In a world where employees are increasingly treated as mere cogs in a machine, new approaches to onboarding can provide a much-needed breath of fresh air, and help to unlock the potential to transform the way companies view and treat their workforce.

In this episode of Process Street’s Employee Onboarding Podcast, we’ve got a riveting conversation between Erica Gordon Roberts and our host Erin Rice, who discuss a unique onboarding strategy that doesn’t just tick the boxes but also establishes a deep-rooted emotional connection with new hires.

We’ll delve into:

• The Importance of Buddy Programs
  • How different companies implement it
  • The unique approach to pairing ‘opposite’ employees
• The Role of Intentional Pairing
  • Criteria for pairing, including different offices, roles, and personality traits
  • The objective of fostering diverse perspectives and inclusivity
• The “Wow Factor” in Onboarding
  • Personalizing the onboarding experience through gifts
  • The process of gathering personal information to tailor the experience
• Impact on Employee Retention
  • The link between personalized onboarding and longer tenure
  • How even those who leave become brand ambassadors
• Company Culture and Onboarding
  • The influence of these practices on overall corporate culture
  • Real-life examples of the types of gifts given
• Emotional Connection and Employee Loyalty
  • How small gestures can create a long-lasting emotional bond
  • Examples of the kinds of emotional connections made
• Positive Experiences Upon Leaving a Company
  • The concept of turning even departing employees into brand ambassadors
  • Celebrating employees’ new opportunities

Join us as we explore the psychological underpinnings of this approach and its profound impact on employee retention and company culture. Discover why it’s the small, thoughtful gestures that can make the biggest difference, turning what could have been a forgettable start into an inspiring journey that employees will treasure for years to come.

You can listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

Introducing Erica Gordon Roberts

Erin Rice:
Welcome to Process Street’s Employee Onboarding Podcast, where we are unpacking great onboarding ideas and best practices from the world’s top HR practitioners and thought leaders. At Process Street, that starts with our mission to make recurring work fun, fast, and faultless for teams everywhere. My name is Erin Rice, and I’m the people and operations coordinator here at Process Street.

Today, I’m joined by Erica Gordon Roberts. Erica is the director of Human Resources for LookListen, an Atlanta-based digital marketing agency that cures pain points with a solution-first mindset and plan of action. She is also the founder and principal consultant of TIE Solutions Group, a leadership firm that provides individual and organizational people strategy and support to elevate the employee experience.

This includes customized training, HR strategic planning and consulting, and career coaching for emerging and C-suite leaders. Erica has spent 15 years in the people space improving the employee experience so they can become ambassadors before day one. Erica is an author, speaker, and coach, dedicated to listening, learning, and connecting policies and progress that align with an organization’s values and culture. 

When she’s not wearing the People Leader hat, she is cultivating relationships in her local schools and community organizations, mentoring future leaders, and creating experiences to expose them to career opportunities.

Icebreaker Discussion

Erin:
So before we dive in, I like to ask a silly icebreaker. And so this round, I’m asking: tacos or pizza? You can’t say both!

Erica:
That’s hard. So since I can’t say both, I’m going to have to go with tacos because I can probably make every variety and even give the flavor of a little bit of pizza in a taco.

Erin:
Oh yeah, in my house we like to make “pizzadillas” where you put pizza toppings inside a quesadilla. Have you ever tried that before?

Erica:
Okay, I haven’t; I have to add it to my repertoire. We’ve got a whole taco station and we’ll line up the whole counter with all the assortments of flavors. And I think there’s probably more taco sauce and lettuce on the floor when we finish, but it makes for a good meal.

Discussing Employee Onboarding Experiences

Erin:
Yeah, it sounds awesome. We love tacos at our house too. Awesome! Well, now what we really came here for: employee onboarding. So you have had lots of experience, it sounds like in the HR field. I would love to hear a little bit about your personal onboarding with your current company.

Erica:
Oh, goodness. So it’s interesting because my current company, I actually joined right at the tail end of dealing with some of the COVID protocol. So I actually came in as folks were just re-entering the workspace and we had a scare the day before my first day because we’re going to meet in person. And my hiring manager said, I think myself or one of my kids may have COVID. So I really apologize because I know we’re scheduled to meet face to face, but I think we’re going to have to take on a virtual aspect. And so we reshifted the onboarding piece.

Unique Onboarding Challenge: Being the HR Leader

The irony of it is because I was their first official HR leader, I’m onboarding both from the perspective of a new hire and auditing the process simultaneously. So it made for a very interesting journey. Once we got beyond that first day and no COVID and we’re able to connect, I was able to meet with some of the staff and because we’re housed in both Atlanta and Denver, I even had a chance from an onboarding perspective to spend some time with both teams as a new hire, learning the team in the process, but also as the HR leader, understanding what’s important in the onboarding process.

Scaling HR in a Growing Company

Erin:
So when you say you were the first HR leader, does that mean that there wasn’t anyone in HR before you?

Erica:
So ironically enough, there are a couple of things in play. There probably was about a year and a half gap where there was no one even in the HR title process. Before then, there was like an HR person who was an office manager who kind of did a little bit of a dual role. The financial officer at the time was actually wearing double hats. 

So she’s handling some of the HR pieces as well as the financial pieces. Which was great because you knew from an auditory standpoint and from a compliance standpoint, there were not going to be any challenges. So they had a lot of the administrative things in play because she is so detailed, but what she wasn’t necessarily able to get was really focus on the people, but bringing me in was to help make sure that things they were doing would help from where we were. But to also support scaling because we’re a small company and looking to scale and get larger. So they wanted to make sure the administrative things that were in play were in compliance, not only from a legal standpoint, but to make sure that the experience for the employees was right and on time. And so, because I came from a larger company, I was able to provide some of that insight as well.

Understanding Employee Needs: A Holistic Onboarding Experience

Erin:
Yeah, so coming on board in that kind of capacity, how did you start contributing?

Erica:
So from day one, I scheduled one-on-one meetings with every single employee in the company. So it was, “Hey, I’m Erica, and I’m here to help. Tell me a little bit about what you do, what has worked well in your journey as an employee, and what are some of your pain points?” 

I also took the time to read through all of the documentation, whether it was old videos from town hall meetings, the digital employee handbook, or even some of the briefs for the clients to understand what the culture of the company was. 

And then the fun part was taking the time to look at the previous survey results and understanding the successes, the challenges, the pain points, and where, as an HR leader, I could help support improving the overarching employee experience.

Dual Perspectives: Being Both New Hire and HR Leader

Erin:
Wow, so it sounds like you were already an HR leader while you were a new hire, while you were onboarding.

Erica:
Yes, the irony of it is I would have a one-on-one check-in with my supervisor at the time and she would go, “Okay, so give me your perspective as a new hire. Tell me how everything’s going.” 

And we’d have that conversation. Then we’d flip the script and I’d have to put on my HR hat. I’d say, “So these are the things I’ve observed that we could work better on. These are the things we’re doing well.” And so, to be able to wear both hats simultaneously was a challenge, but I think it gave me a greater appreciation because oftentimes when you don’t experience the journey and you’re making changes to policies and practices, you miss the gap. And there’s a disconnect because you haven’t experienced it. 

So to experience it firsthand allowed me the opportunity to recognize where we could really make things better, but also where we could celebrate the things we had done well.

Balancing Big Ideas and Current Culture

Erin:
And I bet going from such a large company you mentioned before we started this that your previous company had 20,000 employees to a smaller company with just 20, I bet you had so many ideas to share.

Erica:
Oh, tons. And I had to take a step back because while I know there are a lot of great ideas to share, you also have to recognize your current culture. So I vowed to spend the first six months understanding current culture. The challenge was understanding current culture in the midst of a recession. 

So in the midst of preparing to scale and grow and understand culture, we were also shifting our culture due to layoffs and just transitions across the market. But also taking the time to say, what are some best practices that I’ve seen? 

That we’ve discussed here at the company we want to improve upon, and how do I make those mirrors and match for the quantity of employees we have without it becoming overwhelming.

Customizing Onboarding for Individual Learning Styles

Erin:
Right? So if you had a new hire join today, what are the tips that you would share with them to make their onboarding experience the most positive that they can?

Erica:
The first tip I would definitely share is, “Tell me how you best learn, and allow us to modify the onboarding to fit your needs.” If you’re a visual learner, we’ll spend more time with the visual aspect. If you like to touch, taste, feel, we’re gonna get your hands dirty. So really, to understand what’s your best method of learning so that we can customize our training to support that.

Gathering Information for Onboarding

Erin:
That’s awesome. And do they share that verbally? Do they share that in an email? How do you gather that information?

Erica:
So a couple of ways, I actually do the pre-screening for all of our new hires. And so I’ve already connected with them that one time and I gauge it from some of the general questions I asked then, but even in the week before we start, I send a welcoming email and ask the question: “Hey, you’re a week away from joining us. Excited to see you. Here are the things you need to do to prepare.”

Usually, based on how they respond, I get an energy and feeling for where I need to move forward. But the day they walk in the building, I ask, “What’s your preferred method of learning?” We actually do some additional training and testing based on this. We use this information to help further develop the onboarding process.

Personal Evolution and DISC Profiles

Erin:
That’s so interesting. I haven’t heard about DISC in a really long time. I used it back in my education career. It’s interesting how it has changed as I’ve evolved as an individual. It’s great that you all do that.

Collaborative Communication

Erica:
What’s really cool about the onboarding process for us is that we share everyone’s DISC profiles. As a new hire, you can go onto our web and see everybody’s profile. This lets you understand how to communicate with individuals and what their preferred needs are. 

When we do collaborative work, we actually use some of the DISC profiles to help support partnering not with like-minded people, but with people who have different thought processes. This helps foster more creativity in the workspace, which is obviously critical in a creative space.

Importance of Diverse Viewpoints in Marketing

Erin:
I was thinking about that in relation to digital marketing. Is that correct?

Erica:
Yes, we’re in the marketing sector.

Erin:
That would require lots of different types of viewpoints and cultural perspectives to really get to all the different target audiences you’re trying to reach.

Leveraging Diversity for Client Support

Erica:
Absolutely, and because most of the folks who join us are not traditional agency folks, you already have a diverse group of thoughts at the table. Balancing these two aspects makes a difference. Leveraging those differences has made us stronger and better able to support our client base.

Individual-Centric Onboarding

Erin:
It sounds like you really take the individual into account when onboarding new people. How do you balance individuality and the need for consistent information?

Erica:
That’s probably the hardest part of the journey. Check-ins play a huge role. We have a foundational structure built into a task builder. This outlines mandatory and necessary tasks for onboarding someone, whether it’s understanding health benefits, our project management system, or even basic things like where the restroom is located. We have a checklist for these items. 

After covering these basics, the conversation turns to what the individual employee needs to be successful, which we determine from their previous experience, interviews, and the initial days of onboarding. This informs what subsequent days of onboarding look like.

Onboarding Timelines and Retention

Erin:
That’s so interesting. Would you say onboarding lasts about six months, or does it start sooner than their first day?

Erica:
I define the first phase as “pre-boarding,” starting from the time you post a job. How you communicate during this phase sets the tone for an employee’s long-term relationship with the company. 

Real onboarding lasts about 120 days, during which time expectations vary. Training wheels don’t really come off until the 121st day, but even then, there’s still learning to do.

Continuous Learning and Adaptation

Erin:
Absolutely. What about those who maybe leave and come back, or maybe get promoted? Is there another round of onboarding?

Erica:
Yes, there is. We discuss expectations for new roles, especially managerial ones. We customize training based on an individual’s self-identified weaknesses. 

If someone has been with the company before and returns in a new capacity, we treat them as a new arrival. We adjust the onboarding process according to their needs and level of experience.

Final Thoughts on Effective Leadership

Erin:
That’s great. I love the idea of onboarding being beyond just learning about the company. It’s about adapting to a new role, even if you’ve been there for three years.

Erica:
Absolutely. I mean, to have a reflection of what the company was versus what it is now is great. But you’ve grown and learned as an individual. If I come in expecting you to be the same person, then I’m doing you a disservice. I want to make sure we’re clear on both aspects—what’s successful and where we need to change.

Culture Fit vs Culture Add

Erin:
Absolutely, and in HR we talk a lot about a culture fit versus a culture add. Ultimately, we want more culture-adds because we want people to continue with that evolution of growth to help our company evolve.

The Impact of Technology on Roles

Erin:
Speaking of evolution, technology is changing very quickly. There’s a lot of talk around AI and the way that it will enhance or not enhance our different roles. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how things are changing.

Erica:
So it’s ironic because AI also causes some scare, if you will, for the industry as a whole. You’re talking about creatives who are now hearing words about AI taking over certain roles and responsibilities. I think anything and everything in moderation is great.

Human Element in Technology

Erica:
I firmly believe that you can use AI. It can give you foundationally the basics, and then you build from it. The challenge becomes if you don’t teach people how to do it right. Rather than running from it, say, hey, it’s here. 

How do we leverage it? How do we use it? How do we become better at it? The diversity of technology, whether it’s VR or AI, allows us a space to connect with some employees who thrive in that space.

Onboarding and AI

Erin:
Yeah, definitely. And is there anything that you all are doing that uses AI in the onboarding process?

Erica:
Not at this time. Most of our onboarding is based upon things that we’ve set in play. But nothing necessarily in the AI space at this time.

Future Potential of AI in HR

Erin:
Interesting. I’m very curious to see how HR leaders and people leaders figure out ways to leverage this in new different ways.

Erica:
I think depending on where your space is, you’ll struggle with it. My biggest fear and worry for HR leaders globally is making sure the information is used as a tool, not as the sole resource.

Hybrid Work Environments

Erin:
Yeah, that’s awesome. So we mentioned earlier that you are in a hybrid environment. I’d love to hear a little more about how that is determined in terms of how much is in person when you’re onboarding.

Erica:
So the irony of the hybrid environment we’re in now is the employees helped determine this one. We operated in a hybrid capacity, meaning we have the tools and resources so that if you’re operating remotely, you have what you need. 

But we also make sure that if I am at home and I’m working, and you’re in the office and you’re working, neither one of you feels excluded.

Feedback Loop and Continuous Improvement

Erica:
Well, and I’ll tell you, at the end of the day, whenever we change a process or change a policy, the first thing I say is based upon your feedback from the last survey. Here’s what we’re doing. Don’t just give feedback lightly and don’t not give it because you think no one’s listening.

Human Resources to People Leaders

Erin:
To create these small shifts, you get those people who are in the middle of the world. And from my perspective, that is the biggest shift from human resources to people leaders.

Erica:
Absolutely.

Erin:
It really is, you know, that idea of leading the people, not doing the work for them, just leading them there.

Creating “Wow” Moments for New Hires

Erica:
So I can’t take credit for this one, but I will say it’s one we’re doing in our current culture. We actually pair opposites for our buddy programs. So you have to be in different offices, different roles and responsibilities, and on opposite spectrums of the DISC profile.

The Power of Buddy Programs in Employee Onboarding

Erica:
So I can’t take credit for this one, but I will say it’s one we’re doing in our current culture. I’ve always talked about the importance of buddy programs and every company I’ve been with, it’s had a different impact and influence. 

We actually pair opposites for our buddy programs. So you have to be in different offices, different roles and responsibilities, and on opposite spectrums of the DISC profile. So we’re very intentional and make sure you’re totally different so that you can see the best in people who are not like you.

The ‘Wow’ Factor

The pairing is not what’s the interesting piece. The interesting part is, I send some communication to the new employee and I say, “Hey, I’ve paired you with a buddy to help you get used to the culture of the company. Here’s your connection. They’ll be scheduling some time to meet with you.”

The wow factor is while that person is scheduling time to meet with them, they’re also digging for information. What’s their favorite food? What’s their favorite color? What do they like to do when they’re not at work? Do they have kids? Do they have pets? Do they have a favorite sports team?

So they’re having this just casual conversation, but they’re actually digging in to find out what’s the one thing that really makes their heart smile. And so they take that information, they send me three gift ideas. And based on those three gift ideas, we send a gift to the employee’s home, compliments of their buddy.

Unforgettable Experiences

And when I tell you that gifts have been everything from crochet purses to shot glasses to a Monopoly set for someone’s alma mater, and each and every time the person is just like overjoyed and it’s a gift from their buddy.

And when I circle back and talk to someone a year from now, they’re like, “You know what, the most important thing that stood out to me during my onboarding was my time with my buddy.” And it’s something so small and so simple, but it lends you to understand that someone’s taking the time just to listen.

Creating Company Ambassadors

And that’s how you create ambassadors because they recognize you actually listen. You took a water hose and plugged it to my face and said, “Here’s all the things about this company,” and were overwhelmed with all this information. 

But in the midst of all that, you remember that I like college football with my kids and you bought me a small football for me to go in the front yard and play football with my kids. 

That’s how you create ambassadors. You connect and you understand what is important to them and you remember. 

And you remember it six months from now, a year from now, when football season comes, you send a Slack message like, “Here’s hoping your team loses because we are rival teams.”

Retaining and Reconnecting Employees

Erin:
That’s amazing, and I can only imagine how that has impacted retention at your company.

Erica:
Absolutely, absolutely. And the agency space is one that typically has frequent turnover. I am fortunate enough with the team that I’m with now, we’ve got folks that have been here a long time. And then we have folks that turn, but the folks that turn, they usually turn because they’ve got bigger and better things that we can celebrate with them.

And somehow we always manage to reconnect, whether it’s through clients or through work together, but that’s how you create ambassadors. So even when they move on, we celebrate those successes and there’s always an opportunity to reconnect.

Creating a Positive Employee Experience

Erin:
Isn’t it amazing to be able to leave a company and have a positive experience in that kind of space?

Erica:
Absolutely.

Erin:
That’s amazing. Well, thank you so much, Erica. This has been lovely. I have so many nuggets that I have written down that I plan to take back to my team as well. And I’m sure those listening would feel the same. So, yeah, thank you again.

Erica:
Thanks, and I appreciate the time. It’s been fun.

Listen to The Employee Onboarding Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms!

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Let us know what you thought about this episode in the comments below – and feel free to offer suggestions for future topics and guests, too.

The post Podcast: The ‘Wow’ Factor: Rethinking Employee Onboarding & Retention first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

The widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing has reached a pivotal moment. Nowadays, it’s rare to come across any company, regardless of its size, that doesn’t leverage cutting-edge AI marketing tools to better their brand or business’s marketing efforts.

Whether you’re a blogger, an e-commerce entrepreneur, an affiliate marketer, or part of a global corporation, including AI-powered marketing tools into your business strategy is an absolute game-changer. 

By harnessing the power of AI, you can orchestrate and execute highly impactful marketing campaigns that propel you towards achieving your goals with unmatched speed and efficiency. 

But we know marketing is a vast space with many different mediums. That’s why we’ve found a tool for every aspect of marketing, from content creation to comprehensive marketing process management. Check it out:

• Process AI: Best for building and running marketing processes
• AI Carousels: Best for creating social media content
• Optimove: Best for processing marketing campaign data
• GrowthBar: Best for SEO optimization
• Opus Clip: Best for short-form video creation 
• ElevenLabs: Best for text-to-speech audio creation 
• AI Buster: Best for writing assistance
• GetGenie: Best for content marketing
• Graphite: Best for marketing strategy creation
• Capsule AI Studio: Best for video content creation  
• Maximizing your marketing efforts: Working smarter, not harder

Process AI: Best for building and running marketing processes

Process Street’s Process AI can be utilized as a powerful marketing tool to streamline and optimize various marketing processes. Here are some ways Process Street’s Process AI can be used for marketing:

Lead generation and qualification

Process AI can assist in automating lead generation and qualification processes. By integrating with CRM systems or marketing automation platforms, Process AI can:

• Automatically analyze incoming leads
• Qualify these leads based on predefined criteria
• Assign them to the appropriate sales or marketing teams for further follow-up

Campaign planning and execution

Marketing teams spend tons of time planning and executing their campaigns. Including Process AI in this process can help streamline the campaign planning and execution stages. 

This AI marketing tool can automate the creation of campaign workflows, providing step-by-step instructions for each task, setting deadlines, and assigning responsibilities. All this is constructed through a single prompt. 

When the workflow has been set up with Process AI, you can run the process to ensure that campaign activities are properly executed, and there’s a paper trail of everything that’s been done for added accountability and transparency. 

Content creation and publishing

Process AI proves invaluable in various content creation and publishing scenarios, enhancing productivity and output quality. Here are a few examples of how Process AI can be useful:

Blogging

Process AI can automate the workflow for blog post creation and publishing. It can assist in keyword research, outline building, and the necessary approvals from picking a title to publishing the blog. This streamlines the entire process, ensuring consistent quality and saving time for content creators.

Social media management

With Process AI, social media tasks become effortless. It can automate the scheduling and publishing of posts across platforms, track engagement metrics, and suggest optimal posting times. 

By simplifying these tasks, Process AI allows marketing teams to focus on crafting engaging content and fostering meaningful interactions with their audience.

Email marketing

Process AI can streamline the process of creating and sending marketing emails. It can help generate personalized email templates, optimize subject lines and call-to-action phrases, and automate email sequencing. This not only saves time but also ensures a cohesive and effective email marketing strategy.

Content review and editing

Process AI plays a significant role in the review and editing process. The AI-powered process management platform automated constructed a workflow with tasks around:

• Checking grammar, spelling, and readability
• Ensuring that content meets high-quality standards
• Fact-checking statistics and information 

Tasks are also included to ensure and feedback from editors is easily visible, making the editing process more efficient and effective.

Content localization

When expanding into international markets, Process AI aids in content localization. It can help with translation, cultural adaptation, and ensuring consistency across different language versions of the content. This streamlines the localization process and helps maintain brand voice and messaging integrity.

AI Carousels: Best for creating social media content 

AI Carousels can be an excellent marketing tool for social media creation, offering a visually engaging and interactive way to share content with your audience. 

Here’s how AI Carousels can be used as a marketing tool for social media:

Storytelling and information sharing

AI Carousels allow you to tell a story or share information in a dynamic and captivating manner. You can use each carousel slide to convey a different message or highlight various aspects of your product, service, or brand. 

Product showcases and demos

AI Carousels are ideal for showcasing your products or services. The tool can create visually appealing slides that highlight different product variations, demonstrate usage scenarios, or showcase customer testimonials. By using AI-generated visuals or graphics, you can create attention-grabbing carousels that stand out from the competition.

Interactive quizzes and polls

Utilize AI Carousels to effectively boost engagement by incorporating interactive polls or quizzes that resonate with your audience’s interests. Engaging your audience through thought-provoking questions, multiple-choice options, and direct interaction within the carousel fosters a deeper connection. 

This strategy not only increases engagement but also offers valuable insights and feedback from your audience, empowering you to make data-driven decisions. 

Before and after comparisons

If your product or service involves transformations or improvements, AI Carousels can effectively showcase before and after scenarios. This can be particularly useful in industries such as fitness, home improvement, or beauty. 

By presenting visually compelling comparisons, you can demonstrate the effectiveness of your offerings and generate interest and desire among your target audience.

User-generated content

AI Carousels offer a valuable opportunity to harness the power of user-generated content (UGC) and create meaningful connections with your audience. By encouraging individuals to share their photos, videos, or testimonials, you can curate these submissions into captivating carousels. 

This strategic approach not only amplifies authenticity but also nurtures a vibrant sense of community and active engagement with your brand. By showcasing UGC through AI Carousels, you not only empower your audience but also foster a sense of ownership and pride among contributors. 

Mini tutorials or tips

Use AI Carousels to provide quick and actionable tutorials or tips related to your industry or niche. Each slide can feature a bite-sized tip, accompanied by visuals or graphics that enhance understanding and retention. This positions your brand as an authority and provides value to your audience.

Seasonal promotions and campaigns

AI Carousels can be employed to promote seasonal offers, discounts, or limited-time campaigns. By creating visually appealing slides with persuasive copy and compelling visuals, you can generate excitement and urgency among your audience, encouraging them to take advantage of your promotions.

Optimove: Best for processing marketing campaign data

Optimove is a powerful marketing tool that specializes in customer relationship management (CRM) and customer retention. It offers advanced AI-powered data analytics and segmentation capabilities, enabling businesses to personalize their marketing efforts and maximize customer lifetime value. 

Here’s how Optimove can be used as an AI marketing tool:

Customer segmentation

Optimove helps businesses segment their customer base effectively. It utilizes advanced algorithms and machine learning to analyze customer behavior, preferences, and purchase history. 

This allows you to create targeted customer segments based on various attributes such as: 

• Demographics
• Purchase frequency
• Browsing behavior
• Engagement level

With well-defined segments, you can tailor your marketing campaigns to specific customer groups, improving relevancy and response rates.

Personalized campaigns

With Optimove, you can create highly personalized marketing campaigns across multiple channels, including:

• Email
• Mobile push notifications
• SMS

Leveraging customer data and segmentation, you can deliver tailored messages, recommendations, and offers that resonate with individual customers. Personalization boosts engagement, customer satisfaction, and conversion rates, leading to increased revenue and loyalty, which is exactly what you want to achieve. 

A/B testing and optimization

Optimove facilitates A/B testing and optimization of your marketing campaigns. You can experiment with different content, messaging, offers, and delivery times to identify the most effective strategies. Through data-driven insights and analytics, you can refine your campaigns and continuously improve their performance, maximizing conversions and revenue.

ROI analysis and reporting

The AI-powered tool is designed with comprehensive reporting and analysis tools to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. It enables you to:

• Track key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Measure ROI
• Assess the impact of different marketing initiatives

With actionable insights, you can make data-driven decisions, allocate resources efficiently, and optimize your marketing strategies.

GrowthBar: Best for SEO optimization

GrowthBar is a marketing tool designed to help businesses optimize their online marketing efforts and improve their search engine visibility. It provides valuable SEO (Search Engine Optimization) insights and data directly within your browser, allowing you to make informed decisions and take actionable steps to grow your online presence. 

Here’s how GrowthBar can be used as a marketing tool:

Keyword research

You’re provided with an all-inclusive set of tools for conducting keyword research. Within the GrowthBar platform, you have the ability to: 

• Delve into keyword volumes
• Assess competition levels
• Discover related keyword suggestions

This enables you to pinpoint valuable keywords that are in sync with your business and cater to your target audience. By seamlessly integrating keyword research into your content strategy, you can optimize your website and craft content that not only attracts organic traffic but also captures relevant search queries.

Competitor analysis

GrowthBar enables you to analyze your competitors’ websites and online presence. You can gain insights into their: 

• Top-ranking keywords
• Backlink profiles
• Traffic estimates

This information allows you to understand your competitors’ strategies and identify areas of opportunity. You can then refine your own SEO and marketing tactics to outperform your competitors and capture a larger share of the market.

On-page SEO optimization

This AI marketing tool offers on-page SEO recommendations for your website’s pages. It analyzes factors such as meta tags, headers, content length, keyword usage, and internal linking. By following these recommendations, you can: 

• Optimize your web pages for search engines
• Improve your organic rankings
• Increase the visibility of your website in search results

Backlink analysis

Insights into backlinks are easily available through GrowthBar, which is a crucial factor for search engine rankings. You can view your own backlink profile as well as your competitors’ backlinks. This helps you identify authoritative websites and potential link-building opportunities. By acquiring high-quality backlinks, you can enhance your website’s: 

• Authority
• Credibility
• Search engine rankings

Content strategy

GrowthBar assists in developing an effective content strategy. By analyzing search volumes, competition levels, and related topics, you can identify content gaps and opportunities in your industry. This enables you to create valuable, relevant, and SEO-friendly content that resonates with your target audience and attracts organic traffic.

Local SEO

If you have a local business, GrowthBar provides specific features for local SEO optimization. It helps you identify local keywords, track local rankings, and analyze local competitors. This allows you to optimize your website and online presence to target customers in specific geographic locations, improving your visibility in local search results.

SERP analysis

GrowthBar provides a detailed analysis of search engine results pages (SERPs) for specific keywords. You can view: 

• Organic search results
• Paid advertisements
• Featured snippets
• Related searches

This information helps you understand the SERP landscape and adjust your SEO and content strategies accordingly to increase your chances of ranking higher and capturing more clicks.

Opus Clip: Best for short-form video creation 

Opus Clip is an AL-powered video editing and screen recording tool that can be utilized as a marketing tool to create engaging visual content for various marketing purposes. 

Here’s how Opus Clip can be used in marketing:

Video content creation

With Opus Clip’s intuitive interface and editing features, you can craft compelling video content that captures the attention of your audience and communicates your marketing messages effectively. The tool allows you to create professional-looking videos to promote your products, services, or brand. You can edit and enhance your videos by adding text overlays, annotations, transitions, and effects. 

Screen recording and product demonstrations

Opus Clip’s screen recording feature enables you to capture your computer screen, making it ideal for creating product demonstrations, tutorials, or software walkthroughs. You can record your screen while showcasing the features and benefits of your product or providing step-by-step instructions. This helps potential customers better understand your offerings and increases their engagement with your brand.

Social media marketing

This AI marketing tool supports video optimization for various social media platforms. You can easily resize and customize your videos to meet the specific requirements of platforms like: 

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn 

This allows you to create tailored video content for different social media channels, improving your reach and engagement with your target audience.

Video ads and promotions

You can easily create eye-catching video ads and promotional content with Opus Clip. With this AI tool, you can leverage its editing features to add call-to-action (CTA) overlays, branded elements, and captivating visuals. By creating compelling video ads, you: 

• Capture the interest of potential customers
• Increase click-through rates
• Drive conversions

Video testimonials and customer stories

Opus Clip helps you create impactful video testimonials and customer stories. You can interview satisfied customers or partners and edit the footage to create persuasive video content that highlights the benefits and success stories related to your products or services. Video testimonials add credibility to your brand and can influence the purchasing decisions of potential customers.

Video email marketing

You’re empowered to streamline the video production for your email campaigns with Opus Clip. This AI marketing tool lets you create personalized video content, which can significantly improve: 

• Open rates
• Click-through rates
• Overall engagement with your audience

You can record short video messages, product updates, or special offers and embed them in your email communications. 

ElevenLabs: Best for text-to-speech audio creation 

ElevenLabs’ Prime Voice AI can be used as a marketing tool to enhance various aspects of content creation and audience engagement. 

Here’s how it can be utilized:

Enhanced storytelling 

Prime Voice AI offers realistic Text-to-Speech (TTS) and Voice Cloning capabilities. This allows marketers to create compelling audio content for storytelling purposes. Whether it’s for podcasts, video game development, short stories, or branded content, the lifelike voices generated by Prime Voice AI can enhance the immersive experience and captivate the audience.

Language expansion

Expanding into new markets and languages is a significant opportunity for marketers. With Prime Voice AI, you can generate top-quality spoken audio in multiple languages, allowing you to reach and engage diverse audiences globally. This can help increase: 

• Brand awareness
• Accessibility
• Audience growth

Speech synthesis for marketing content

Prime Voice AI’s Speech Synthesis tool allows marketers to convert written marketing content, such as blog posts, social media updates, and promotional materials, into professional audio quickly. This enables you to offer audio versions of your content, catering to users who prefer listening over reading. It enhances accessibility and provides an additional touchpoint to connect with your audience.

Brand voice customization

With VoiceLab, marketers can design entirely new synthetic voices or clone their own voices. This allows for customization and consistency in brand voice across various audio content. Having a unique and recognizable brand voice can strengthen brand identity and improve brand recall among your audience.

AI Buster: Best for writing assistance 

AI Buster is an advanced AI-powered writing assistant for content creation. 

Here’s how it can be used in your marketing team: 

Content generation

AI Buster enables marketers to generate a wide range of content types such as blog posts, product reviews, case studies, and more. Marketers can easily leverage the AI-powered writing assistant to quickly create high-quality content tailored to their target audience. This content can then be used to:

• Attract organic traffic
• Engage website visitors
• Drive conversions

Auto-blogging

AI Buster simplifies the content creation, scheduling, and publishing workflow. Marketers can automate their blogging activities by using the tool to generate blog posts and then schedule them for publishing. This ensures:

• A consistent publishing schedule
• Keeps the website fresh with new content
• Enhances overall website performance

Content optimization

You can use AI Buster for content optimization. Marketers can input existing content into the tool and receive suggestions for improvements, such as enhancing readability, improving SEO, or making the content more compelling. This optimization feature helps marketers refine their content for better performance and audience engagement.

GetGenie: Best for content creation 

GetGenie leverages AI algorithms and machine learning to automate various content and SEO tasks, such as keyword research, content optimization, competitor analysis, and performance tracking. 

Here’s how it can be used: 

Automated keyword research

The AI algorithms offered by GetGenie can analyze search trends, user behavior, and competitor data to provide automated keyword research. Marketers can quickly identify relevant keywords and phrases to optimize their content for better search engine visibility and attract targeted organic traffic.

Content optimization

GetGenie offers content optimization recommendations based on AI-driven analysis. It can suggest improvements to headings, meta tags, content structure, and keyword usage to help marketers create SEO-friendly content that ranks well in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Competitor analysis

With GetGenie’s competitor analysis feature, marketers can gain valuable insights into their competitors’ SEO strategies. The tool can identify competitor keywords, backlink profiles, and content gaps, enabling marketers to refine their own strategies and stay ahead in the competitive landscape.

Performance tracking

This AI marketing tool provides real-time SEO analysis and performance tracking. Marketers can monitor:

• Keyword rankings
• Organic traffic metrics
• Backlink profiles

These metrics help marketers assess the effectiveness of their SEO efforts. The tool offers actionable insights and recommendations for improving website visibility and increasing organic traffic based on these metrics.

Graphite: Best for marketing strategy creation

Graphite is an analytics tool that uses AI to interpret data and turns it into strategic marketing strategies. 

Here’s how Graphite can be used as an AI marketing tool:

Data visualization

Graphite enables marketers to create visually compelling charts, graphs, and dashboards to represent marketing data. You can import data from various sources, such as: 

• CRM systems
• Web analytics tools
• Social media platforms
• Advertising platforms

By visualizing your data, you can quickly identify patterns, trends, and correlations, allowing for better understanding and interpretation of marketing performance.

Performance tracking

With Graphite, you can track and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) related to your marketing efforts. By creating customized dashboards, you can view real-time metrics such as: 

• Website traffic
• Conversion rates
• Email campaign performance
• Social media engagement
• Advertising ROI

This helps you measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and optimize them for better results.

Campaign analysis

Graphite allows you to analyze the performance of your marketing campaigns in detail. You can track metrics like impressions, clicks, conversions, and revenue across different channels and campaigns. 

By visualizing this data, you can identify which campaigns are driving the most value and allocate your marketing budget accordingly. It also helps you identify underperforming campaigns and take corrective actions.

Customer segmentation

You’re provided with easy customer segmentation and analysis. By combining demographic, behavioral, and transactional data, you create meaningful customer segments. 

From here, you can understand the characteristics and behaviors of different customer groups. This enables you to: 

• Personalize your marketing efforts
• Tailor messages (and offers to specific segments) 
• Improve overall customer targeting

Marketing funnel analysis

Graphite helps you analyze and optimize your marketing funnel. You can track the customer journey from awareness to conversion and identify any bottlenecks or areas for improvement. 

By visualizing the conversion rates at each stage of the funnel, you can pinpoint areas where customers drop off or get stuck. This allows you to optimize your marketing strategies and tactics to improve conversion rates and drive more sales.

Capsule AI Studio: Best for video content creation  

Capsule AI Studio, an AI-assisted video editor and uses AI to automatically add professional-looking video elements like motion graphics, B-roll, and captions. 

Here’s how it can be utilized as an AI marketing tool: 

Quick and professional video editing

Capsule AI Studio leverages AI technology to automatically add professional-looking video elements like: 

• Motion graphics
• B-roll footage
• Captions

This allows marketers to create visually engaging videos without the need for advanced video editing skills or relying heavily on professional editors. The tool streamlines the video editing process, saving time and effort.

On-brand and customizable videos

With Capsule AI Studio, marketers can ensure that their videos are on-brand and align with their visual identity. The tool allows for customization, enabling users to incorporate their own: 

• Branding elements
• Logos
• Colors
• Fonts

This ensures consistency across marketing videos, enhancing brand recognition and maintaining a cohesive visual presence.

Maximizing your marketing efforts: Working smarter, not harder

In today’s marketing landscape, AI has become a game-changer. It’s hard to find any company, big or small, that isn’t using cutting-edge AI tools to supercharge their marketing.

No matter if you’re a blogger, an online seller, or part of a huge corporation, adding AI-powered marketing tools to your playbook is a total game-changer. These tools let you run killer marketing campaigns that help you reach your goals crazy fast.

The future of marketing? It’s all about AI – making things efficient, effective, and seriously exciting. And if you’re not jumping on the bandwagon, your marketing results will fall behind. 

Do you have any other use cases for marketing tools that you’d like to see powered by AI? Let us know in the comments.

The post 10 Powerful AI Marketing Tools to Grow Your Business in 2023 first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Want to take your onboarding to the next level? You’re in for a treat with our latest podcast featuring Erin and Wristy, who dive into some game-changing approaches to humanizing the workplace and leveling up your team culture.

If you’re an HR pro, team leader, or just a culture-curious individual, this one’s for you.

Here’s what we’ll unpack:

• “Culture Add” vs. “Culture Fit”: What’s the Real Deal?
• The Power of a Team Charter: Saying Goodbye to Lengthy Presentations
• Q&A Rounds: A Safe Space to Ask Anything
• Buddy System & Mentorship: Two Sides of the Same Coin?
• Creating “Wow” Moments in Onboarding
• Ownership & Accountability: Why Your Employees Will Stick Around

So, if you’re ready to get some actionable insights straight from the experts, read on!

You can listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

Onboarding Strategist and HR Innovator, Wristy

Erin:

Today, I’m joined by Wristy. She is currently an independent contractor partnering with startups and long-standing companies in both the corporate and social sectors on people experience and labor compliance.

Wristy is recognized for bringing structure out of uncertainty with a demonstrated ability to create and integrate programs, processes, and frameworks that enable individuals and teams to effortlessly produce the best work they are capable of while providing flexibility.

She is a lifelong learner and a social volunteer in the field of education. Thanks for joining us today!

Wristy:
Thank you so much, Erin. It’s a pleasure to join and be a part of the podcast.

Icebreaker: Wristy’s #1 Bucket-List Destination

Erin:
That’s something we have in common, education. I actually had a 15-year education career before joining Process Street.

Wristy:
I used to be a teacher earlier, full-time, and now I volunteer as a teacher with government labor schools free of cost. So it’s a complete volunteering activity on all my weekends.

Erin:
That’s amazing. Living this remote, flexible life, I also volunteer in my daughter’s first-grade class on Thursday mornings.

Wristy:
That’s great.

Erin:
We are so excited to have you today. I know you’ve been traveling quite a bit recently. I’d love to hear what your number one bucket list travel destination is.

Wristy:
Hi everyone, my number one bucket list destination would be Kashmir. I have been to Kanyakumari this time, and that’s one end of India. Now, I want to travel to the other end of India, that’s Kashmir. Although I’ve been to Leh, Ladakh, I did not get the opportunity, because of a lot of political reasons, to visit the entire Kashmir.

Wristy’s Employee Onboarding Expertise

Erin:
That’s incredible! So now what we really came here for, employee onboarding. I’d love to hear a little bit about your background and how you became an expert in employee onboarding.

Wristy:
So I have expertise in HR. And when I say HR, it’s not only processes or transactions. It’s about process re-engineering. We’re integrating processes and tools with a people perspective. My first step, when I did my Lean Six Sigma, I’m a green belt in that.

My first project was onboarding re-engineering for five clients of mine while I was in a management consulting firm. And then I implemented the project in different ways: on-site, hybrid, as well as remote globally. And I realized that this is one of the first areas because at that time, I did not manage hiring. So for me, onboarding was the first area where I was interacting with the new hires and found that I am the face, or my team is the face, of the company.

People are learning about the culture; they are trying to see companies, processes, culture, people, how to navigate within the company through me and my team’s eyes because, again, we are the first contact for them. And then, I would say it has been a non-stop journey.

I have created, I would say, more than 25 onboarding programs, some nationally and some globally, particularly in the US, Canada, London, Porto, and Lisbon.

Story-time: Good, Bad, & Ugly Onboarding Experiences

Erin:
That’s amazing. That’s very global! So thinking back on your own onboarding experiences for companies that you worked with previously, tell us the good, the bad, the ugly.

From Paperwork to Swag: The Evolving Landscape of Company Onboarding

Wristy:
I’ll start with the good. So, at that time when I was actually working, everything was on-site. So reaching the office on the first day, everything was set up. A lot of paperwork, forms, HR, compliance, finance, admin, and IT.

Getting the system on day one, and the IT person did all the settings for attendance and emails. Everything was created on the first day. And then, attending an induction session every day of two or three departments about what they do and what their team size is and how much they’re contributing. That’s how my induction program started, which after a few times went from individual induction to collective inductions.

That is, all the people who had joined in that quarter were filling out the forms, but the meetings with the leaders, with the team members, and others, cross-functional teams, used to happen on a quarterly basis in an off-site. All the new hires, along with the leaders, were taken outside, and it was the same process again.

The main difference was we started getting swag. I remember receiving four t-shirts: white, black, yellow, and some shade of green that I had never seen. It was less than a parrot but more than a sea-green.

I received two hats with company logos. I had a lot of stationery with me. I still have it here next to my desk. Pen, paper, sticky notes, a lot of stuff, a bottle and balls. I received balls, basketballs, with company logos on them.

Erin:
Interesting!

Wristy:
So there are a lot of swags and what the company at that time did was, every session you attend while you are coming in you’re getting stationary; while you are coming out, you’re getting swag to make the onboarding interesting. And it was at that time around three days onboarding them, and we were given, we were even sent to R&D centers to see actually what the company is doing.

As an HR, I remember going to the distributor of the company along with the sales and distribution team wherein the company said that you need to know, as an HR, what your people are doing.

And I believe that was the first sense for me to understand that HR is just more than papers and processes and policies. It’s more about knowing the people, putting in extra effort, going an extra mile.

Onboarding Adventures and Employee Branding Insights

And from there, the journey about more than an HR journey, I would say a people journey, started. Going forward, while I came to management consulting, that was my own venture, my first one, ventured into management consulting; they were retail sectors. And their onboardings were completely out of the way.

Their onboardings even included at higher levels, sending them to their mother companies in the US. On a quarterly basis, all the new hires used to be sent for a month to the mother company to know the actual process, to meet the leaders, sit with them and learn from them, come back and then have brown bag sessions here.

So whatever they have learned, they are going to have brown bag sessions one by one in the next three months when another lot has gone, to tell the people in India as to how the company has progressed, what’s the new thing that they have seen as a culture, and what more in India we need to grow on.

While we sent there, there were new hires. And while they came back after onboarding, they were the company’s brand ambassadors.

Erin:
Wow, that sounds incredible.

Wristy:
That was my second learning. That employees are the first brand ambassadors. How much you post on social media, how much you give increments, but when it comes from an employee’s mouth, how happy they are, and that sense of belongingness that’s created, that’s what employee branding actually is. And that starts from onboarding. Because if they’re happy, and if they’re happy in the start, and it continues, it continues. I remember having in the same company kick-offs.

Every year there was a kick-off, and all the leaders used to come down, and they used to dress up like Indians to an extent, kurta pajamas. I remember one of my CTOs, wearing a dhoti and a kurta with a pagdi, just to be a part of the team and show that you know, even if we are culturally different, we are flexible enough.

I remember the COO of the company celebrating his son’s birthday, calling his wife and two sons from the US to India, and celebrating his son’s birthday with the company, the team members, saying that I work with this, I have two families, and I’m going to come at least one day, my two families are going to come together and that’s my son’s birthday. It was my third learning in the journey that most of the time we spend in our office.

They are people. They are not just productive machines that we are paying salaries to, and we need to get work. But there is a people perspective and as an HR, I need to maintain that.

From Groundwork to Global: The Ever-Evolving HR Landscape in a Remote World

The next step in my journey was the social sector. In the social sector, I used to work on the grounds. Grounds wherein, apart from HR, I started doing finance, I started doing IT, I started doing a lot of communication stuff, behavioral communication with people who work actually on the ground. And that gave me a new perspective that there is another side of life. And it’s not only taking care of people but being a part of them, and they are two different things.

So, and lastly, the journey was everything evolves. We came into COVID overnight, everything went remote. Although the company I was working in during the COVID times when COVID hit, the company was already remote globally. They only wanted productivity. They didn’t care about the attendance, who’s coming, what they are wearing, from where they are working. They didn’t care.

So as soon as we turned remote globally and everything, new tools had to be implemented overnight. The learning that happened with me in my journey was, it’s not the tool implementation I need to concentrate on. It’s about the user experience I need to concentrate on, which is not one-time, which is lifelong.

As an example, I still get calls from my previous director on the tool that he uses, and I am no longer using. That, Wristy, how do I see my equity in this? And I tell him it’s been three years now, I’ve left you. You are on your own. So it’s relationship building as an HR. That’s my journey, and probably that’s why when I have been laid off, people are still connected, and as a consultant, I’m still getting work. It’s less, but I’m still getting it because of this relationship building.

So yeah, that’s how my journey started and this is where I am.

The Role of People Leaders

Erin:
That sounds incredible. I love your connection to that evolution of human resources to people-focused culture. Now we’re called people leaders because that’s exactly what we are. We’re here to support the people of the business. My kids tell me that I’m a people helper. That’s my job. That’s what they tell people.

Wristy:
But that’s actually correct, we are helping everyone to grow along with ourselves.

Engagement Programs: Adapting to Remote Settings

Erin:
Exactly. Yeah, I tell them I’m like, “You’re not wrong.” So, you mentioned the pandemic and this shift. Tell me how you saw technology play a part in this evolution from in-office roles to fully remote roles.

Wristy:
So the transition was we were meeting every day. We knew what the other person was doing, not only through words but also through facial expressions in person and by body language. Which, while we shifted to remote, became less; the interactions decreased. People actually started missing from the meetings. And during the meetings as well, because there were so many meetings that used to happen. When they used to happen in person, people used to enjoy each other’s company.

But when they happened on the screen, it led to high screen time, impacting mental health. So people started closing their cameras. So we were unable to see each other. That bond, that connection, was being lost. So new kinds of engagement programs had to be brought in. We could not meet in person, but we could still have lunches. So Uber Eats came in. They said, “This is an Uber Eats coupon. You are in the US; you are in London; you are in India. So we’ll have three batches: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And these are the meeting times. Order for yourself and for your family and let’s be there on the call. Let’s have virtual food. Let’s have virtual coffees.”

Tools for Onboarding Communication: Zendesk

Wristy:
Another kind of engagement that was created was, for the first time, a German company celebrated Diwali globally. We celebrated Diwali, a very big Indian festival, three times in a day. Anyone who could join in any of these three times could. And there were people who, having already joined either the first or second session, enjoyed it so much that they wanted to join the third session as well, which was very late at night, because it was in the US time zone. Another change was that traveling was restricted. So while earlier we were meeting distributors and clients in person, which also gave them confidence in us, during this pandemic, that started waning. We weren’t meeting. The conversations became less frequent; they happened more over email or through messages on WhatsApp or regular text messages. To restore that confidence, we brought in tools like Zendesk. Through Zendesk, we gave access to vendors as well.

“This is our tool, but let’s connect on Zendesk. We understand that emails are too formal; we understand we can’t meet you in person. So Zendesk is similar to Slack.”

For informal communications, we started using it with vendors. We found that people were more comfortable with Zendesk than emails, and they started using it more like phone calls. That’s where the tools helped us move from an on-site situation where people had started losing trust because of COVID, to finally getting back on track and creating more trust.

I remember having three vendors together in a month coming to us. Our partners also would like to be a part. So do you have this? Because it is only you who’s trying to connect with us. In our engagement activities, one of them was Diwali celebrations; we called our vendors also to be a part of it because you have also contributed.

Remote Hiring Tools: From Lever to Ashby

Then came hiring. Because now was the time I was involved in hiring also. Earlier there were in-person interviews; a person had to come six times to the office and people were available or they were already in meetings.

So we upgraded Lever. We were using Lever. We first upgraded Lever and then we converted from Lever to Ashby. And the interview process became smoother for us because now people don’t have to come. They are okay for late evenings or early mornings interviews also. Of course, the other part was that they were looking out for a job. COVID created a lot of job hits. But now they were more comfortable.

We gave them the opportunity to not open their cameras during some of the calls because it’s very early morning or late evenings. So it’s okay. Don’t turn on your cameras. We are okay with the background sound also. You are having lunch and at that time you want to speak to us. We are fine as long as you are comfortable.

And we made sure that during the interview, if the candidate is having lunch, whoever the interviewer was, we said, sit there with a coffee or a snack or something, even if you’re not eating, just to make them comfortable.

So the tool helped in making the process flexible and also new ways of making the candidate comfortable had to be thought about, like one of them as simple as that.

Performance Appraisals: Lattice for Peer Recognition

So, performance appraisals, now there were tools. I think performance appraisals have been a great hit. Earlier we could evaluate if something is going on; when we became remote, it was more of now we do not know what’s happening. How much we interact on calls, we do not know. That’s still a hit. People are trying to work around with it.

But many companies are there. One of the tools that I found fascinating was Lattice. Lattice was not only a performance tool, but you could give feedback. You could give kudos to other people in private, in public, to the manager. You could ask for feedback, which started helping people in their appraisals. So that tool helped us in knowing people more. If there are five projects running, as a leader, I would not know exactly who is doing what. So through Lattice, we started peer recognition. Write what, why, and connect it to a company value.

So there, the tool literally helped people think through their communication skills, what exactly the company values are, and then recognition. Now, everyone could give recognition to anyone, at any time. I can give recognition to anyone right now. Someone in the US can give me recognition because now there is transparency in what I am doing.

Transparency via Confluence + Notion

And then I think Confluence and Notion have been the biggest things. No more paperwork. Everything is there, available online whenever, whatever you want to see. You can create your projects there. You can come up with ideas there. And again, there is an open platform; it’s transparency, which I think is one of the first steps to creating a people culture, transparency as to what’s happening in the company.

Erin:
That’s amazing. I couldn’t agree more. Transparency provides exactly that, transparency. But also, as an individual contributor, I’m more likely to want to contribute on day one if that transparency is there, which is hugely important.

Wristy:
True. And then through transparency, in case I want to contribute to something else. For example, I want you to contribute to a tool implementation. I know what projects are going on because it’s there on Confluence or Notion. I can just come up and say that I want to volunteer. So that also gives me an opportunity to learn and grow in another field.

“Culture Add” vs. “Culture Fit”: What’s the Real Deal?

Erin:
Yeah, one of the things that was super overwhelming for me when I joined my current company, Process Street, was I had trust on day one. Having come from education where all trust is earned, it was a little bit overwhelming to have that the first day. And they’re asking my opinions about things and I’m like, why am I so important? And it’s like, I went through the hiring process. They already vetted me. They knew what they were getting on day one, so it was very much like just jump right in and you either trust the process or you don’t, right? And I’ve been able to really rely on that now.

Speaking of processes, I understand that you love processes. I’d love to hear the advice that you give to companies on employee onboarding and implementing processes.

Wristy:
Advice on onboarding that I give to companies is onboarding starts before day one. It starts as soon as the offer is accepted. The onboarding starts then, not on the day the person joins. Onboarding is not paperwork. Onboarding is about making the new hire a culture add, making the new hire trust what the company is, and trust in the culture, the people, trust that the company is going to benefit the person in the long run. Trust in the value system and imbibe that value system or integrate that value system into their own.

Relate that value system to themselves. So many companies start a buddy system from day one. I say instead of a hiring manager and HR connecting with the new hire, why not have a buddy from the day the offer is accepted? Let the buddy system start from there. That’s what’s going to create a people perspective and trust transparency.

And I would say, you know, a communication channel for the person. And that buddy should be a peer who may not solve the questions or solve the problems but is there with the person, telling them that the company is there.

And of course, I don’t know everything and it’s okay for the company, for anyone not to know everything. The company is open. I’ll get back to you. So that peer buddy or work, it more reflects as an open platform, whatever the person wants to share. And I’ve actually seen with that, the retention rates have gone higher.

We had a lot of attrition, and I’m saying it’s attrition because they have accepted the offer, they had done the paperwork, and on the day of joining, they have not joined. After doing this peer buddy system, the dropout rates went very low. Low means like if I was hiring five people and only one was joining.

Now out of those five, three were joining us. And when two were not joining, they had told the buddy or come back to HR that you know the peer has said that you are very open. I have got another offer and I’ll prefer to go there because it’s very high. And we were like, we are okay. We are happy that you became transparent. So bringing in that perspective that onboarding doesn’t start from day one, it starts previously.

And it’s not a culture fit, it’s a culture add that we have to have. Culture is already there. Why have a culture fit if we need to evolve? We need to have a culture add. And again, that starts before onboarding. After onboarding, it’s mostly culture fit. Whether it’s one month, whether it’s three months, there is where the culture add comes in.

The Power of a Team Charter: Saying Goodbye to Lengthy Presentations

Another thing in onboarding that I tell everyone is the person is not here to hear from you as to what your team does. We have a Confluence page, write a team charter. People would prefer to read that from there. Have a video of 15 minutes posted there. That doesn’t talk about systems or processes. That talks about you as an individual and how you connect with the company. Because that’s how the person will be able to refer to you and the company. Processes and protocols are already laid down. That’s not required. The person can read the team charter, can see the organization chart. But how does a leader connect to the organization is what matters to the new hire.

And then let’s have a Q&A round. Whatever questions they have. They can directly come to you, ask them. We are having a Q&A round. Anyone who wants to ask any question and those sessions will not be recorded. The Q&A sessions will not be recorded. Anyone can ask anything. There may be the stupidest question as to how to do this coding, how Python is different from ReactJS. I am open for everything. Be open, no one is going to judge you. That kind of culture. That doesn’t happen with the periodic inductions. That happens with open discussions. And we did not label it as Q&A. We labeled it as Coffee with CEO, Drinks with the CTO, Ask Me Anything sessions. Like for with HR, it was Ask Me Anything. And that anything people had come up with, the new hires in particular had come up with, what personal insurance should we take? Or why don’t you tell us about yourself? We have heard about you or, you know, people talk about what changes you have done.

These kinds of sessions were brought in instead of normally running a PPT, telling what the team does and how the company has progressed. Talking about DEI as to what actually the company perspective is. And when we talk about DEI, it’s not about gender. Diversity of skills, diversity of backgrounds, diversity of education, diversity of hobbies, diversity of songs that I really like.

So every quarter we used to have as a part of onboarding whoever new hires have come in. They had to fill a survey form about their hobbies, the way they prefer the feedback to be there, what’s their favorite music, favorite kind of food, favorite sport, and it’s okay to leave the answers blank. And then that survey report used to come out. That, you see, is the increase in diversity we have had. And people are very excited that, okay, onboarding, that’s the reason we were being asked about this.

Another thing in onboarding I would say I introduced was the buddy system that was introduced during the onboarding, it extended. Company says three months, you can extend that buddy system making it a part of your mentorship also. So mentorship and onboarding were linked now.

Putting the Human Back into the Company

Erin:
That’s amazing. I’m hearing so many amazing points about putting the human back into the company and remembering that these are individual humans that are adding to your company as opposed to sustaining.

Wristy:
A company needs to evolve. Companies can sustain, but they need to evolve if they want to grow.

Creating Wow Moments for New Team Members

Erin:
And that’s the benefit of having new faces and new ideas and new blood and all the newness. I couldn’t agree more. I love that. Well, I have taken so much of your time. I do want to ask one question to be my final question. How do you create a wow moment for these brand new people joining your team?

Wristy:
There are, I would say, three main wow moments that are there. One is the kind of ice-breaking sessions that we have. Every call starts with an ice-breaking session, and that ice-breaking session has to be done by the new hires. It’s driven by them. So in one call, it may be different. In the other call, it may be different. So it’s no planning done. It’s completely open. It’s transparent. And up to them, whatever, however they want to have the ice-breaking session because it’s them who is facilitating them and leading that ice-breaking session in the calls.

Second is like, you know, the paperwork, the documentation is very minimal. Nothing has to be written. Everything is on a Google form or on a tool and that is split across the days. It’s not that every day you have to do, or a single day you have to fill in. It’s spread across the days. And there are people who are there to help from day one.

Lastly, I would say it’s about the kind of inputs they are allowed to give. As you rightly said, from the first day your opinions were asked. So from the first day instead of telling them what’s expected out of them, asking them and understanding from them what do they expect from the company and that too not only at the time of the offer every time when they are joining during the onboarding. And then whenever there is an interaction, whether it’s a career interaction, whether there is any growth interaction, company’s expectations are set. So let us first, you let us know what do you expect from us. And then we can build our expectations around it. So making them the leaders of the company irrespective of the role they are.

Ownership and Why Employees Stay

Erin:
And that creates ownership. And why would an employee leave if they have ownership?

Wristy:
Ownership along with accountability.

Erin:
100%. I love that. This has been incredible. I already have so many ideas that I’m going to take back to my team of things that I think that we need to implement, you know, tomorrow. One of them being this idea of like, we do onboarding buddies at our company as well. And it’s been a great culture add to our employee development.

But really starting that relationship before the first day, I think is such a great idea. I want to start that tomorrow. But so many great ideas. I appreciate you so much.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to share these little nuggets!

Wristy:
Thank you so much and it has been a pleasure speaking to you. So thank you so much for giving this opportunity.

Outro

You’ve been listening to the Employee Onboarding podcast, bringing you insights and best practices from employee onboarding experts, helping you to create an amazing onboarding experience.

Please like and subscribe to keep updated on new episodes. And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on your listening platform of choice.

You can listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

The post Digital Employee Engagement Unplugged (How to Build Remote Culture & Trust) first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Leverage is an operations consulting firm that helps teams optimize their processes by introducing them to top workflow management tools. One of these tools is Process Street, which Leverage uses for its own daily recurring tasks.

The company’s CEO and founder, Nick Sonnenberg, even features Process Street in his book Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work. He also made an entire YouTube video talking about Process Street’s benefits.

But why is Nick such a strong advocate of Process Street? What has the software done to help him and his team at Leverage? In this article, we will answer these questions by looking at:

• The challenge
• The solution 
• The result 

The challenge

Leverage’s authority and knowledge in operational consulting come from past experience. The company didn’t start out as a consultancy; that came later through circumstance. At the beginning, they were a freelancer marketplace. They had 150 freelancers doing a variety of work for clientele. 

One day, out of nowhere, the co-founder left, and that sent Leverage into a tailspin. The thing that saved the company from failure was Nick’s solutions for improving the way he and all his freelancers worked. He developed what’s called CPR Business Efficiency Framework, and that saved them all from the wasted hours they were spending on inefficiencies. 

In the context of the framework, CPR stands for:

• Communication
• Planning 
• Resources

Optimization is all about making sure the CPR of a business is running as efficiently as possible, and each of the pain points need to be addressed. 

The system was so successful that his clients began to ask for help improving their processes as well. Nick realized that his framework could be applied to just about every industry, and, over time, operational consulting became the company’s primary offering. 

But like any company, Leverage needed to overhaul their own processes before they could tell others how to do the same. Nick noticed several inefficiencies Leverage was struggling with, including:

• Consistency: some processes were done by memory, which resulted in many little steps being forgotten. This caused many missed deadlines and ended up creating more work for the freelancers who had to go back and fix mistakes.
• Knowledge retention: Leverage had a common issue where a new employee would start and create a brilliant new process that solved a lot of problems. But then that employee would leave and take that knowledge with them, forcing the employee who took their place to start from scratch.

Both of these major pain points were solved when Nick came across Process Street.

The solution

When Nick came across Process Street, he immediately saw its potential to solve the two major problems Leverage had been facing. 

With Process Street, Leverage was able to document all of their processes into step-by-step checklists. It was really a two-birds-one-stone solution. By putting all of their processes into the checklists, they were also retaining knowledge much better than before, and far fewer things fell through the cracks.

Process Street had the additional benefit of automation and integration. Leverage loves automating processes, and with every new checklist they built, they looked for new ways to automate the steps and integrate with third-party apps.

Over time, Process Street became part of a lot of the work done at Leverage and it has remained steadfast in its ability to keep Leverage organized and efficient.

The result

The use of Process Street has done a lot for the day-to-day processes at Leverage.

Firstly, having such well-organized checklists means that their employees save tons of time by simply not having to remember all the steps in a process. Or having to go back if they accidentally miss one. 

That organization made their delivery way more consistent in terms of deadlines and overall outcomes. 

Process Street has made such a big difference in the way Leverage works that Nick created a whole YouTube video walking through the benefits and features. Not only that, but he included it in his book Come Up for Air. 

Nick is a major advocate for making businesses as efficient as possible without causing employees to burn out. It’s not always easy, but he found an excellent solution with Process Street and it’s a product he stands by.

The post Process Street Helped Leverage Retain Knowledge & Increase Efficiency first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

In this podcast episode, we interview Justine Van den Mooter from Qwilr about designing an effective onboarding experience.

We discuss creating a comprehensive onboarding process for all new hires, regardless of their role or location, fostering manager involvement, and providing a supportive environment for new employees.

Justine shares her experience in revamping Qwilr’s onboarding process and highlights the importance of proactive communication, personalized tasks, and maintaining excitement throughout the onboarding period. We also touch upon the challenges of onboarding in a globally distributed company.

Overall, the episode emphasizes the significance of a well-designed onboarding process in creating a positive employee experience.

You can listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

Justine Van den Mooter, Talent & People Experience at Qwilr

Erin Rice:

Welcome to Process Street’s Employee Onboarding podcast where we unpack great onboarding ideas and best practices from the world’s top HR practitioners and thought leaders at Process Street. 

Our mission starts with making recurring work fun, fast, and faultless for teams everywhere. My name is Erin Rice, and I’m the People & Operations Coordinator here at Process Street.

Today, I’m joined by Justine Van den Mooter. Justine is originally from Brussels in the Netherlands but currently lives in Sydney, Australia. 

Justine is passionate about startups, specifically those with fewer than 100 employees, as well as mental health in the workplace. 

Justine works in Talent and People Experience at Qwilr, where she has been for over the last two years, on a small but mighty people team of two. So mighty that she designed the entire onboarding process at Qwilr, which I can’t wait to hear more about. 

Thank you so much for being here, Justine, especially at this hour!

Justine Van den Mooter:

Hello, good morning!

Breaking the Ice: Hot or Cold Pizza?

Erin:

I’m ending my day while you’re already in tomorrow. It’s pretty wild how technology allows us to be connected with people all around the globe!

So before we dive in, I like to ask a super controversial question just to break the ice. Today, I’m pulling one from a recent All-Hands we had at Process Street. Is pizza better, hot or cold?

Justine:

So I thought about this question over the last couple of days, because I really cannot make a decision. I think both are really, really great. I love hot pizza. But I also love cold pizza the next day, and there’s just something about it that I just really enjoy. But you can’t really fault the melty cheese either. So I’m like, either or I’m happy with both. So I’ll go both!

Erin:

Okay, so maybe it’s fair to say hot pizza for dinner, cold pizza for breakfast. Is that fair? 

Justine:

100%. 

Erin:

Awesome. I think a lot of people in my company could agree with you, and probably all over the world to be honest. Awesome. Well, let’s dive into what we really came here for – employee onboarding!

Understanding Justine’s role at Qwilr

I’d love it if you could tell us a little bit more about your role at Qwilr.

Justine:

Yeah, sure. Having been at Qwilr for just over two years now, I feel like my role has evolved over time, as any good role would. While my role title officially would be Talent and Experience Partner, like anyone in charge, there are so many things that encompass that. 

There are so many different things that I do and am responsible for as well. Because we’re only a team of two, when my colleague is more recruiter-focused, and I’m more on the HR side of things, there’s a lot involved within my role. 

I work very closely with people managers, run all the employee initiatives, and am passionate about employee experience and how to create a workplace that is great for people to show up and do their best work.

So all the people operations, onboard design, the onboarding process, as we’re here to talk about today, mitigate the performance management, run all the company meetings or all-hands meetings, try to keep and work on the tension a lot as well. I think that’s something that’s really important. 

We are quite proud to say we have a very low turnover rate within the company. And that’s something that I’m also proud of, and something that I want to upkeep as well. 

And then others like boring HR stuff, like having confidential conversations, mitigating performance improvement plans, and just making sure that people are happy within Qwilr.

Erin:

So basically everything. 

Justine:

Yes.

Erin:

You’re in good company. 

The Globally Distributed Nature of Qwilr

So it looks like Qwilr is globally distributed. Is that correct? You guys are also 100% remote.

Justine:

Yes and no. We do have headquarters here in Sydney, Australia, but we are spread globally. The majority of our salespeople, for example, are located within the US, and they all work 100% remotely. 

While we do have an office here in Sydney, Australia, we work in a hybrid setting. Today I’m working from home; tomorrow, I might go into the office; it doesn’t matter. The office is there to be used, but there are no strict office days or anything like that. 

Within Australia, we are also spread within different parts of Australia. People like to travel to the office; sometimes we provide budgets for that too. So people that live in Brisbane or Melbourne can come and visit the Sydney office. 

On a regular week, I would say the more popular office days might be Tuesdays and Thursdays. But from the 40ish people that live in the Sydney area, I would say maybe the average on an office day would be 15. So it is primarily a remote company.

Erin:

Okay, really cool. So you designed your employees’ current onboarding. I’m so curious to hear what your onboarding was like, before that process was designed. 

Justine:

It was actually really interesting because I was very nervous to show up on my first day. This was my first real job in Australia as well. 

To be honest, the onboarding at the time was very basic; there were only 35 people in the company. There was no HRIS. There were no strict onboarding processes. 

I joined as support to our Head of People at the time. I got some very basic documents, such as the vision and the mission of the company, and what we do. 

That was it. I remember my manager at the time told me to prepare a list of questions for the first day. I went above and beyond, then I came with a list of 55 questions or something ridiculous like that because I wanted to know so many different things. 

I think that was a really interesting way of getting started. But in terms of strict onboarding processes, there was not much at the time.

Erin:

So how did you even tackle that? Like, how did you get to a point where you could bring yourself up to speed, but then also start contributing?

Justine:

I think something that’s really important to me today, as well, is proactively reaching out to other people in the company. 

I do understand that there needs to be some kind of personal aspect to it as well. You have to have that personality to be comfortable to do that, which is not suitable for everyone, which is not very inclusive at all, really. 

But something that I did was proactively reaching out to people, managers, understanding their teams, understanding what they do, which helped me gain a picture of who is who within the company, and what their pain points were. 

So yeah, I did work very closely together with our Head of People. A lot of the things I learned, I learned through her. She’d been with the company for three years at the time. So she had some very basic projects assigned to me at the start. 

But I think reaching out to people and learning about their teams and learning where their pain points are, and also what’s going really well for them, really helped me shape that full image of the company.

Revamping the Onboarding Process at Qwilr

Erin:

That’s great. And so now, two years later, you’ve been there, you’ve onboarded yourself, you’ve seen probably other employees join the company. How has it evolved over time?

Justine:

So it definitely has evolved. And again, I think I’m pretty proud of the way that I’ve taken the onboarding process from basically the blank canvas that it was to something that’s actually a really good process, or it’s basic skill. 

But it’s still a good process where I get feedback from new employees saying things like, “Oh, this is great. I didn’t know this startup would have such a good onboarding process, and everything was figured out.” And everyone was so helpful, which I think is a great start. Definitely, over the last two years, we’ve basically doubled in headcount. So I have onboarded a lot of people.

And I like to think about the onboarding process as an iterative process as well. So every time I onboard someone new, I try to see if there are elements that we can improve, or other elements that need changing or tweaking at that time, or at that point in time. 

So over the last two years, we have adopted an HRIS, which, you know, we use the onboarding model of, it’s not great. It gives us task reminders, which is nice.

It’s not very personalized, I must admit, but it’s a lot better than where it used to be. And things change so quickly within our company, and in our space, that at the start, I quite literally find myself updating things every couple of days, being like, oh, yeah, oh, wait, this needs to change, or I need to add this or need to add that to the list of things that need to be done. 

But now that we have those tasks listed out, and they give us reminders like one or two weeks before, hey, here’s a reminder that you know, you have a new starter coming, remember to pocket swagbucks and send it to them, right, it makes it a lot more structured than what we had before. And I’ve seen what they used before, which was a notion checklist. So yeah, it definitely has evolved.

Erin:

So where did you start? That seems like such a big undertaking!

Justine:

Yeah. It definitely was. And once again, I think one of the things that I learned the most from was talking to other people within the company. 

I talked to all of the managers, tried to understand what they need from me as the HR person, for their people to be onboarded properly. 

But then I also spoke to all of the new starters that had joined the company within the last six months. And literally, interviewed them about their onboarding experience. 

And based on that, I started compiling a list of all the things that actually needed to be done as well with the finance teams, and founders, and all the different parts that are involved within creating this all-around onboarding experience. And then yes, to list out all the tasks. 

Something that I think is really important with onboarding is it doesn’t start on their first day, it actually starts way before that. It starts after they’ve signed their offer because you want to keep up that excitement throughout the notice periods.

Here in Australia, we have a four-week notice period. So it is actually quite long, if someone were to quit their job on the day that they get an offer, we have four weeks to fill, to keep up that excitement. So the way I’ve actually scheduled it is I have tasks every couple of days. And I involve different people from within the company as well. 

So it’s not all just me that reaches out to the new starter, but they get reached out by their buddy, or their manager reaches out, or they get some tasks to input themselves, or they get a document to read or something. 

And very small, like drips throughout those four weeks. So it’s not overwhelming for them. They don’t have to do it if they don’t want to, they can wait until their first day. It’s not that time-consuming or time-pressured. 

But I do get feedback that it is actually really nice that they get those things before their first day as well.

Erin:

Yeah, I can imagine going through the hiring process, getting a job offer, and then crickets for a month would be really awkward.

Justine:

Yeah, 100%. And one of the things I am so passionate about is creating that experience for people. And I want them to be excited, I want them to feel part of the company from the moment they sign their offer. That’s why I think it’s so important to involve more people than just me or just a recruiter that they’ve worked with, but other people in the company as well.

Erin:

So I would imagine these tasks assignments are automated, and you don’t manually go in and assign tasks?

Justine:

Correct. Within our HRIS, we are able to assign the manager to the person, and then a certain number of tasks will be assigned to the manager. 

I manually send them reminders sometimes because I feel they get so many emails from our HR system that they might get overlooked. 

Sometimes I copy, paste, whatever the task says, and put it into Slack to them, saying, “Hey, remember to do this today.” But it is not a very automated process; we obviously use our own tool as well, which is cooler (it’s a document automation tool). 

We want to change the way people do documents. The majority of our documents within our onboarding process are Qwilr documents, which gives them a nice introduction to our product.

Erin:

That’s great dogfooding, using your own product internally. 

Onboarding in a Globally Distributed Company

Can you tell me how you manage onboarding in a globally distributed company? 

I would imagine it’s probably even trickier when you have some people coming into the office and some not. I would love to hear more about how you manage these different types of onboarding.

Justine:

I believe there shouldn’t be a difference between in-person onboarding and remote onboarding. I try to treat everyone equally within the company, regardless of whether they’re based in Australia, Asia, the US, or Europe. 

We have always been a globally distributed company with a remote-first culture. My process is set up to cater for that as well. 

I don’t expect anyone to come in on their first day into the office; it’s not a requirement. Everything is set up to cater for both situations. 

There is very little difference other than if they do come into the office on their first day, I’ll take them out for coffee, or their manager will. That’s not something we can do if they’re remote, at least not in person. We can do it virtually (but it’s not the same).

But other than that, our onboarding processes are quite self-paced, with regular check-in times with their managers or with me, and I think that’s a great way of doing it.

Erin:

Absolutely. What about in terms of different roles? If you’re hiring at the executive level, versus a key contributor or individual contributor, does it vary at all based on their role?

Justine:

From a company-wide perspective, onboarding is the same for everyone. I want to keep it that way. It’s very important that regardless of what level or experience you have, you’re joining the company, everyone gets the same onboarding experience. 

However, our managers are very heavily involved in the role-specific onboarding for their team members, just because they have the best insight into what needs to be done there. We are a startup, quite small, so it’s rare that we hire five of the same people. 

Every onboarding experience needs to be tailored to the person that is joining within the role they’re joining. Managers create the 30/60/90 plans and are responsible for introducing them to the team and onboarding them in that way.

The Importance of Manager Buy-In and Retention Strategies

Erin:

So managers have their department that’s their main priority. How did you get them to buy in to provide that additional support to your HR department to make onboarding successful?

Justine:

I think it all starts from building a great relationship between HR and the people managers within the company. I’m working daily to build that relationship, to get them to trust me, and to come to me for help and advice. 

That’s the start of them understanding the value of different things that the HR department does, as well as their role within those different functions. We’re blessed to have managers within the company that care about their people. We try to hire on people management skills, because that’s something we think is important. That’s why manager buy-in within the onboarding process is so important. 

I’ve noticed some managers that expect new team members to hit the ground running. I’ve had to retract that and say, it doesn’t matter that they’ve been a head of security for 20 years; they still don’t know how our company works. 

They don’t know how our different teams work, regardless of how many years they’ve been within their role-specific business. That’s why I think manager involvement within that role-specific or department-specific onboarding is so important.

Erin:

And I would imagine, once you have their buy-in, that probably contributes to your high retention?

Justine:

Yes, I would say. Supporting the managers is important, but it goes both ways. 

The initiatives that I set up to increase employee experience or retention need to be bought in by the managers, and then they need to push that out to their teams. 

It goes both ways. That relationship is really important to have and maintain.

How to Successfully Onboard New Remote Hires: The Missing Pieces

Erin:

Reflecting over everything that you’ve learned over these last two years, and probably from other positions that you’ve been in, what would you say are the great pieces that make onboarding successful?

Justine:

I think getting people to feel part of something greater from the start is incredibly important. 

You don’t want them to feel lost or left out. That’s the last thing you want to do. 

So I think that onboarding experience, starting from the day the offer is signed, involving as many people as possible, and getting them to see all the different parts of the company is key.

Erin:

What would you say is something that most onboarding processes are missing?

Justine:

I think this might be one of the things that we struggle with as well. It’s the “who is who” and “what do they do?” We’re at this funny size of a company right now, just over 70 employees. 

There are few enough people to know everyone, but also too many people to talk to everyone. 

So how do we find a way that new starters can understand the structure of the company and who is who and what do they do?

Erin:

And is that the next phase of your onboarding process?

Justine:

Yes. It’s something I’m currently working on. 

I’m in the drafting phases, tossing up a couple of ideas on whether to get everyone to make a Loom video and attach it to the company directory where people can watch the different things, or get the managers to describe their departments and then create an overview of who is in that department. 

I want to make it quite personal but also not take away too much time from people involved in creating these.

Erin:

I think that’s the age-old trouble in HR: how do I get the most ROI with very little I?

Justine:

Yes.

The Future of Onboarding: AI and Evolving Trends

Erin:

Looking at the future, technology is moving at a really fast pace.

Our world is evolving very quickly. What do you foresee as the next thing that we see in onboarding?

Justine:

It’s got to be AI, right? It’s gotta be. 

I don’t know that I understand AI to a level; I understand that it will take our jobs one day, but in practice, I’m not too sure. But I’m excited about what it has to bring, and maybe it’ll make things easier for us as well.

Erin:

Yes, we know the ethics around AI is a very tricky topic. But I think if used the right way, it can make us work smarter, not harder.

Justine:

Hopefully, yes, definitely. Yeah.

Erin:

Awesome. Reflecting over all of your experience with onboarding, how would you say onboarding has changed over time?

Justine:

I think it has become generational. If you think about our parents joining companies, they were just thrown into the deep end. You just join a company and do whatever. 

That has really changed. The People Experience part of companies has changed as well, where you join a company now, and you want to be welcomed warmly, and you want to understand how things work quicker to then be the best version of yourself. 

So I think that’s definitely something that has changed over time and will iteratively keep changing in the future.

Erin:

I couldn’t agree more that the generations are wanting to make bigger and larger contributions because now we know that it’s possible. 

We get a worldview and understand what’s happening in other parts of the world. 

Whereas, 15 years ago, we didn’t always know that. I think that’s such a good point.

Creating a ‘Wow’ Moment for New Hires

Okay, last question. I’ll let you get back to the start of your day. What is one thing that companies can do to create a wow moment for their new hires?

Justine:

Make them feel part of the team from day zero, from the day that offer is signed, even throughout the hiring process. Make them feel like they are a part of something bigger. I think that is so important. 

Don’t differentiate between long-term employees and newbies within the company; involve them in everything you’re doing, and throw them into the deep end, but do allow them downtime and regular check-ins with the various stakeholders and parties within the company. 

I think that is the most important thing.

Erin:

I love that you’re not differentiating between those that are brand new and those that have been around for a while. 

When I started at Process Street, I was brought into these focus groups in week two, and they were asking me for feedback on the product. 

I thought, “I don’t know what I don’t know.” But they said, “Your opinion matters so much because you’re brand new to it. You are the person that we’re selling to.” 

I remember thinking, “I’m a fish out of water, but wow, they really care about my opinion.” And I had barely been onboarded.

Justine:

That is so important. I love that they’ve done that for you, and it’s something that we’re trying to do in our company as well.

Erin:

That’s amazing.

Closing Remarks

Well, Justine, thank you so much for spending this time with me and sharing all of your insights on onboarding. 

Maybe circle back when you figure out the automation and the “who’s who and what they do” so you can share it with our listeners. 

I’m sure that other people are wondering about those same things!

Justine:

Well, thank you very much, Erin. Have a great day!

Outro:

You’ve been listening to the Employee Onboarding podcast, bringing you insights and best practices from employee onboarding experts, helping you to create an amazing onboarding experience.

Please like and subscribe to keep updated on new episodes. And if you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on your listening platform of choice.

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The post Podcast #12: Secrets of Globally Distributed Onboarding (Justine Van den Mooter) first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

When it comes to exemplifying our core value of continuous improvement, our Customer Success Manager Gustavo Amaral is at the forefront. That’s why we are thrilled to feature him as the star of our new Employee Spotlight blog post!

Gustavo’s commitment to personal and professional development at Process Street and beyond exhibits a strong desire to learn, explore the world around him, and excel in his role. Being highly skilled both in workflow creation and customer service makes Gustavo the perfect asset to our company.

This edition of Employee Spotlight will shine the light on the family man, the motorcycle enthusiast, and the caring professional who sees our customer’s satisfaction as his top priority.

• Introducing Gustavo Amaral, Customer Success Manager
• Gustavo’s professional experiences prior to Process Street
• Personal growth and continuous improvement
• Gustavo’s take on working for Process Street
• Bonus questions!

Introducing Gustavo Amaral, Customer Success Manager

Q: Name three words that describe you. 

Oh, wow, this is hard! I’d say adventurous, tenacious and curious.

Q: What do you do in your spare time?

Motorcycles, I love motorcycles! 

I always look for an excuse to go for a ride, even if it’s just for a cup of coffee that’s 100 km away. 

And if I’m not riding, I spend quality time with family and friends.

Q: How do you start your morning?

Since we all work in different time zones at Process Street, and because of my work schedule, I start working around 11 am EST.

This gives me plenty of time to go to the gym and run errands during the morning. 

But not before breakfast, of course! And a cup of coffee (no sugar) is a must.

Q: What is an interesting/fun fact that most people don’t know about you?

I have never seen snow! But I’ve added it to my bucket list.

Gustavo’s professional experiences prior to Process Street

Q: Give us a high level of your professional background prior to Process Street.

I began my career as a full-time volunteer for a non-profit organization, where I worked as a help desk specialist for over three years. 

And then, I came across the idea of remote working and landed a position as a customer representative. This was perfect because I was able to work for a company in Miami while still living in Brazil. 

After that, I transitioned to a role in SaaS located in Las Vegas (also remote) and spent a few years there.

Q: Important moments, catalysts, turning points in your career?

Even though I already had a diploma in computer programming, I wanted to take my studies further. 

After three years of voluntary work, I started pursuing a bachelor’s degree in software engineering. This allowed me to get my next job. 

Thanks to the skills I acquired (dealing with customers, running meetings, etc.), I found my passion for helping people and developing and implementing tailored tech solutions to address their needs.

Personal growth and continuous improvement

Q: How long have you been at Process Street?

I’ve been working at Process Street for exactly 3 years and 9 months.

Q: And you moved departments, is that right?

Yep!

Q: What was your motivation to move from Sales to Customer Success?

I was initially in CS and worked briefly as a CSM. 

Then, I was offered the opportunity to work as a Relationship Manager (sales), a role focused on expanding current customers. 

It was a good opportunity to improve my critical thinking skills to help customers find more value in their Process Street deployment while expanding revenue.

Q: So, what is your current role at Process Street? What does a typical day look like? 

As a Customer Success Manager, my main objective is to make sure our customers are getting the most out of Process Street. 

So, for example, I conduct meetings with customers to hear how things are going and to look for ways to help them improve their processes. 

I listen to each customer carefully to understand their issues, and then I identify any process gaps Process Street can fill. 

I also design workflows and automations involving API and other automation tools (Zapier, Integromat, Power Automate, etc.). 

Apart from all that, my job involves onboarding new customers, providing training, and ensuring they have a great time using Process Street!

And if a customer isn’t satisfied, I reach out to them to see if I can offer help and support. 

Lastly, I manage and automate how we communicate with customers. For example, I create in-app messages and phone calls, apply and review changes to subscriptions, billing, and how we track the company’s revenue (ARR, MRR).

Q: What do you like about being in the Customer Success department?

I enjoy the opportunity to combine soft skills with my technical knowledge. 

I like to engage with customers from around the globe, meet new people and learn as much as possible about their companies and processes. This is very enriching on a personal level.

Q: What’s your secret to achieving success in your role? 

Being proactive is key!

Don’t wait for others to ask you to do something; look for ways to help before it is actually requested or needed. 

If you don’t understand something, focus on the task at hand and learn as much as you can until it starts to make sense. And don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it!

Q: What are you working on that you are most excited about?

I’ve recently started working with many new customers. I’m very excited to meet them all and learn as much as I can from each one of them. 

Q: What do you think are the best skills that you bring to your job?

A combination of soft and hard skills. 

Product and technical knowledge are important, but knowing how to communicate effectively, being empathetic, and having good attention to detail are key.

Gustavo’s take on working for Process Street

Q: What do you like most about working at Process Street? 

The people! 

Everyone is absolutely awesome and so supportive. I can honestly say that I’ve made many good friends at Process Street. 

Directors are super friendly and ready to lend a hand. We always have good laughs during our meetings, which makes our work environment really healthy and enjoyable.

Q: How would you describe our culture to candidates or other people who inquire?

I think the culture at Process Street could be described at: 

• Efficient
• Innovative
• Collaborative

Here at Process Street, we really value transparency, open communication, and deep respect for each other! I couldn’t ask for a better work environment.

Q: What does it take to be successful at a company like Process Street?

Be open-minded and accepting of feedback. 

There is always room for improvement, and by accepting suggestions and constructive criticism, you allow for continuous improvement and personal success.

Bonus questions!

Q: What career advice would you give to your younger self when you were starting out in your career?

I would say, develop the habit of reading often and studying while you’re young. I also wish I could have gone to college earlier.

Q: If you won the lottery, what would you do with the money? (It can’t be buying another motorcycle!)

I would immediately go to the nearest motorcycle dealership… Ah, ok, never mind.

But on a serious note, I would probably do the following:

1. Go somewhere there is snow, so me and my family can finally experience it!
2. Buy some fancy properties (a new apartment, probably)
3. Invest (also in Process Street)

Q: What’s the last book you read? 

The Da Vinci Code (I’m currently in the process of reading all of Dan Brown’s books).

Q: What’s your favorite binge-worthy show?

How I Met Your Mother. The best show ever!

Q: You’re a busy person. What do you usually do to relax?   

I go for a motorcycle ride !

But a nice glass of wine and a good book is also amazing!

And I’ve recently taken up running. It helps a lot with my physical and mental health.

The post Employee Spotlight: Gustavo Amaral, Customer Success Manager first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

At Process Street, we take great pride in our exceptional team members, and today, we’re excited to shine the spotlight on one of our remarkable leaders – Ashley Chain. 

Ashley’s journey with us began even before the pandemic struck, making her a key figure in navigating our company through challenging times. As a female leader in the tech industry, Ashley exemplifies our core value of laser focus. 

Her unwavering determination has been instrumental in fostering a people-focused company culture that encourages growth and empowers our employees to thrive.

Join us as we celebrate Ashley’s contributions and learn more about her insights, experiences, and the positive impact she continues to make on Process Street’s journey. Get to know the visionary leader who inspires us all to embrace resilience and purpose in everything we do: 

• Introducing our Director of People & Operations: Ashley Chain
• Ashley’s professional life before Process Street
• Life at Process Street from the Director of People & Operations 
• Ashley Chain: The mastermind behind Process Street’s epic company culture

Introducing our Director of People & Operations: Ashley Chain

Q: What three words would you use to describe yourself?

I did some crowd sourcing for this one, and came up with: Curious, detail-oriented, and understanding.

Q: What do you do in your spare time?

Spare time?? Kidding. I’m always down to play a game! Also riding my bike, organizing things, playing cards with my daughter, and doing puzzles like logic games and cross words.

Q: What is an interesting / fun fact that most people don’t know about you?

I was a dancer for the Houston Rockets, which is an NBA team (basketball). I always thought it looked like so much fun, so in my last year of law school I tried out and made the team! It was a really neat experience, and I loved performing in front of the big crowds

Q: How do you start your morning?

It’s been very different these last few months! We welcomed our third daughter in March, so now I usually get up around 5:30am and get my kids’ stuff ready for the day (lunches, etc), have my coffee and work a little bit, then my youngest gets up around 6:30am. I drop my kids at school then back home to take on the day!

“Ashley is a true champ and an awesome leader. She’s always there for us, ready to jump in and learn whatever it takes to get things done. We know that she’s got our backs, and together, we’re taking on challenges and rocking it! She is aware of the work we do, and monitors how each of us is feeling. Collaboration and growth are her jam, and we’re lucky to have her in our corner, making the journey one heck of a fun ride!”

– Gabriel Labrada, Director of Engineering

Ashley’s professional life before Process Street

Q: Could you give us a high level on your professional background prior to Process Street?

After graduating from law school, all I knew was that I didn’t want to be an attorney. I was living in Washington DC near the cutest wedding dress store that I walked by every day. I thought it would be fun to work there, so I sold wedding dresses there for a while. 

When I moved back to Houston, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I became a legal recruiter working for a big agency. I was promoted there pretty quickly and kept trying to improve their processes, but I was told I needed to do things how they’d always been done; I wasn’t allowed to change anything. That didn’t work for me! 

After that, I went to work for a legal start up doing their recruiting operations, and I found out I really liked that world – building people processes and documenting them. I moved to a different company doing something similar before finally joining Process Street.

Q: Important moments, catalysts, turning points in your career?

Being told I couldn’t improve on a process or implement a new process was huge for me. It made me realize I didn’t want to work at a big company; I wanted to work somewhere that I could figure things out on my own and build best practices that didn’t exist yet. 

Q: What drew you to Process Street in the first place?

I was really unhappy at my job, so I started looking for tech start ups that were hiring. When I found the job description for my role at Process Street, I almost cried. It was exactly what I had been looking for! 

I nerd out on checklists/organization/streamlining, and to see this company was hiring for a position that was everything I loved doing while supporting those who were building a product for all the things I loved doing, I couldn’t believe it. I knew I had to work here after my first interview with Vinay.

“Ashley is an awesome person to work with. She is kind, caring, empowering, and genuinely loves to help anyone on the team however she can. She is intelligent and curious in the best ways, and also adds a healthy dash of humor and fun to team meetings, which I always appreciate.”

– Anne Perry, Director of Solutions Consulting

Life at Process Street from the Director of People & Operations 

Q: What would you say to those looking to apply for a vacancy at Process Street? 

I want people to know that Erin Rice, our amazing People & Operations Coordinator, looks at each and every application that comes in herself. She cares so deeply about giving everyone a great candidate experience, so when you take the time to answer the questions we ask with your application, she does read them and it does make a difference! 

Also, if you want to work for a company where you can see the difference your contribution makes, this could be the place for you. 

“In the 4+ years I’ve worked with Ashley, she has proven time and again her exceptional skills as a People and Operations leader. Strong and compassionate, thoughtful and communicative, Ashley has the rare ability to balance emotional intelligence with strategic, reason-based decision-making. We are lucky to have her on the team.”

– Oliver Peterson, Head of Content

Q: What do you like most about working at Process Street? 

So many things! The biggest thing for me is the people. I am in awe daily of how smart, hard working, innovative, and just cool these people are. I love that I get to work with people from all over the world! We hire the best people that really care about what we’re doing here. I love getting asked this question in an interview because I am genuinely excited to share that with candidates. 

Q: What does it take to be successful at a company like Process Street?

Being able to pivot and still keep your focus. Recognizing when something isn’t working and being open to (and excited for!) feedback. 

Ashley Chain: The mastermind behind Process Street’s epic company culture

Q: Can you tell us about some of the significant milestones or achievements you’ve experienced during your four years here?

When I first started here, I was the only person in my department. I was doing and learning new things every day, and it was amazing! I realized I can learn to do basically anything, and that was a big turning point for me. 

I wasn’t nervous or intimidated to take on new projects because I knew I could do it, and I knew that when I made a mistake it was OK. We are all learning together and trying new things here, and that type of environment is perfect for me. 

Being promoted to Director of my department is also a big milestone/achievement for me personally because it’s the first time I’ve had that level of responsibility. 

Q: As someone who joined our company before the pandemic hit, could you share with us some of the challenges you faced and how you managed to lead the company through those difficult times?

The pandemic didn’t change our day to day as much as it did other companies because we were already remote, so we already had the framework in place to function remotely. The biggest challenge for us was being able to tailor our help/outreach/approach to each person’s needs. 

Each employee’s experience during the pandemic was different, especially because we are in so many different countries. Being a small company, we were able to work within everyone’s needs individually, which was really great and, I hope, helpful to our employees.

“Ashley is the connector here at Process Street, she brings everyone together – and she does it in a thoughtful way. Its hard to be thoughtful about every person in an entire company, and she does that really well. She embodies the the culture here at Process Street, we’re lucky to have her!”

– John Cunningham, Director of Sales

Q: Being a female leader in the tech industry is commendable. Could you speak to the importance of diversity and inclusivity in the workplace and how you have contributed to fostering a more inclusive environment at Process Street?

We all know diversity and inclusivity are important, and I’m so proud to work at a company where everyone strongly believes that. I’ve worked to shape our recruiting process to eliminate bias as much as possible, but that’s just one step. That’s the ‘back-end’ so to speak. 

Implementing a process is one thing, but a big part of creating an inclusive environment is talking about it and keeping it top of mind. Talking about the type of culture we want to have here with leadership, current employees, and new hires. Checking in with our employees to see what we could be doing better or differently and acting on that feedback. And hiring people that share that same value but who will also bring a different perspective.

Q: Our company values laser focus, and you are recognized as someone who exemplifies this value. Can you elaborate on how you apply laser focus in your work and how it has contributed to your success?

For me, laser focus is a lot about prioritization. Knowing what our goals are and focusing on and prioritizing the things that will move those goals forward. 

At a small company, it’s easy to get distracted by all the little things that need to get done because there are a lot. I tend to get excited about projects and can get too into the weeds and end up overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done. 

It sounds counterintuitive, but laser focus can be taking a step back to focus in on the actual goal and figuring out the next best step to take in achieving that goal. 

“Ashley’s level of organization and efficiency is simply unmatched. Her dedication to the company’s mission and her ability to create a harmonious work environment make her an essential part of our growth and accomplishments.”

– Vinay Patankar, CEO and Co-Founder

Q: Creating a people-focused company culture is no small feat. Could you tell us about some of the initiatives or strategies you have implemented to foster a culture that prioritizes the well-being and growth of our employees?

First of all, hiring amazing people makes it easy to have a people-focused company culture. Our people really are just the best! 

We also place a great importance on well-being, which is why we’ve always had unlimited PTO. It sounds awesome but in practice can be not so great. At some companies with unlimited PTO, employees end up taking less time off because they’re not sure what’s ‘normal’ or acceptable. 

To combat that, we implemented guidelines of what’s ‘normal’ or expected, and we also encourage our leadership team to take time off publicly and really take that time off. Like, don’t sign into Slack and don’t check your email. That’s hard for some people, but having that modeled at the highest level (our CEO for example!) encourages others to follow suit. 

A huge one for me (and for a lot of my colleagues) is the flexible hours. A lot of us are parents, and we know showing up for our kids is so important. Having a job I love that acknowledges how important that is by ‘allowing’ me to pick my kids up from school every day or take them to the park in the middle of the day is amazing! 

We also have a culture where it’s ok to make a mistake. We realize growth doesn’t come from doing what you’re good at all the time, so try something new and let us know how it goes! Learn from it and over-communicate: what you did, why you did it, what you learned from it, what you’re doing differently this time, etc. That’s how we grow together and learn from each other. 

“Ashley is the kind of manager that equally pushes you to be my best while also being extremely understanding of life and everything that goes into it. I have never had someone in my professional life that keeps the human side of a career in the forefront. It is so refreshing and makes me want to work hard each day to make our department the best it can be!”

– Erin Rice, People & Operations Coordinator

Q: With your experience and leadership in the tech industry, what advice would you give to aspiring female leaders who are looking to make an impact and thrive in this field?

Just go for it! Find a company that values different opinions and empowers you to give yours. You don’t have to know everything to have a valuable opinion. You don’t have to check every box to get the job and do it well. Find a mentor and learn everything you can from them. A lot of people are excited to help aspiring female leaders, you just need to take the initiative to find one and ask all the questions. 

Q: In your role, you’ve likely had to navigate various challenges and overcome obstacles. Can you share a particular professional challenge you faced and how you managed to overcome it?

When I started, a lot of the ‘how we work at Process Street’ information wasn’t documented. It lived in people’s heads or in a random Gdrive folder, and I spent a lot of time answering the same questions over and over. 

We decided to write an Employee Handbook, and we made sure it was searchable so most employee questions are self-serve now. It also saved us the trouble of having to commit something to memory – write it down and free that space up in your mind for something else.

Q: How do you stay motivated and inspired in your role, especially during times of uncertainty or change?

Our EPD team is making our product so awesome, that I am constantly blown away by what it can do. Each cycle I find myself so inspired and genuinely excited by what they’re creating, and it motivates me to be better in my role as well.

“Ashley is incredibly on top of things. She always delivers and gets things done with a smile. She’s also hilarious, and not afraid to be a real person with you despite being in charge of HR. Ashley is an all-around excellent person to work with.”  

– Blake Bailey, Director of Customer Success 

The post Employee Spotlight: Ashley Chain, Director of People & Operations first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

If you’re looking for the best AI tools for small business, you’re in the right place!

Running a small business can be challenging, but with the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), you now have a powerful ally to overcome obstacles and achieve success.

From streamlining financial management to automating recruitment, AI tools have become indispensable assets for small businesses.

In this comprehensive list, we present 50 cutting-edge AI tools that address all the pain points faced by small businesses (don’t fear, we know them all!).

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick list of the tools sorted into categories:

• Cross-functional AI tools for small businesses
• Financial management
• Human resource management
• Marketing and customer relationship management
• Operational efficiency
• Technology and data management
• Compliance and Legal

50 AI tools for small business 

As a tech company, we at Process Street know what makes software tools valuable.

That’s why we’ve tried 100 old and new artificial intelligence tools for business and chose our favorites according to their best features.

Whether you’re seeking assistance with budgeting, workflow-building, or customer acquisition, this list provides a diverse array of AI tools that will revolutionize your operations and position you for long-term success.

So let’s explore how to propel your small business to new heights!

Cross-functional AI tools for small business

This category of AI-powered  tools for business features software that doesn’t necessarily fit into the other categories that we’ll cover.

Instead, these are everyday, cross-functional tools you can utilize to enhance your busines processes and massively boost your team’s productivity.

Process Street

Process Street official website

One of the best AI tools for small businesses, a powerful platform for creating, managing, and optimizing workflows and standard operating procedures (SOPs). With its intuitive interface and impressive features, Process Street streamlines business processes, improves productivity, and ensures consistent execution of tasks. 

Features:

• A library of pre-made workflows that can be swiftly tailored to meet all your needs.
• Vast automation and collaboration features.
• Performance tracking and optimization.
• Integrates with 1000+ business apps!
• New AI tool alert! Process AI is a GPT-powered workflow generator that creates bespoke workflows lightning-fast.
• No-code, easy-to-follow interface

Pros:

• Simplifies the creation, management, and automation of workflows, making documenting and streamlining business processes effortless.
• Automates all recurring tasks and provides task assignments, ensuring efficient and consistent execution across teams.
• Offers performance tracking and robust optimization features, allowing businesses to identify bottlenecks, improve efficiency, and achieve better results.

Cons:

• Limited free trial capabilities

ChatGPT

ChatGPT official website.

An advanced AI-powered chatbot developed by OpenAI. It utilizes natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to provide conversational interactions with users. ChatGPT can be integrated into various business applications and websites to enhance customer service, provide automated support, and facilitate interactive experiences. 

Features:

• Contextual understanding and personalized responses.
• Integration capabilities with business applications and websites.

Pros:

• Offers human-like conversations, providing a seamless and interactive experience for users.
• Can be used to enhance customer engagement.

Cons:

• May produce inaccurate responses.
• It requires a technical understanding of how to formulate prompts to achieve the desired outcome.

Bard

Bard official website 

Google Bard is a free chatbot, perfect for answering tricky questions. It can help you develop new ideas, boost productivity by prioritizing tasks, and assist with creating a marketing strategy.

Unlike ChatGPT, Google Bard can easily access information created after the year 2021.

Features:

• Access to all information available on Google Search.
• Able to answer questions in a comprehensive way.
• Helps gain insight into customer behavior

Pro:

• Easy to use, even for those not familiar with AI prompts
• Capable of learning over time

Cons:

• Not always accurate
• Still in its experiential state

Claude (Anthropic’s LLM)

Claude official website

Unlike other AI chatbots, Claude is capable of processing 75,000 words of text in a single prompt. Claude can be used for a variety of tasks, including Gtext generation, language translation and content design. 

Pros:

• Anthropic’s LLMs (large language models) are the most powerful in the world
• Wide range of capabilities
• Easy to use through a simple API

Cons:

• Not free to use.
• Not yet available in all languages.
• Some of the features require technical expertise

Zoho Zia

Zoho Zia official website

AI assistant integrated into Zoho’s software suite. It provides businesses with key features for better data analysis and decision-making. From intuitive workflows to predictive analytics, Zoho Zia helps to optimize operations and improve outcomes. 

Features:

• Intelligent task assignment.
• Predictive analytics and data-driven insights.
• Natural language processing for voice and text-based interactions.

Pros:

• Seamless integration with Zoho’s software suite for enhanced productivity and efficiency.
• Provides data-driven insights and predictive analytics.

Cons:

• Limited to the Zoho software ecosystem. May require migration from existing systems.
• Advanced features require customization.
• Ongoing updates and training are necessary to fully leverage Zoho Zia’s capabilities.

Regie

Regie official website

This AI-powered video analytics platform helps to analyze and extract insights from video content. It utilizes AI algorithms to detect objects, faces, emotions, and actions within videos, providing valuable data for various applications, including security, marketing, and customer behavior analysis. 

Features:

• Object and facial recognition.
• Emotion and behavior analysis.
• Video content search and indexing.

Pros:

• Lets you extract valuable insights from video content through AI-powered analytics.
• Provides object and facial recognition for security and identification purposes.
• Offers emotion and behavior analysis to understand customer responses and engagement.

Cons:

• Accuracy of video analytics may vary depending on video quality and environmental factors.
• Limited integration with existing video systems.

(To find out how Regie helped Alister Wood, the owner of VisitUs, with operational efficiency and productivity, head over to this section: Why should you care about AI tools for small businesses?)

UiPath

UiPath official website

A leading Robotic Process Automation (RPA) software that leverages AI to automate repetitive tasks and streamline business processes. With UiPath, you will build software robots that mimic human actions, enabling them to increase efficiency, reduce errors, and free up time for more strategic work. 

Features:

• AI-powered automation of repetitive tasks.
• Integration with existing systems and applications.

Pros:

• Reduces the likelihood of human errors, resulting in improved accuracy and quality.
• Integrates with existing systems and applications.

Cons:

• Complex processes may require additional software.

AppZen

AppZen official website

AI-based tool that automates expense report auditing. By leveraging AI and machine learning, AppZen analyzes expense data to identify policy violations, potential fraud, and errors, saving time and ensuring compliance. 

Features:

• AI-powered expense report auditing.
• Policy violation detection.
• Fraud detection and risk mitigation.

Pros:

• Automates the expense report auditing process.
• Detects policy violations, potential fraud, and errors with high accuracy.
• Helps mitigate financial risks.

Cons:

• Accuracy depends on the quality and completeness of the expense data provided.

SpotIQ

SpotIQ official website

AI-driven analytics platform from ThoughtSpot. It automatically analyzes data, identifies insights, and generates data-driven narratives, allowing users to make decisions quickly. 

Features:

• Automated data analysis and insights generation.
• Advanced visualization and interactive dashboards.
• Time tracking.

Pros:

• Automates data analysis and generates insights.
• Presents data-driven narratives in a natural language format, making it accessible to a broader audience.

Cons:

• Complex data analysis requires technical expertise.

ChatSpot and Content Assistant from HubSpot

HubSpot official website

A very popular CRM platform that incorporates AI features to enhance lead generation, customer engagement, and marketing automation. With AI-driven capabilities, HubSpot’s new AI tools help streamline sales and marketing efforts and deliver personalized experiences to customers. 

Features:

• Lead scoring and predictive lead generation.
• Personalized content recommendations.
• Marketing automation and campaign management.

Pros:

• Streamlines lead generation and management with AI-powered lead scoring.
• Enhances customer engagement through personalized content recommendations and targeted marketing campaigns.
• Automates marketing processes, saving time and improving efficiency.

Cons:

• Limited integration with existing software

Mindsay (now part of Laiye)

Mindsay official website

A customer service automation platform that utilizes AI chatbots to enhance customer support and engagement. With Mindsay, you can automate routine inquiries, provide instant responses, and deliver personalized customer experiences. 

Features:

• AI-powered chatbots for customer support.
• Integration with popular messaging platforms.

Pros:

• Improves customer support by automating inquiries and providing instant responses.
• Enhances customer experience with personalized interactions and conversations.

Cons:

• Accuracy and effectiveness of responses may vary depending on the complexity of customer queries.

Email Content Generator from Mailchimp

MailChimp official website

Everyone knows Mailchimp, but they’ve recently launched an AI feature that allows you to optimize email campaigns and improve customer targeting. The Email Content Generator helps deliver personalized, targeted messages and drive better email marketing results. 

Features:

• AI-powered customer segmentation and targeting.
• Predictive recommendations for email content and timing.
• Perfect for creating automated email marketing campaigns.

Pros:

• Enhances email marketing effectiveness by leveraging AI to segment customers.
• Automates email campaigns saving time and improving performance.

Cons:

• Ongoing monitoring and updates necessary to optimize email marketing strategies.

GrammarlyGO from Grammarly

Grammarly official website

Another familiar face that has gotten the AI treatment, Grammarly’s new GrammarlyGO AI writing toolset helps businesses improve the quality and accuracy of their written content. It provides real-time grammar and spelling checks and assists in ensuring professional communication. 

Features:

• Real-time grammar and spelling checks.
• Style and clarity enhancements.
• Plagiarism detection.

Pros:

• Improves the quality of written content through real-time grammar and spelling checks.
• Provides suggestions for clear and concise communication.
• Helps maintain originality by detecting potential instances of plagiarism.

Cons:

• The free plan is very limited.

Starmind

Starmind official website

AI platform that maps skills and expertise within an organization, allowing businesses to harness their employees’ knowledge. By leveraging AI-driven algorithms, Starmind enables collaboration and efficient problem-solving within the organization. 

Features:

• AI-driven expertise mapping and knowledge discovery.
• Collaboration and knowledge-sharing tools.
• Intelligent search and recommendation capabilities.

Pros:

• Leverages AI to identify and tap into employees’ expertise.
• Provides intelligent search and recommendation capabilities for quick access to information.

Cons:

• Adoption and engagement from employees may require additional training.

Persado

Persado official website

This platform generates the most impactful language for communications. By analyzing data and leveraging AI algorithms, Persado helps create compelling and persuasive content that resonates with your target audience. 

Features:

• AI-generated language for communications.
• Data-driven content optimization.
• Emotional and cognitive language analysis.

Pros:

• Generates persuasive language maximizing engagement and conversion rates..
• Analyzes emotional and cognitive language to craft messages that evoke desired responses.

Cons:

• Customization of language generation may require experimentation and fine-tuning.

Gong.io

Gong.io official website

The platform analyzes sales calls and meetings to provide insights and coaching for sales teams. Gong.io helps understand customer interactions, identify sales patterns, and optimize sales strategies by leveraging AI algorithms. 

Features:

• AI-driven analysis of sales calls and meetings.
• Conversation analytics and insights.
• Coaching and performance improvement recommendations.

Pros:

• Provides valuable insights into customer interactions, enabling businesses to understand customer needs and preferences.
• Identifies sales patterns and trends, allowing for the optimization of sales strategies.
• Offers coaching and performance improvement recommendations, helping sales teams enhance their skills.

Cons:

• Integration with existing communication platforms and call recording systems may be required.

EverString

EverString official website

AI-powered predictive analytics platform designed for sales and marketing teams. EverString helps identify and target high-potential leads, improve customer segmentation, and enhance marketing campaign effectiveness. 

Features:

• AI-driven predictive lead scoring and targeting.
• Customer segmentation and profiling.
• Marketing campaign optimization.

Pros:

• Predicts and scores leads based on their likelihood to convert, enabling sales teams to focus on high-potential prospects.

Cons:

• Integration with existing CRM systems and data sources may be difficult to achieve.

MonkeyLearn

MonkeyLearn official website

Allows to analyze and visualize texts MonkeyLearn helps extract insights, categorize information, and make data-driven decisions based on text data analysis. 

Features:

• Text data analysis and classification.
• Sentiment analysis and opinion mining.
• Customizable machine learning models.

Pros:

• Enables extraction of insights and valuable information from large volumes of text data.
• Performs sentiment analysis and opinion mining, providing insights into customer feedback and brand reputation.

Cons:

• Accuracy of analysis often depends on the quality and relevance of the data you provide.

Invoca

Invoca official website

Call tracking and analytics platform that makes it possible to gain valuable insights from customer phone calls. Invoca offers data-driven analytics, call attribution, and conversation analytics to optimize marketing campaigns and improve customer experiences. 

Features:

• AI-driven call tracking and analytics.
• Call attribution and campaign optimization.
• Conversation analytics and insights.

Pros:

• Tracks and analyzes customer phone calls to extract valuable insights and data.
• Offers conversation analytics and insights, enabling you to identify patterns and opportunities for improvement.

Cons:

• Integration with existing call tracking systems and CRM platforms may be required.

Financial management AI tools for small business

Finmark

Finmark official website

AI-based tool that takes financial planning, modeling, and forecasting to the next level. It leverages advanced algorithms to provide real-time insights, allowing finance managers to optimize cash flow management effectively. 

Features:

• Accurate forecasting and budgeting capabilities.
• Automated accounts payable and receivable processes.
• Data-driven insights for informed financial decisions.

Pros:

• Enables precise financial forecasting, minimizing cash flow gaps.
• Provides real-time data analysis for proactive financial management.

Cons:

• Limited customization options for specific industry requirements.
• Pricing plans might be restrictive for small businesses with tight budgets.

Zeni

Zeni official website

An AI-powered finance manager that handles various financial tasks, including bookkeeping, tax filing, and financial reporting. It automates manual processes, saving time and reducing errors in financial management. 

Features:

• Automated bookkeeping and reconciliation.
• Tax planning and filing assistance.
• Financial reporting and analytics.

Pros:

• Simplifies financial management by automating complex tasks.
• Saves costs by eliminating the need for a full-time accountant.

Cons:

• Limited integrations with some accounting software.
• Advanced features may require additional training to fully utilize.
• May take some time to learn how to use all the features effectively. 

Chata.ai

Chata.ai official website

This AI assistant brings data analytics to the fingertips of small business owners. It understands natural language queries and provides instant insights into cash flow, forecasting, and revenue predictions.

Features:

• Natural language processing for easy data interaction.
• Real-time cash flow analysis.
• Predictive analytics for revenue forecasting.

Pros:

• Makes data analysis accessible to non-technical users.
• Provides instant insights for quick decision-making.
• Streamlines financial reporting and analysis processes.

Cons:

• Occasional inaccuracies in data interpretation may occur.

Kabbage

Kabbage official website

AI-driven platform that offers small businesses access to much-needed capital. Kabbage evaluates business data to determine loan eligibility quickly, helping entrepreneurs fund their growth plans. 

Features:

• Quick loan approvals based on real-time data analysis.
• Flexible repayment options.
• Simplified application process.

Pros:

• Speeds up the loan application and approval process.
• Provides access to capital for business growth and expansion.
• Offers flexible repayment plans tailored to individual business needs.

Cons:

• Interest rates might be higher compared to traditional lenders.
• Loan limits might be lower for businesses with limited operating history.
• Some businesses might not meet the specific eligibility criteria.

Human resource management (HRM) AI tools for small business

Hiretual

Hiretual official website

Hiretual is an AI-powered recruiting platform that helps SMBs to find the best candidates for their open positions. It uses AI to scan resumes, identify top talent, and schedule interviews.

Features:

• Hiretual’s AI scans resumes for keywords and skills that are relevant to the open position.
• Can automatically schedule interviews with top candidates. 
• Provides detailed reports on the hiring process.

Pros:

• Affordable
• Effective at finding top talent

Cons:

• Not as customizable as some other AI-powered recruiting platforms
• Some features are only available with the paid plan

Lattice

Lattice official website

Lattice is an AI-powered performance management platform that helps SMBs to manage employee performance more effectively. It uses AI to collect feedback, set goals, and track progress.

Features:

• Lattice collects feedback from employees, managers, and peers.
• Helps employees to set goals that are aligned with the company’s goals. 
• Tracks the progress of employees and provides personalized feedback. 

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Affordable
• Effective at managing employee performance

Cons:

• Not as customizable as some other AI-powered performance management platforms
• Some features are only available with the paid plan

X0PA AI

X0PA AI official website

AI-powered solution that revolutionizes the recruitment process by leveraging machine learning algorithms. It automates candidate screening, shortlisting, and matching, allowing you to find and retain top talent more efficiently. 

Features:

• Automated candidate screening and shortlisting.
• AI-powered matching algorithms for better candidate-job fit.
• Continuous learning to improve recruitment outcomes.

Pros:

• Accelerates the recruitment process, saving time and resources.
• Improves the quality of hires through enhanced candidate matching.
• Reduces bias in the hiring process, promoting diversity and inclusion.

Cons:

• Initial setup and integration with existing HR systems may require technical support.
• Continuous updates and training may be needed to refine the matching algorithms.

Harver

Harver official website

AI-powered pre-employment assessment software that streamlines the candidate screening process. It utilizes AI algorithms to evaluate applicants based on skills, personality traits, and cultural fit, ensuring better hiring decisions. 

Features:

• Tailored assessments for specific job roles.
• Personality and culture fit evaluations.
• Advanced analytics for data-driven candidate selection.

Pros:

• Enhances hiring accuracy by evaluating candidates beyond resumes.
• Reduces bias by focusing on objective assessment criteria.
• Provides insights into candidate strengths and weaknesses.

Cons:

• Customization options may require additional configuration and setup time.
• Smaller businesses with fewer job roles might not fully utilize all assessment features.

Butterfly.ai

Butterfly.ai official website

AI-driven employee feedback tool that will improve work-life balance and overall employee engagement. It collects real-time feedback, analyzes sentiment, and provides actionable insights to enhance productivity and well-being. 

Features:

• Real-time feedback collection and sentiment analysis.
• AI-driven insights for employee engagement improvement.
• Personalized coaching recommendations for managers.

Pros:

• Facilitates open and continuous feedback between employees and managers.
• Identifies areas of improvement for better work-life balance.
• Helps managers provide personalized coaching and support to their teams.

Cons:

• Requires consistent participation from employees to gather accurate feedback.
• Limited customization options for specific organizational needs.

Tara.ai

Tara.ai official website

A  project management tool that automates task assignment and project tracking. It lets you optimize resource allocation, deadlines, and project workflows, ensuring efficient project execution. 

Features:

• AI-driven task assignment and project planning.
• Automated resource allocation and deadline management.
• Real-time project tracking and analytics.

Pros:

• Increases project efficiency through automated task assignment and resource allocation.
• Provides real-time visibility into project progress.

Cons:

• Limited scalability for larger projects or organizations with complex workflows.

myInterview

myInterview official website

A robust recruiting assistant that transforms the candidate screening and hiring process. It uses natural language processing to engage with candidates, answer their queries, and gather relevant information, freeing up your time!

Features:

• AI chatbot for candidate engagement and screening.
• Automated scheduling and interview coordination.
• Data-driven candidate matching and ranking.

Pros:

• Accelerates the candidate screening process through AI-powered automation.
• Improves candidate experience by providing timely and personalized communication.

Cons:

• Complex candidate queries still require human intervention for accurate responses.
• Limited integration options with certain applicant tracking systems.

Marketing and CRM AI tools for small business

Beehiive 

Beehiive official website

Beehiive is a cloud-based CRM platform that lets you manage customer relationships, track sales pipeline, and automate marketing campaigns. It is easy to use and has a variety of features that can help businesses to improve their sales and marketing efforts.

Features:

• Keep track of customers’ contact information, purchase history, and interactions with the business.
• See which leads are most likely to convert into customers and identify areas where they need to improve their sales process.
• Beehiive allows you to automate marketing campaigns.
• Reporting and analytics.
• Beehiive integrates with a variety of other tools, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Mailchimp

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Wide range of features
• Affordable pricing
• Integrations with other tools
• Mobile app
• Good customer support

Cons:

• Not as user-friendly as some other CRM platforms
• Lack of some advanced features
• Can be slow at times

Wordtune

Wordtune official website

Wordtune is an AI-powered writing assistant that can help you improve your writing style. It can suggest better word choices, correct grammar mistakes, and make your writing more concise and engaging.

Features:

• Suggest better word choices.
• Correct grammar mistakes.
• Make your writing more concise and engaging.
• Provide feedback on your writing style.
• Share your writing with others.

Pros:

• Easy to use.
• Effective at improving writing style.
• Wide range of features.

Cons:

• Can be expensive
• The suggestions can sometimes be too aggressive.
• Not all writing styles are suitable for improvement.

Remini

Remini official website

Remini is an AI-powered photo enhancer that can sharpen old and blurry photos, remove noise, and restore lost details. It is a popular tool for restoring old family photos, improving the quality of low-resolution photos, and making photos look more professional.

Features:

• Sharpen old and blurry photos
• Remove noise
• Restore lost details
• Enhance the color and contrast of photos
• Apply filters and effects to photos
• Share photos with others

Pros:

• Effective at improving the quality of photos.
• Wide range of features.

Cons:

• Can be expensive.
• Not all photos are suitable for enhancement.
• The results can sometimes be unnatural.

StarryAI

StarryAI official website

StarryAI is a tool that allows you to create realistic images from text descriptions. It is powered by a large database of pre-trained models, which allows it to generate images in a variety of styles. You can also customize the images to your liking by adjusting the colors, lighting, and other settings.

Features:

• Large database of pre-trained models.
• Generate images in different styles.
• Customize images according to your requirements.
• Export images as PNG or JPG files.

Pros:

• It can generate stunningly realistic images.
• It has a wide range of features.

Cons:

• Sides AI can be a bit slow at times.
• The free version of Sides AI has limited features.
• The results can sometimes be a bit blurry.

Synthesia 

Synthesia official website

Synthesia is a tool that allows you to create animated videos with text-to-speech.

Features:

• A large library of pre-recorded and engaging voices.
• Customize the voices to your liking.
• Create videos with different backgrounds and animations.

Pros:

• Synthesia is very easy to use.
• It can create high-quality videos quickly.
• It has a wide range of features.

Cons:

• The free version of Synthesia is very limited.
• The paid plans can be expensive.
• The videos created by Synthesia can sometimes be a bit robotic.

Writesonic

Writesonic official website

Writesonic is a text-generating AI tool that can help you write blog posts, articles, social media posts, product descriptions, and more. 

Features:

• A large database of pre-written content that you can use as inspiration.
• The ability to generate content in different styles and tones.
• Customize the content to your specific needs

Pros:

• Writesonic is very easy to use.
• It can generate high-quality content quickly.
• It has a wide range of features.

Cons:

• The free version of Writesonic is very limited.
• The paid plans can be expensive.
• The content generated by Writesonic can sometimes be repetitive or unoriginal.

Kapiche

Kapiche official website

A powerful text analytics software that utilizes AI to understand and analyze customer feedback. It helps to gain valuable insights from customer sentiments, opinions, and reviews.

Features:

• Sentiment analysis to understand customer emotions.
• Topic extraction to identify key themes in feedback.
• Advanced visualizations for data interpretation.

Pros:

• Provides insights into customer feedback, allowing you to address pain points effectively.
• Helps identify trends and patterns in customer behavior.

Cons:

• Training may be needed for those unfamiliar with text analytics and language processing.
• Limited language support for languages other than English.

Optimizely

Optimizely official website

AI-driven platform that lets you experiment and personalize websites and user experiences. It helps optimize website performance, increase conversions, and deliver tailored experiences to improve customer satisfaction and engagement. 

Features:

• A/B testing to experiment with different website variations.
• Personalization capabilities for targeted user experiences.
• AI-driven recommendations for optimization.

Pros:

• Helps optimize website elements for better user engagement and conversions.
• Personalizes user experiences based on data-driven insights.
• Provides AI-driven recommendations for optimization strategies.

Cons:

• Requires setup and implementation for accurate experimentation and personalization.
• Advanced personalization features require technical expertise.
• Continuous monitoring and analysis are necessary for optimal results.

Crisp

Crisp official website

AI-powered customer service platform to manage and enhance customer support experiences. It offers features like live chat, chatbots, and automation to streamline customer interactions, resolve queries efficiently, and provide a seamless customer experience. 

Features:

• AI-powered chatbots for automated customer interactions.
• Live chat capabilities for real-time support.
• Automated ticketing and routing for efficient query resolution.

Pros:

• Enhances customer support efficiency through AI-powered automation and chatbots.
• Provides real-time support and resolves queries promptly.
• Streamlines customer interactions and allows for seamless multi-channel communication.

Cons:

• Initial setup and training of chatbots may require technical assistance.
• Complex or highly specific customer queries still require human intervention.
• Integration with existing customer service systems needs additional configuration.

BirdEye

BirdEye official website

A platform that focuses on driving business growth through improved customer experience. It collects and analyzes customer feedback, online reviews, and ratings to help businesses enhance their reputation, attract more customers, and increase revenue. 

Features:

• Online review management for reputation enhancement.
• AI-driven sentiment analysis for understanding customer feedback.
• Competitive benchmarking to assess brand perception.

Pros:

• Enables you to monitor and manage your online reputation effectively.
• Provides insights into customer sentiments and feedback for actionable improvements.
• Assists in competitive benchmarking to evaluate brand perception and identify areas of improvement.

Cons:

• Complex analysis may require manual review for accurate interpretation.

Drift

Drift official website

Conversational marketing and sales platform that utilizes AI to facilitate personalized and real-time customer interactions. It offers chatbots, live chat, and email automation to engage with prospects and customers, drive conversions, and improve customer satisfaction. 

Features:

• AI-powered chatbots for automated conversations.
• Live chat capabilities for real-time interactions.
• Email automation for personalized outreach.

Pros:

• Enables you to engage with prospects and customers in real-time
• Automates conversations.
• Personalizes interactions through targeted messaging for better conversion rates.

Cons:

• Initial setup and configuration of chatbots may require technical expertise.

Operational efficiency AI tools for small business

Taskade

Taskade official website

Taskade is a cloud-based project management tool that allows teams to collaborate on tasks, projects, and documents. It is easy to use and has a variety of features that can help teams to improve their productivity and efficiency.

Features:

• Collaborate on tasks, projects, and documents in real time
• Taskade has a variety of features for task management, including task lists, checklists, and due dates.
• Taskade has a built-in chat feature that allows teams to communicate.
• Integrates with various other tools, including Google Drive, Slack, and Trello

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Wide range of features
• Affordable pricing
• Integrations with other tools
• Mobile app

Cons:

• Not as user-friendly as some other project management tools
• Lack of some advanced features
• Can be slow at times

Network AI

Network AI official website

Network AI is an AI-powered platform that helps you build your professional network. It provides you with recommendations for people to connect with, and it helps you track your interactions with your network.

Features:

• Identify and connect with potential customers
• Find new business partners
• Network AI can help you to track your network and see how it is growing.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Powerful AI engine
• Wide range of features

Cons:

• Not many professionals are yet using  Network AI.
• The recommendations can sometimes be inaccurate.

Replit

Replit is a cloud-based IDE that allows you to code in various languages, including Python, JavaScript, and C++. It comes with a number of features that make it a powerful tool for developers.

Features:

• A code editor with syntax highlighting and autocompletion.
• A debugger that allows you to step through your code line by line.
• A terminal emulator to run shell commands.
• A file manager that helps to browse and manage your files.

Pros:

• Replit is very easy to use.
• It has a wide range of features.
• It is free to use for personal projects.

Cons:

• Replit can be slow at times.
• The free version of Replit has limited storage space.
• The code editor can be a bit clunky.

Notion.ai

Notion AI official website

Notion AI is a suite of AI-powered features that are integrated into Notion, a collaborative workspace tool. These features allow you to create and edit content, generate ideas, and automate tasks in a more efficient and productive way.

Features:

• Content suggestion advises on relevant content based on what the user is currently working on
• Idea generation helps to generate new ideas by brainstorming and exploring different possibilities

Pros:

• Can help users to be more productive by suggesting content and generating ideas
• Helps to collaborate more effectively by making it easier to share ideas and work together on projects

Cons:

• Notion AI is a premium feature that requires a paid subscription
• Not yet available in all languages
• Some of the features of Notion AI require technical expertise

Flowpoint

Flowpoint official website

AI-powered workflow automation tool designed to streamline business processes and increase operational efficiency. It lets you automate repetitive tasks and eliminate manual bottlenecks.

Features:

• Workflow automation and task management.
• Integration with popular business applications.
• AI-driven process optimization and analytics.

Pros:

• Integrates with popular business applications, ensuring seamless workflow connectivity.
• Provides AI-driven process optimization and analytics for continuous improvement.

Cons:

• Complex workflows may require additional software.

(To find out how Flowpoint helped Musician Authority enhance their decision-making, head over to this section: Why should you care about AI tools for small businesses?)

Anvyl

Anvyl official website

A supply chain management software that leverages AI to optimize and streamline supply chain processes. It offers features like vendor management, order tracking, and production analytics to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance collaboration. 

Features:

• Vendor management and communication for streamlined operations.
• Order tracking and analytics for supply chain visibility.
• Production management and analytics for process optimization.

Pros:

• Optimizes supply chain processes, improving efficiency and reducing costs.
• Provides real-time visibility into order tracking and production status.
• Enhances collaboration with vendors and suppliers, fostering stronger relationships and smoother operations.

Cons:

• Customization options for specific supply chain needs require technical expertise.
• Continuous monitoring and adjustment are necessary to adapt to changing supply chain dynamics.

Greyparrot

Greyparrot official website

AI-based tool that focuses on waste recognition and management to improve sustainability. It utilizes computer vision to analyze waste streams, classify waste types, and provide insights for effective waste management. 

Features:

• Computer vision-based waste recognition and classification.
• Analytics and reporting on waste composition and prediction of future trends.
• Recommendations for sustainable waste management practices.

Pros:

• Enhances sustainability by providing insights into waste composition and trends.
• Improves waste management processes through automated waste recognition and classification.
• Offers recommendations for sustainable waste management practices to reduce environmental impact.

Cons:

• May require initial training and adjustment to accurately recognize and classify waste.
• Limited availability of waste recognition models for specific waste types or regions.

Midjourney

Midjourney official website

Midjourney is a text-to-image AI-based tool that allows users to create images from text descriptions. It is powered by a large language model (LLM) that has been trained on a massive dataset of text and images.

Features:

• Create images by providing Midjourney with a text description
• Transfer the style of one image to another. For example,  describe a photorealistic image of a cat and then transfer the style of a cartoon cat to the image
• Image editing

Pros:

• Can generate high-quality images that are often indistinguishable from human-created ones.
• Use it to create various images, from realistic portraits to abstract artworks.

Cons:

• Midjourney is a paid service.
• Currently only available by invitation, and the number of users is limited.
• Midjourney is trained on a large dataset of text and images, and this dataset can be biased.

Technology and data management

DataRobot

DataRobot official website

An automated machine learning platform predicts and understands user data. It leverages AI algorithms to automate the process of building and deploying machine learning models, empowering non-experts to extract valuable insights from their data. 

Features:

• Automated machine learning model creation.
• Advanced data preprocessing and feature engineering.
• Model deployment and monitoring.

Pros:

• Enables to leverage the power of machine learning without extensive technical knowledge.
• Automates the process of building and deploying accurate machine-learning models.
• Extracts valuable insights from complex data sets.

Cons:

• Requires sufficient data quality and quantity to build reliable machine-learning models.

WalkMe

WalkMe official website

The platform promotes technology adoption and simplifies user experiences through interactive on-screen sequences. It provides step-by-step guidance and contextual support, making navigating and utilizing software applications easier for users. 

Features:

• On-screen interactive guidance for software usage.
• Contextual support and tooltips.
• User behavior analytics for understanding adoption and engagement.

Pros:

• Facilitates technology adoption by providing interactive guidance and support.
• Reduces learning time and enhances user experiences within software applications.
• Offers insights into user behavior and engagement for continuous improvement.

Cons:

1. May require additional employee training. 

Logz.io

Logz.io official website

Log analysis platform that provides advanced insights into IT infrastructure monitoring. It centralizes log data from various sources, applies machine learning algorithms for log analysis, and offers real-time alerts and visualizations for proactive troubleshooting and system optimization. 

Features:

• Centralized log data management and analysis.
• AI-driven log anomaly detection.
• Real-time alerts and visualizations.

Pros:

• Streamlines IT infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting through centralized log analysis.
• Utilizes AI algorithms to detect log anomalies and potential system issues.
• Provides real-time alerts and visualizations for proactive system optimization and performance improvement.

Cons:

• Requires configuration and integration with existing log sources.
• Advanced log analysis may require technical expertise for accurate interpretation.

Compliance and Legal 

Compliance.ai

Compliance.ai official website

A great solution for regulatory change management. It helps you to stay updated with changing regulations by automatically monitoring regulatory changes, providing alerts and insights, and streamlining compliance processes. 

Features:

• Automated monitoring of regulatory changes.
• Alerts and notifications for relevant updates.
• Compliance workflow management.

Pros:

• Stay compliant with changing regulations through automated monitoring.
• Provides timely alerts and notifications for relevant regulatory updates.
• Streamlines compliance processes through workflow management.

Cons:

• Accuracy and relevance of regulatory updates vary depending on the data sources and jurisdictions covered.

Clara

Clara official website

Meet your new virtual assistant that makes sure you never miss a meeting!. It integrates with calendar systems, analyzes meeting requests, and autonomously schedules meetings based on availability and priorities, taking into account compliance and legal requirements. 

Features:

• AI-powered meeting scheduling assistant.
• Integration with calendar systems for seamless scheduling.
• Compliance and legal meeting prioritization.

Pros:

• Simplifies meeting scheduling processes by autonomously managing availability and priorities.
• Ensures compliance and legal meetings are not missed through intelligent prioritization.
• Integrates with existing calendar systems for seamless coordination and scheduling.

Cons:

• Initial setup and configuration may be required to align with specific compliance and legal workflows.

Why should you care about AI tools for small businesses?

AI tools have become a game-changer for small businesses, revolutionizing how they operate and compete with each other.

Integrating AI into a business strategy can bring numerous benefits and make process management much easier.

To find out more, we’ve spoken to numerous small business owners (SMBs) to see how AI has helped transform the way they work.

Here are the results!

Boosted efficiency and productivity 

Alister Wood, the owner of VisitUs, explains that his teams rely heavily on email marketing to generate leads and help with sales conversions. They’ve used several AI tools to help with this, but their favorite is Regie AI. This amazing AI tool makes generating cold emails for prospects and personalizing updates to existing customers a breeze.

Before Regie, crafting emails for the hundreds of contacts on their email list was a big challenge. Their sales and marketing teams were working overtime to meet the necessary quotas.

With Regie’s help, VisitUs now only need to specify their target audience and whether they are new or returning customers. Regie generates emails in minutes and has saved both departments a lot of time.

Since getting Regie, VisitUS have become more efficient and have more time to connect with customers.

What’s more, their conversion rates have also seen a slight increase because of the platform’s automated scheduling of emails.

Enhanced decision-making

“Flowpoint has been a game-changer for our business, enabling us to make more informed decisions and achieve greater success in our online operations,” says Michaela Melo from Musician Authority’s marketing department.

Flowpoint solves the problem of optimizing website conversions and maximizing ROI through data-driven decisions. It offers various features, including cross-domain funnel tracking, funnel analytics, AI-powered recommendations, conversion rate optimization, and event capturing.

“I gained valuable insights into our website’s performance, received recommendations for improvement, and identified any technical errors hindering conversions. The suggested actions resulted in noticeable improvements in our website’s conversion rates and overall performance,” concludes Michaela.

Improved customer experience

“Intercom.io has been instrumental in streamlining our customer communication processes, enhancing customer satisfaction, and driving business growth,” says  Gene Caballero,  the co-founder of GreenPal.

Intercom’s AI-powered features provided GreenPal with the personalized support they needed and helped them to engage with customers effectively.

“This (tool) not only improved our efficiency but also enables us to deliver a superior customer experience that sets us apart from our competitors,” explains Gene.

Leveraging AI tools is vital in 2023 and beyond

In the competitive business landscape, small businesses face a multitude of challenges.

However, with AI tools for business, these challenges can be transformed into opportunities for growth and success.

The benefits of incorporating AI tools into your small business strategy are vast.

By embracing these technologies, you can overcome challenges, streamline operations, and position your business for growth and success in the digital era.

So, take the time to explore the AI tools mentioned in this article and find the ones that align with your business needs.

Will you embrace the power of AI and harness its potential to drive your small business forward?

Let us know in the comments below which tools you’re most likely to use as a small business owner.

The post 50+ Powerful AI Tools For Small Business You Can’t Ignore first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Luna Park is an online platform that connects remote teams with social games, icebreakers, and trivia that can be as short as five minutes or as long as 90.

Since the pandemic, it’s pretty clear that remote work is here to stay, and that’s something Luna Park’s COO and co-founder Arlen Marmel saw early on. Thus, he was motivated to start the company in January 2021 with Ben Anderson.

Having worked as the Head of Marketing and Distribution for Crunchyroll as well as the Director of Customer Acquisition & Retention at Hulu, Arlen is familiar with what it takes to bring people on board and retain them, whether that’s employees or customers. He’s a master at keeping people engaged.

In this episode of the Employee Onboarding Podcast from Process Street, Arlen discusses:

• Growing a remote business during the pandemic
• Scaling a remote international team
• Bringing play into work and onboarding

You can listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

Growing a remote business during the pandemic

Key takeaways:

• Connection happens naturally in an office setting but not in a remote one.
• Remote organizations have to put more effort into making sure their employees can connect with each other.

I’d love it if you could share a little bit more about how you ended up with Luna Park and started this awesome platform.

Arlen

So I think my co-founder and I made an observation pretty early on in the pandemic that remote work was here to stay. If we can rewind our brains a little bit to that moment, a lot of folks were saying, “Oh, we’ll be back in the office in a month or in a couple of weeks.” And I think we were looking at the landscape saying, “You know what, I actually think this may be a more seismic shift in work culture.” And we started to ask ourselves, well, if we’re physically distributed from our colleagues, what changes? And we felt that one of the biggest changes is our ability to connect and build relationships.

You know, so much of our connection happens from just the physical proximity of being in an office with our colleagues. And when you remove that, it became pretty clear that productivity is fine, right? 

It’s really easy to jump on Zoom and Slack and these other tools and get work done. But what about our relationships? What about trust and empathy? When you join an organization, how do you get to know your colleagues?

You lose a lot of the serendipity that comes from being in an office and just bumping into your colleagues at random and noticing, you know, somebody’s got an Aerosmith t-shirt, and you happen to like Aerosmith, as well.

And so we’ve worked really hard to try to re-infuse some of those opportunities for deepening pre-existing bonds, building new ones, and creating trust and empathy. 

And so, as a company, you all are really small still, is that right?

Arlen

Yeah. So we’re, we’re probably about 20 people today. We’re distributed around the world. We drink our own Kool-Aid, we use our own product, obviously, Luna Park, as I mentioned, our objective is to help companies deepen pre-existing bonds and create new ones. And there’s a whole bunch of ways that we can talk about that. We do that. 

But yes, we are still relatively small, but we worked really hard to ensure that we’re globally distributed. So we serve a lot of different global teams, and we look for global points of view.

One of the biggest challenges that we face when connecting global teams is cultural boundaries, right? What might be interesting for a team in the U.S. might not be as interesting for a team in Europe or Asia. So we try to bring all those perspectives to there.

So when we grow our organization, we think really deeply about bringing folks together from around the globe with different perspectives and different backgrounds.

Scaling a remote international team

Key takeaways:

• Bridging cultural differences is a major challenge for Luna Park.
• Arlen is still growing and learning how best to onboard new employees remotely as the business scales.
• The Luna Park team plays games with all the new hires to break the ice.

Yeah, that’s actually something that I really sort of latched on to when we first started using Luna Park at Process Street was the little toggle of like international teams, because our team is also globally distributed. So being able to make sure that we’re inclusive, even in the games that we play, creating that engagement is super important.

Arlen

Yeah, honestly, it’s one of the biggest challenges we face because there’s no such thing as just global culture, right? Regions have their own culture. And so sometimes we’ll get teams that are very interested in engaging in activities that have a lot of cultural infusion. We deliver experiences that can bring people together regardless of where they may be in the world. And I think in doing that, we have a unique advantage because we’ve built our own platform.

So we have experiences, like our live events (We run live events, 30, 60, 90-minute experiences with game shows, escape rooms, things like that) and an on-demand library, where we run experiences, which are shorter. They’re between, say, five and 30 minutes, and they work for small groups, so as few as two people, so that you can empower your team to more easily get together. 

We don’t use Zoom or Google Meet. We think those are great tools for business meetings but not so great for social engagement. So we built our own solution from the ground up. And it’s a fully interactive platform, right? On Zoom, if you’ve ever gotten together with your colleagues, usually one person is speaking, or two people are speaking, and everyone’s muted. And all you can do there is screen share. Luna Park is truly a fully interactive experience.

So I can give you an example of one of our mini games that I think is really globally appealing. Basically, every team member is represented up on a board on the screen, and they have to tap keys on their keyboard in sequence to advance a spaceship to Planet Luna Park. 

And I think it’s worth saying that one of the things that we found along this journey is that games, specifically social games, are an incredible way to connect people, regardless of their background. You know, regardless of where you may be from, what differences we may have, everyone has games in common. And games actually mimic a lot of aspects of work. You collaborate in a team, you need different people to take a leadership role, you need to communicate effectively, or you may reach a challenge and need to overcome that.

We try to actually create experiences that your team will truly enjoy. But also, in many ways, it mimics work, and it creates this trust and empathy that you might not be as conscious about.

You might not recognize it that’s happening, but you leave with this warmer, stronger feeling towards your colleagues.

Tell me a little bit about the evolution of your employee onboarding at Luna Park as you went from two employees to 20.

Arlen

I think onboarding employees in a physically distributed world is a really challenging experience because what I’ve discovered is, and, as you mentioned some of my previous experiences at companies like Crunchyroll and Hulu, we were based out of an office, and in most cases, the vast majority of the employees were in-office. And what happens when a new employee joins is they’re very easily exposed to the broader organization.

A simple example is in both of those companies, we serve lunch, in, you know, you would go grab lunch, you would be exposed to a bunch of employees. And it’s really not an active effort on the part of the joining team member. In a physically distributed world, it’s much harder for a new team member to get up to speed really quickly on who the team is and what all the working parts are, and get exposed to people outside of their group. And so obviously, we use Luna Park ourselves.

I’ll say that one of the things I’ve observed about our evolution is that when we were growing from like two to, say, 10, it was actually really easy to have kind of a personal relationship with everyone, just by virtue of the fact that team was so small, and you’d have business with everyone on a daily basis. And you’re really able to create that connection. But as the organization has grown, it becomes a lot harder. And we’ve identified this kind of missing link.

So when you’re in an organization, and you’re in an office, the most junior team member likely has exposure to the most senior team member, let’s say the CEO of the organization, almost by accident.

You can walk to the restroom, you can walk past them, you can kind of see how they handle themselves, how they behave. But in a distributed world, the only way for the most junior employee to get access to the most senior employee is to probably take an active role and schedule a meeting or, you know, reach out to them on Slack or something like that. And that’s incredibly intimidating. It’s, frankly, a little awkward. And in some cases, it may not even be appropriate. But I think we would all probably say we’d like the most junior team members to have exposure to our C-level team. But that gets more difficult as the company grows.

So how do you foresee scaling that as companies get larger and larger?

Arlen
So you know, with Luna Park, we started with our live-hosted event. These were typically 60-minute experiences that allowed you to bring the vast majority of the team together. We call them high impact. It’s an amazing way to get a large swath of your organization together synchronously for a little bit of a longer period.

But if we’re being candid, the most actively engaged organizations can do something like that, maybe monthly, right? How frequently can you really carve out an hour of the entire team’s time? And so we recognize that this is an amazing opportunity to kickstart.

I talked about some of the benefits of being in this synchronous space with your whole organization, but other tools are needed in the toolkit, and so we introduced our on-demand experiences. These empower managers and other people throughout the organization to get together with smaller groups for shorter periods of time. 

Organizations are comprised of diverse individuals. Some may be really excited about getting together with the whole team for an hour-long experience. But some may be less so, and it may be more appealing for them to get together with someone on a one-on-one basis. And so I think for us, you’ll continue to see us innovate on new experiences that enable teams to continue to recognize each other and build culture.

But we’re always looking for these different ways and moments to continue connecting the team because, as I said, I think it takes a little bit more work in a distributed world to pick up the slack that maybe the office kind of used to do for us.

Bringing play into work and onboarding

Key takeaways:

• Prospective hires play Luna Park games as part of the interview process.
• Having fun at work is incredibly important.
• New hires bring great energy and excitement to organizations and they should have the opportunity to spread it around.

Tell me a little bit about what the cadence is for a new person joining your team.

So typically, even before somebody will join our team, during part of the interview process, we’ll actually invite them to a Luna Park experience because it says a lot about who we are as an organization. You know, we create experiences that deliver serious value for our customers but are also lighthearted and quite a bit of fun. And we’re looking for individuals that can understand that. Luna Park, in particular, is a really interesting marriage of content creation and software, and so we need people that can understand that and appreciate that. 

We’re always looking to bring people into the fold that have a unique perspective, but also that can appreciate what we do. I know your question was about onboarding, and I’m kind of talking a little bit about the interview process, but I think it’s relevant because it starts before we even bring them into the fold that we find people that not only delight in what Luna Park does, but often we’ll start to say, you know, “I wonder if you did it this way or I have a little bit of feedback on what you were doing there,” because that tells me that we’ve got a critical thinker with us that’s interested and engaged. And so that kind of starts before we hire, and typically we get excited about those types of candidates.

When we do bring them into the fold, number one, we’ll often bring the whole team together in a Luna Park experience for a low-stress, low-anxiety way for those team members to get connected to others.

For us, onboarding isn’t just about, “Okay, here’s the paperwork.” Of course, that’s a part of it, right? But I think another key component is getting to know your colleagues in a way that isn’t so formal and isn’t so tied to the business place. 

As we know, it’s scientifically proven that teams that play together are more productive, feel more connected, and enjoy their work more. And so, we really try to infuse those elements of play, those elements of fun and access, which is, you know, a word that I’ve repeated a few times, but I think is really critical into our onboarding experience. 

And that’s human development, right? Like, that’s from preschool age all the way to those that are graduating out of the workforce. Everybody needs that playful side.

100%, and I don’t wanna get super deep here, but we spend the vast majority of our waking hours working, and I am a firm believer that it might as well be something you love and enjoy. I like working on products that make people happy, that make people smile. I like working with people that I feel stimulate me, that are highly intelligent, but that are also fun to be around.

Of course, there are certain things that are more appropriate and less appropriate in the work environment, but I really don’t want there to be, like, work Arlen and personal life Arlen. I want to be myself, and I think sometimes we need a little bit of help, right, especially because, in a work environment, it brings together so many unique personalities, so many people from different backgrounds.

And so it inherently makes you a little bit more sensitive to what other people might respond to. And so we just create a space where you can see your colleagues. In a more human light. I think there’s a lot of power and benefit to that.

What would you say is the most important wow moment that you can create for an employee in the onboarding process?

I think most employees come to the table with this expectation that there’s a bunch of steps that they have to follow through to join this organization. But the other thing that new employees bring to the table is a lot of enthusiasm. And I think too often we don’t capitalize on that enthusiasm. You know, they come in raring to go, and it’s great for organizations to have that fresh blood, that shot in the arm. But especially in a distributed world, sometimes that energy might stay in a really small bubble. You know, they connect with one person, they connect with two people, they connect with three people, and those people get the benefit of it but maybe the broader organization doesn’t. 

The more senior team members, the more veteran team members can coast off a little bit of that fresh energy and excitement and remember why you know your company is such a great place to be. And then the other way, that new team member can feel like they got access and exposure and maybe created some relationships early on.

Or at least the seeds of relationships that can pay dividends down the line that aren’t just with their core team, but across the organization.

A high-functioning social network is not disparate bubbles. It’s a lot of connective tissue across the entire organization. I think the absolute best moment to make that happen is in the early life of a new employee when they’re as engaged and as motivated as they might ever be.

And so I think creating that two-way conversation so that the veteran team members can capitalize on that energy and so that this new team member can hopefully plant some seeds for some long-standing relationships is probably the biggest opportunity you have in the onboarding process.

Listen to The Employee Onboarding Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms!

Check out (& follow) The Employee Onboarding Podcast on top podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

What do you think about Arlen Marmel’s philosophy of work hard, play hard? Do you invite your new hires to play games with company leaders? Tell us about it in the comments!

The post Remote Work Engagement 101 (Secrets of Distributed Teamwork) first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Laura Florin is an expert and accomplished people leader with more than 20 years of experience in leveraging people and resources to build strong teams at every level (not to mention being very familiar with the stay interview process).

Now working for Videri, a maker of energy-efficient digital displays, Laura uses her expertise in people and compliance to manage four different onboardings in two countries. 

Laura understands what it takes to not only make new hires feel welcome but also make them feel like they want to stay for a long time. We were lucky enough to sit down with her and pick her brain on all the employee onboarding best practices.

In this episode of The Employee Onboarding Podcast from Process Street, Laura discusses:

• Onboarding evolution
• Stay interviews
• Making HR less scary

You can listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

Onboarding evolution

Key takeaways:

• Do HR orientation on the second day.
• Checklists are a lifesaving tool.
• Technology has made onboarding better.

Why don’t we start with you sharing a little bit about your onboarding experience at your current company?

Laura Florin

And my current company, we’re varied. So we’re 50% in the U.S., 50% in Canada, and we have people that are remote in the U.S. and in Canada, plus having two locations. So we almost have four different styles of onboarding, depending on what position the person has, and what we need to what we need to obtain. 

I try to make it so that onboarding is very smooth, there’s not much paperwork to do, and we have strong systems that get us to be compliant very quickly. Then we can focus on getting to know all the employees. So we have an orientation that we do. We usually do the HR orientation on day two, rather than day one because that first day, you’re trying to log into your computer, you’re trying to get some people’s names, get a little bit adjusted. 

And then, on day two, if we do the HR orientation, we can then say, “So how was the first day?” So then we don’t scare anybody away. Then this way, we can focus in or, re-guide the manager, because, let’s say the manager had a bad day and couldn’t meet that much with that person. Especially if you’re remote. Sometimes when you’re onboarding people remotely, they haven’t gotten their own workflow, so that first day, there may be a lot of emptiness because you’re not sitting in the office.

So, four different onboardings. Wow. How do you manage that? 

Laura

Ah, it’s just understanding what that is. And understanding, okay, what payroll system is somebody getting into? Having checklists and understanding so you can get that process finished. As I said, let’s bring down the compliance time. Let’s see how much we can get the system to do for us. So then, what we focus in on the right onboarding, which is what is our culture? What are the things we’re trying to do? How do you succeed? What are the opportunities for training and those pieces?

How would you say it’s evolved in terms of technology? Has that played a role in onboarding evolution? 

Laura

As I said, you know, back in the day, when you handed people a giant pile of paper, and really you didn’t have a computer in orientation, they just had the paper, and you probably with a PowerPoint presentation being put up on the wall and, and talking through each slide, so it dictated that. 

Now, with computers and everything else, and even video chatting, you can do a lot of different things. The other piece is that it makes more sense for the employee, instead of filling it out on paper, how do we get them to fill it out straight into the computer? And now, if they’re going straight into your payroll and HR system, putting in their name, their address, their social security number, there’s a higher percentage of probability that it’s going to be correct because the person knows their own numbers and their own stuff, and you’re not going to transpose things and everything else. 

In HR, from the old days, when we were data entering everything, how many times people came back to you and said, “Oh, my address is wrong?” or, God forbid, their social security number is wrong? And now we’ve got to actually get it fixed with the IRS and all the other stuff. So I think that’s much more beneficial. 

Even direct deposit is a big change because you used to hand somebody a check. So if your first check neat could be a paper check, you can hand it to somebody, and then after that the direct deposit could start. So you could at least do a test. But now, since we’re all remote from the first check, it’s got to get into their bank account. And then it’s a nightmare if it does go to the wrong place because then getting the money back then getting them paid. And the worst thing I ever want to, you know, mess with is somebody’s pay. 

Stay interviews

Key takeaways:

• Pre-boarding is necessary to keep new hires engaged before their first day.
• Employers need to promise advancement and opportunities in order to keep top talent around.
• Stay interviews are an excellent tool to reduce employee turnover.

We have started to focus a lot on pre-boarding. Can you tell me a little bit about your insights on pre-boarding, and what that looks like?

Laura

I would say pre-boarding is similar to what’s still happening in the recruiting process. So there is that piece where, if you have a company that has divided up, you have your recruiting or your talent acquisition, and then you have your people operations. Where is that dividing line? Who does what? We’ve got to work it out amongst ourselves who does what, so then there’s a smooth transition, and handoff from recruiting to HR. 

It used to be a lot easier because if somebody’s coming into the building, you can say, “Okay, before they walk in the building, they’re recruiting.” Then, when it’s their first day, they come into the building, then then they move over to the people operations or human resources. 

So now it’s who does what? Should recruiting be worrying about getting a computer shipped out? You know, what are these different pieces that should happen? And who does it? And I think it is very important because is the person being supported through those two weeks? We don’t want to forget them. 

Let’s say they gave two weeks’ notice, we don’t want to forget them during those two weeks. We want to check in, we want to see how they’re doing, especially in today’s market, when within that two weeks, they could accept a job from you, but they’re still interviewing. And they’re waiting for this other job to come. And so, how do you make sure that they still see you as their first choice? 

Are there any tips that you could share on how you keep new hires that haven’t started yet engaged during their notice period? 

Laura

A lot of it can be communication. You could set up a video chat, it doesn’t always have to just be phone calls or emails. I think, sometimes, because we are remote, and we do so much through chats and emails and everything else, you do have some people that tend to communicate more via electronics. 

And, yes, while that’s good, you don’t get that inflection, you don’t get that welcoming. And I think it’s important, even during those two weeks, to do phone calls or do another video call to say, “How are things going? Are you prepared? Do you have any other questions?” By doing that, people feel more welcomed. 

One of the lessons I had when we were still coming into a building was at a small scaling company where we took it from 100 to 250. They had a 40% turnover rate. And when I looked at the 40% turnover rate, half of it was people not making it the first year. So what you have to think about is why? Okay, then they took this job because they desperately needed it. But they never fully walked in the door because, obviously, something was happening either through the onboarding experience, the recruiting experience, or that first year of asking themselves if they wanted to stay there. 

I think a lot of employees want to cut and run sooner than later if they really don’t feel that either (A), they’re welcome and they can see themselves being part of this team. And (B), do they have opportunities? Because if there’s no opportunity for them, most people don’t want to sit in the same job for 30 years. We want to grow, we want to progress, we want to learn new things. So the onboarding, pre-boarding, all these steps are very, very important and, in the long run, a lot of it plays to your retention and your retention numbers, and how much money you spend on training. 

There’s a lot of discussion about the length of onboarding. That the initial training might be two weeks or 30 days. But how long does our onboarding really last? 

Laura

We have something that we call more “stay” interviews than exit interviews. So they’re similar types of questions to an exit interview, but it’s more like, “How are things going? What do you think of the benefits? What’s going on?” Are we checking in with them at 90 days? Are we checking with him at six months? Nine months? 

So every quarter, are we checking in with a new hire as far as how things are going? Do they still understand the benefits? Do they understand how they can advance? Are they getting the training? Are they getting the right amount of feedback? I think that’s very, very important so that somebody feels that connection to the company and to their team. 

Making HR less scary 

Key takeaways:

• HR should make more of an effort to talk to new hires and check in so they seem less scary.
• Opportunities for advancement should be made clear in the onboarding process so new hires feel excited to stick around.
• Give new hires a buddy that isn’t their manager.

Checking in creates a stronger bond between scary HR and the teammates, right? 

Laura Florin

Yes. So I want to make sure that I get up and go, I talk to people, even if they have questions so that you don’t have the scary HR. I have had people dive under desks to hide from me. It was part joke, but it was part, “Okay, what did that really mean?” 

So yes, HR needs to get out of the process, the paper, and all the other things and only come in when it’s time to deliver a bad message to let’s do the fun things. Let’s enjoy each other. Let’s get to know each other and teach me how I can make things better. 

That sort of idea of onboarding, you really could argue, travels the whole length of that person’s career with that company, right? 

Laura

Yes, as I said, back in that example, where half of my turnover was people that didn’t make it a year, there were a lot of reasons for it. Some of it was the wrong people were recruited, we just needed a warm body. But the bigger portion of it was, people didn’t know how to advance, they weren’t getting the feedback they wanted, and then they also felt they weren’t getting the training they should get. 

Even though we thought they were great at doing their job, they didn’t feel so confident in their job that they knew what they were doing. But that continues, or once you start that great foundation that can continue through their career, and then people are willing to stay with companies through good and bad because they feel valued. 

What would you say is the most creative thing that a company can do to create a wow moment for new hires? 

Laura

It’s finding that true welcome moment. 

When I was at one of my companies, we found the new hire’s desk, we put their name at their desk, we put balloons up, we put some stuff there, so everybody knew who this new hire was. And we told them to go and say hi. So they were being welcomed to the fullest, and being treated like an employee who’s been there for many years because they got balloons, everybody knew that they were a new hire. 

We gave people a buddy, and the buddy was not their manager. So on their first day, their buddy took them to lunch, not their manager. Their manager could do it later in the week, but the buddy really taught them about the culture. How do we get them to know other people? And will this buddy bring them around to introduce them to people? 

During their first few happy hours or employee events, or all-hands meetings, they take that buddy with them, so that the buddy doesn’t feel nervous. You got to think about it when you’re a new hire, and you have your first party, like your first Christmas party, and let’s say you were hired two weeks before you want to go, but you feel so weird walking into this party. You don’t know people, or maybe one or two, but you don’t want to hang on them all night, because you don’t want to make them feel like they have to entertain you. So how do we get them welcomed? How do we get them to know people? 

Sometimes that’s the toughest thing. It’s not so much the job if we’ve hired experienced people. We know what our job is going to be, it’s just how does this company do it? It’s more, how do I get to know people? And how do people get to know me? And what’s special about me? So I really, truly feel like I fit in. 

Working for startup companies and small companies that don’t have the salaries that  Google or Amazon might have, we don’t have all the bells and whistles. How do we keep those people interested so they’re not then looking at just looking at these places that have higher salary ranges, better bonuses, or better things? It’s how do you create a great atmosphere where people feel they don’t want to leave? Because I don’t know if I’m gonna feel this comfortable or this happy if I go someplace else. 

Listen to The Employee Onboarding Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms!

Check out (& follow) The Employee Onboarding Podcast on top podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

What do you think about Laura Florin’s ideas about stay interviews? Do you regularly check in with your new hires? Tell us about it in the comments!

The post Podcast: How to Retain Employees via Stay Interviews (with Laura Florin) first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

LeafSpring Schools are experts in early childhood education and childcare with locations in four US states, including Virginia, North Carolina, Texas, and Indiana.

Working with children during some of their most crucial learning years, it’s important that all staff members are onboarded well. That’s why the Preschool Director, Jenna Ward, takes it very seriously.

Having worked with LeafSpring Schools for over a decade with experience as a chief program officer for another educational company in China, Jenna is well aware of the lengths administrators should go to in order for new hires of any culture to feel welcome and get them started on the right foot. 

In this episode of the Employee Onboarding Podcast from Process Street, Jenna discusses:

• Personalized onboarding
• Intentionality in designing the onboarding process
• The little things that make employee onboarding better

You can listen on Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

Personalized onboarding

Key takeaways:

• Don’t rush employee onboarding.
• Focus on building relationships as well we teaching the necessary skills.
• Mix up the training to accommodate people’s different needs and learning styles.
• It helps to partner new hires with other employees to help them feel more comfortable asking questions. 

What would you say are the top three ingredients every great onboarding process should have?

Jenna Ward

I think one of the things that we really always want to take into account is that it cannot be rushed, and it cannot be sped through. We’ve had a few staff come to us from other locations and say, “Oh, you know, I just kind of had a day of onboarding.” And we’re really big into making sure that people feel truly comfortable, especially since we’re working with children and so that we’re sending in folks into the classroom that really feel comfortable in their positions. 

Another really important ingredient is that, in addition to teaching the skills that we want people to have, we’re also helping them build those relationships with their co-workers, and have kind of a basic understanding of how they can go out and find the resources they may need, who they should be directing, any kind of questions, too. 

And the third one, I’d say, is making sure that the onboarding is mixed. There’s all different kinds of training. There’s all different kinds of learners, so we try to make sure that we have some [training] that is in person, some parts that are digital. Some things they’re reading, some things they’re writing. That way they really get a chance to experience the training in all different formats.

What would you say is the sweet spot of time that it takes to onboard a new teacher?

Jenna

We definitely try to make sure they have at least three to four full days of training and time to take in the information. And then, most importantly, we have those follow-up touch points to make sure that if any information was missed, or just it’s a lot of information to take in off the bat, so we have 10-day check-ins with the new staff member. And then we also partner them up with a mentor that they meet with every week or two after their initial onboarding. And that really helps to make sure that they’re reviewing everything that was covered, and so that there are not things that they feel were missed along the way.

Does that mentor become sort of like their buddy, if you will?

Jenna

Yeah, the mentor kind of becomes the person that they can go to. The great thing about our administrative team is that we all came from the classroom, and we all have experiences within the classroom, but there can always be potentially a little bit of a barrier between the administrative team and the teacher. So the mentor is a fellow teacher that also has the experience in the background to be able to talk someone through a challenging situation, to walk them through and guide them through something that they need help and assistance in. 

So it can be another team member, that’s a part of the team that the staff member can reach out to. But then there are also situations every couple of weeks where the mentor is pulling that staff member out of the classroom, just to touch base, but also to say, “Here are some things that you learned in onboarding, let’s go over them and see if you have any questions now that you’re a few weeks in.”

I know when I first started, I definitely felt a little bit nervous about approaching an administrator with questions, especially if it was something that I felt was a silly question at the time. From my point of view, now I can see that there are no silly questions. And then I’m happy to field any and all any and all concerns someone has, but I think it’s great to give them that additional touch point person that they can have those bonds with.

Intentionality 

Key takeaways:

• Introduce new hires to people in all departments, not just their own.
• It’s good to deliver training in-person and online because both have their advantages.
• It’s important for international companies to understand cultural differences and adjust their onboarding processes to reflect them.

From being a teacher, and also being a chief program officer and a school director, how has the onboarding changed over time?

Jenna

I think one of the biggest things I’ve seen is that onboarding now is really an all-hands-on-deck process. As the person is going through our onboarding process, there’s a chance for them to meet and spend time with pretty much all different people throughout the school. 

So they do their kitchen training, and they get to spend time with the cook and learn a little bit about the kitchen. They do their training with our nurse and learn a little bit about allergies and how they can best report and communicate with the nurse. They do a training with our curriculum specialists, with our assistant director, with our administrative assistants. 

Instead of just having kind of one person deliver all of the training, I think we’ve really found a way to split it up. So that it’s not as big of a project for any one person to take on all of the training of new staff. But also, it really helps the new hire to get to know a lot of different people within the school, which can be really beneficial long term.

You mentioned earlier about digitizing some of your training. How has that evolved over time?

We use a company called LearningZen right now, and that is who some of our online training is through. So although we really do think it is critically important to have that face time with staff, we do have some pre-made training that is created and used for the teachers in that way. And that’s also helpful because it’s something that they can go back and reference and watch again, if they have any further questions.

And how do you make the process efficient for individuals? Is there any level of personalization to this?

Jenna

Yeah, I think we definitely want to make sure it is dependent upon the specific person’s position. Obviously, if they are training for something like an administrative role, or a specific role within the building, there are different kinds of training that are presented, and they spend more or less time with other fellow co-workers in the building. 

It’s also really important that we make sure to make each individual person feel welcome and feel like they’re a part of the team. So we really try to get to know them and get to know what works best for them and adapt what works best for them. If they are someone that needs a little bit more time experiencing what it is we’re talking about, and a little more time in the classroom to ask those questions in order to feel comfortable, then we’ll adjust our training to make sure that happens.

And I would imagine that onboarding teachers in the United States and onboarding teachers in China is probably different. Would you say it’s different? If so, how?

Jenna

When we were doing the onboarding in China, we really had to come up with a whole new system of onboarding. And we had to make sure that everything was bilingual. So that was step one. We were hiring American lead teachers and Chinese teacher assistants, so we needed it in both languages. 

But we also really had to include a very important cultural component. After the first year or so, we realized that when we are working with a company that has both American and Chinese ties, we have to make sure that we are recognizing the big difference that exists between those two cultures. So we would incorporate it into our onboarding process training about how American people, in general, view things in a business setting versus how Chinese people view things in a business setting. And make sure that everyone is coming at it from a good point of view. 

We also spent a lot more time training on things that people that grew up here in America might already have a bit of background on, like positive discipline and play-based learning. So there’s a lot more time kind of explaining the why behind those things.

You quickly learn, in any training process, that you need to be ready to answer the questions your customers have. And one of the big questions our customers had over in China was, “What do you mean they’re learning? They’re sitting there playing with a box of blocks. How does that mean learning?” So we needed to make sure that it wasn’t just our administrators that understood the purpose behind it, but that everyone had buy-in into why, in general, we have a different way of learning in America.

The little things make employee onboarding better

Key takeaways:

• It’s a shame that there aren’t even more ways to personalize the onboarding process.
• LeafSpring Schools take the time to learn about their new hires and give each of them a personalized gift at the end of onboarding to help them feel appreciated.
• They take the time to learn about each new hire’s culture and try to adjust the training process to fit their needs.

If you could wave your magic wand and change anything about an onboarding process, what would you change about it?

Jenna

I would love to make it so that it could more easily be adapted to every individual person. 

I think it is challenging when you’re bringing in someone new, you can ask the questions that you want to ask and try to get to know them a little bit, but it’s not usually until afterward that you’ve spent enough time with them to know how they learn best and what works best for them. So I would love the ability to maybe have a little more time ahead of time, before starting the onboarding process, to get to know everybody so that we could adapt training to better fit a way that they will more fully comprehend and absorb all the information.

What is the most creative thing a company can do to create that wow moment for a new hire to give them that feeling that they made the right choice?

Jenna

I think a really huge thing is always making that personal connection. I think I’ve seen from watching my predecessors do training, that they’re always looking to share a little bit about themselves and get to know a little bit about the new staff member. And then also make sure that the new staff member knows that we care about them. 

One of the things that we do is early on in the training process, we have everyone fill out a getting-to-know-you form that has a little bit of background about them and a little bit of information about their favorite things. We put that on our website so that when holidays come around, or Teacher Appreciation Week, families can access that if they’re interested in getting a little gift for their teacher. 

But also, at the end of each onboarding process, we go out and get the staff member a few things from their favorite things list, whether it’s their favorite candy bar and their favorite soda, maybe their favorite bagel, or something like that. And then we always make sure we’re giving it to them in a gift bag that’s their favorite color, along with some shirts for the school. So I think it really it’s about the little things that make a big difference, the little things, of letting someone know that you heard them, that you listen to them, and that you’re excited that this person is a part of your team, and you’re happy to welcome them.

I think you really have to [pay attention to the little details]. We’ve had people join our team from all different backgrounds. We’ve had teachers come on recently, a few that have English as a second language and, and it’s really important to take the time to not just learn a little bit about them, but a little bit about their culture and how they best learn things, making sure all the information is being communicated correctly. So I think we’re always kind of striving to make sure that we are presenting ourselves in the best possible way for all new staff coming in.

Listen to The Employee Onboarding Podcast on your favorite podcast platforms!

Check out (& follow) The Employee Onboarding Podcast on top podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Podcast Addict, Deezer, & all your favorite podcast platforms!

What do you think about Jenna Ward’s approach to personalized onboarding? Do you make your onboarding as individualized as possible? Tell us about it in the comments!

The post Tips for Personalized Onboarding to Wow New Hires first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

So, what did you think of the AI-generated title that made you click on this post?

Pretty cool, huh? Yes, I know it’s a gimmick, but AI is everywhere these days. It’s impossible to ignore the conversations, the AI tool testing, and, most horrifyingly, the ethics.

Don’t worry, this isn’t a post about AI ethics. But it is a post about AI case studies.

As we all learn about the potential benefits AI can offer, particularly in business, it’s only natural that we want to see what it all looks like in practice. But let’s narrow the focus down even further. Business is very broad, so let’s put AI marketing under the microscope.

In this post, we are going to look at five different uses of AI in marketing and dissect the case studies to see the effects it has on different areas of marketing.

Why businesses need to leverage AI in marketing

First, let’s take a look at why businesses are embracing AI in their marketing strategies. 

In short, it’s how they can remain competitive. With all the benefits offered to businesses with AI, choosing not to adopt it will leave you in the dust.

Let’s take a look at three ways in which AI helps companies.

Automation

Automation isn’t a new topic anymore. It’s been around forever, and it’s proven itself to be a real time saver. Thus, it’s also a real money saver. Can’t have one without the other. 

AI can do a lot in automating marketing strategies because it can help businesses with things like lead generation. It can find more customers in less time, allowing humans more opportunities to build connections with customers.

Personalization

AI has the ability to create profiles of the potential customers it finds for you, giving you the ability to launch more targeted marketing campaigns.

Those strategies have the ability to improve customer engagement and conversion rates, ultimately leading to higher ROIs. 

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics provide marketers with data from previous customer interactions and uses it to predict what their future buying behavior might look like. This can make a huge difference in customer retention rates.

And if you take the same method and zoom out a little, you can use it to forecast future business metrics like changes in revenue. 

Incendium uses AI for email marketing

I sat down with the co-founder of Incendium, Nathaniel Houghton, to discuss the ways in which his company uses AI in its marketing strategy, and this is what he had to tell me:

The challenge

Incendium is a B2B growth studio that sends out and sorts through thousands of emails on behalf of its clients. Its team helps customers prepare to go to market, execute campaigns, and interpret data from them.

Nathaniel’s perspective was different than the common narrative spun around AI. He and his team didn’t search for problems within the company. They wanted AI to fix them. Instead, started experimenting with it as a sort of test for clients. 

For them, it was about finding ways in which they could leverage AI to automate tasks that were time-consuming for their team. By doing so, they hoped to free up time to allow everyone to work on the more creative side of things.

The solution

To achieve this, they took a look at all of their recurring tasks and pinpointed the areas which could be automated. They didn’t want to force AI into any area it wouldn’t fit, and they didn’t want to use it just for the sake of using it.

They ended up finding two time-consuming tasks for AI to take over for them. 

The first is email classification. They send hundreds of thousands of emails on behalf of their clients, and they receive thousands of responses. Those responses are integral in helping them learn and create even better email campaigns.

So they use AI to classify all the responses they get into two categories: a general unsubscribe and what they call “legitimate responses,” which are responses written by humans with valuable feedback. Doing this saves their team hours of time they would have otherwise spent sifting through responses they can’t learn anything from. They use Levity.ai to help them accomplish this.

The second thing they use AI for is lead generation for clients. 

AI helps find prospective customers for Incendium’s clients based on certain criteria. AI doesn’t necessarily give them the email they need, but it points them in the right direction. They’ve found that the best tool for this is ChatGPT.

The results

Between Levity.ai and ChatGPT, Incendium has saved countless hours of work sifting through emails and looking for leads.

Nathaniel doesn’t see the need to use AI in any other area of the company at this time, but he would love to see the technology develop further to help them out even more. His dream is to use AI to find a way to ingest data from tens of thousands of email responses to find commonalities between the top performers. 

As of right now, that’s still up to him and his team to do, and they would love AI to do it for them.

GoGoChimp creates YouTube content for clients

GoGoChimp helps clients with their marketing with the specific goal of increasing conversion rates. They do this in a number of ways, including making optimized landing pages and personalized email campaigns.

They also manage YouTube channels for some of their clients, and that’s where they’ve found great use with AI.

The challenge

YouTube is a very competitive platform regardless of the type of content you create. That’s why optimization is extremely important. Casual users on YouTube may not realize just how much work goes into making sure videos get suggested.

The actual content itself needs to be good, yes, but so do the title, the thumbnail, the description, and the tags. GoGoChimps manages the creation of those elements, which can take up a lot of time and limit the amount of content that can be uploaded. 

So they wanted a way in which they could cut down on the time creating the optimization elements for the videos in order to get more content out and ultimately increase conversion rates.

The solution

Like with Incendium, GoGoChimp wasn’t necessarily looking to use AI for the sake of using it. Rather, they were just curious to see what it had the potential to do. So they checked out ChatGPT.

They tested it first by creating YouTube descriptions and found that it had the ability to make completely unique articles for each video that could be used as descriptions. From there, they had is analyze the top-performing videos within a given niche to help them figure out what the most optimized titles would be.

They have also found success using ChatGPT to help them create thumbnails. Though it can’t create thumbnails for them, it can describe the elements of the thumbnails in top-performing videos. They then use that information to put together thumbnails that have the biggest chance of going viral.

The results

AI has saved GoGoChimps so many hours of work that they have been able to take on more clients and increase their profits.

Not only that, but their clients have seen the benefits AI has brought to their channels. One of them went from 390k views to 789k views in just a 30-day period. Incredible results like that then help to attract more clients.

It’s a cycle of profitable positivity!

Heady finds success with trend forecasting

Heady was founded in 2021 with the idea of being a “one-stop shop” for all things digital marketing. But being that for clients means taking on an incredible amount of work, and by 2022 they realized they needed help.

The challenge

Heady seeks to provide every digital marketing service you can think of, like:

• CRM
• SEO
• Paid media
• Website development
• Digital advertising

In order to deliver so many services with excellent quality and scale, they had no choice but to turn to AI to help them automate. They struggled to keep up with manual reporting and trend analysis, two things that left a lot of room for human error.

The solution

They saw how much potential AI had to help them solve these problems by streamlining processes and sorting through vast amounts of data. And by going through all that data, they would receive actionable insights in real-time.

They slowly phased in the use of AI in their daily tasks to make sure the implementation was smooth. They began by using it in the area where it would bring them the most value, data analysis, and reporting, and moved on from there.

They found the predictive analytics capabilities of AI to be particularly useful in their business strategy. It’s helped them to identify upcoming market trends, giving them time to adjust their strategies as needed. The information given to the team at Heady from the AI analytics has also given them the ability to customize content for their clients’ customers, which has yielded great results.

The results

By taking data analysis off their plate, the team has been able to focus on higher-value tasks, such as creative strategizing. They are also able to make better decisions much faster. AI delivers useful insights to them quickly, which they can take advantage of and make data-driven decisions, not opinion-based ones. 

“AI has essentially made our operations more efficient and agile.” – Ryan Bradley, Co-founder of Heady

Because of the predictive analytics and personalized marketing strategies, they have seen an overall increase in the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns. As a result of that, they have been able to scale their operations without sacrificing any quality. 

Venture Smarter finds its target audience

Venture Smarter is a consulting firm that aims to help startups and small businesses grow and scale. Marketing plays a massive role in that, and they found that traditional marketing methods just weren’t cutting it. 

The challenge

The team at Venture Smarter had a few problems with their marketing strategy. Firstly, they struggled with reaching and engaging their target audience. They found the digital realm to be oversaturated and fast-paced, which was difficult for them to keep up with.

Because of this, it was difficult for them to optimize their marketing campaigns. And as a result of that, they couldn’t personalize any part of their strategy or messaging, which made it even more difficult to tap into their target audience.

The solution

Venture Smarter ultimately found three main uses for AI: analytics, predictive modeling, and automation. 

They used to analyze large volumes of data, and from that, they were able to identify trends that led them to extract actionable insights. Those insights allowed them to better understand customer behavior and preferences. That was the missing information that they needed in order to create the personalized campaigns of their dreams.

They also began AI in their workflows, helping them to automate the tasks related to lead scoring, data analysis, and campaign optimization.

The results

With the information given to them through AI, the team at Venture Smarter was able to create more targeted campaigns that resulted in higher conversion rates and increased customer engagement. 

Not only that, but it allowed them to grow their customer base by finding new opportunities in different markets. 

With the success AI has brought them in marketing, they have begun using it in other areas of their business, including operations and customer service. 

GameDayr utilizes content generation

GameDayr is a publication dedicated to all things American football. Its target audience is anyone and everyone who loves the sport, and it provides fans with game analysis and player profiles.

(By the way, I’m just going to refer to it as football from here on out, but please know that Process Street does recognize that football is actually the game you play with your feet).

The challenge

Being a platform that relies heavily on content, their biggest challenge was producing all of it. 

Relying solely on human writers to do the data analysis and predictive analytics as they relate to both football and SEO was expensive and time-consuming. 

They wanted to streamline their content creation process and hit their target keywords, all while maintaining the quality of their content.

The solution

They began using AI to write evergreen articles based on high-volume keywords that didn’t need much research. They then used human editors to read through the articles, make sure everything was correct, and read like a human wrote it. 

They still use human writers to create more research-heavy articles, or ones that may need more frequent updates. 

The results

By using AI in their content generation, GameDayr was able to increase the efficiency of the process, get more content published, and save money by employing fewer writers.

With the increased volume of SEO-friendly content, the website has reached a larger audience which has led to an increase in user engagement. 

What we can take away from these AI marketing strategies

Based on these five case studies, we can boil down the key uses of AI in marketing strategies to be:

• The only limit to its uses is your own creativity
• AI saves employees time
• It can help find new customers
• It can create content
• AI optimizes marketing, no matter the area
• It leaves humans room to be more creative

Really there’s no excuse for businesses not to give AI a try in their marketing strategies. Not when the results are so powerful. You don’t have to force AI into your company, but ignoring its potential to help you grow and scale sustainably is foolish. And I know you’re not a fool because you made it to the end of this article.

What are your thoughts on AI? Have you started using it in your business? If so, tell us how in the comments below, and let us know what results you’ve seen.

The post 5 Proven AI Marketing Examples to Inspire You first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

For a decade, we’ve been on a mission to revolutionize recurring work. 

We’re proud to have helped teams like Salesforce, MIT, Colliers, and Hartford Healthcare streamline their business operations, and our innovation has attracted funding from renowned investors like Accel, Salesforce Ventures, and Atlassian Ventures. 

We built the world’s easiest-to-use business process management platform, accessible without engineering support. Then we made it available on Slack, Teams, iOS, and Android, empowering teams to work from anywhere with one-click approvals, quick-fill forms, and powerful automations.

Now, we’re excited to announce the next phase of our journey, the evolution of our product from a workflow management tool to an AI-powered process platform. 

Introducing Process AI, a next-gen process management platform powered by AI and ChatGPT.

P.S. We’ve just launched Process AI on Product Hunt, so feel free to support us over there!

In this blog post, we’ll look at:

• Why traditional process management is hard
• Process AI: Next-gen process management
• What Process AI can do
• The future of process management 

Why traditional process management is hard

You can define process management as made up of two core components:

• Documenting
• Doing

You start by documenting how something is done, and then you (or someone else) does it. If you’ve done a good job of documenting instructions to complete the work, doing comes easy.

But managing and documenting processes can be challenging. 

To document a process effectively, you need a deep understanding of how the work actually gets done. You need to be methodical, and rigorous, and know how to communicate instructions clearly and concisely. Things aren’t always crystal clear, and it’s an art as much as a science.

People aren’t perfect, and the processes we document are often imperfect, too. 

Human error, lack of experience, or even just lack of time (and resources) to properly devote to documenting processes properly – all of these things make process management a complicated and challenging problem to solve.

For years, this has been one of the biggest challenges to business operations managers and process builders.

Now, there’s a solution. Process AI is your key to the next generation of efficient, effective process management.

Process AI: The next generation of process management

Process AI gives you the power to instantly generate expert business process documentation. All you need to do is give the workflow a name, and our chatGPT-powered AI process builder will do the hard work for you.

Process Street is taking a huge leap forward with Process AI. It’s a game-changer that transforms our workflow management tool into an intelligent process platform, setting new standards in efficiency and ease of use.

Using Process AI simplifies the way you and your team manage your recurring work. It consolidates workflows, knowledge, data, forms, and surveys into one easy-to-navigate interface.

But the true magic lies in empowering non-technical users. 

With Process AI, you don’t need to be a coding wizard to create advanced automations and workflows. The platform’s intuitive design and AI capabilities give you the freedom to craft sophisticated processes without breaking a sweat. 

Just tell Process AI what kind of workflow you want to build, sit back, and watch the magic happen.

What Process AI can do for you

Process AI is designed to address the common pain points often encountered with process management software. 

By leveraging its powerful AI capabilities, it simplifies and streamlines several aspects of process management:

AI Workflow Generator

• Users just provide the workflow name, and the AI does the rest.
• Automatically creates workflows, assigns icons, & populates tasks with relevant details.
• Saves time and effort for users struggling to create these resources.
• Intelligently utilizes our powerful process management features.

AI Task Generator (part of the Workflow Generator)

• Allows users to add new tasks to existing workflows or those under development.
• Has the same capabilities as the AI Workflow Generator, but focused on individual tasks.

The combination of these advanced features not only addresses the most common pain points in process management software, but also ensures a clear, concise, and efficient way to manage your business operations.

AI-powered process management

Process AI will automatically and intelligently incorporate our powerful process management features into the workflows it generates, including (but not limited to):

• Stop Tasks
• Dynamic Due Dates
• Approvals
• Variables
• Member fields
• Text content, 
• Short and long text fields,
• Drop-downs, 
• Multiple-choice fields
• Subtasks
• Number fields
• Email fields & email widgets
• Date fields
• Website/URL fields
• File upload fields

The impact of AI on the future of process management

With the advent of ChatGPT and all of the excitement around AI, we are seeing the rise of a more conversational user experience in many tools that depend on high quality user input to deliver value. 

We will likely see more and more work being delegated to AI tools like ChatGPT, tucked away into a frictionless experience focused on closing the gap between the user and true value.

Search engines have been using similar machine learning and natural language processing tech for years to process user queries and deliver search results, and this style of conversational interface will likely become more and more commonplace.

AI-powered process optimisation, automatically converting static .PDFs and documents into actionable processes, conversational in-app education, plus automatic task delegation and automation are just a few more AI features we are incredibly excited about.

“ChatGPT has been an incredible blessing for our customers, enhancing almost every corner of our application and enabling an exciting roadmap for future functionality. It has allowed us to move from a point and click workflow builder to an intelligent UX, making the worlds easiest to use business process management platform even easier.” – Vinay Patankar, CEO, Process Street

We can’t wait to get our new platform into the hands of users around the world and are incredibly excited for the future developments of ChatGPT and what it means for our customers. 

Experience the power of Process AI for yourself today.

Tell us about how you’re using ChatGPT to streamline your business in the comments below – we’d love to hear from you (and maybe feature you in an upcoming article!)

The post Process AI: The Future of Process Management is Here first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Overlooking task automation is losing you money

According to Harvard Business Review, marketing executives are losing 10-15% of their time due to not automating simple tasks.

Task automation should already be saving you huge amounts of time and effort.

If it’s not, I can only assume that’s because you’re not using it!

If you’re a heavy user of different SaaS platforms, you’ve probably grown tired of having to jump back and forth from one to another to perform simple tasks.

Would it not be easier if you could click one button and the different platforms just spoke to each other and got the job done for you?

Yes, it obviously would be.

In fact, according to Chui, Manyika, and Miremadi writing in the Harvard Business Review, not only could a marketing executive be automating activities which account for between 10-15% of their current time using existing technology, but for 60% of existing US jobs, 30% of their time could be reduced by automation.

You can read the full report, Four Fundamentals of Workplace Automation, at McKinsey.

Note, that this important study is already over a year old, and the speed of technological advancements in available automation software has likely caused those given percentages to rise even further.

Task automation is where you doing one task results in multiple tasks being done. Bit of a mouthful, but let me give an example…

Or, if you want to watch a step by step example, check out this Process Street video about automating client onboarding.

How can task automation be used?

Problem

Imagine you have a form on your website and you want to collect people for your mailing list with particularly interested ones converting to a sale.

You also want to send those sign ups a detailed questionnaire or survey and store the results. You want to send them a sales email before they receive the questionnaire to keep them interested. You want all of your survey responses to be stored centrally with the rest of your company data. You really like Typeform as a survey tool.

You also want your salesperson to be alerted to this action and for their Process Street sales checklist to begin so they can chase up the lead.

Okay? Bear with me…

How many tasks does it take from processing a sign up to having your survey results stored centrally and the sales process launched?

The closer the answer can be to 0, the better. The lower the number of tasks, the less time you are expending and the more time you can focus on the important parts of your business.

Solution

Well, you could use an email provider like ActiveCampaign, Salesforce, or Mailchimp to create the form you embed into your webpage. Within your email provider, you can create a series of template emails and an automated process which sends those emails to sign ups in a specified order with time delays.

One email has the link to your survey hosted on Typeform. The survey is filled in and through Zapier the results are automatically saved in a Google Sheet within your G-Suite platform. At the same time, the Typeform entry, via Zapier, automatically launches your Process Street sales follow-up checklist for your sales rep.

You then use Zapier to send you a Slack notification to alert you as the manager that another response has been recorded.

How many tasks did you have to do? 0. And how many lines of code did you have to write to set this up? 0.

This aspect of your business is now operating smoothly without you having to lift a finger. Data is recorded, employees’ workflows are launched, and you’re given oversight throughout.

From task automation, you’ve graduated to task orchestration.

Desktop vs cloud task automation

There’s a whole world of different ways you can automate tasks and become more productive. Some of these solutions might be using the approach documented above – integrating different web apps. Others might not rely on being online at all.

Desktop based tools can be used as hotkeys or to set a series of different triggers to automate a workflow within your computer. These kinds of tools can cut a lot of time out of regular manual processes and can be triggered with a click.

The real automation push in recent years, however, has been led by cloud-based providers who use API calls from different web apps to trigger preset actions. These allow you to perform functions inside platforms without you having to log into them in your browser.

Both desktop and cloud solutions provide significant value to increasing your productivity and streamlining your operations. Which you find more useful will depend on what kind of work you’re doing and what kind of tasks you need to automate.

The area to watch out for in 2017 is the increasing provision of task automation for mobile devices. As more and more of our work is done on our mobiles and their omnipresence in our lives continues, expect your mobile to begin to change the way you approach tasks.

9 task automation tools to check out

Zapier

Zapier is one of the leaders in task automation. Since being founded in 2012 and graduating from Y Combinator, Zapier has taken a central place as a third party connector of different web apps. With over 750 different apps you can integrate with, Zapier should be your first stop on your automation journey.

If you want a thorough breakdown of Zapier’s features and how you can use them, watch this Process Street video:

Flow

Microsoft launched Flow in 2016 as their answer to existing third party automation tools (coughZapiercough). It currently boasts integrations with 83 different web apps, but the list will certainly grow. If you’re an existing Outlook user and you rely heavily on Microsoft’s existing product line, this could prove a very useful automation tool.

Process Street

Not a true automation service like the others, sure, but Process Street links with a wide range of other services. Following Process Street checklists and making full use of the form fields means that all company activity can be tracked and recorded, then exported for analysis in different formats. Process Street certainly automates a lot of traditional managerial duties.

Cron

If you’re a bit more tech savvy and operate in a Linux or Unix environment, you’ll probably benefit from investigating how cron can help you automate and schedule your activity. Setting up cron jobs to run for you could keep you focused on the areas you need to pay attention to most.

Alfred

Alfred is a hidden gem for Mac users. It is both a hotkey tool which allows you to navigate your interface with your keyboard rapidly and a workflow automation tool. You can automate complex workflows which are triggered from a hotkey. The big sell is that Alfred has a library of community workflows created by other users to perform a variety of different tasks. You may not even have to build the workflow yourself!

IFTTT

There are a host of different services being offered by IFTTT (If This Then That) including their Do Note and Do Camera, but one interesting addition is the Applets. IFTTT are looking to bring the Internet of Things into your pocket with mobile based automation tools. The future is now.

Shortcat

Shortcat describes its service as Spotlight for the user interface. What it means by this is that you can navigate your screen through your keyboard with a search-like function. To click the “install” button, you start typing “i…n…s…t…” and it should already have figured out which button you want to click. For speed-typers, a tool like Shortcat could improve the way you interact with your work.

Robotask

For PC users committed to automating their workflows online or off, Robotask stands out as a powerful tool. As well as simple automated processes, this program provides a series of more complex features such as IF/ELSE statements, loops, and custom variables.

Textexpander

Textexpander is in many ways a classic hotkey tool. You can save snippets of text or code and re-employ them elsewhere through typing a small shortcut. The feature which really makes Textexpander stand out is its focus on how these snippets can help a team. They shift the hotkey approach from simple personal commands to longer sections accessible from the cloud across a team. This emphasis on collaboration allows Textexpander to fit neatly within a business’ processes.

Make apps work so you don’t have to

You’ve seen our 9 recommendations of tools to try out.

Some will work for you in your business and others may not. Nevertheless, it is worth testing out these different bits of software to find which one suits you.

Remember that 10-15% figure reported from the November 2015 report? How much time a marketing executive could save?

I challenge you to beat that estimation and kick your personal and company productivity to new levels!

Shoot me a message in the comments about how you’ve employed automation in your business and what its effects have been.

And if you haven’t already, check out our ebook: The Ultimate Guide to Business Process Automation with Zapier.

Happy automating!

The post 9 Task Automation Tools You Should Be Using Right Now first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Are you tired of getting bogged down by tedious and repetitive tasks, such as manual data entry for intake forms or job applications? 

Do you want to collect feedback from customers but find yourself constantly chasing them for bits of information? 

Are you finding it difficult to gather attendee email addresses for an upcoming webinar?

Well, fear not!

Our Forms data collection tool will revolutionize how you collect data. Here’s how:

• If you find yourself inputting data manually, Forms will save you time.
• Struggling to collect information for a workflow? Forms will do it for you.
• Collecting data in different ways or formats? Forms will ensure workflow consistency.
• Dealing with delays due to missing or inaccurate data? Collect data upfront with Forms!

In this blog post, I’m going to dive deep into Forms and explore why they’re useful and what they can do for you.

So, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and let’s explore the wonderful world of Forms.

What can our Forms data collection tool do for you?

Forms are like a superhero that helps you collect data and make your workflows even more powerful.

They swoop in, save the day, and make your life easier.

With Forms, the data collection process will go from mess to success! No more scattered emails or phone calls; all your data will be in one place, making it easier to manage and analyze.

In other words, Forms are a speedy and effortless means of gathering data from a large audience. Whether you’re conducting surveys, soliciting feedback, running polls, gauging customer satisfaction, or processing orders, forms allow your users to submit information of any type from any location, at any time.

Incomplete data

How many times have you gotten a form submission that was missing key information? Luckily with Forms, you can make fields required, which means your form-fillers won’t be able to submit until they’ve provided all the necessary data. Problem solved!

Inconsistency

Forms will remove inconsistencies in your workflows by allowing you to create standardized templates for all your team’s tasks. This ensures that everyone follows the same process and consistently delivers high-quality results every time.

Delayed workflows

Don’t let delayed workflows bring you down! Forms let you streamline your processes and reduce delays. Our forms can be configured to trigger actions like sending notifications or creating tasks, ensuring that your workflows stay on track and your team stays on top of everything.

But that’s not all.

With Forms, you will be a step away from fully automating your workflows, saving tons of time in the process. 

How? By minimizing manual entry even more than before. Think about it, your workflows may already be 80% automated. But until now, you were having to manually input data into fields, am I right? Well, with Forms, this is no more. You can now gather all your data in one place. This data can then be automatically populated into other workflows, too.

And have I mentioned how much more productive your team will become? That’s right, because of the new automation capabilities of your workflow, the number of errors you get will drastically reduce, hence productivity will skyrocket! Forms will also streamline team collaboration by allowing them to share data smoothly. Wave goodbye to the constant back-and-forth communication.

Plus, Forms will improve customer experience because customers will be able to quickly provide you with what you need. No need to chase them for pieces of information.

That being said, unlike workflows which are very collaborative, Forms are meant to be used by a single person. This means that even though they will streamline your overall workflow use by allowing you to reduce manual data entry, they are separate from workflows. Instead, both work in tandem to make recurring work much more efficient!

Forms use cases to get you started

With all the important information out of the way, let’s move on to some of the best use cases for Forms.

Intake forms

If you use intake forms to collect important information from customers, clients, or patients, the Forms feature is going to revolutionalize the way you work!

Providing personalized service is everything. It can mean the difference between keeping or losing clients. 

Why? Because customers will always remember a poorly designed experience. 

Do you want to be remembered for providing 5-star customer service? Then this is where Forms come in.

The information you gather with Forms can then be used to better understand the customer’s needs and preferences and to provide highly individualized service.

Whether you’re a:

• Healthcare provider gathering medical history
• Insurance company collecting claims information
• Creative agency taking on a new project

Intake Forms allow you to gather all your data upfront. They are essential if you require structured data collection from new customers or clients. 

One of the key benefits of using Forms for intake is the ability to customize the form to your specific needs. 

You can include fields to collect basic contact information and more detailed information such as  preferences, interests, or medical history. Storing all these details in one place will streamline the intake process and reduce the likelihood of errors or missed information.

Forms also make it easy to completely automate the intake process. You can use custom fields to automatically trigger follow-up tasks or notifications based on the customer’s responses.

For example, if a customer selects interest in a particular service, you can automatically assign a team member to follow up with them.

Say goodbye to messy paper forms and hello to efficient data collection!

Job applications

The hiring process, and job applications in particular, can be tedious and time-consuming for both the employer and the job seeker. However, this process can be simplified, making it a win-win situation for both parties.

With Forms, employers will easily compare and analyze the data they receive from applicants. Job seekers, on the other hand, benefit from the ease and convenience of submitting applications online.

Here are some examples of how you can use Forms for job applications:

• Basic contact Information – name, phone number, and email address.
• Employment history – previous employment history, job titles, and responsibilities
• Education and certifications – education and any certifications they may hold

Forms come with some of its own features that may prove useful in the hiring process. 

For example, by using multi-step forms, you can break the application down into logical sections, making it super easy for applicants to complete. And to make the experience more straightforward, include conditional logic to hide or display fields based on previous answers.

Surveys and feedback

Never underestimate the importance of surveys and feedback!

Unfortunately, collecting feedback from customers or employees is often daunting. Yet, it is an essential aspect of any business. It’ll help you discover what people think about how you run the company, the quality of your products, and more.

With Forms, you can collect feedback in a much simpler way. Use a variety of field types, including rating scales and open text fields, to gather responses.

You can also set required fields to ensure respondents give you all the information you need.

Forms will help you analyze the feedback, identify areas for improvement, and take action to make meaningful changes.

For example, let’s say you recently launched a new product and want to gather feedback from your customers.

You can create a Form in Process Street that includes questions about the user experience, the quality of the product, and suggestions for improvement. You can then use the responses to identify areas where your product can be improved.

Another example is using Forms to gather employee feedback.

Create a Form that asks employees for feedback on company policies, work environment, and growth opportunities. This information can help you identify areas where your company can improve and create a better working environment for your employees.

Customer information

One of the key benefits of using forms to collect customer information is that it allows you to easily organize and store important data in a structured way.

For example, imagine you run an e-commerce business selling a range of products. 

By using a form to collect information from your customers, you can gather important data such as their location, age, gender, and interests. Use this information to personalize customers’ shopping experiences, such as recommending products they may be interested in based on their previous purchases or interests.

And if you own a restaurant, you may need to find out your customers’ food preferences and allergies, helping them tailor their menus and provide better customer service.

Collecting customer information through forms can also help you improve your marketing strategy.

For instance, if you have a form that asks customers how they heard about your business, use that information to determine which marketing channels are most effective.

Event registration

Another great use case for Forms is event registration.

Whether you’re hosting a webinar, conference, or other type of event, Forms can help you collect attendee information quickly and easily.

With Forms, you not only create custom fields to collect basic information. You can even include a drop-down menu to allow attendees to select their ticket type or session preferences.

Forms also make it easy to acquire specific information from attendees, such as their email addresses, ensuring you have all the necessary details to follow up with them after the event.

In addition, you can use Forms to collect feedback from attendees after the event has ended, allowing you to improve your future events based on their suggestions and preferences.

One of the most significant advantages of using Forms for event registration is the ability to automate the process.

Forms let you collect information from attendees in one place and have it automatically added to your contact list or CRM system.

Another great feature of Forms for event registration is the ability to use conditional logic. This means that you can create different fields or questions based on the attendee’s previous answers.

For example, if an attendee selects that they are interested in a specific session, you can automatically show them a follow-up question related to that session.

Forms also make it easy to manage registration for events with multiple sessions or ticket types. You can use custom fields to allow attendees to select which sessions they want to attend and which ticket type they want to purchase.

Best practices for using Forms

Before I take you through how to use Forms, it’s useful to learn some best practices first.

Be clear and concise

When creating Forms, make sure your fields are easy to understand and use. Utilize clear and concise language, and keep the number of fields to a minimum. Remember, the goal is to make it easy for users to fill out the Form and provide you with accurate information.

Pass Forms into workflows/Data Sets

Passing Forms into workflows allows you to easily automate tasks and ensure important information isn’t missed. 

For example, imagine you have to collect client information for a new project. By passing that form into a workflow, you can automatically create tasks for team members to:

• Follow up with that client
• Send out contracts
• Ensure that all necessary information is gathered before the project begins

Test your Forms

Before releasing your Form to a wider audience, test it with a small group of users to identify any issues or areas for improvement. This will help catch errors or usability problems before they become bigger issues.

Use form responses to continuously improve

Don’t just collect data for the sake of it – use the responses you receive to improve business processes. Look for trends in the data and use them to identify areas where you can make improvements or changes.

For example, if you notice that many customers are having trouble with a particular product feature, you can use that information to prioritize improvements and updates.

Make use of advanced features

Process Street’s Forms feature offers a range of advanced features, including field validation, required fields, multi-step forms, and conditional logic.

Take advantage of these features to collect more accurate and complete data while also improving the user experience.

Keep your Forms up to date

Over time, business needs and processes may change, which means your Forms may need to be updated.

Review and update your Forms regularly to ensure they are still meeting your needs and collecting the information you require.

How to use Forms?

You probably can’t wait to start using the Forms feature and are excited to make your workflows better than ever.

Let me give you a brief tour of how to incorporate Forms into your life right now.

Step 1: Log in to Process Street

To get started, simply log in to your Process Street account and click on “New Template.” This will take you to the template editor, where you can start building your template.

Step 2: Add a Form field

Next, you’ll need to add a Form field to your template. This is where you’ll collect information from team members or customers.

To do this, click “Add New Element” in the template editor and select “Form Field” from the dropdown menu.

Here, you can also set field validation rules and make fields required.

Step 3: Customize the Form field

Once you’ve added the Form field, you can customize it to suit your needs.

Click on the Form field to open settings to add a label, description, and any required fields. Be sure to make the Form field as clear and concise as possible so that team members or customers know exactly what information you’re looking for.

Step 4: Add custom fields and widgets

To collect more specific information, you can add custom fields and widgets to your Form field.

For example, if you’re collecting customer information, you might want to add fields for their name, email address, and phone number.

You can also add widgets like a calendar or a dropdown menu to make the Form field more user-friendly.

To use conditional logic, select the field to which you want to add a condition and click on the “Add condition” button. Then, select the appropriate condition and choose which fields to show or hide based on the user’s response.

Step 5: Automate 

Finally, you can automate your workflows by using Process Street’s automation features.

For example, you can automatically send an email or create a new task based on the information collected in the Form field.

To learn more about how you could use Forms, go to our Forms help center page.

The Forms feature will transform how you work 

Still wondering how? Well, Forms let you easily collect information from your team members or clients without going back and forth through countless emails or phone calls. The result? Hours of your time saved!

You can create custom forms with all the fields you need and then share them with whoever needs to fill them out. It’s like having your own personal assistant to collect data for you!

In a nutshell, Forms is going to make your life easier, your work more efficient, and your days a lot less stressful!

With Forms, you will streamline your workflows and automate data collection, making you and your team much more productive.

But that’s not all. Forms will also improve collaboration, reduce errors, and enhance customer experience.

And let’s not forget about the best part. Forms will make your work more enjoyable!

Whether you’re gathering important information from customers, collecting job applications, or seeking feedback, Forms have got you covered. With custom fields and multi-step forms, Forms will help you personalize your service and make the experience easy for your users.

So, what are you waiting for? Join the revolution of data collection and let Forms be your superhero!

Let us know how you’re using Forms in the comments below – and we might even feature you in an upcoming article.

The post Introducing Forms: The New Data Collection Tool That’ll Transform How You Work first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Mobile Business Process Management (BPM) has become an essential aspect of the modern business world. With the increasing need for remote work and rapid decision-making, organizations require a more flexible and efficient way to manage their business processes. 

To address this need, we’ve made our leading BPM software available in the palm of your hands. Your Android phone or tablet can now access the same data inside of Process Street as your browser. But what does that really mean for you and your organization? 

• Process Street isn’t just for your laptop: Enter the Android App
• The benefits of mobile business process management
• Common use cases of mobile business process management 
• How can you get started with Process Street’s Android App?
• Effective process management has become even easier 

Let’s get into it!

Process management isn’t just for your laptop

The core mission of Process Street has always been to make recurring work fast, fun, and faultless for companies everywhere. And as the world continues to move towards remote-first working, we think it makes sense to support tools that help you manage recurring work on the go.

Picture this: 

You receive an email notification telling you there is a new task that needs your approval. But you’re in an Uber without access to your laptop.

How do you approve the task? Your process is now officially bottlenecked. 

Process Street’s Android app helps solve that problem.

Everything you can find on your browser version of Process Street can be accessed on your Android phone/tablet. The power of process management in the palm of your hand.

We hope this will help teams worldwide up their mobile business process management game by leveraging mobile to streamline business operations.

The benefits of mobile business process management

Effective process management is already super beneficial. But it gets even better when you’re got a solid mobile business process management system in place. Here are some common advantages of using the Process Street Android app: 

Increased efficiency 

Having access to the Process Street Android app lets employees complete their workflows and tasks from anywhere. They no longer need to be in front of their desks to get their tasks done, which means more streamlined work and increased productivity.  

Improved accuracy 

With mobile process management in the form of Process Street’s Android app, team members can access important data and task information at anytime and from anywhere. This helps reduce errors caused by delays or missed information.

Better communication 

Your work is at your fingertips at anytime, which means work is no longer restricted when employees aren’t at their desks. This allows team members to remain up-to-date on progress and proactively address unexpected issues or delays.

Enhanced customer service

Employees are equipped to provide better customer service with Process Street on an Android tablet or mobile phone. That’s because they have instant access to valuable resources, such as customer information and inventory data.  

Saved time and costs 

By using Process Street on an Android mobile phone/tablet, businesses can reduce the need for paper-based processes, leading to cost savings on printing and storage. 

Work is also streamlined because tasks can be accessed through tablets and mobile devices, rather than only desktops. This helps employees complete tasks faster, reducing the time it takes to complete a job, and increasing overall efficiency.

Improved data management 

Effective mobile process management can result in improved data management by enabling the real-time input of data into management systems. The Process Street Android app also ensures that all data generated from mobile devices or tablets is processed quickly without any additional manual data entry. 

Common use cases of mobile business process management  

Here are some of the common uses where Process Street’s Android app will shine: 

Healthcare professionals

Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals who use tablets to access electronic health records, view medical images, and input patient data.

Sales representatives

Sales reps who use mobiles or tablets to showcase products, take orders, and manage customer relationships while on the go.

Field service technicians

Technicians who work in the field use mobiles to access service manuals, input data, and communicate with their teams.

Retail associates

Retail associates use tablets to access inventory data, place orders, and assist customers with their purchases.

Real estate agents

Real estate agents who use mobile phones to access property listings, show virtual tours, and communicate with clients.

Construction workers

Construction workers who use tablets to access blueprints, input data, and manage project timelines.

Event planners

Event planners who use tablets and mobiles to manage guest lists, create schedules, and access event details.

Delivery drivers

Delivery drivers who use mobiles and tablets to access delivery routes, track delivery progress, and communicate with their team.

Hospitality staff

Hospitality staff such as hotel staff, restaurant servers, and bartenders who use tablets and mobiles to take orders, manage reservations, and process payments.

How can you get started with Process Street’s Android App? 

You probably want to get into using the Process Street Android app. Here’s a step-by-step guide to do just that: 

Download the app 

If you don’t already have the Process Street Android app on your mobile or tablet, you’ll want to download it from the Google Play Store. 

Log into your account 

Once you’ve successfully downloaded the Process Street Android app to your mobile or tablet, you can click on the app and login with your email and password, Google/Microsoft account, or Single-Sign-On (SSO). 

Don’t have an account? You can go ahead and sign up for a new account on the browser version first. You’ll have access to the app once you do that. 

Build or edit Workflows

Just as you can in the browser version, you can build and edit your Workflow in Process Street’s Android App. 

Building a Workflow

To build a Workflow, you want to click on the + button at the top right-hand corner. From here, select the option “Workflow”.

Name the workflow and choose how it triggers. After this, you will land on the “Workflow Editor” page. Here you can drag and drop form fields in your tasks. 

Click on the blue plus icon to access your task list and navigate to any of the tasks in your existing Workflow. You can also edit your task names once you’re inside the task.

When you’re finished building your Workflow, you can go ahead and publish it by clicking on the three dots located in the top right-hand corner. 

Editing your Workflow 

Navigate to your Library and click on the Workflow you’d like to edit. Once you’ve selected your Workflow, click on the three dots located at the top right-hand corner and select Edit or Edit draft. 

From here, you can make your desired edits to your Workflow. To save these changes, click the three dots at the top right corner of your screen and click on the Publish button. 

Run your Workflows 

Tap on the button in the top corner and select Run a Workflow. After you’ve selected this, you’ll see a list of all of your organization’s Workflows. 

You can either scroll or use the search box to find the Workflow you wish to run. Once you’ve done this, give your selected Workflow Run a name.

Along with the Run Name, you can also give your Workflow Run a due date and assign it to a member of your organization (or an entire group/department). But this is optional. 

Lastly, click the option “Run Workflow” at the bottom of your tablet/mobile screen. That’s it! You’ve now created your Workflow Run.   

View Reports 

To view your Workflow Runs, you should navigate to the Reports tab. You can use the filter located in the top left-hand corner to create a new saved view or switch between your existing saved views. You may also tap on your logo located at the top right of your screen to go to your Reports dashboard. 

View and reply to comments in Inbox

Your Inbox available on your mobile or tablet lets you use filters to easily search for tasks and Workflow Runs you’ve been assigned to. 

Through your Inbox, you can use search filters to view and reply to comments. If you don’t want to use the search filters option, you can simply tap the Comments icon in the navigation tab and view or reply to your comments without having to filter your entire Inbox. 

You also have access to any Approvals that have been assigned to you in your Inbox. Use the search filter to navigate to your pending Approvals. 

Browse your template library 

Tap on the Settings feature to view archived Workflows or create a new folder inside your Library. 

Receive push notifications

You now have access to push notifications in your Android app. With this, you’ll be alerted when you have tasks that need to be dealt with. Once you receive a notification, you can tap on it to be taken straight to the task or Workflow in question. 

The same goes for when you’re mentioned in a comment. This functions in the same way as email notifications in your browser. 

Mobile process management made easy

Mobile business process management is no longer a luxury, but a necessity for businesses that want to stay ahead of the game. When leveraged effectively, companies can streamline their operations, reduce costs, and increase productivity. 

The business landscape has become that much more fast-paced, which is why Process Street’s Android app is vital to include in any organization’s business process management system. With the ability to access and complete tasks from anywhere, businesses can ensure that their processes are always up-to-date and running smoothly.

By embracing mobile BPM and leveraging the power of Process Street’s Android app, businesses can be sure to stay ahead of the competition and achieve long-term success.

Do you manage workflows from your Android (or iPhone)? What kind of features would you like to see to make mobile process management better? Let us know in the comments!

The post Mobile Business Process Management in the Palm of Your Hands first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

A proposal has a lot of different purposes, but there’s only one good way to write one: the way that pulls together all of the information in a concise and persuasive way and helps you get what you want … whether that’s a whole new software system, or just a tweak to your marketing strategy.

This Process Street article isn’t about a business proposal — also known as a quote — but instead about the document required when formally pitching an idea for action and execution by managers or department heads.

To explain how to write a proposal document and get what you want, we’ll go through the following:

• Free proposal writing template
• When are proposals necessary?
• Why are proposals important?
• Examples of proposals
• How to write a proposal: step-by-step
• Last steps before submitting the proposal
• More free proposal writing checklists
• Even more free proposal writing checklists
• Customize your proposal checklists with Process Street

Let’s get started.

If you fancy taking a quick look at a free interactive template, that will help you write your proposals right away, feel free to dive straight into this!

Writing a Proposal: Step-by-Step Guide

There are more templates, like this one, further down in this post, so stick around.

Any project you don’t have the clearance or authority to start without a higher-up’s approval, you need to submit a proposal for.

According to SSWM, a proposal is “a detailed description of a series of activities aimed at solving a certain problem”.

That problem  could be anything, from:

If it’s an idea you need to ask permission to execute, or to get action on, it needs a proposal.

A proposal is a way to pitch an idea and state your requirements, so it’s important for supervisors because they can get information in writing (not casually in the elevator), and be able to act knowing the full implications of their decision.

They’re also a chance for you to make a structured, logical argument and lay down everything in favor of your idea. A well-written proposal shows your manager you care about the cause, and it’s not just a mid-meeting whim you blurted out.

To write a top proposal you need to scrutinize it before you present it.

It’s a broad topic, but it’s best explained with examples.

• Proposal for Process Improvement
• Proposal for Server Replacement
• Proposal for Cost Savings

Below is a simple proposal example with some basic sections.

Now let’s take a look at how to write a proposal — whether it’s as simple as the one above, or more complex.

Here’s the general structure of a proposal:

As you can see, a proposal generally consists of:

1. Identify and define your reader

Just like with any kind of persuasion, it helps if you understand how to appeal to your audience. Who will be reading your proposal and deciding if it’s accepted or rejected? What do they care about? What kind of language and benefits would resonate with them? This is the first step because it’s an important thing to keep in mind as you go along and as information that informs the way you write from here on.

2. Define the problem your proposal will solve

Who: Who will the proposal affect?

What: What’s the reason for you to write the proposal in the first place? Explain the current situation and the problems that come with it.

3. Define the solution

How: How are you going to solve the problem? Explain step-by-step in detail.

Who: Identify the personnel you need, along with their prior experience to add persuasion to the proposal

4. Conclusion: costs, benefits and wrap-up

Reiterate: The purpose and main argument

Costs: Break down the projected costs involved for different elements of the project

Benefits: Break down the benefits to the organization, monetary and non-monetary, to persuade the reader there’ll be a return on investment

Thanks: Thank the reader for their time.

Contact information: Where can the reader get in touch with you? Make sure to be crystal clear to make the details easily discoverable.

Clear writing is your best friend when you’re trying to write persuasively. For that reason, there are a few checks to run before you submit your proposal.

Remember, what’s clear to you might not always be clear to other people.

1 .Check for jargon (then destroy it)

Although jargon is popular in the business world, not everyone shares the equal love for it. It’s terms like right-size, blue sky (verb), turn-key, and synergize. They might mean something to you, or make you feel intelligent, but there are simpler alternatives that will help people understand what you mean!

2. Change the passive voice to the active voice

The passive voice is defined as:

“The noun or noun phrase that would be the object of an active sentence (such as Our troops defeated the enemy) appears as the subject of a sentence with passive voice (e.g. The enemy was defeated by our troops).”.

It’s a long-winded way of expressing something that could be expressed in simple terms:

The passive voice sounds distant and even deceptive, and, since the reader might even just be skimming your proposal, you don’t want to add extra words to cloud your point.

3. Proofread the proposal

Install a tool like Grammarly and check the proposal in an online text editor. Grammarly will manage to pick up on anything that is grammatically incorrect and sometimes even flags up stylistically poor phrases. Poor spelling and grammar will only discredit the value of what you’re saying and could be a problem that leads to your proposal being rejected.

As promised, check out the below five templates that have each been designed by the team at Process Street — makers of the finest remote work software for processes around — to help you write winning proposals.

Proposal Template Checklist Process

This proposal template is a checklist that should be used alongside the proposal document you are planning to submit. Use it to make sure that all the elements have been considered, that the proposal contains everything it needs to and that it meets all set requirements.

Click here to access the Proposal Template Checklist Process!

Business Proposal Template Checklist

Whether your business proposal is solicited or unsolicited, use this business proposal template checklist to ensure you include all the required information in your proposal and cover key areas such as these the problem the organization is facing, the proposed solution, the budget, and a key CTA.

Click here to access the Business Proposal Template Checklist!

How to Write a Grant Proposal Checklist

Use this template to make sure your grant proposal includes all the relevant information, that it contains everything it needs to, and that it meets all stated RFP requirements.

Click here to access the How to Write a Grant Proposal Checklist!

Research Proposal Example Checklist

Use this template to convince others that you have a worthwhile research project and that you have the competence and the work-plan to complete it.

Click here to access the Research Proposal Example Checklist!

Project Proposal Template Checklist

Use this template, alongside the proposal document you are planning to submit, to set the project vision, define the project requirements, describe the deliverables, and specify the deadlines.

Click here to access the Project Proposal Template Checklist!

If you’re looking for more inspiration, give these alternative proposal writing templates a go too.

• Bid Proposal Template Checklist
• Budget Proposal Template
• Construction Proposal Template Checklist
• Consulting Proposal Template Checklist
• Continuation Project Proposal Template
• Contractor Proposal Template Checklist
• Event Proposal Template Checklist
• Marketing Proposal Template Checklist
• Project Proposal Template
• Renewal Project Proposal Template
• Simple Proposal Format Checklist
• Sponsorship Proposal Template Checklist
• Supplemental Project Proposal Template
• Website Proposal Template Checklist

If the above templates don’t quite fit your company, industry, or the proposal document you are writing, don’t worry!

Process Street to the rescue!

Process Street is super-powered checklists. We are a super-charged, state of the art BPM SaaS platform which allows you to create templates and run individual checklists from these. You can check tasks off as you work through them, set deadlines, request approvals, assign various tasks, and work through your proposal workflows with ease.

Watch this to get an idea about who we are and what we do:

To help you customize your proposal writing template, and make your proposal wriitng easier, you can use all these different types of Process Street features:

• Stop tasks
• Dynamic due dates
• Task permissions
• Conditional logic
• Approval tasks
• Embed widget
• Role assignments

You can also connect your templates to thousands of apps through Zapier, webhooks, or API access to automate your proposal processes and workflows.

If you’re unfamiliar with process automation, what it means, and the benefits it can bring to your business, watch this Process Street webinar on automation:

Remember, if you want to get access to any of our proposal writing checklists, just click the links above and they will be added to your Process Street account where you can use them over and over again. Or, if you haven’t yet signed up for a Process Street account, click here and start your free trial.

Has this guide helped you out? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

The post How to Write a Proposal and Get What You Want (Free Templates) first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Process Street was born from the collaboration between two backpackers who crossed paths in Buenos Aires. While both of them contributed to its success, Vinay Patankar, the CEO, has always been in the public eye. Whereas, Cameron McKay, the other half of the dynamic duo, has remained behind the scenes, truly known only to those who work closely with him. 

Fortunately, Process Street’s Employee Spotlight series has given us the opportunity to showcase Cameron’s remarkable talents. Cameron’s story is one that inspires and motivates. He is a highly skilled and dedicated individual who works tirelessly to ensure that Process Street remains at the forefront of its industry. His contributions to the company are immeasurable, and his work ethic is second to none.

Despite his achievements, Cameron remains humble and focused on the task at hand. He is always looking for ways to improve himself and his team. His passion for technology and innovation is contagious, and it is clear that he truly cares about the success of Process Street and its employees.

Cameron McKay is a talented individual who has played an undeniably vital role in the success of Process Street. His story is one that deserves to be shared and celebrated. So, here it is from the horse’s mouth. 

• Introducing our co-founder and CTO: Cameron McKay
• Cameron’s professional world before Process Street
• Cameron: The co-founder who stays behind the screen
• Today in Process Street 

Introducing our co-founder and CTO: Cameron McKay

Q: What are three words that describe you? 

Curious, focused, and adaptable

Q: What do you do in your spare time? 

What spare time? Almost all my spare time is spent with my daughter and my wife. We either explore Barcelona or take day trips to many of the wonderful places near the city. Outside of that, I take care of the garden on our terrace, I read (I’m a big fan of sci-fi) and do recreational (non-work) coding.

Besides everything he has contributed to making Process Street what it has become, I really appreciate Cameron as a person. He is kind and socially conscious, which is really important in a leader. He’s also a lot of fun! In fact, I’ve never known someone with such a spot-on octopus impression

– Anne Perry, Director of Solutions Consulting

Q: How do you start your morning? 

I wake up at 6 am and make my daughter’s breakfast. Then I make a cortado and read the news. After that, I walk my daughter to daycare and go to the office I have at a co-working space in the old city of Barcelona and start working.

Q: What is an interesting/fun fact that most people don’t know about you?

In the last ten years I’ve lived in Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, New York, San Francisco, Cancún, Vancouver and Barcelona. I also know how to Swing dance.

Cameron’s professional world before Process Street

Q: Important moments, catalysts, or turning points in your career?

1. Deciding to buy that programming book. 
2. Deciding to backpack in Buenos Aires for a month (that’s where I ran into Vinay!).
3. Closing our seed round and having to learn how to hire and be a manager.

Cameron is one of the most approachable and supportive people on the team. His openness and willingness to share his knowledge has been invaluable to me.

– Giacomo Maire, Web Developer 

Q: Could you give us a breakdown of your professional background before Process Street?

I was always fascinated by computers from the moment I first knew what they were. I self-taught myself to program when I was 14 using an O’Reilly Perl book (I think it was called Learning Perl). I started doing websites for small businesses soon after that. 

I went to Queen’s University near Toronto for mathematics and computer engineering, and then a Masters in unconventional computing (specifically DNA computing). After I graduated, I started looking for an entry-level job and did freelance work on the side. 

Pretty quickly I realized that I was making way more doing freelance work than I would in an entry-level job and so I stopped looking for a job. After freelancing for around 6 years, I decided that I would like to work on a product, and that’s when I met Vinay.

Q: You had already co-founded Couchware Inc before Process Street – was this different to your work at Process Street? And how? 

It was way different. My co-founder and I at Couchware were both engineers and neither of us really understood the business side well. Video games is an extremely competitive industry and not one I was that familiar with or had many contacts in. 

It was a great experience to understand that the product is just one part of the equation. You could have the greatest product in the world, but without a way for people to know about it (i.e. marketing), it might never get used.

Q: Did you have another career prospect in mind before you started working on Process Street? 

I didn’t have plans to start a startup at that time. My plan was to work at a startup and see how I liked it. It was just fortunate that I ran into Vinay at a time in my life that I was open to taking a big risk.

Cameron’s brilliance as a 10x engineer is matched only by his unwavering dedication to innovation and excellence as the CTO of Process Street. His technical expertise and visionary leadership have been integral to the success of our company, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have him as my co-founder and partner.

– Vinay Patankar, CEO and Co-Founder  

Cameron: The co-founder who stays behind the screen

Q: You and Vinay worked together to create Process Street. What did you first think when Vinay approached you about the idea? 

You have to understand that as a software engineer, you are constantly approached by people asking you to work for free . When I met Vinay and he said he had an idea for a startup, I was pretty skeptical. But when he gave his vision and described how he was going to accomplish it, I was impressed. Vinay is also a pretty persuasive person, so that helped.

Q: What made you believe that Process Street could be something? 

It was something that I wish I had had when I was a freelancer, so I could immediately see the use case.

Q: Vinay is more so the face of Process Street whereas you take a more behind-the-scenes role as the co-founder. Why is that? Was this a conscious decision or something that just happened as Process Street grew? 

I’m not the kind of person that likes to be the center of attention if I can avoid it. Vinay is also a much better public speaker, and since we decided he would be CEO, it was natural for him to be much more visible in the company.

Today in Process Street

Q: What do you think are the best skills that you bring to this company?

I’ve been here since the beginning, so I understand why all technical decisions were made, what all the different systems are, and how they all work together.

Q: What is your role as CTO and co-founder? What does a typical day look like? 

The CTO is probably one of the squishiest roles at a startup because what a CTO does really depends on their background and what stage the company is in. At Process Street, the CTO is the head of the Engineering and Product & Design departments. I’m fortunate that both of these departments have incredibly talented directors that I can work with and rely on.

Since my background is technical, I spend a lot of time in the principal engineer/architect role. Since I’ve spent a lot of my time working on the product, I’m also deeply involved in product decisions as well. I also try to find time to stay connected with the code, so I spend a lot of time reviewing and writing code.

My typical day starts with catching up with email and Slack. If we’re in the middle of a Shape Up cycle, it’ll also likely be reviewing all the decisions the teams have made and adding context if needed. Otherwise, there are often various projects that need to get done and I’ll work on whatever is the highest priority.

Cameron has been the ideal technical leader to work with. He’s always ready to jump into any deal at any time, which has made him a great collaborator to the Sales team. He’s been a huge help with closing our biggest deals.

– John Cunningham, Director of Sales 

Q: What’s your secret to achieving success in your role? 

Be humble. Never think you have it all figured out. I’ve been doing this for almost 25 years and I’m always learning new things.

Speak to everyone you can, read everything you can, and learn from the experiences of others. You’re rarely the first person to do anything, so there’s no reason to have to figure it all out on your own.

Q: What are you working on that you are most excited about?

There are so many exciting things. We’re about to release our Data Sets feature, which adds the ability to create re-usable data stores within Process Street. We’re also about to release the first version of Forms, which features our next generation editor that will eventually make its way into Workflows.

Q: What do you like most about working at Process Street? 

The culture and the people. I love the flexibility of all-remote, and the fact that it’s company-wide, so everyone is in the same boat and understands the advantages and difficulties of it. 

The team is patient, understanding, and encouraging, especially to new team members, and that really makes a difference in the general feeling at work. Process Street is a pretty flat company and we do retrospectives on nearly every aspect of how we work. 

While sometimes difficult to hear about things that aren’t working, it’s rewarding to work with the team to figure out different ways we can address and improve aspects of how we work.

Cameron is an incredible person to work with. Even as the team has grown, it’s often Cameron who is first in line to come to the rescue in times of need. He’s the kind of guy who can both figure out complex architectures, and laugh like a small child at the name “Cockburns”, the Port distillery we toured in Porto.

– Blake Bailey, Director of Customer Success 

Q: What career advice would you give to your younger self when you were starting out in your career?

When you’re starting out, your biggest issue will be lack of experience. I think open source is a great way to contribute to the community while also building up a body of work that you can use to demonstrate your abilities. 

Try to speak to whoever you can, especially people more senior than yourself. I’ve almost never had a conversation with another engineer or manager where I didn’t learn something new.

The post Employee Spotlight: Cameron McKay, Co-Founder & CTO first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

SOC 2 has a reputation for being difficult and complex. You could argue that this is by design, since you need help from a small group of top-notch, pricey experts to be compliant. 

A kinder view is that it’s just how info security operates (there’s no one-size-fits-all fix). 

To set up the right protections, a company has to either create them according to the risks they face, or narrow down a huge list of possible controls, again, considering the risks. 

In a nutshell, SOC 2 goes with the first option: it sets broad criteria and lets each organization come up with controls to meet those criteria, based on their unique risks. Sounds reasonable, but it’s not exactly a walk in the park for those who aren’t experts.

That’s where both workflow automation and compliance automation software can come in handy.  

In this post I’ll introduce you to Drata and Process Street, two essential tools that, when used together, provide a complete solution to help you speed up and simplify your yearly SOC 2 compliance.

Your main challenges with SOC 2 compliance

When you’re trying to achieve SOC 2 compliance, you’ve got a few problems to solve:

Challenge #1: Resource constraints

Problem: SOC 2 compliance can be a real resource hog, taking up a lot of time, money, and people power.

Solution: Use automation tools to improve efficiency and save money.

You can reduce workload by automating compliance tasks using a tool like Drata. Similarly, workflow automation software like Process Street can help you lower operational costs by streamlining tasks like security and performance reviews into handy, simple checklists that can be used as evidence in a SOC 2 audit.

Challenge #2: Lack of expertise

Problem: Most organizations don’t have experts in-house who know how to navigate the SOC 2 compliance process, leading to confusion and frustration.

Solution: Capture expertise in process management templates.

Hire or train personnel with the necessary expertise to guide your organization through the SOC 2 compliance process. Then capture that information into a workflow template to help save costs and improve success rates on recurring audits.

Challenge #3: Complexity of criteria

Problem: The SOC 2 criteria can be super confusing and hard to understand, making it tough to know what applies to your organization.

Solution: Reduce human error & make it easy for non-experts to follow complex processes with templates and workflow management tools.

Work with a qualified third-party vendor to help interpret and apply the SOC 2 criteria to your organization’s specific situation, while leveraging templates and process management tools to scale the expertise of the qualified 3rd party vendor.

Challenge #4: Audit scope

Problem: Figuring out the audit’s scope can be a real pain because it requires a deep understanding of how your organization’s systems and operations work.

Solution: Maintain consistent process & policy documentation.

If you take process documentation seriously in your organization, you will already have a clear overview of internal processes. This provides a great starting point for your vendor partner to define the scope of the audit.

Challenge #5: Security gaps in processes

Problem: The audit process may uncover gaps in your controls that you’ll need to fix, which can take a lot of time and effort.

Solution: Use process management tools to improve process control.

Workflow management software makes editing operational processes quick and painless. Need to tighten up permissions or see an overview of users contributing to a process? It’s easy with Process Street.

Challenge #6: Ongoing maintenance

Problem: Achieving SOC 2 compliance isn’t a one-time deal; you’ll need to keep monitoring and maintaining your systems and controls to stay compliant.

Solution: Use workflows and templates to streamline recurring reports.

Workflow Templates and Runs make recurring processes like SOC 2 reports simple and easy to execute. If you document workflows for all relevant reviews in Process Street during your first audit, you can re-use them in subsequent audits to complete them even faster.

Essential tools for efficient SOC 2 compliance

The simple answer is that most of the solutions to common SOC 2 challenges can be solved with the appropriate toolkit.

To automate tasks you need a system for electronic process documentation & management, and you need to make sure your core processes are already documented.

To properly implement templates you either need time to build them from scratch or access to versatile pre-made template libraries or help from process-building experts.

Let’s look at some essential tools that can help make SOC 2 compliance faster and easier than ever before.

Drata: Designed by auditors and security experts for ease of use

Drata is a security and compliance automation platform. It’s specifically designed to help businesses meet SOC 2 compliance while operating. 

Drata is an essential tool for SOC 2 compliance because it:

• Reduces compliance costs with automation.
• Has quick-start capabilities to get you up and running in minutes.
• Eliminates spreadsheets and time-consuming tasks for streamlined audits
• Automatically collects evidence via 75+ integrations with your existing tech stack.
• Comes with 20+ editable, auditor-approved security policies.

In a nutshell, Drata is set up to continuously monitor and collect proof of an organization’s systems and controls while simultaneously streamlining compliance reports to ensure audit readiness.

Drata also helps automate compliance with ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.

The main shortcoming of Drata is that it doesn’t always give a way for you to generate the necessary evidence for a compliance policy or procedure.

For example, you need to test your disaster recovery plan every year. Drata can store the plan as a static .PDF, but it has no way for you to run it and show evidence you ran it. 

Other SOC 2 compliance tools focused on the process management side, like Process Street, are excellent for making SOC 2 compliance actionable. 

You can schedule and perform these annual processes inside Process Street and then upload the completed process reports into Drata as evidence for the SOC 2 auditor.

Process Street: Workflows to automate tasks & capture expertise

Process Street is a cloud-based workflow software that can help you streamline and automate the SOC 2 compliance process by:

• Clearly documenting your core processes for audit scope.
• Quickly & easily creating workflows to check policy compliance.
• Templatizing and automating recurring work to reduce human error.
• Making it easy to edit and improve your processes. 
• Improving audit transparency by recording who did what (and when) in a Workflow Run.
• Allowing you to schedule recurring compliance procedures to ensure you don’t miss deadlines.
• Automatically generating audit evidence by exporting Workflow Runs.
• Workflow Runs can then be uploaded to Drata’s compliance management platform for ongoing compliance tracking and reporting.

At Process Street, we even use our own platform together with Drata to achieve SOC 2 compliance! We’re constantly striving to help our customers achieve and maintain SOC 2 compliance, too. 

Why use compliance automation software?

The main reason for using compliance automation software is to remain SOC 2 compliant. In the past, SOC 2 compliance was a taxing process that had auditors watching the way businesses operated for significantly longer periods, to evaluate if a business was, in fact, compliant.  

It’s easier, quicker and more reliable to use software that ensures you remain compliant the entire year. This way, you don’t need to rush and play catch-up to become compliant again when it comes time for your next audit. 

Benefits of using a complete SOC 2 compliance solution

Together, Drata + Process Street provide a complete solution to achieving and maintaining SOC 2 compliance. 

Automated reminders about SOC 2 compliance tasks

“Every time we hire a new employee, I will immediately receive an alert from Process Street saying that there’s a new employee and that I need to do A, B and C by a certain date.”

– Gabriel Labrada on how Process Street helps improve visibility on SOC 2 compliance tasks

When it comes time to do these annual tests, Process Street’s scheduled workflows are triggered and notifications go out to ensure we meet the deadlines in a timely manner. 

For example, when Drata notifies us that we need to conduct our annual Disaster Recovery Plan, the respective Process Street Disaster Recovery Plan Workflow is run and the security manager can work through the various tasks involved in the test until it’s successfully completed. 

Once these workflows are complete, the reports can be saved and uploaded into Drata to prove that the procedures have been conducted successfully. 

Onboard new hires into security training programs

Drata’s built-in security training functions let you automate tasks to send out reminders regarding document completion. This security training comes in handy whenever we hire a new employee here at Process Street. 

“Security training is never a one-and-done. Employees need to be part of the SOC 2 conversation from the get-go. Curricula is a compelling way to make security education fun so employees actually learn from their training.”

– Adam Markowitz, CEO of Drata

Our onboarding workflow welcomes new hires into our organization. It takes them through the entire employee onboarding journey, and includes a task to get them set up with Drata. 

From here, Drata takes the new employee through: 

• Configuring their computer 
• Installing the recommended password manager
• Encrypting their hard-disk
• Installing anti-virus/malware software
• Enabling automatic updates
• Applying a lock to their screen saver 

Both the security manager and employee get notified if these tasks are incomplete or out of compliance.

Generate SOC 2 evidence on-the-go, automatically

“We noticed while doing our SOC 2 compliance that many of the requirements were recurring processes. Each of these procedures had a list of steps that needed to be followed. Then, at the end, you needed a hard copy as evidence, generally a PDF.

That’s when it became clear that Process Street would be a perfect fit. With Process Street, you can create a workflow that specifies what needs to be done, schedule it to be run each year, and then export the resulting run as evidence.”

– Cameron McKay, CO-Founder and CTO of Process Street

Along with monitoring your control systems to ensure you’re constantly compliant, Drata also reminds you about any annual procedures that need to be completed. 

But it’s on you to get those procedures done and then upload supporting evidence.

That’s where Process Street is handy – you can export Workflow Runs and submit those as evidence that a procedure has been completed. It’ll contain all of the information relevant to the SOC 2 audit such as who completed the procedure, when it was completed, and if there was any additional information recorded in form fields.

Crystal clear process documentation

Running annual procedures for SOC 2 compliance manually involves following documented processes that address the relevant trust principles and meet the criteria established by the AICPA. 

To do this you might develop checklists or spreadsheets to document the procedures, track progress, and assign specific responsibilities to individuals or teams within your organization. 

You need your processes clearly defined and documented. That’s so the auditor understands the scope of core processes used in your organization.

If you’re using Process Street, having your processes documented means you can easily generate evidence, too.

Here are some of the procedures you’ll need to follow to be SOC 2 compliant:

• Annual Access Control Review 
• Annual Board Oversight Briefings 
• Annual Compliance Process Review 
• Annual Disaster Recovery Test
• Annual Incident Response Plan 
• Annual Key Vendors Review 
• Annual Review of Security Policies 
• Monthly application of OS patches on virtual machines 
• Quarterly Vulnerability Scans 

Some of these procedures are pretty complicated, and it can be time-consuming or even tricky to navigate all of them (let alone complete them with 100% success rate).

That’s why it’s useful to have this information documented in a workflow. If you use Process Street, all information for each procedure will live inside the respective Process Street workflow, broken down into easy to understand, actionable steps to complete each compliance procedure.

On-demand reports for your customers

It’s tedious and unnecessary to manually answer security questionnaires whenever a potential customer asks about the safety of your tool. When you have Drata in place, real-time reports from a trusted third-party tool can be generated to provide evidence of compliance.

This is also the case for your auditors. Investing in an advanced compliance security platform allows you to publicly showcase your daily security and compliance measures (without disclosing sensitive information). 

Eliminate manual tasks & save time

You likely devote a significant portion of time to tedious tasks like:

• Organizing screenshots and other evidence in shared folders
• Manipulating pivot tables and spreadsheets
• Manually tracking vendors, assets, and incidents

This is only if you run your compliance program manually. 

Process Street and Drata pretty much make these tasks disappear. These systems coupled together can manage: 

• Onboarding and training of employees 
• All necessary evidence collection 
• Real-time tracking of incidents, vendors, and assets
• Accurate control mapping  

Simple dashboards ensure all processes are kept on track and that your business is constantly compliant while reports can be provided when needed. 

And as the saying goes, time is money!

Useful insights into business operations 

Security and compliance automation software can help you make more informed decisions. Because your business operations are monitored, you gain valuable insight into how your company is performing. This will let you see: 

• How your security can be improved
• If your privacy protections need updating
• If your employees are playing fast and loose with your standards
• How your security program is operating overall

Reduced risks & errors 

Automating any process mitigates the risk of errors being made. Repetitive tasks are taken out of your team’s to-do list and are handed over to software where work is completed the same way each time. 

Monitoring security controls also lets the system send alerts if there are any changes in human behavior. For example, Drata and Process Street are both designed to send notifications if an employee fails to complete a task in any required security training. 

Alerts are also triggered when someone tries to access something they shouldn’t. This will mitigate the risk of any malicious attack on your company’s data or systems. But it will also reduce the risk of genuine mistakes (like forgetting to complete a process or tasks), which could derail your organization’s compliance. 

And the fewer manual tasks you have in your SOC 2 compliance procedures, the lower the chance for human error.

Improved experience with your auditor 

Effective compliance automation software means happier auditors and faster audits. Your auditors no longer need to assume compliance hasn’t been continuous or rely on spot checks. 

Instead, continuous compliance can be confirmed through accurate reports and monitoring system documentation set by Drata and Process Street. Back-and-forth between your company and auditor is significantly reduced while the auditing process is cheaper and faster.

What is the biggest challenge you face with SOC 2 compliance? Let us know in the comments & we’ll see if we can help make your life easier.

The post SOC 2 Compliance Made Easy (with Process Street & Drata) first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.

Process Street’s powerful custom branding feature, you’ll be able to create amazing workflows that conform to your brand image. 

You can also improve legibility by designing useful visual aids for your workflow branding.

And Process Street will help you do that.

Let me show you how.

What is custom branding?

Custom branding refers to creating a unique brand identity that defines a business, organization, or individual. 

The process of creating a custom brand includes:

• Designing a distinctive logo
• Choosing a specific color palette
• Selecting appropriate fonts
• Producing website images
• Developing branded email campaigns 

Customization will make your company stand out and play a major part in growing your brand.

You can accomplish this through consistent branding across all marketing and communication channels, including social media, website, and promotional materials.

The importance of custom branding

Custom branding is a vital part of any business, and there are several reasons why:

1. It differentiates you from competitors.
2. It makes your brand more recognizable.
3. It builds trust and credibility.
4. It helps your customers connect emotionally with your products and services.

All these factors will grow your business by building customer loyalty and driving results in sales and marketing. 

And why is that important? I’ll tell you.

Think for a second, what company comes to mind when you see the letter “M” in large, golden arches?

McDonald’s, am I right?

See, you’ve been conditioned to recognize their logo, whether you eat at McDonald’s or not.

The way your brand represents your business can make a huge difference. You may be offering the most amazing product, but it won’t sell if it has no meaning to your customers.

So how do you create meaning around your product?

By providing a strong brand voice that both your customers and employees will relate to. You’ll want people to instantly recognize your brand as soon as your logo appears.

What are the benefits of custom branding?

Custom branding is a powerful tool when used appropriately, but it takes time and effort.

It can sometimes take months to start yielding results, but don’t give up!

Let me show you all the benefits you’ll reap with custom branding:

Brand recognition

By creating a unique business identity, your customers will be able to recognize who you are and what you’re about.

It’ll make them remember you, in turn driving brand awareness and recognition.

Ask yourself, “How well do people know my brand?” The answer to this question indicates if your customer can differentiate you from competitors.

So if you’re answer is “I’m not sure,” it’s time to invest in custom branding!

Loyal customers

A strong brand voice will gain a loyal following, and so will creating a magical customer experience.

When your brand has a well-developed custom branding strategy, it conveys a sense of emotional connection.

But what does that mean?

Well, it means that your customers will start associating your brand with positive things. It also raises satisfaction with your products and elevates the perceived value of your services.

The result?

More returning customers, more positive reviews, and more sales.

Straightforward marketing

Once people start recognizing your brand, marketing becomes effortless.

Yes, you’ll still want to send weekly newsletters, engage your customers on social media, and keep improving your marketing strategy.

But it’ll be much easier to do all this when you already have brand recognition and a loyal customer base.

And that’s before we even consider word-of-mouth marketing.

If your customers are happy, they will start recommending you to their friends and family. Talk about organic marketing!

Increased employee engagement

Companies with solid branding make employees proud.

Proud and happy employees will stay with you longer, be extra productive, and add value to your business.

A strong brand will always invest in its workforce, helping them achieve success and bring joy to their work life.

What’s more, once you get your branding right, people will want to work for you. Attracting the right talent will be much easier because you’ll start receiving more job applications. 

How to create a memorable brand identity?

Maintaining your brand identity can be stressful.

And if you’re sending emails to clients and onboarding new hires, things can quickly get out of control.

Doing it all alone? 

Consider investing in software that’ll practically do it for you!

So by introducing Process Street into your strategy, you’ll be able to:

• Customize your brand colors
• Define a custom subdomain
• Add branded images and logos to your Workflows and Pages
• Design and send branded emails
• Add a company logo

Yes, Process Street is a no-code workflow management solution, but it can also double up as a branding tool! 

Let me give you a couple of examples:

Salesforce is one of our amazing customers that use Process Street for employee onboarding. 

They asked to customize their new hire experience by changing the look of one of our extensions to reflect the Salesforce brand.

Nium, another of our customers, asked for customizing the subdomain to look and feel like their brand for their customers.

Both companies were able to tailor their employee and consumer experiences with us, keeping their brand identity consistent at the same time.

So let’s break it down using our Salesforce employee onboarding example. 

Here’s all you need to know to start customizing your brand identity.

Customize colors

Remember the McDonald’s example?

Personalizing colors and being consistent with them throughout your communication channels is important. 

They will help you convey your brand message and add to your brand persona.

The below example shows you exactly what I mean. 

In just a few clicks, you can customize the Process Street interface to suit your brand. 

So if your new hire navigates to Process Street to complete their onboarding workflow, they’ll see the colors that represent your brand.

This is the beginning of the journey, so make it memorable.

Add logos and cover images

The next step to building a loyal workforce that’ll be proud to work for you is by customizing your logos.

So, again, the below example shows you how to add your own cover image to Pages.

When creating Pages or Workflows, you can update any image or logo as a header to give it that custom-brand feel.

Make sure that, along with brand coloring, you include your logos everywhere, too!

After all, you’ll want your new hire to familiarize themselves with your brand voice as soon as possible.

Define custom subdomain

Subdomains bring personalization to another level.

Let’s say your company’s name is Bright Star, and your new hire is a writer called Joanna J.

 Which one of the below domains would you rather see:

• brightstar.process.st/Joanna-J-New-Writer-Onboarding 
• process.st/new-hire-onboarding

By creating a custom domain, you’ll add a personal touch that won’t go unnoticed by your new employee.

Design email with HTML or rich text

The time has come to send Joanna a welcome email following successful onboarding.

Again, keep your coloring consistent, your logo at the top, and then create a beautifully formatted email.

Joanna will already be impressed with your brand at this point, so keep at it to make her a proud employee!

Investing in custom branding is vital

Custom branding will transform the way your company is perceived by both employees and customers alike.

It aims to differentiate your business from competitors and create a solid and memorable brand image that resonates with your target audience. 

When done right, custom branding will drive growth, loyalty, and sales.

Because the process can be time-consuming, consider utilizing a software tool that will make it effortless and quick.

The bottom line is custom branding is vital for any business, and yours will benefit too!

The post How to Build Your Company’s Identity With Process Street Custom Branding first appeared on Process Street | Checklist, Workflow and SOP Software.