Workflow Tips to Boost Team Productivity: BPO Firms

Posted on August 12, 2021 by Jonathan Kidd

Many companies struggle with workflow and team productivity. It’s a problem that is costing millions of dollars in lost revenue every year. To help you avoid this same fate, we’re going to share 4 tips for business process outsourcing that will help your team more efficiently and boost their productivity!

What is a workflow process?

A workflow process is a set of activities that together provide an end result. Workflow or business processes can be defined as work sequences, which are one or more tasks to be completed in business activity.

It may mean anything from printing and binding books, through engineering design and manufacturing, up to writing software programs.

The workflow process in business process outsourcing is to provide a solution for companies looking to outsource their activities. The work processes are outsourced and processed by an outside company specialising in that area of work.

Some of the most common processes outsourced are payroll accounting, marketing, call centre etc.

Business process outsourcing companies are trusted to handle tasks that are important to the activities of a company.

Interesting Read: Operations Management for your Business Process Outsourcing Company

The workflow process is often outsourced when there are too many tasks for one person or department to handle, and typically the work is not core to their business, so it makes sense that these companies would specialise in those types of work processes and take them on as part of their contract.

From employee on-boarding, BPO firms need to train their employees to preserve high-quality standards of service.

Managing and Improving Your Workflows

System and procedure are the backbones of your business. Workflow management is more than just automating a workflow to make it efficient, but also improving your processes with technology and people-driven engineering.

You must first understand what you want before building automated systems for workflows or altering them completely with different software applications.

1. Write a clear, concise process overview document

Workflows are at the heart of business process outsourcing. They are a team’s key to productivity and workflow is what keeps it all going smoothly.

A business processes document should be clear, concise and easy for everyone involved in the process to understand so that they can play their part effectively and efficiently.

Documenting your workflow helps you manage changes more easily because all employees no longer need to scramble around to find out what they need to do. It also helps you improve by documenting gaps in the work process so that you can make changes.

For more on how to document your business processes, download this free SOP template:

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The benefits of managing and improving workflow are many, with one being team productivity which is measurable through increased revenue or reduced time spent on tasks

2. Create a process map to show how the process flows and what steps are involved

Process mapping is typically done with a flow chart or diagram. Record all details into a master document for future reference; this includes who’s responsible for what tasks and when they need to get done.

A process map serves as a manual that shows the sequence of workflow activities for a particular process. The map can be used to document the workflow of an existing company or it can serve as a basis for designing new workflows in companies undergoing change and reorganisation.

It is ultimately valuable resources that help you keep track of data and task routing as well.

Process mapping and documenting workflow processes has many benefits to a company, particularly in the area of team productivity.

Each process flow will help save time by eliminating unnecessary steps from workflow and automating those that are prone to human error or inefficient for some reason.

This documentation also enables you to see all the various bottlenecks that may occur in your organization and also suggests solutions for improvement.

It is a best practice to document the workflow process in order to identify redundancies that may exist as well. This will help you have an overview of all the processes, no matter how many tasks are being handled by team members simultaneously.

3. Invest in the right tools and software for your team

Workflow management software helps to quickly determine workflow status and identify abnormalities.

Investing in workflow management software will help you boost team productivity by better managing your business processes, reducing the risk of human error and identifying process improvement opportunities early on.

Workflow management software can also be customised with the business processes that are specific for a company’s needs.

Workflow automation is usually supported by business process management software such as Boombirds.

The workflow automation and management features of Boombirds includes task routing, workflow approvals, forms, monitoring, and a graphical dashboard to give you a bird’s-eye view to manage by exception.

The benefits of a workflow software include:

– Increased collaboration and visibility of workflow process.

– Improved workflow efficiency with fewer dependencies between teams and people.

– Reduction in risk as a result of improved workflow process document and fewer errors

4. Encourage collaboration with different departments or teams within your organisation

Silos are never good for any business. They can cause inefficiencies, bog down your team’s communication and lead to frustrations with not understanding the “big picture.”

One of the easiest ways to break through silos is by encouraging team collaboration in projects. Make it easy for departments to work together by providing centralised workflow management solutions so that the team is always on the same page.

When you break down silos, communication becomes better and work efficiency goes up because everyone knows what they need to do in order to contribute their part of a project.

You want your team to be as productive and efficient as possible. The tips we’ve shared with you today will help your team maintain a more productive and efficient process for the foreseeable future.

If these ideas have sparked an interest in managing your own business processes better, Boombirds is here to help!