How automating document processes in Microsoft Dynamics 365 drives business efficiency

The low-code and no-code software that is found in automation tools currently on the market is making automation increasingly accessible to companies and employees. These tools require little to no programming experience to set up and run, so specialists in any department can use them without support from IT staff. Drag-and-drop tools and pre-built templates allow any staff member to automate processes as a “citizen developer.”

Companies don’t use one platform or tech solution in their business processes, and the smartest automation tools know that. Integrations are a key feature of automation tools that deliver on their promise of streamlining business processes because they do not require employees to rebuild their workflows from scratch. These integrations allow users to automatically transport, merge, and collect data across various existing sources, like CRMs, Google Sheets, Excel, and a range of databases.

More and more document workflow automation tools now feature robotic process automation (RPA), a software robot that mimics human actions, e.g., sending offer letters to candidates, generating agreements, or updating spreadsheets with customer information. Recently usurping AI and chatbots in popularity, RPA has been recognized for its valuable automation tools that bear the brunt of responsibility for automating manual processes, reclaiming precious working hours for professionals.

Any company’s department will have a range of security measures in place regarding their processes, particularly those dealing with sensitive or personal employee or customer data. That’s why automation tools must also consider potential security issues. Usually, automation tools include permission access to documents and information, password-protected data, and audit trails that record every action performed during an automated process. Managers can rest assured that these tools prioritize the privacy of their employees, companies and the safety of the data organized by and managed through them.

Manual processes and data entry leave companies vulnerable to mistakes in key processes like invoicing, inventory management, contract creation, and other important data manipulations. These mistakes are usually inevitable, unpleasant, tedious at best, and costly at worst. This is where automation comes in to save the day.

Automation ensures greater accuracy in your business operations, eliminating the errors that come with manual processes, like copying and pasting or transferring data from a spreadsheet to a system of record or vice-versa. Minimizing human error is a cornerstone of automation and helps save your small business from wasted time, energy, and resources.

According to an analysis conducted by McKinsey, about 60% of recurring tasks could be automated by upwards of 30%. More often, automation opportunities lie in activities considered necessary and repetitive or recurring.

As a result of document workflow automation, employees can spend less time on tasks like invoicing, distributing time-off request forms, transferring files, scheduling meetings, and sending emails, and more time generating new sales and increasing the quality of your business’s services.

It can be a struggle to manage a project that involves different parties. Usually, these processes take months. With automation, these complex projects are easily simplified. These tools ensure information flows to the right people at the right time and monitor the responsibilities of each team member.

Automation allows every party to stay up-to-date on a project’s progress, keep up with what each team member is working on or has completed, ensure everyone has the most up-to-date information, and set and monitor deadlines. It really

Adhering to industry and government regulations can be stressful and costly for businesses. Healthcare organizations must comply with HIPAA requirements, while HR and Sales departments must consider GDPA regulations. In almost every industry — Healthcare, Finance, Education, or Law — compliance consumes hundreds of employee hours and company resources.

The good news is that implementing document workflow automation into your processes can make companies feel more confident since automation tools manage the process of complying with industry regulations and standards.

A common challenge among businesses is the cost of implementing automation. But while the upfront costs of automation can be significant, it’s important to remember that document workflow automation tends to provide a return on investment (ROI) in a relatively short period of time. Usually, the ROI of workflow automation is measurable after the first few months or even weeks.

Salesforce and Pulse conducted a survey that involved 100 IT and engineering leaders and found companies that used business automation obtained a positive ROI within 3 key areas:

• 44% of employee working hours saved
• 26% faster operations
• 26% reduced costs

Shifting from traditional business processes to document workflow automation tends to frighten employees, as with any major change to established processes. In addition, automation in the workplace can lead to unnecessary anxiety among your employees. The solution is quite simple — companies must prepare workers for new automated processes beforehand.

Train employees across your entire organization to ensure the positive impacts of automation. Demonstrate how to solve business challenges faster while avoiding time-consuming, repetitive tasks.

• Prepare resources for self‑education
• Schedule meetings with experienced colleagues
• Support non‑tech employees

• Populate onboarding forms with employee information
• Share documents via email or by publishing a link
• Notify HRs once documents are completed
• Export completed documents to Microsoft Dynamics 365

• Pre-fill feedback forms with personalized information
• Send customized notifications and reminders
• Create or update records in Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Manage access to your workflows and documents

• Generate contracts using data from Microsoft Dynamics 365
• Send contracts or agreements via email or SMS
• Notify parties once a document has been completed
• Save signed documents to Microsoft Dynamics 365

• Create reusable contracts, agreements, and NDAs
• Designate required fields to each party involved
• Set the signing order to meet your requirements
• Protect your contracts from data leakage or misuse

• Collect information from clients with dynamic web forms
• Update Microsoft Dynamics 365 records with new data
• Generate invoices, quotes, requests, and more
• Sign documents in minutes using legally-binding eSignatures

• Populate purchase orders with Microsoft Dynamics 365 data
• Start vendor and supplier onboarding from your records
• Automatically route forms and documents to required parties
• Attach completed orders to corresponding Dynamics records

Ensure data quality and accuracy by automatically updating existing or creating new Microsoft Dynamics 365 records for each new piece of data received. Forget about lost, misplaced, or outdated information that used to take tons of time and resources to locate or actualize.

Improve efficiency and user experience with streamlined, stress- and error-free processes. Automatically create documents pre-filled with Dynamics 365 data, route them to the right people, get them signed and completed all directly from the Microsoft Dynamics 365 account.

Choose from 100+ pre-built integrations to ensure seamless workflows across other systems. Populate documents with Dynamics 365 data or other repositories. Use info from completed documents to automatically update information within Dynamics 365 and other systems where you store relevant data.

With airSlate, you can be sure that your Dynamics 365 data is protected with industry-leading security practices and complies with global security standards. Never lose track of the document changes and deal status with detailed Audit trail and instant notifications.

airSlate requires no code to implement and combines everything you need to automate document workflows with a single solution. And with ready-to-use Bots, you can expand airSlate automation to other CRMs and services without costly APIs or coding.

Founded in 2011, Hyperice is a manufacturer of different devices for athletes, like massagers used for post-workout recovery. The company also supports and repairs equipment for the top fitness gyms in the USA.

With the airSlate integration for Microsoft Dynamics 365, Hyperice was able to streamline its repetitive internal processes, such as repair requests and reports.

airSlate’s document generation helped Hyperice eliminate manual paperwork. It’s possible to generate equipment checking and repairing reports from Microsoft Dynamics 365. Since the company has two brands — Hyperice and Normatec — in its portfolio, it’s necessary to create additional sets of documents based on the information from a general report.