The direct cost savings are readily measured and recognized. But there is another set of benefits that are real and valuable but are very difficult to measure, sometimes called the hidden savings or soft savings.
Control
One of the problems of manual work management is that the most experienced people are also expert at finding the easy work, making their productivity appear even higher. Yet they are the ones who should be handling the hardest cases that a beginner might struggle with for a long time. A workflow system ensures the cases/work is assigned to the most appropriate worker.
Monitoring
Practically all systems include reporting and analysis tools that can be used by a manager to make informed decisions regarding business processes. Some examples include the total work accomplished, the volume, turn-around time, client response times, patient outcomes etc.
Management
Managers can expand the span of their supervisory control, spend more time improving workers skills and have more time to help with the most demanding cases. With an EMR, routine reporting, data collection and the assignment of work now becomes an automated function of the workflow management system. Implementation necessarily increases the qualitative nature of a manager’s contribution to an organization.
Process Improvement Opportunity
To realize productivity improvements sometimes a process should be completely taken apart and redesigned, akin to tearing down a house and rebuilding it anew. This is an expensive proposition but here lies the greatest potential for organizational improvements when implementing a computerized workflow system. Dramatic changes to a work process can be traumatic for users; however most workers recognize the improved process and can migrate to the new system with far less training. The examination and reengineering of the current workflow is inevitable when an organization or team is committed to employing a computerized management system.
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