The three silent bottlenecks in your operations (and how to fix them)

Operations leaders have invested significant amounts in enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms, workflow automation, and cloud-based tools, but many still notice inefficiencies, compliance risks, and fragmented processes that slow their business down.

Because today, the challenge facing operations teams is no longer digitising workflows, but integrating them into the wider business to improve efficiency, strengthen compliance and increase business agility.

What’s clear is that technology alone doesn’t guarantee efficiency. Many workflows remain at least partially manual, with data trapped in silos, approvals lagging behind, and compliance tracking requiring human oversight. Not surprisingly, 69% of operations and supply chain leaders say their technology investments have not delivered their expected results¹, according to research from PWC.

By focusing on three often overlooked challenges of manual processes – disconnected systems, and lack of visibility over compliance – operations leaders can unblock information bottlenecks and realise the full potential of their digital investments.

While most paper-based processes may be gone, inefficiencies persist in semi-automated workflows, disconnected systems, and compliance blind spots. Addressing these challenges doesn’t necessarily demand more technology but a smarter, more connected approach to information management.

Despite living in modern, digitised environments, many people still find themselves working on critical business workflows in increasingly outdated ways. Processes such as invoice approvals, compliance reporting, and mailroom management often involve unnecessary manual data entry, email chains, and disconnected spreadsheets.

Accounts Payable (AP) processing is a prime example. Many AP teams still rely on email-based invoice approvals and manual data entry, which subsequently leads to numerous delays and costly errors. Conversely, properly automated invoice capture, validation, and approvals accelerate cash flow, improve accuracy, and free up finance teams for more strategic work.

Disconnected or siloed systems significantly slow operations down. When systems don’t integrate seamlessly, employees need to manually transfer data between ERP, customer relationship management (CRM), finance, and document management platforms. That leads to errors, bottlenecks, and even more lost time.

The contract management process is a classic case. Many businesses still rely on email and spreadsheets to manage their contracts, making any form of approval tracking, version control, and compliance enforcement difficult. Automating these contract workflows – from drafting to approval through execution – offers full-process visibility, faster turnaround times, and ongoing compliance tracking.

Regulatory demands are rising, but many organisations lack visibility over potential risks in document security, information governance, and overall regulatory compliance. For example, 53% of businesses lack automated document access rights² – significantly increasing their exposure to regulatory fines and negative PR.

A simple solution to address these challenges is a digital mailroom, which helps streamline compliance by capturing and routing incoming documents automatically. Whether they arrive via email, scanned paper, or digital forms. A digital mailroom ensures any business document reaches the right individual or team instantly and without risk of sensitive information ending up in the wrong hands.

Improving information management brings many benefits to your organisation, improving resilience, agility, and cost-effectiveness across the enterprise. However, as explained in the last section, even businesses that have made the shift to digital processes and workflows often struggle with incomplete automation, data silos, and security gaps, that hinder decision-making. So how can operations teams unlock the opportunities of their digital investments?

Reducing manual intervention in key workflows can improve the efficiency of core business processes significantly. According to Canon research³, effective automation can reduce processing times by up to 50% – time that teams can instead spend on strategic improvements rather than repetitive tasks.

Connecting information workflows across business systems such as ERP, CRM, and Document Management eliminates potential roadblocks and enables faster, data-driven decisions. Companies implementing end-to-end automation are 75% more likely to gain a competitive edge over their un-automated counterparts⁴.

Another area where smarter information management plays a pivotal role is compliance. Only 51% of IT teams report that document retention is policies are fully automated⁵, which, of course, not only increases the risk of breaching compliance rules, but creates an enormous amount of work for teams to manage this process manually. By introducing business-wide information governance, a company instantly strengthens document security, streamlines compliance, and reduces their exposure to legal risks.

The result? Research shows businesses that optimise information workflows can reduce operational costs⁶ by up to 30%. By simply optimising document processing time, eliminating manual handoffs, and automating compliance checks, every business can save on costs while improving productivity.

While digital optimisation may seem like a daunting prospect, the reality is just a series of straightforward steps:

1. Assess current workflows to identify bottlenecks and manual interventions that slow down operations.
2. Break down silos by integrating information across ERP, CRM, and compliance systems.
3. Automate high-impact processes such as invoice approvals, contract management, and instant document routing via a digital mailroom.
4. Enhance security and compliance by implementing automated retention policies, access controls, and company-wide governance initiatives.
5. Partner with experts who understand how to integrate information management solutions effectively.

The next phase of digital transformation in operations isn’t about adopting even more technology. Instead, we need to make technology work smarter. Those companies who can bridge the efficiency gap – automate intelligently integrate their systems, and ensure data flows seamlessly across the business – will gain a critical advantage in speed, cost savings, and operational resilience.

The key is identifying opportunities to automate key workflows, connecting disparate IT systems across the business, and reducing the reliance on manual compliance. Only then will business join the dots and start to get the most from their digital transformation.

Effective information management isn’t just a lofty ambition, it’s a strategic asset every organisation needs to pay attention to. It drives measurable business impact. And with the right solutions, such as digital mailrooms, contract management, and AP automation, organisations can finally start to move beyond fragmented workflows to build the operational model of the future.