Location and culture determines attitudes to workflow

The old adage that `no man is an island` also applies to workflow. By its very nature, it is an integral part of people`s daily working lives, woven inexorably into the thread of organisational life. And, let`s not forget, workflow, if correctly implemented and utilised, promotes huge internal and external process efficiencies -saving organisations significant amounts of money too.

So, if workflow isn`t an `island` then maybe we can draw a bold analogy and call it a `country`. And, like any physical country in the world, the metaphorical `country` of workflow has important characteristics and elements. These include geographical location (implementations differ depending on where in the world the workflow is being implemented); the organisational and even national culture and attitudes of the human capital element investing in the workflow systems; and of course, the currency or financial and purchasing criteria those same users apply.

The Association for Information and Image Management International (AIIM) conducts an annual worldwide study to provide a status analysis of the document technologies marketplace, from both a user and a supplier perspective. In 2000, AIIM published research by Gartner that gave much fresh insight into the global growth and uptake of workflow.

According to Priscilla Emery of AIIM, attitudes towards workflow are not only a result of the financial stability and business climate of the company proposing to implement it, but also of the country or region in which it is situated. Furthermore, Emery maintains that these regional or geographical differences may also be attributed to what she terms an "outgrowth of cultural attitudes toward the usage and desire to even use workflow technologies in an organisational environment".

So, it seems that there is a psychological element to the issue of workflow uptake. In other words, people`s attitudes and cultural biases and perceptions are key motivating - or de-motivating - factors affecting how, when and where workflow is used.

For example, there may be a corporate psychology of risk-avoidance and overall financial conservatism. In Europe and the UK, the attitude of business people is typically fairly cautious and very focused on justifying the business case and satisfactory return on investment (ROI). In other words, price and performance criteria rate highly when choosing a workflow vendor and system - Gartner sources released in 2000 quote this consideration as highly as 20% of the overall importance assigned to the purchasing criteria.

However, in the US, there seems to be a far greater national business focus on the features and functionalities of the various workflow systems. Gartner quotes these criteria as rating around 26% on the US`s overall list of important issues when choosing workflow. The events of 11 September seem to have focused corporate minds even more on the security and high-availability aspects of the technology. In any event, the `US national interest` in terms of purchasing still seems far more concerned with what the systems can do, rather than in how much they cost, or what the returns will be.

The business, cultural and financial criteria and attitudes to the uptake and deployment of workflow in SA differ yet again from the European/UK and US scenarios.

Due to the fact that the South African economy is far less `commoditised` than its US counterpart, with far fewer systems integrators in the market than is the case overseas, the local market places a far heavier importance on issues such as the workflow vendor`s partnerships and alliances, ease of installation of systems, and the calibre of reference sites.

The South African organisational mindset with regards to IT systems in general, particularly in the larger companies, seems to tend towards cynicism and even abdication of responsibility at times. The culture seems to be one of outsourcing ownership - and accountability - for technologies and operational systems.

An even greater reason for many companies abdicating IT responsibility is that, lured by the seemingly lucrative glow of pounds and dollars, many South African IT professionals are leaving the country in droves to seek opportunities elsewhere, resulting in even less corporate motivation to train and invest heavily in its staff. The result is that companies are now focusing more on their core competencies and outsourcing the balance of their IT functions to professional IT service providers.

So, given the above scenario, what are the local implications for the uptake of workflow in SA?

Workflow `product champions` and executive buy-in workflow requires product champions. Even a brilliant system, once implemented into an organisation, will never be correctly and sufficiently utilised if there is no executive or management buy-in or there is no pervasive and ongoing product training carried out.

The development and uptake of workflow is also impacted by prevailing trends in business, just like a country is. In the case of SA, various market sectors are radically re-examining their procedures and efficiencies due to various market pressures. These include local telecommunications operations, particularly in the cellular market; financial services organisations; utilities (for example, electricity and water providers); and other municipal and governmental bodies and departments.

Workflow is viewed, and applied, differently in these varying vertical industry segments. This tends to be the case, not just in the local South African context, but also all over the world. Take the financial services industry, for example. This is an industry, which, by its very nature, invests massively in detailed and efficient record-keeping, information management and processes. Thus, locally and internationally, the financial services corporate culture towards adopting workflow tends to be encouraging.

Conversely, in many other industry sectors and markets, meticulous adherence to processes and procedures is not highly valued. Take the transport and logistics industry, for example, where time-saving `short-cuts` such as branch managers personally delivering problematic parcels in the interests of customer service are lauded, even at the cost of consistent procedures and processes.

Workflow-related applications such as customer relationship management, as well as the efficient automation of back-office administrative procedures, are particularly popular, not just in SA, but internationally too. Gartner quotes the implementation of CRM-related workflow technologies being at the heart of some 68% of all business processes or applications being automated worldwide.

Understanding the various criteria, issues and trends that drive and affect global attitudes towards workflow, is the first step in gaining a `passport` to the `country` of workflow - an interesting and varied geographical and cultural landscape of efficiencies and possibilities.