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Workflow approval platforms play a critical role in increasing efficiency within companies. Automated workflows bring consistency to approving business-critical documents and reduce the delays and potential for miscommunication and error in manual processes. Automating tasks and approvals significantly reduces bottlenecks in the process, increases productivity, builds-in quality assurance, and drives efficiency. A workflow approval platform is particularly useful in a hybrid work environment, where teams and individual process stakeholders may work remotely, or in different time zones, or asynchronously.

A user-friendly platform with an intuitive interface enables multiple projects to be managed at strategic and granular levels. It can be used in multiple departments throughout a company, contributing to its overall efficiency. Having a single workflow approval platform eliminates the cost, administration, and potential confusion of having multiple systems. A workflow approval platform is sufficiently flexible and adaptable to be configured to the specific requirements of HR, compliance, legal and marketing teams, with strict Chinese walls between them.

Below, we will look at how workflow approval platforms drive efficiency for marketing teams. Marketing teams create and generate huge volumes of material for specific marketing campaigns, information for current and potential audiences and, in many cases, collateral for sales teams. Much of this work is time-critical: speed to market is often a crucial factor in optimising a market opportunity and sales success. Workflow approval platforms enable marketing teams to consistently meet deadlines, manage hectic workloads, assure quality, enhance creativity, and produce brand and regulatory-compliant material. We will look at the platform features and tools that enable marketing teams to achieve their objectives.

Streamlined processes

Implementing a well-structured approval workflow, with a sequence of defined tasks for document review and approval, streamlines the process. Having documents follow a repeatable, predefined pathway, with clear stages and criteria for approval, saves time at every stage and ensures faster approvals and timely project completion. Streamlined processes reduce the risk of errors, misunderstandings, unnecessary delays, and process bottlenecks.

The approvals process can be customised to a marketing team’s specific requirements. Defined sign-off stages are enforced to ensure vital steps are not missed. The intuitive platform interface allows users to review every type of marketing collateral and file type. Marketing materials, such as adverts, social media content, blogs, printed material, website pages, direct mail, videos, and email campaigns, can move smoothly and efficiently through the approval workflow.

Time management and productivity

Time management is a critical element and measure of organisational efficiency. Automated approval workflows help teams plan and use their time efficiently and focus on core tasks. It helps them to manage hectic workloads by drastically reducing the time spent on manually sending documents requiring approval to colleagues and marketing admin. The time lost waiting for review feedback and signatures, chasing approvals, misplaced communications, and making repetitive manual revisions are eliminated. The platform dashboard provides instant, current views of all projects, timelines, and approval stages. This visibility keeps stakeholders informed and negates the need for copious amounts of emails about deadlines, progress, and task assignments.

Time efficiency is instrumental in improving productivity: marketing teams can accomplish more in less time. The increased efficiency of greater timeline control enhances project management, which improves the speed to market of marketing materials. Campaign material is produced and made available for key audiences faster, positively impacting profitability.

Strategic project management

The visibility afforded by workflow approval platform interfaces gives marketing managers an overview of work in progress at a strategic level. This allows them to focus on the big picture rather than the minutiae of every project. The clear overview of ongoing tasks greatly helps the efficient management of resources to ensure project deadlines and due dates are on schedule.

Consistency and Quality Control

Workflow approval platforms ensure the consistency and quality of all materials. By directing requests to the relevant stakeholders at defined stages of the process, documents are forced to adhere to predefined rules. Each project receives a consistent amount of attention, so crucial review criteria are not missed or neglected.  This standardisation reduces error and prevents deviations from established processes.

Consistent checks and reviews along the workflow, and careful selection of stakeholders with permission to make changes, ensures all projects consistently meet defined quality standards. This forces marketing collateral, media, and campaigns to adhere to visual brand guidelines and agreed tone of content, company policies, and compliance requirements.

Improved Compliance and Audit Trails

Workflow approval platforms make the compliance process more manageable. It is essential that public-facing documents comply with legal and regulatory requirements. Marketing team reviews ensure documents are marketing and brand compliant. If required, workflows can be extended to legal and compliance teams for their specialist review and approval.

Workflow approval platforms automatically keep detailed records of review stages, comments, changes, timestamps, checklist answers, and approval signoffs. Automated audit trails can be used for internal and external audits, investigations, and training purposes for continuous improvement. It is a regulatory requirement in some industries to keep an audit trail for certain types of marketing material, such as financial promotions.

Version control of assets

Version control of documents is essential to avoid the confusion and time-waste of reviewing outdated files. Workflow approval platforms ensure that the latest, up-to-date version of documents and marketing assets are sent for review and approval. It is a highly efficient marketing asset management tool that can be applied throughout a company for every type of document, such as contracts and HR policies.

Enhanced Collaboration and communication

Enhanced collaboration between marketing team members and with other departments improves the efficiency of approval processes and encourages teamwork. Being part of the same structured process makes it easier for team members to provide feedback, share ideas and work together effectively. Multiple approvers can collaborate and review content in real-time. Designers, content creators, social media managers, brand custodians, editors, and approvers, can focus on the project at hand, speeding up approvals and reducing conflicting changes.

Aligning specialist skills, roles and responsibilities supports creativity, applying marketing rules, and the smooth production of campaign materials.

Transparency and Accountability

Transparency and accountability within systems are crucial elements of organisational efficiency and promote trust and focus within teams.  Workflow approval platforms integrate both into the approval process. Individual stakeholders and teams are accountable for their reviews. Transparency allows managers to monitor the progress and the status of requests, identify bottlenecks and take corrective actions, and hold stakeholders accountable for timely approvals.

Driving efficiency

Workflow approval platforms drive efficiency by drastically reducing risk and reinforcing a process that encourages creativity, collaboration, compliance, and speed to market of material materials. The risk of mistakes and miscommunication in marketing projects is significantly diminished. Marketing teams can focus on creating accurate, high-quality deliverables, such as email campaigns, website content, and print materials, without worrying about missed approvals or oversights. The efficiencies created by automated workflows are enhanced when they are used in conjunction with artwork templates, which help to simplify the approval process.

Ready to streamline your approval workflows effortlessly? Explore Perivan’s Workflow Approval Platform today! Click here to discover how our customisable solution can revolutionise your business processes: Explore Now