Standard operating procedures are step-by-step instructions that describe how to perform a routine process. They should be brief, easy to understand and contain actionable steps that are simple follow.

Although there’s many reasons why SOPs are important, let’s look at a few of the main ones:

They make your business run more efficiently

When you create effective SOPs, you ensure that every business process is executed exactly the same way, every time, no matter which person is doing the work. Without SOPs, projects are left to chance and chaos reigns.

They minimize the impact of turnover

If the details of a proprietary process in your company all reside within one employee’s head, that’s a huge risk. By documenting this process in a SOP, you protect your business in the off-chance that this employee was to leave or retire.

They improve accountability

When you use Flowster to manage your business processes, you have transparency and an audit trail into everything that your employees work on. You can see exactly how long it took various tasks to be completed, who did the work, and even be automatically notified by email when it’s done.

They enforce quality control

If your business has created a product or service that sells well and differentiates itself from your competitors, you’ll want to maintain a high standard of quality. SOPs guide your employees and reduce the chance of errors or skipped steps that may impact the quality of your product. Standard operating procedures provide a blueprint for your staff that protects the integrity of whatever they’re creating.

They improve teamwork

Collaboration with your team is vital. When following a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in Flowster, team members can easily assign each other tasks, give due dates, upload files, and add comments to the work they’ve done. This keeps everyone in the loop and your business running at peak efficiency.