The Pain Points of Manual Approval Processes
Did you know that 60% of organizations still rely on manual email approvals for key business decisions? This results in significant delays, lost requests, and unnecessary overhead. I am on the GW Apps customer success team, and in this role, I interact with potential customers, listen to their pain points and automation needs, and show them how they can address these issues with a web app built using No-Code tools.
I’ve encountered many organizations struggling with outdated and inefficient approval-based processes. These processes require multiple approvals across departments, yet they are still being managed through email chains. Common examples include authorization for expenditures, travel, or time-off requests. These requests often get stuck due to:
- Lost or overlooked emails: Emails can easily get buried in inboxes or long email chains, leading to delays.
- Lack of visibility: It’s difficult to track the status of an approval. Who has it? Where is it in the approval process?
- Wasted time: Chasing down approvals takes time away from more critical activities.
- Employee frustration: Opaque processes create confusion and delays, impacting efficiency.
Automating Workflows with No-Code: A Practical Alternative
Having worked with numerous organizations struggling with these manual approval processes, I’ve seen firsthand how no-code can help. A workflow-focused no-code application platform like GW Apps allows businesses to automate approvals while maintaining flexibility and compliance, all without requiring IT resources.
One major benefit of automating processes with no-code is customizability and adaptability. Organizations can easily create custom, multi-level approval chains based on factors like purchase amount, urgency, or department. For example:
- Requests for travel approval may only require department head approval, while major equipment purchases may require additional sign-offs from finance.
- Major equipment purchases can automatically escalate to finance and executive teams.
- Automated reminders and escalation rules ensure no request falls through the cracks.
Benefits of Transitioning to a No-Code Approval System
Here are just a few benefits I’ve seen organizations realize by transitioning away from manual processes to a no-code solution:
- Faster Approvals: Significantly reduced approval times – from several days to just a few hours.
- Lower Administrative Costs: Automating approvals saves thousands of dollars annually by minimizing manual follow-ups, redundancy, and repetitive tasks.
- Improved Compliance & Audit Readiness: Ensures all approvals follow company policies, with a digital trail for audits and reporting.
- Reduced Procurement Errors: Standardized workflows prevent unauthorized purchases and help enforce spending policies.
Why GW Apps? The No-Code Platform Built for Workflows and Approvals
GW Apps was specifically designed to address the complexities of modern approval processes while maintaining the simplicity of no-code development. As a workflow-focused platform, it combines powerful automation capabilities with an intuitive interface that business users can master without technical expertise.
- Build Highly Functional Forms: Build custom request forms that capture all necessary information through advanced fields, automatic calculations, file attachments, and more.
- Automate Approval Workflows: Approvals are routed based on predefined business rules, such as department, spending limits, and urgency.
- Enhance Real-Time Tracking: Stakeholders can monitor approval status at any time without chasing emails.
- Implement Granular Access Control: Set role-based permissions to ensure only the right people can see, approve, or modify requests.
Getting Started with Pre-Built Approval Templates
GW Apps includes ready-to-use templates designed to help organizations get started automating processes quickly, and while they work out-of-the-box, they are fully customizable to match your organization’s unique needs. A few examples of templates available on GW Apps:
- Purchase Requests
- Time Off Requests
- Authorization for Expenditures
For example, the Purchase Requests template captures standard purchase details such as item descriptions, quantities, pricing, and required dates. Then, it follows a workflow that involves a manager’s approval, and depending on the purchase category may or may not require an additional level of approval.
Additional features include:
- Automated calculations: Automatically perform calculations for item totals, and calculate the aggregate total of all requests.
- File attachment support: Attach files directly, or connect a Google Drive for quotes or supporting documents.
- Approval notifications: Fully customizable emails that can include field data, conditional visibility, direct links to the request record, and action buttons to take action on a request directly from the email.
- Custom views: Users can track requests using custom views that are organized, filtered, and/or grouped by things like approval status, workflow stage, requester, department, or any other relevant field.
Conclusion: Automating workflow is simpler than you think. Let us help you get started!
Automating approval processes with GW Apps eliminates inefficiencies, reduces costs, and enhances compliance. With easy-to-use drag-and-drop workflow builders, automation rules, and seamless integrations, businesses can modernize their operations in days. Organizations that make the switch typically see immediate improvements in processing times, employee satisfaction, and operational visibility.
Next Steps: See GW Apps in Action
Ready to streamline your approval processes and realize these benefits?
- Try GW Apps free for 15-days and explore pre-built approval templates.
- Book a demo to see how it can fit your specific business needs.
Take the first step toward automated approvals today!