Have you ever stopped to consider just how valuable the data collected by your business is?
In the Information Age, data can be a major company asset, and should be treated as such. Small, non-technical businesses collect data – even if that data is only “collected” in the brains of the people running the company. A florist, for example, eventually comes to learn what times of year orders are heaviest, what arrangements repeat customers tend to want, and the most efficient route for making deliveries on a given day.
Every business should understand the value of the data it collects and make the most of it. That requires that data be “clean” and of high quality, and automated workflows can be ideal for helping collect and manage it.
Prioritized Workflows with Categorized Data
Once you know what data is of most value to your business, you can prioritize data management workflows that deal with that data. These workflows should be analyzed thoroughly and updated as necessary, ensuring the data taken in is of the highest quality, and that the data created by the workflow is routed to the right people and stored in ways that make it most useful.
Excellent workflow software is necessary for this task. Workflows may be static for a while, but over time, they have to change to accommodate new customer and client needs, new regulations, reporting requirements, and other necessities. With the right workflow software, you always have the ability to manage your data to your best advantage.
Workflows Specifically for Managing Data
Workflows specifically for managing data can also be valuable. The simplest example of this would be a periodic (once daily or once weekly, say) workflow for backing up data. Nobody likes having to stop what they’re doing to perform a system backup, but a workflow designed to make it easy and efficient can help personnel develop the habit of doing so. Then, in the event of a hard drive crash, natural disaster, or physical move of premises, there’s no question that the data is right there, uncompromised. Data management workflows can prevent many major headaches.
A simple workflow for regular data backup can prevent countless problems for your business.
Reporting Capabilities in Workflow Software Essential
One of the best data management tools available to many businesses is the reporting features of their workflow software. Reporting capabilities allow you to collect data from workflows, analyze the data, and report on it. These reports often contain valuable insights that help you run your business better.
For example, if your workflow software reporting feature is used to gather and analyze data on customer location, the reports you generate can show you how your customer base in a specific geographic region develops over time. Such information can prompt you to make other changes, like opening a physical office there, or adapting your marketing strategy to target people in that geographic area. The uses for reporting are virtually limitless, and if you’re not taking advantage, you could be missing out in essential insights.
PerfectApps is workflow software that requires no programming. With its drag-and-drop interface, you can create workflows that collect, generate, and manage data, maximizing its business value. And since PerfectApps is so easy to use, the people who actually use the workflows can give their feedback and suggestions and even help develop workflows so that they’re optimized for end-users.
PerfectApps also comes with powerful reporting capabilities, so you can easily put workflow data into service, generating insights that are data-driven, so there is far less guesswork about how to optimize day-to-day operations and make the business grow. We encourage you to read some of our many case studies, so you can see how automated workflows help businesses across a wide range of industries collect, analyze, manage, and gain maximum insight from the data they use every day.
