Document management with Microsoft 365, your information when you need it
Document management is to manage the full life-cycle of documents, from creation, storage, classification, and collaborative approval, conservation, search and removal.
Within the ecosystem, Microsoft 365, different tools work in an integrated way to manage documents, automate processes, and strengthen the collaboration:
• SharePoint: centralizes and organizes the information of the company in a single place.
• OneDrive: allows you to store and sync files securely.
• Teams: facilitates collaboration and joint work on documents and processes.
• Power Automate: automates approvals, notifications, and repetitive tasks.
• Microsoft Purview: helps to protect the information and meet compliance requirements.
• Microsoft Enters ID: manage identity, access and security controls.
Unlike the traditional models based on shared folders, this integration allows for traceability, versioning, workflows, automated, audit and higher levels of security.
Case success: digital transformation in the pharmaceutical sector
Regularly, companies in this sector are faced with challenges related to the fragmentation of information, and the dispersion documentary, manual processes of approval and operational unit of the IT team to respond to requests associated to documents, access and availability of information.
Although the organization was already using Microsoft 365, the information was distributed in different environments, which made it difficult to document management, permission management, and the search of information between areas.
But the first step was not to automate.
Before you implement improvements, Inova Solutions carried out a process of diagnosis and consolidation in order to understand how it was organized the information, identify gaps, and define a document structure that is clear and sustainable.
From this basis, we ran the data migration, reorganization documentary in SharePoint and automation of processes using Power Automate.
This approach allowed us to identify a specific process: automate it works much better when there is order.
The results were evident:
- 35% reduction in the operational load of the IT equipment.
- 50% less time spent searching for documents.
- 20% improvement in the access and availability of information.
- 40% reduction in unauthorized access attempts.
- Return on investment achieved in 8 months.
Beyond the indicators, the company managed to establish a centralized model, more confident and prepared to grow.
The technology generates results when there is an established strategy
Scan does not only means to convert physical documents into digital files. Not only is it replace e by forms or shared folders for the repositories in the cloud.
Tools such as Microsoft 365 enable you to automate processes, centralize documents and improve collaboration between teams.
However, the true value is not only in technology, but in the form in which it is deployed. To achieve this, it is appropriate to answer a few questions:
- What process we need to improve?
- Where is generate delays or rework?
- What information should be retained?
- Who is involved in each stage?
- What is the required permissions to each user?
- What indicators to measure the outcome?
- What risks need to be controlled?
The answers allow you to design a solution aligned with the real needs of the business and not simply digitizing existing problems.
The value of having a technological partner
Having an ally specialized enables you to speed up the process of transformation, reduce risks and to design solutions that are aligned to the needs of each organization.
The goal is not just to implement tools, but to build sustainable structures that will enable you to work better, to protect your information and make decisions more agile.
There are many more cases of possible success.
We want your company to be one of them.