Loading...
logo
меню

Monthly Archives for July 2021

Automate Business Processes on SharePoint to Inject Efficiency and Speed

It is common knowledge that SharePoint is the ultimate choice of Intranet and Content Management System for organizations across the globe. However, as a very flexible platform, SharePoint can serve as an ideal starting point for an organization’s automation journey too. It can enable organizations and their teams to streamline tasks, automate and integrate processes seamlessly.

What is SharePoint Business Process Automation?

SharePoint Business Process Automation (BPA) is a strategy used by organizations to automate business processes on SharePoint. It involves the integration of powerful applications with SharePoint to automate time-consuming and repetitive tasks. Efficient SharePoint BPA allows organizations to boost productivity, improve efficiency, accelerate speed, increase process transparency, optimize resource capabilities, achieve cost savings, and transform business operations overall. It can narrow down a “huge” list of recurring tasks that your employees perform daily. SharePoint BPA can also increase process management visibility by transforming manual, paper-based processes into electronic, automated processes to improve outcomes.

Why SharePoint Business Process Automation Matters?

The pursuit of Business Process Automation (BPA) across organizations, small to large, has continued to remain strong during 2021. Most C-suite leaders are today hinging heavily on automation to adjust to market dynamics, recessionary pressures, support hybrid business operations, achieve business growth, and cope with new business realities in a post-pandemic world.

As the most popular information management and enterprise collaboration platform used by more than 200 million users and 250,000 organizations, SharePoint has emerged as a focus area for BPA. While out-of-the-box SharePoint has some serious limitations when it comes to aiding various process automation scenarios, the flexible platform allows organizations to leverage a reliable third-party engine on top of SharePoint to automate their vital business processes. No-code SharePoint process automation solutions fit the bill ideally. Such solutions empower business users to easily create applications and visualizations required for process automation with simple point-and-click configuration.   

Benefits of Automating Business Processes on SharePoint

SharePoint is often the first platform that comes to mind when organizations are seeking to automate and transform their business processes for better business outcomes. As a large repository of business knowledge, SharePoint data is leveraged by most departments within an organization as a part of their day-to-day tasks. The platform also serves as a connective fabric binding together the operations of organizations spanning across various departments and multiple locations. Logically, successful SharePoint BPA can deliver a far-fetched positive impact. Some such benefits include: 

  • Increases Productivity:The automation of business processes on SharePoint reduces the time needed to complete daily tasks. This can enhance productivity across all mundane tasks, with the side benefits of freeing up employees’ time. Employees can use this saved time to concentrate on other complex and revenue-generating activities.
  • Accelerates Time & Reduces Costs: Manual tasks, essentially need to be performed one at a time and at a much slower pace than the automated tasks, leading to extra time and costs. Automation allows organizations to accomplish tasks utilizing fewer resources and in considerably less time.
  • Improves Efficiency and Minimizes Errors:SharePoint BPA ensures that all the actions are performed identically, leaving no room for error. Each task needs to be performed in a certain manner, without any deviations. This results in improved quality of work and removes any chances of manual errors.
  • Optimizes Resource Capabilities: Automation on SharePoint liberates employees from performing tedious, repetitive, and routine with the least growth potential. Organizations can re-align employees in other high-value tasks which require human intellect and carry career growth opportunities. It removes various bottlenecks in the process and enables employees to stay highly productive.
  • Standardizes Operations: Business process automation systems have rigid guidelines regarding the control of documents and process actions. Such rules eliminate situations where processing steps might be missed or documents misplaced. Employees need not worry about verifying the accuracy of information and tasks; it’s all built-in to the system. This greatly increases the dependability and reliability of the process.
  • Increases Process Transparency: Automation systems, such as dashboards, allow employees to view and monitor where things are standing at any given moment. This helps them manage deadlines efficiently and tweak plans accordingly. For managers, this is useful in managing deadlines and for capacity planning purposes.
  • Enables better Governance & More Reliability:Consistency is the benchmark of automated business processes, allowing organizations to offer reliable processes to customers and maintain a competitive advantage in the market. The reliability of automated processes ensures that SharePoint governance issues are executed 100% of the time and in accordance with the compliance regulations.

Characteristics of Ideal Processes for SharePoint BPA

One of the first steps in the SharePoint BPA journey includes selecting the best business process to automate. When choosing the right process for an organization’s BPA program, the goal is to look for traits that will ensure successful results. Here is a small checklist of aspects that make a business process ideal for automation:

  • High volume and repetitive: Choose processes that account for high transaction volume and routine processes that run periodically (daily or weekly).
  • Rule-based: Select standardized processes based on predictive rules that drive decision-making.
  • Mature and stable: Pick processes that are well documented, stable, and with predictable operational costs.
  • Low exception: Avoid automating low variation scenarios in the activities that could lead to different handling of procedures.
  • High ROI gains: Choose processes that involve hours of tedious work, so that employees can be freed to do more value-added activities.
  • Not subject to methodology changes: Avoid automating processes that may undergo fundamental changes to interface or configuration in the short term.

Rapidly Automate Processes on SharePoint with QuickApps

By now you know that SharePoint BPA is the unavoidable future of business operations. Let us introduce you to, QuickApps which allows organizations to automate SharePoint business processes rapidly and seamlessly. The solution delivers a rich assortment of powerful web apps, which can be leveraged to create (but is not limited to):

  • Employee Onboarding System to simplify HR process
  • IT Ticketing System to streamline IT support
  • Claims and Billing System to enable easy Accounts calculations and tracking
  • Sales Reporting Automation to provide timely insights for better decision-making

Download a FREE QUICKAPPS TRIAL to build SharePoint automation rapidly and easily.


Why Everyone Should Adopt No-code for SharePoint Development in 2021?

In 2020, more than 4.35 million enterprise applications were developed; that’s a whopping 24.13 percent more than 2019.

–  US Business Formation Statistics (BFS) report

The latest market studies predict that 2020’s app development momentum will undoubtedly carry into 2021. Yet, hiring talented app developers is especially difficult for organizations amid a developer drought and pandemic uncertainties. According to the latest US labor statistics, the shortage of app developers in the US will exceed 1.2M by 2026. If this talent shortage is not plugged, the country could face an unrealized output of $162B!

Low/No-code solutions are the most viable way to tackle the talent shortage and budgetary constraints. There has been a lot of buzz around No-code development. Such solutions were clear winners in 2020. They were successful in narrowing the divide between programmers and non-programmers – enabling teams to innovate and transform business processes.

Today, No-code solutions are altering the landscape of enterprise application development. It is making application development just as simple as using Word or PowerPoint, thereby enabling any average business user to move projects forward without the extra engineering costs (in money or time). Experts believe that No-code development is the ultimate panacea to meet the rapid and complex app development requirements of the times without hiring costly talents. It helps leverage the internal talent within an organization and enables app development for all.

SharePoint and No-code App Development

In its recent Magic Quadrant Report, Gartner recognized SharePoint as the Leader among Content Services Platforms for the fourth year in a row. The report stated that the SharePoint ecosystem is growing faster than ever and is today used by over 200 million users to simplify collaboration, communication, and content management. Thousands of custom apps are further enriching the user experience and enhancing the functionalities of the SharePoint platform. SharePoint custom apps enable employees to perform their daily tasks better and faster and empower organizations to automate, streamline and enhance their business processes for better yield and business results.

In the last few years, No-code tools have penetrated the realm of SharePoint custom app development and altered the existing edifice. This development approach has mitigated the roadblocks organizations faced with the traditional app development approach. In a traditional setup, employees submit a request to an IT queue to pull a report, make a change, launch a product, etc. After request submission, they have to keep waiting infinitely for the IT team to respond. And often the wait is lengthy, with no feedback loop, and a backlog to hire the engineers to perform the task. By the time the results are delivered, most requirements have probably changed and employees are already raising submitting new requests.  

No-code solutions allow power users to leverage their business knowledge to build impactful SharePoint solutions without any coding and dependence on IT. This has significantly reduced the costs and complexities involved in a SharePoint custom app development project. No-code tools enable users to rapidly build solutions with point-and-click configuration and visual-based design. As a result, solution development timelines are up to 80% quicker, allowing an organization to keep up with the dizzying pace of technology development. 

Why No-code is an Imperative for SharePoint App Development in 2021?

75% of all application development will use Low/No-code platforms in 2021, up from 44% in 2020.

  • Forrester’s 2021 prediction  

No-code emerged as a big business disruptor last year, 2021 is witnessing such tools become a mainstay for SharePoint custom app development. Such tools are enabling teams to rapidly build apps that shape better business outcomes, automate processes and solve various technology bottlenecks. It is helping organizations stay agile, empower employees and achieve more with less. Other reasons that make No-code adoption an imperative for SharePoint app development in 2020 are:

#1: Catalyzes a Move towards Business Automation

Business automation is a major buzzword for business operations. Successful business automation leads to streamlining of processes, efficient workflows, and elimination of challenges associated with manual processes. While many organizations have already ventured on their business automation journeys, there is still a long way to go. No-code is a strong enabler of business automation. It allows the rapid development of custom SharePoint applications without a single line of code, through visual designing and easy-to-use features. It makes business automation easy to implement for organizations of all types and sizes. No-code tools enable organizations to depart from traditional processes that hamper the effectiveness and digital success and instead move towards digital empowerment.

Delivers on the “Data for Everyone” Promise

The global pandemic has demonstrated the importance of empowering everyone with the right data and at the right time. As the sole content repository for a growing number of organizations, SharePoint lists, libraries, sites, or site collections are filled with insights that can propel an organization to the next level. No-code tools allow organizations to empower their employees to glean actionable insights from various datasets and enable decision-makers to make data-backed decisions. With No-code tools, business users can create impactful reports and dashboards by bringing together data from multiple sources. And all this can be achieved without any IT dependence.

Fosters a Culture of Innovation

A recent Gartner study discovered that through 2020, 91% of organizations engaged in some form of digital transformation initiative. However, digital transformation isn’t about changing a few processes here and there or implementing one or two innovative technologies to enhance a business’s performance and efficiency. It is much more than that. Digital transformation is all about transforming a business’s model, processes, people, outlook, and operations using advanced digital technology. It’s about transforming the entire organization not just parts, but completely. No-code tools champion digital transformation by empowering employees to build SharePoint applications themselves (with the least training), instead of relying on the support of their respective IT departments. When equipped with the tools to build impactful solutions on their own, the mindset of the employees’ shifts. This eventually leads to a digital snowball effect throughout the organization, making the digital transformation initiative a resounding success.

Compliments the “cloud-only” trend

2020 saw a massive exodus of organizations from SharePoint’s on-premise versions towards SharePoint Online (Microsoft 365). The sudden emergence of COVID-19 and its resulting remote working scenario forced many organizations to transition to the cloud. No-code app development tools helped ensure business continuity and high user adoption for organizations. Leveraging No-code, organizations could recreate hundreds of business-critical apps on the new platform at blazing fast speed. Availability of familiar SharePoint apps from day one after the move triggered positive user adoption in almost all scenarios. No-code tools also enable organizations to unlock new opportunities for innovation and future-proof all app innovations. With no-code platforms, organizations can attain new levels of productivity in the cloud.

Ensuring Business Growth in Challenging Times

While most of us hoped that the impact of the pandemic will fade away, the situation seems to have improved marginally in 2021 with lurking fear of a new wave. Therefore, organizations must continue to reduce operating costs and ensure business growth in a hybrid working scenario. A Forrester survey found that “enterprises that embrace Low/No-code platforms react faster and more effectively than firms relying only on traditional development.”  No-code tools help organizations cut costs that would be otherwise spent in paying professional SharePoint developers to build powerful applications. No-code also reduces time and significantly increases productivity, making it an important enabler of business growth even during such trying times.

“The future of coding is no coding at all.”

– Chris Wanstrath, CEO at GitHub

In an age where the demand for impactful SharePoint apps far exceeds the supply of quality developers, No-code development solutions are increasingly growing in popularity. In 2021 and beyond, such tools will become commonplace for application development of all kinds. This technology will empower non-technical business experts to bring together data and assemble software functions in the domains they know best, without any coding. Even the programmer purists, still working with hard-coding tools will recognize the convenience such tools bring toward their work. No-code SharePoint application development tools are a must-have for organizations that want to stay ahead of the game in 2021.

QuickApps is a No-code SharePoint application development and business process automation solution that is packed with powerful web apps. It enables business experts to create applications and automate business processes at an 80% faster turnaround time with a simple point-and-click configuration. Download a FREE TRIAL now to transform the SharePoint app development experience.