Let Enfocus Switch Handle Your Admin Tasks

Most businesses involve a staggering amount of daily administrative tasks for order processing, invoicing, delivery of goods and other customer-facing communications. Often these tasks are an accepted burden – a way of life – and even considered “the cost of doing business”.

What if there’s a better way to reduce all those manual, repetitious steps? Just imagine how many minutes or hours a day you’d get back, and how much your business could grow and improve when your time and attention is no longer split between the work you love, and the mundane tasks that have to be done.

Automate back-office admin with Enfocus Switch

There are many different possible uses but we’re going to focus on a use case that involves downloading files attached to emails, opening files, copying and pasting data from one or more files, updating your system with data then creating emails using templates.

Chances are your office may have a similar procedure or one that is not far off from the above scenario. Let’s examine how this can be automated!

Enfocus Switch is compatible with Mac and Windows, and with its user friendly “workflow” builder, it will take you less than 30 minutes to set-up a flow that will begin to automate your admin and give you extra time to focus on new prospects and other work.

Enfocus Switch Workflow

In the screen grab below, this flow is created on the basis that a staff member downloads a Zip file attached to an email message (alternative option: Switch can be set-up to monitor an email address and automatically download attachments). Your staff member then submits this Zip file into Enfocus Switch so that the remaining admin steps are handled automatically.

The user submits the Zip file via a web browser window submission portal. The Submit point is entirely customizable to capture data through fields you specify. In this scenario, the user enters a customer record/account number associated with the contents of the Zip file and their internal system/database is updated with the correct information from within the files. From this point onwards, internal systems will be updated and email templates populated with the potential for Switch to send the email to the email address associated with the customer record/account number.

Find more info on the Enfocus Switch Web Portal here.

Your Zip file can contain a wide variety of file formats. For example, if you have a PDF file that states an invoice due date, with Switch we can find that date and add it to the internal system record automatically. Switch has the power to read and collect data from the following file formats.

Your outgoing emails can be created in text or HTML format and you can add sections depending on your specific requirements. For example, you can add extra text if you need to provide specific instructions or information in delivery messages or other email communications to specific customer accounts. If we can locate that extra customer info in the email body/subject line or within any of the attached files, then we can add it to the workflow. Otherwise, we can add any number of custom fields and/or drop down menus for the user to tell us when they are submitting the job.

Are you ready to automate?

• Incoming files need to be consistent! To explain this further, ask yourself the following question: can we always find the needed data in a specific location or using a specific text phrase?
• Is your system a database that we can read and write to? Does your system have a REST API with read and write calls available? Is there an ODBC driver available for your database architecture?

Possible Workflow Questions

• Can I avoid the submission step and have Enfocus Switch directly download the files from the email? If you have the record/account number for your internal system in the email body text/subject line or in any of the files attachments, then yes. If not, we’ll need some other consistent way to find the customer record.
• Can I also print documents automatically? If your printer supports CUPS then yes. See https://www.cups.org/doc/options.html for more details on the Command Line Application and parameters.
• Can I also save the files in different locations depending on their file type or file name? Yes, see this article.
• Can this type of workflow also be used with other file types (not just Zip files)? Yes, Enfocus Switch can receive any file format. There are built-in features in Enfocus Switch to work with data from PDF files, images, XML and JDF files. If you have a different file format and you would like to know if Enfocus Switch can work with it, then please contact us here.

Benefits of Automating Admin Tasks

Enfocus Switch uses your existing software applications in new and intelligent ways allowing for dramatic time savings and greater efficiency.

What factors influence customers to purchase with you over your competitor and vice versa? Chances are your customers want to experience reliable, quality service without delays from their very first inquiry to delivery – all while feeling that they’ve had personal attention.

Switch automation allows you to scale your business using your current staffing levels, effectively handle admin tasks unattended 24/7 all while keeping that personal feeling between you and your customers.

Manage more customers and more jobs. When you automate admin tasks you get to better utilize staff skills and expertise on developing new business, perfecting quality customer service and ensuring customer retention. Profit margins can soar when the right admin steps are automated.

Need Help Getting Started?

We offer free workflow evaluations for new customers so you have nothing to lose!

And there’s a great deal more to discover about Enfocus products, so if you’d like to learn more, please contact us today.