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How manual workflows delay decisions and what it’s really costing your business

Every business, at its core, is a chain of decisions.

Approve a purchase. Sanction a quote. Clear a payment. Authorize dispatch. Move material from one department to another.

When these decisions are smooth, business flows.
When they get stuck, everything slows down.

Let’s look at a familiar scenario:

A production team raises a raw material request.
The request is sent via email to the purchase manager.
The manager forwards it to accounts for budget confirmation.
Accounts sends it to the director for final approval.
The director is traveling. The request stays unread for two days.
Meanwhile, production halts due to material shortage.

This isn’t inefficiency. It’s simply what happens when businesses rely on manual, disconnected approval processes.

The Hidden Costs of Manual Approvals

• Delays = Downtime: Every hour lost waiting for an approval can impact production, service, or delivery timelines. These delays compound quickly and often silently.
• Poor Visibility: In most businesses, no one knows the exact status of a request once it’s “sent for approval.” Teams follow up via phone calls or emails, creating noise and confusion.
• Missed Opportunities: Urgent supplier deals, express shipments, or quick order fulfillment often depend on speedy decisions. Delays can mean lost revenue.
• Lack of Accountability: When approvals are informal and undocumented, there's no clear trail. It becomes difficult to audit decisions or identify bottlenecks.
• Fatigue & Frustration: Team members lose motivation when they feel they’re constantly waiting. The sense of urgency is lost and so is ownership.

What’s the Alternative?

The goal isn’t just speed. It’s structured speed.

Modern businesses adopt workflow-driven approvals that are:

• Predefined: who approves what and when
• Traceable: who approved it and when
• Role-based: based on value, urgency, or department
• Audit-ready: history of every action taken

You don’t need a large ERP to start thinking this way. Even small process automation tools can map and track approvals. But the long-term vision must be clear: moving toward a connected, transparent approval system that enables not delays business.

Questions to Ask:

• How long do typical approvals take in your business today?
• How many approvals happen via email or WhatsApp with no formal tracking?
• Is there a clear record of who approved what and why?
• Do you have escalation mechanisms for time-sensitive approvals?

If the answers raise concerns, your business is ready to rethink approvals and ultimately, workflows.