9 Best Examples of Workflow Management Software
From the moon landing to putting 5,000 songs in your pocket, humanity has accomplished some amazing things. But none of those feats was a one-and-done monolith — every one was made up of smaller, repeatable tasks. That’s why to work better, we often don’t need to focus on the end goal. We need to optimize the steps we take to get there! These individual steps are called workflows, and today, they increasingly happen online. Enter workflow management software, designed to bring clarity, oversight, and efficiency to our virtual workspaces.
Today, we’ll share six great examples of workflow management software, and cover the basics of how they work.
What’s a workflow?
As we mentioned, a workflow is any repeatable process you use to get work done. It’s a defined set of steps for accomplishing a particular task.
There are as many workflows as there are types of work — the possibilities are nearly endless. In Human Resources, workflows might help you onboard new employees or conduct performance reviews. In finance, your workflows could focus on annual reporting, or tracking spending against your budget.
Intuitively, we’re all using workflows every day. But by getting super-clear on exactly what your workflows are, you can optimize them to be faster, easier, and produce higher-quality results.
What is workflow management software?
With intuitive, visual interfaces, the software tools on this list make it easy to see what’s happening with your workflows at any point. They’re also great tools for project management.
They use technology like automation, integrations, and collaboration tools to speed things up and get rid of time-consuming, repetitive busy work.
The result? Smoother, less stressful processes that let people focus on the high-value parts of work, like creative and strategic tasks.
9 Examples of workflow management software
Smartsheet: best workflow management software for spreadsheet fans
Smartsheet is a versatile, cloud-based collaborative workflow management tool that combines the familiarity of spreadsheets with the strengths of project management tools. It allows teams to track, plan, and execute a wide range of projects efficiently with a user-friendly interface. You can build dynamic spreadsheets, Gantt charts, dashboards, and reports to facilitate real-time collaboration and visibility into project progress. It’s great for data visualization, streamlining multiple workflows, and more.
Drawbacks
Smartsheet has a ton of advanced features that make it one of the most powerful workflow management platforms on the market. But the learning curve for these features can be pretty steep. So while you can do a lot with this tool, you’ll need to dedicate some time to really figure things out. Consider how long it’ll take a whole team to get up to speed, and this might be a dealbreaker.
Pricing
Smartsheet offers a free plan that can support a single user, up to two editors, and up to two sheets. There are two paid plans: the Pro plan at $7 per user per month and the Business plan at $25 per user per month. You can also get in touch with Smartsheet’s sales team to get a custom Enterprise plan.
Kissflow: best low-code workflow management software
Kissflow is a cloud-based business process and workflow management tool that allows organizations to automate repetitive tasks with a low-code platform. While you’ll still need some technical skill to make the most of it, it’s a platform built with enterprise-sized organizations in mind — so if you’re considering this one you’ll have the resources to make it work. It offers pre-built templates and drag-and-drop tools that’ll help you get started more quickly.
Drawback
Some developers have said that Kissflow is pretty limited on the API side, meaning technical users can’t customize it as much as other tools. If you’re not a technical user, this isn’t much of a problem, but if you rely on developers to customize your tools, this is something to keep in mind.
Pricing
Kissflow’s pricing is built for its enterprise clientele. Its Basic plan starts at $1,500 a month, and its Enterprise plan only offers custom pricing — for which you’ll need to contact their sales team.
Kintone: best workflow management software for enterprise
Within Kintone, you’ll use a simple drag-and-drop builder to create custom work apps that can streamline and automate nearly any kind of process.
Kintone can be used to manage projects and work with data, as well as optimize workflows. It’s an advanced, powerful tool that’s used by organizations like Volvo, Whole Foods, and United Way.
The tool offers built-in chat and communication functions, so your team can discuss tasks right where you’re working on them and keep all relevant information in one place. It also easily turns workflow data into visualizations like graphs and charts.
Drawbacks
Because it’s so flexible and customizable, Kintone can be overwhelming for new users, though the app does provide pre-built templates to make getting started easier.
Additionally, some users find that Kintone’s interface puts function over form, and that it has limited functionality without plug-ins and integrations.
Pricing
Kintone offers a free 30-day free trial. After that, there is a single tier of pricing — it’s $24 monthly, per user.
But there is a five user minimum, which means Kintone will cost you at least $120 a month.
Fluix: best workflow management software for field service
Fluix is a workflow management software with a special use case. It’s meant for field services industries like aviation, construction, engineering, and even pest control!
These businesses need to collect data while in the field, then process and analyze it in the office.
Fluix automates and digitizes these processes, which in the past were admin-heavy and paperwork-based.
In addition to expected features like workflow automation and integrations, Fluix offers industry-specific features like the ability to build, fill, and sign forms electronically.
Drawbacks
Currently, Fluix is only available for iOS. There’s also not enough storage space in-app, forcing customers to find an external document storage solution. Finally, Fluix’s sharing and collaboration capabilities are not super advanced.
Pricing
Fluix offers a 14-day free trial. After that, it will run you $30 per user, per month. You can also upgrade your account with various add-ons, such as more powerful analytics and reporting.
ProofHub: Best all-in-one project management and team collaboration
ProofHub is a powerful workflow management tool that provides custom workflow using task lists. You can create a task list for different stages to avoid confusion.
You can also add custom fields in order to provide additional information such as priority, estimated time, and any other project-specific details. You can further customize task details by adding descriptions, labels, and comments in order to ensure a smooth workflow and prevent bottlenecks.
With built-in communication and collaboration features, your team can engage in discussions, real-time chats, comments, and @mentions. This will ensure that every member of your team is on the same page.
Drawbacks
Although the tool provides excellent control over your workflow, notifications can be sometimes overwhelming. Built-in invoicing options are not available, though this is covered via integration with Freshbooks & Quickbooks.
Pricing
ProofHub’s pricing offers a 14-day trial period. After that, you can select from 2 options.
The basic plan costs $45 per month and the ultimate control plan costs $89 per month. You can add as many users as you want without any increase in the overall charges!
beSlick: best workflow management software for compliance
beSlick helps businesses stay ahead of crucial, ongoing needs like compliance, onboarding, and maintenance.
Lapses in these areas can be stressful, costly, and expose business owners to liability. In beSlick, you’ll use the drag-and-drop builder to record your processes as flowcharts, which your team can then refer to as simple checklists.
Drawbacks
Some users have run into small glitches while using beSlick, such as when logging in or entering due dates. The tool can occasionally be laggy or slow to load, too.
Pricing
beSlick is a competitively priced tool, at $10 per user, per month.
You can also pay extra to get more support with training and implementation. The company offers a one-time $1350 Accelerator pack, or custom implementation options for Enterprise.
monday.com: Best for managing projects and workflows
Level up how you work generally, far beyond automating workflows, with monday.com. One of the most popular work platforms on the market, monday.com can handle use cases from project management to sales and software development.
Within Monday.com, you’ll get an overall view of all your projects and workflows. You’ll be able to automate repetitive tasks like status changes and recurring to-do list items. Other features include time tracking, due-date management, and crucial integrations like Slack and Gmail.
If you really do just need to manage workflows, check out monday work management, the company’s workflow-specific tool. But since it’s the same price as the flagship product, you may as well just get the whole thing.
Drawbacks
The pricing isn’t exactly competitive, and some users feel the 14-day trial isn’t enough to actually learn the app.
Since monday.com has a wide range of functionality, you should also expect a fairly steep learning curve.
Pricing
The tool does offer a free 14-day trial, and their free Individual plan comes with limited functionality for up to two users.
Paid plans will run you $11, $14, or $22 per user, per month, plus a custom-priced Enterprise option.
Scribe: best workflow management software for documentation
This clever tool is a little different from the other options on this list. Scribe is a browser extension that allows you to record your online processes, then save them as a step-by-step guide.
It’s an easy way to keep track of how you get work done, and make sure everyone else has easy access to that information — even when you’re home sick or on vacation.
To use the tool, you just turn on Scribe’s recorder, execute your workflow, and turn it off. Then you can easily view the saved workflow, edit it as needed, and share it as a link, PDF, or directly to tools like Slack and Confluence.
Drawbacks
Obviously, Scribe is a simple tool meant to do one task well. If you’re looking for robust, full-featured workflow management, you won’t find it here — but that’s not what the app is trying to be, either.
Users seem to have very few gripes with Scribe, beyond small requests like more text formatting options.
Pricing
Scribe has an excellent free plan that should be perfectly adequate for most people’s needs.
There’s also a fairly expensive Pro plan — at $29 monthly per user, it allows you to record desktop as well as browser workflows and add custom branding to your guides. Scribe also offers a custom-priced Enterprise option.
Unito: best workflow management software for integration
Unito is a no-code workflow management solution with some of the deepest two-way integrations for some of the most popular tools on the market, including ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, Azure DevOps, Asana, Trello, Google Sheets, GitHub, and many more. With a Unito flow, you can automatically sync work items between tools, leading to smoother workflows and teams that are in the loop no matter where they’re at in the process.
Unito integrations make every aspect of your workflows seamless by filling the gaps between tools, allowing teams to get all their work done from one platform, and centralizing data scattered throughout the organization. Here’s how Unito customers use our integrations:
A major sports league saves hundreds of hours each week by syncing Trello cards between boards.
Boveda integrates Wrike with Jira using Unito to cut costs and stay agile in manufacturing.
Learn more about what makes Unito the best workflow management software here.
Find your flow
In today’s high-tech world, there’s no need to manage workflows yourself. In fact, on remote and distributed teams, workflow management software is a necessity!
Whether you’re building airplanes, shipping software, or saving the rainforest, you use workflows every day. With tools like these, you can make those processes faster and easier — so you can do the best work of your life.