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BNBuilders, a general contractor specializing in commercial construction projects, faced a significant challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. With over 500 full-time employees and approximately 250 additional unionized employees working across California and Washington, the company needed to ensure the safety of its workforce amidst the pandemic. The West Coast of the United States, where BNBuilders operates, was hit hardest by the virus, leading to stay-home orders for all non-essential workers. However, construction was considered an essential business, and BNBuilders' clients still expected projects to be delivered on time. The company's crisis response team determined that a daily check-in form was needed for anyone visiting its offices and job sites. This form, based on CDC recommendations, would allow BNBuilders’ crisis and safety teams to monitor the risk of possible virus exposure and enable contact tracing.

Bidvest SACD, a leader in supply chain management, was grappling with paper-based processes that made it challenging to track inventory and resolve process-related issues. The company's capital was largely tied up in inventory that wasn't accurately monitored, and managing expenditures was difficult due to non-standardized processes. Financial analysis was a time-consuming process, with information scattered between systems or stored on paper. The company was also hindered by operational inefficiencies due to their reliance on paper-based processes, limiting the information needed for effective decision-making and making timely decisions difficult. Additionally, without K2 Five, development cycles were long, making it challenging to support the needs of the business.

A leading consumer electronics company in Taiwan, with over 20 years in business, was seeking a dynamic and efficient workflow solution to manage diverse processes ranging from consumer sales to ISO documentation and employee onboarding. The company, known for its innovative products such as early smartphones, dual-camera technologies, and virtual reality (VR) systems, needed a workflow solution that could match its agility and innovation. The company was already using SharePoint for document management but found the workflow solution provided by SharePoint Designer to be slow and not user-friendly for non-technical employees. This resulted in a reliance on technical staff to create business workflows, which slowed down business managers who wanted to respond to new business needs rather than learning complex software tools.

ConnectWise, an award-winning software suite provider, faced significant challenges when they decided to integrate their four separate business units - ConnectWise Automate, ConnectWise Sell, ConnectWise Control, and ConnectWise Manage. These units had been operating independently, each with its own set of processes and tools. The integration resulted in a cluttered system with duplications, outdated documents, and process variations, which slowed down operations. The challenge was to streamline these processes and ensure effective communication across all units. The company also needed a solution that could integrate with their existing SharePoint system and be easy for their predominantly young workforce to use and understand.

CAE Australia, a global leader in providing comprehensive training solutions, faced a significant challenge when it outgrew its existing business process management (BPM) infrastructure. The company, which employs 8,000 people at over 160 sites and trains more than 120,000 aviation crew members annually, was struggling with a lack of clarity around roles and responsibilities. This lack of clarity was hindering the company's ability to embed continuous improvement into the fabric of their organization. Remi Guillemette, CAE Australia’s business processes and continuous improvement manager, recognized the need for a shift in the company's culture towards one that prioritized continuous improvement and process ownership. The challenge was to find a way to shift the focus from compliance to performance, without compromising on compliance, and to motivate employees to take ownership of their processes.

On March 13, 2020, Denver’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) faced an unprecedented challenge. The EOC, which is accustomed to responding to emergencies such as blizzards, floods, and power outages, had to quickly adapt to the new reality of the COVID-19 pandemic. The city officials sent workers home, including those on the EOC, as part of the government’s stay-at-home response to the pandemic. The challenge was to keep the EOC’s shift of 100 members working to ensure public safety when every tool and process they relied on was physically in a 1,000 sq. ft. facility to which they would no longer have access. The EOC had to quickly move its operations online to ensure productivity while EOC members worked from home during COVID-19 social distancing measures.

Community Colleges NZ, a charitable training establishment in New Zealand, was facing challenges with their paper-based quality management system (QMS). The system was time-consuming and often led to inconsistencies across different sites. The organization was also subject to inspections by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) that measured their educational performance and their ability to assess and improve themselves. After an inspection in 2012 rated them as ‘confident’ and a category 2 provider, the organization realized the need for a better way of recording improvement processes.

EG A/S, a leading software company in Scandinavia, was struggling with a manual process for onboarding and offboarding employees. This process involved a flurry of emails between line managers, human resources, and IT to authorize employee accounts, assign resources, and more. Offboarding required the return or reassignment of these assets in a secure way that protected the company and its network. The process was time-consuming and threatened to become more so as EG’s workforce continued to grow. Worse, there was no way to track the status of the myriad requests and resource allocations, leaving EG managers in the dark.

Equilibrium Financial Planning, a UK-based wealth management company, was facing challenges in maintaining consistent customer service due to the diverse approaches used by its multiple advisors. As the company's client base grew to over 1,200 managed accounts, the need for structured processes became evident to maintain the highest standard of customer service. With a team of seven advisors and a support staff of 90, each with unique ways of working, the firm lacked a documented approach to processes that ensured a consistent customer experience. The company faced a challenge in maintaining consistency in their approach to managing accounts, particularly when onboarding new clients. Simple mistakes could cost leads and negatively affect the reputation of the organization. In some cases, mistakes could even lead to regulatory violations and fines.

Extraco Banks, a community bank with over $1.5 billion in assets and 120,000 customers across 15 branch locations, was facing a challenge with its remote deposit capture (RDC) approval process. The process was manually reviewed and approved by the bank’s call center staff twice a day, which was time-consuming and inefficient. The bank wanted to automate this process to free up its staff and expedite the process for its customers. One of the bank’s most manual processes was approving RDC requests. Extraco’s call center team of just 15 was responsible for reviewing RDC requests in addition to fielding customer calls and questions. The manual process meant customers had to wait hours, sometimes days, to know if they were approved for remote deposit capture. The slow drawn-out approvals resulted in calls into the bank’s call center, with remote deposit capture requests ranking as one of the most common complaints.

Dairy Nutraceuticals (DNL), a New Zealand-based manufacturer and distributor of fortified powders, was facing increased compliance requirements related to food safety. These requirements focused on induction, training, and retraining of staff. The food manufacturing industry is heavily regulated, with regular stringent audits and increasing customer expectations for quality and safety. DNL needed to manage all their compliance documentation effectively. Moreover, the industry's growing focus on training and operator competence meant that DNL had to provide evidence that their staff members were not only trained but also competent in operating critical parts of the process. They also had to manage health and safety risks, financial risks, and production risks. The challenge was further compounded by the need to deliver training in different formats and capture records of training or competency.

The Australian service division of a global car manufacturer was struggling with maintaining consistent customer service standards across its dealership network. The traditional method of storing business processes in lengthy manuals was proving ineffective, as these were rarely used and often forgotten. This resulted in varying customer service procedures across the dealerships. The manufacturer was also unable to ensure that customers consistently received service excellence, and dealers found it difficult to access or share knowledge about best practices. The lack of a robust process management tool was hindering the manufacturer's commitment to quality and ongoing process improvement.

Goodwill of Central and Coastal Virginia (GCCVA), a non-profit organization providing job-training, employment placement services, and other community-based programs, was facing challenges with its IT infrastructure. The organization was heavily reliant on SharePoint 2010, using many InfoPath forms and SharePoint Designer workflows. However, these tools presented significant limitations, especially when interacting with other line-of-business systems. GCCVA had built custom applications on top of SharePoint, using native SharePoint rules, controls, and webparts. These applications required using a CodePlex list adapter to pull data out of SharePoint into a custom SQL database. This process was complicated and often caused many problems. Furthermore, InfoPath was slow and difficult to use, especially for non-developers. The organization was planning to migrate from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2019, which presented an opportunity to improve their IT infrastructure.

Greenline, a commercial shade sail manufacturer and installer, was aiming to achieve the gold standard of triple ISO accreditation. This was crucial for the Australian company as a significant portion of their work comes from government contracts, including schools and hospitals. The triple ISO certifications (environmental, quality assurance, and occupational health and safety) would serve as a symbol of trust, demonstrating their serious approach to risk. However, to gain certification, Greenline needed to prove that their manufacturing and safety processes were up to the mark. While their processes met the standard, their existing process management system was inadequate and unable to pass the stringent external audit.

La Trobe University's Infrastructure and Operations Division was faced with the daunting task of achieving three ISO certifications simultaneously. These certifications, while adding significant value to the organization, are notoriously difficult to achieve due to the extensive requirements around establishing and documenting processes. The team was working towards three standard certifications at once, which added a layer of complexity as they needed to consider quality, safety, and environmental sustainability while developing their processes. The process involved working with numerous subject matter experts to update and document processes. The challenge was further compounded by the fact that many of the people involved were unfamiliar with process mapping or ISO requirements.

Kiama Municipal Council, located on the South Coast of Australia, provides a wide range of services, from traditional government services to holiday parks and aged care facilities. However, the council faced a significant challenge as very few of their service-related processes were mapped, leading to numerous inefficiencies. The council needed to gain clarity about their operations and identify areas for improvement. The primary tasks were to understand what they do, how they do it, and then apply a lean methodology to identify opportunities for improvement. The challenge was to find a Business Process Management (BPM) tool that could be used and understood by all levels of the organization.

iNova Pharmaceuticals, a major pharmaceutical firm active across Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa, was seeking to expand its brands and geographic reach. However, the company faced challenges in handling business processes that required workflows across multiple departments and country locations. The existing processes were decentralized and ad hoc, based on email threads and a variety of SharePoint folders. This led to significant time wastage on manually intensive processes, such as chasing down people for approvals and documentation. The technology team was tasked with supporting a growing business with the same resources, which was proving to be a daunting task. The company needed a more effective and efficient way to manage these processes to support its growth strategy.

Lands’ End, a renowned international retailer, was facing a significant challenge in managing custom orders for logoed apparel. The process was manual, time-consuming, and prone to errors, leading to delays in delivering orders to customers and increased costs. The company had to handle individual custom orders as quickly and reliably as it handled standard orders to keep corporate customers satisfied. The custom order process involved communicating instructions for special orders within the company and to international suppliers and customers via email and phone. This resulted in a six-to-eight-week process to deliver customers’ orders. If the order wasn't right, the process had to start over, leading to 100% rework, 100% more cost, and a 100% delay.

Liverpool City Council, one of the fastest-growing areas in Australia, was preparing for significant new developments associated with the new Western Sydney International Airport. The council needed to improve its internal processes to better support this growth. The council provides a portfolio of services to residents and businesses in the area, with over 800 staff managing everything from waste and recycling facilities to parks, libraries, and childcare centres. As the area has grown, so too has the support delivered by the council, leading to a rise in the number of internal processes followed by staff across all departments and locations. Many of these processes had not been fully documented and important details only existed in the heads of staff, leading to a risk of knowledge loss if certain people left.

The European material-handling manufacturer was facing a significant challenge in generating custom price quotes for its customers. The process was complex, involving thousands of possible configurations, and was highly time-consuming, taking up to 10 days or more. The manufacturer receives about 10,000 such requests each year from customers who want to specify more than 140 variables for at least seven truck types, resulting in many thousands of possible custom combinations. The process also required the involvement of engineers for calculation and review, often necessitating clarification and confirmation of requirements, which further delayed the process. Additionally, finding the right quotation from among those already composed was another challenge, as proposal documents could be located in any of a variety of servers and email systems.

PowerObjects, a professional services firm and partner for Microsoft Dynamics 365, was facing challenges in its human resources and sales departments due to time-consuming, paper-based processes. The HR department was struggling with the paperwork involved in the hiring process, from creating and sending job descriptions to interviewing candidates and sending out offer letters. This process was not only cumbersome for the HR team but also for the candidates they were trying to recruit. Similarly, the sales department was grappling with a prolonged sales cycle due to the tedious paperwork involved. The lack of transparency within their system provided no insight into where the clients were in the signing/closing process, which sometimes led to lost sales and strained relationships with clients.

Berglandmilch, the largest dairy group in Austria, was facing a significant challenge in managing its complex packaging change process. With nearly 6,000 different packaging varieties and around 300 changes every month, the process was critical yet lacked transparency. The company primarily used paper forms, making it difficult to monitor the progress of projects and intervene promptly to prevent mistakes. The process involved as many as 15 different people from up to five internal departments, as well as several external suppliers such as graphic design agencies. The company needed more visibility into the status of any product at every stage of operation, especially considering the short shelf life of dairy products. Furthermore, the legal department had to check each change in detail to ensure compliance with national and international food labelling laws, adding another layer of complexity.

LVMH Italia, a distributor of premium brands of perfume and cosmetics throughout Italy, was facing significant challenges with its invoicing and approvals processes for retail vendors. The company, which markets luxury fragrance, skincare, and other cosmetic products from designer brands including Christian Dior, Fendi, Givenchy, and Kenzo, was experiencing delays in processing invoices due to incorrect or missing reference numbers. This led to deferred payments from retailers for LVMH Italia’s products, resulting in cash flow delays, wasted employee time, and potential damage to relationships with retail partners. Additionally, as part of the global LVMH group, LVMH Italia needed to adhere to group-level policies and provide evidence of compliance with international brand guidelines. This required a complex process for approving new retailers and re-approving existing ones every two years, to ensure they met the high standards appropriate for high-end cosmetics and perfumes.

Innovatix, the nation’s largest group purchasing organization (GPO) serving the non-acute care marketplace, was facing a significant challenge in managing its membership paperwork process. The company, along with its affiliate GPO, Essensa, manages a contract portfolio with thousands of contracts and processes over 10,000 contract documents per month. To join Innovatix or Essensa GPO, prospects must submit membership paperwork and contract documents with varying levels of detail. In some cases, there could be dozens of documents totaling over 100 pages. Many of these documents are provided by vendors, limiting the flexibility in streamlining the volume of paperwork. The company wanted to transition from a paper-based system to an electronic document generation system that integrated with their recent implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM® 2011 and supported automatic identification of documents and electronic (digital) signatures.

Shoosmiths, a UK-based law firm, was grappling with a fragmented workflow environment. The firm had been using workflow automation for over 15 years, during which it deployed 13 separate workflow technologies and solutions. The firm had implemented Microsoft SharePoint to centralize document management across its 11 offices and had also implemented SAP as its practice management and financial systems solution. Despite these implementations, the firm was still facing challenges with its workflow management. The firm recognized the benefits of having a single workflow platform integrated with SAP and SharePoint, which would allow them to move all their existing workflows onto one platform and use it as the basis for future workflow development within the business.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA), a government agency responsible for food standards in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, faced a significant challenge in collecting and consolidating data from around 200 meat production facilities. The process was time-consuming, inconsistent, and inefficient, relying heavily on spreadsheets and documents. It took at least two days to combine 200 spreadsheets for the monthly contamination report alone. Additionally, the agency struggled with data accuracy, with automation efforts frequently producing error readings. This was particularly problematic as the agency needed to publish its audits in support of the UK Government’s Data Transparency agenda. On the other hand, Shine Lawyers, a law firm, was concerned with simplifying its internal processes around client onboarding and improving customer experience. Prospective clients often contacted the firm outside of office hours, and without immediate action, these clients could potentially turn to other firms.

STIHL Australia, a retail company, was grappling with the inefficiencies of manual, paper-based processes. The company relied heavily on physical forms for various processes, including capital expenditure requests and product launches. This method was not only time-consuming but also resulted in a lack of visibility and accountability. The company had initially attempted to automate their workflow using Microsoft InfoPath, but the product's impending deprecation led them to seek a more robust and reliable platform. Additionally, STIHL's customer service was being hindered by these manual processes, preventing employees from focusing on delivering excellent customer experiences.

Angel Trains, one of Britain’s leading train leasing companies, was facing a significant challenge in managing its financial approvals process. The company, which has invested £5 billion in new trains and refurbishments of existing rolling stock, frequently needed to issue and approve purchase orders and contracts with values exceeding £100,000. This required a rigorous approval process that was both accurate and efficient. However, the company was struggling with a disconnected IT landscape, with over 10 separate custom business systems. This resulted in departmental silos with little or no integration with the company’s core asset management and financial systems. The IT landscape was complex, time-consuming to manage, and costly to adapt when business needs changed. The company needed a solution that could integrate its existing systems and automate the approval workflow.

The Australian energy company, a respected integrated coal and gas company, was facing significant challenges with its business processes. A large number of these processes involved the completion and approval of paper-based forms, leading to delays and inefficiencies. The company was in dire need of more agile processes to eliminate these delays. The manual execution of processes resulted in completion rate delays, reduction in productivity, inconsistent storage of data about the status of the process, the introduction of errors through manual data entry, and issues in status reporting. The company realized that digitizing their workflows and incorporating forms would not only reduce process completion times, but also increase productivity throughout the company.

Sarasin & Partners, a London-based asset management firm, was grappling with inefficient paper-based processes that were hampering its operational efficiency. The firm, which is responsible for investing £13.9 billion on behalf of its clients, needed its processes to be easily auditable. However, the reliance on paper forms and manual processes was creating bottlenecks. For instance, documents requiring approval signatures could be generated by 220 members of staff and passed across up to 8 different desks, over 3 floors in the building. This led to approval processes taking many days to complete, with employees often having to phone or email their colleagues to ascertain the status of an approval. The firm also faced challenges in ensuring compliance with stringent legislation enforced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK and other regulators. While the firm’s processes already complied with relevant regulations, they were not as efficient as they could have been. Furthermore, when audits occurred, employees faced the time-consuming task of collating all the necessary hard-copy documents to provide evidence of the firm’s regulatory compliance.