Closet Factory is a leading franchisor with over 50 locations in the United States. Recently, the franchisee in Fort Lauderdale, Florida became an airSlate customer.

We spoke with Steve Newman, CEO, and Alex Newman, Vice President to learn more about their journey. 

airSlate WorkFlow adoption contributes to a highly successful franchise

All the Closet Factory locations are individually owned and operated and can differ from one another. The Fort Lauderdale location happens to be one of the best performing locations in the country. 

As one of the highest-selling Closet Factory stores, Steve Newman’s operation is often used as an example and a model for success. With that in mind, Steve and his team have lofty ambitions.

“One of our long-term goals is to eliminate paper in this business. We are in 4,200 homes each year, that’s a lot of paper. We want to automate as much as possible, and be much more collaborative and efficient. With different departments all relying on paperwork, we need to have a centralized repository that allows everyone to have access in real-time, with no delays.” 

Steve Newman
CEO, Closet Factory

To help them in their quest to go paperless, Steve and his team have introduced airSlate WorkFlow to their document process. And they know others will be watching. 

If the Closet Factory in Fort Lauderdale finds success automating with WorkFlow, that could be a catalyst for the entire Closet Factory organization to adopt the technology and operate much more efficiently across the board. 

Trial and error when going digital with the sales process

Where Closet Factory shines in delivering a personalized and high-value product, they lacked in being technologically advanced. 

This was especially apparent when it came to the sales cycle, particularly at the point of sale. Understanding that there was a need to shorten the sales cycle in order to experience business growth, Steve sought the advice of Nizar Lavji, VP of Productivity & Collaboration Solutions at Forthright – Closet Factory’s IT partner.

Based on their specific needs and the way the Closet Factory sales cycle works, Forthright suggested using WorkFlow to create digital contracts.

“We had previously worked with a third-party provider to build us a digital contract, which was essentially hard coding on someone’s laptop that a customer could fill out,” explains Alex. “Unfortunately, we have certain if/thens – conditional logic – that add to our complex sales cycle that our initial digital contract could not solve for. Thanks to Forthright, we now have WorkFlow which meets our needs and has allowed us to do what we were hoping for.”

In addition to working via conditional logic, WorkFlow and Forthright have helped Closet Factory bring the contract and the digital design process together. Because everything Closet Factory produces is completely custom, clients have to approve every aspect of the design, which has historically been done through a third party software, like AdobeSign. Aside from being a lengthy, complicated process for customers, it also meant that important signatures or details would not get captured.

“WorkFlow has allowed us to compress the sales cycle and recover some losses that resulted from a disjointed process. I’m no longer chasing people down to get a missing signature or make sure their payment is going through or hunting down a client I can’t get a hold of. Now, we get what we need the first time around.” 

Alex Newman
Vice President, Closet Factory

Using WorkFlow has also helped keep the sales process compliant and hold salespeople and clients alike accountable. 

“WorkFlow has given us the ability to obtain certified signatures, versus having someone write their credit card number on a piece of paper,” explains Steve. “Certified signatures have been a big deal, not only for PCI compliance, but because they’ve also eliminated any he said/she said. If there’s something in a contract that we need to enforce, we have a check and balance system and a repository for all critical documentation, so we know who, what, where, why, and when anything transpired.” 

Using sales process automation as a performance motivator

An interesting and unexpected way that WorkFlow has brought value to the Closet Factory team is by giving them a means to performance manage their staff. 

“Our business is very personal and our sales people are often outside of the office interacting with clients, making it hard to see exactly what they’re doing,” explains Alex. “WorkFlow has given us the ability to audit our team and mitigate any shortcuts that may happen, which has been motivating. For example, if someone has a lower closing ratio, we can coach them through the process and help them become better at their job.”

Instead of being perceived as a sort of watchdog on them, the Closet Factory sales team has been grateful for the opportunity to develop their professional skills and focus on being more detail-oriented. Plus, the efficiency that WorkFlow has brought to their process means there are more deals to be made. 

“With WorkFlow, the sales cycle has been significantly shortened, by days or hours. Our salespeople are ecstatic about that.”

Alex Newman
Vice President, Closet Factory

With the majority of sales and design activity happening out in the field, access to WiFi can sometimes be an issue. 

“WorkFlow has been a good choice for us because we’ve been able to create an Offline Document that is not dependent on internet connectivity, but will still feed right into our central repository,” says Alex. “Our team can confidently go through their sales process without missing a beat, which makes their lives and jobs easier.”

Favorite WorkFlow features 

Since implementing WorkFlow, the sales process has changed drastically for the folks over at Closet Factory, so much so that it’s hard for them to pinpoint what they love most about the software. However, Steve and Alex are quick to mention two critical elements:

“When we’re with a client who has approved a design and we’re in WorkFlow going through the signature process, we are barred from moving the contract forward until all required fields are completed,” says Alex. “This is vital; this is where a lot of errors or incompletes happened in the past. Requiring that each signature or initial is completed before hitting ‘NEXT’ alleviates the need to chase anyone down for more information. I can’t overstate how important this is.” 

Steve adds, “WorkFlow has brought a level of professionalism to our process that shows our consumer that we really have our act together. It shows a much higher level of professionalism than our competitors. WorkFlow is sophisticated, and it gives our clients a higher level of confidence in our product.” 

Because WorkFlow is a no-code platform, the team at Closet Factory does not require additional IT resources to help them manage and enhance their use of the solution. 

As a bonus, having a digital contract makes it easy for anyone, anywhere to add their signature and move the process forward, which works out well since many of Closet Factory’s customers live elsewhere or travel frequently. WorkFlow has also removed uncertainties in the process of building closets, since it is easy to track if and when customers have signed all necessary disclosure forms and when they’ve made deposit payments using Stripe. 

“WorkFlow has just made everything much more seamless for us, which allows us to focus on how we can continue to grow and scale our business.”

Steve Newman
CEO, Closet Factory

Looking ahead with WorkFlow

In the short time they’ve been using WorkFlow, the Closet Factory team has already seen significant savings in time and money. 

Most noticeably, the team no longer deals with the grief of chasing down customers or credit card numbers. They’re able to get the signatures they need the first time around and run payment immediately, which results in a more efficient cash cycle for the company. 

They are saving mountains of paper thanks to a seamless and streamlined digital process. 

Moving forward, Steve and Alex and their Fort Lauderdale team are hopeful that their location can enact change across the entire Closet Factory organization. 

“We are operating in a very competitive environment,” says Steve. “The more profitable we can be, the better. And WorkFlow is helping us get there.” 

The post How Closet Factory is using airSlate WorkFlow to streamline their sales process and deliver a high-value customer experience  appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

Coosa Valley Medical Center is situated in Sylacauga, Alabama and is an acute care hospital with both inpatient and outpatient services. 

Being in a rural area with limited resources and over 540 employees, giving people access to important and necessary information has been a challenge. 

Since becoming an airSlate customer in 2021, things have changed for the better.

We spoke with Christy Knowles, Chief Human Resources Officer of CV Medical Center, to learn more. 

Broadening access to information

“In a hospital, not everyone has access to email,” says Christy. “Maybe 60 percent of our staff is on email. Because of that, it’s been a challenge to communicate with everybody we employ.” 

For the CV Medical Center staff, it was increasingly important to find a way to allow people to get quick access to important information. That has become especially obvious as the healthcare industry continues to face staffing shortages spurred by the pandemic. 

“We were looking for a way for people to quickly communicate with HR and for HR to be able to communicate with employees,” says Christy. “Specifically, we wanted a solution that would allow us to build forms that we could send to people and they could quickly return. And airSlate has been that solution.” 

When the hospital’s IT team proposed airSlate as a solution, they presented it as a one-stop-shop, which to Christy sounded different from their experience using other document workflow software. 

“We had used DocuSign and Formsite previously,” says Christy. “They were good for what we needed them for, but as we grew, they just were not suitable enough. With airSlate, we see so much value for the price. We can do so much more with it – the sky’s the limit. It is a great tool.” 

QR codes and forms: a new way to communicate

At CV Medical Center, airSlate is mainly being used for employee-focused paperwork. As mentioned previously, not every employee has access to email. However, almost everyone has access to smartphones. So, for every airSlate workflow or form generated, a corresponding QR code is created. 

These QR codes are included on flyers all around the hospital, making it easy for anyone to quickly scan a code while they’re on the go and complete whatever task or document is needed.

airSlate document workflow automation is used for things like employee change forms, new hires, health forms that must be completed on a monthly basis, recruitment forms, incentive programs, and even housekeeping.

“It hasn’t always been easy for us to know when bathrooms need to be serviced or to communicate that to our staff,” says Christy. “Someone had the idea to put QR codes on mirror clings in the bathroom with a simple ‘yes/no this bathroom needs to be serviced’ prompt and it has significantly improved the cleanliness of our facilities. It sounds so simple but having a clean facility impacts many aspects of both the patient and employee experience.”  

airSlate has enabled Christy and her team to easily create workflows that seamlessly get information into the right hands. This fall, they plan to build a workflow that solves a problem they encounter year after year.

“We struggle with getting employees to tell us whether they’ve taken the flu shot or not, which is actually critical information for accreditation purposes,” says Christy. “This fall, we’ll create a QR code that we’ll place all around the hospital for employees to quickly answer yes or no in regards to having a flu shot.” 

The impact of having workflow automation software

Christy mentions that it is difficult yet imperative to connect with people, especially in healthcare. And that’s exactly what airSlate has allowed CV Medical Center to do. 

“airSlate allows our people to respond immediately,” says Christy. “Before that, it was pen and paper. It took too much time to stop what we were doing and complete some form by hand. Take our incentive program for example. If someone wants to recognize a colleague for going above and beyond, they’ll turn around and see a flyer, scan the QR code, and leave a quick anecdote. If they had to go to a physical nomination box, it wouldn’t get done. With airSlate, we get a level of responsiveness and accessibility that we wouldn’t otherwise have.” 

Christy believes that having such an accessible recognition program has increased retention of her staff. She’s also seeing working hours saved, specifically on the HR team, because employees are no longer spending time chasing people down. Patient satisfaction has gone up thanks to the hospital running more efficiently. And even the process of recruiting talent has improved.

“In rural hospitals like ours, resources are extremely limited,” says Christy. “I always recommend airSlate for document automation because it provides so much ability for the money. It’s one thing to connect with candidates who are coming on board, and it’s another thing to keep engaging with your staff over time. And airSlate’s automation software helps us do that. We’re just getting so much value in every way.”

The post How one hospital is using workflow automation to completely change the way they communicate with staff appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

For a group of colleagues in the Volunteer Ministries, connected with Resonate Global Missions, it became abundantly clear that a digital filing system was critical to their work. 

We spoke with LaVonne, Gillian, Ruth, and Kristin to understand why they needed to go digital and what led them to document automation software airSlate.

Making the move from paper to digital 

For the Volunteer Ministries group, the work of tracking their global volunteers is not a simple task. Volunteers come from various places within North America, they may serve for a few days or up to a year, they may serve individually or as a group – there are many different factors. 

“We were working in a separate database and also had a paper filing system and it just wasn’t useful,” explains Gillian. “It didn’t help us connect our work to the larger organization or help the larger organization understand anything about what we were doing.”   

It was obvious that going digital would help them streamline their process and create more visibility across the entire CRCNA organization. 

They experimented with creating their own digital filing system, which just added to their workload, and also tried workflow software solutions, such as DocuSign. 

The team recognized that a solution like DocuSign would fulfill their needs. LaVonne, the CRCNA Salesforce Administrator, began to explore database workflows that would help the team communicate with their organization and also their external volunteers. 

“A colleague of mine had issues trying to connect with a DocuSign rep and reviews on the Salesforce app exchange weren’t favorable, so I wanted to explore other workflow automation software options,” says Lavonne. “I narrowed it down to Docomotion and airSlate. With airSlate, I saw so much potential, there were so many options available for a competitive price, and the sales and support team were so great. We decided to go for it in 2022.”

airSlate + Salesforce: The key to a streamlined process 

When searching for the right automation software, a solid integration with Salesforce was a priority.

The idea was for the volunteer information forms and the Salesforce database to seamlessly flow information into one another and communicate with one another automatically. airSlate has made that possible. 

“We have a whole host of forms that we are sending out to our volunteers, tailored to specific parameters like married versus single, minor versus adult, and so on,” explains LaVonne. “Our volunteers fill these out, send them back, and the information is automatically flowed into Salesforce. To make it even better, the completed forms go into a shared Google Drive where everyone can access them when needed. Those two integrations have been so important for us.” 

The use of conditional formatting and pre-populated fields on forms (thanks to information captured from Salesforce) has resulted in a hassle-free experience for CRCNA colleagues and for their volunteers. 

Because of the robust integration airSlate has with Salesforce, the CRNCA team has saved a significant amount of time that they can refocus elsewhere. 

“In the past, I’d open Salesforce, copy an email address, paste it into an email, attach a form, send it out, and wait days for it to be sent back,” says Gillian. “Now, I push a custom airSlate button directly from Salesforce that runs a workflow and everything is sent and returned quickly, sometimes on the same day. When sending to groups, group leaders don’t have to worry about getting every individual participant to sign. Our airSlate workflow sends it to everyone on the list and we can easily track the status of each form. Everything is streamlined and efficient.”

Favorite airSlate features

The CRCNA team appreciates that workflow automation with airSlate can make sense of and truly simplify the complicated processes of many agencies within the organization. 

For example, they have a crazy complicated program that provides pension benefits to retired ministers and are currently building out a whole new module for benefits people to be able to invoice churches. They’re using airSlate to populate forms and send invoices via emails. 

They also appreciate that information in Salesforce can easily be accessed and pulled, which comes in handy when repeat orders – such as special bulletin inserts – need to be placed more than once a year. 

When asked to name favorite airSlate features, the Volunteer Ministries team had more to add to the list:

• How easy it is to insert a document into a Salesforce flow (just grab an ID and insert it into Salesforce!)
• Being able to customize colors, logo, and branding, so end users feel like everything is coming from the same organization (example – when forms are completed, users are directed to a thank you page with Volunteer Ministries branding)

While there are so many ways that airSlate has helped them get more organized, they all agree that what keeps them hooked actually has nothing to do with the software at all.

“We love your support team. Hands down, they are the best,” says LaVonne. “If every company had a support team like yours, it would be so great.”

The post How airSlate’s integration with Salesforce modernized a denomination’s operations for Christian Reformed Church of North America appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

Little Sunshine Playhouse & Preschool is a preschool with 30 locations in 10 states across the country. Headquartered in Springfield, Missouri, they employ 900 people across all centers and care for thousands of children every year. 

Though running a preschool may seem simple and straightforward, there is a lot of paperwork involved in getting a student enrolled and collecting data on an ongoing basis. 

Digitizing the process can be tremendously impactful and it is something the Little Sunshine team was able to do with the help of airSlate. We spoke with Amber Riddle, Chief Financial Officer, and Kayla Snodgrass, External Systems Manager, to learn more. 

A connection to Netsuite

The team at Little Sunshine had been using Netsuite as their CRM for some time and they were seeking a way to also use Netsuite to collect data and signatures from their customers. Through Netsuite’s app store, they discovered a product called airSlate. 

Amber and Kayla integrated Netsuite and airSlate and were quickly able to send documents out to families, collect the documents back, secure signatures, and collect data. 

“We’ve seen success with using airSlate to collect signatures from our families, so we’ve also started using it internally for inspections and tasks that are sent to our leaders,” explains Amber. 

Significant cost savings

Prior to discovering airSlate, Amber and her team had been using DocuSign. Once they learned about airSlate, it was a no-brainer to make the switch.

“With airSlate, it appeared we could accomplish the same things as we had with DocuSign,” says Amber. “However, airSlate is significantly more cost-effective and has more functionality. We couldn’t pass that up.” 

In addition to the money they’ve been able to save, Amber and Kayla feel that using airSlate has been an intuitive experience. They’ve put a lot of work into it on their own and even had help from an airSlate developer along the way who gave valuable guidance whenever needed. 

The impact of implementing automation with airSlate

Amber and Kayla have seen amazing improvements since adopting the airSlate product, and have even begun using signNow for contracts and to collect parent handbook signatures on an annual basis. 

They used signNow to send 3,500 handbooks at the beginning of the year, which were bulk sent from a list. Instead of telling parents where to go, how to download the handbook, and how to return it, they can easily sign their handbooks digitally, which provides a better experience for parents and is more efficient for Little Sunshine. 

When asked about their favorite airSlate feature, Kayla and Amber talk about how there is no need to duplicate flows. They can make a change in an existing flow and it automatically pushes those changes through to any new flows containing the same ID. It’s another way to save time and ensure consistency across the board. 

All in all, the administrative process has changed for the better since moving away from DocuSign. They’ve been able to grow and maintain their processes without increasing costs. 

Amber and Kayla have already recommended airSlate to a handful of people, thanks to its functionality and its ability to work seamlessly. As they look for ways to integrate all their operations into one single system, we look forward to continuing to provide solutions via airSlate’s suite of products.

The post How automation increased efficiency and streamlined the enrollment process for Little Sunshine’s families  appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

airSlate has helped Fresno Pacific University streamline the adjunct contract process by integrating its no-code automation tools with its Salesforce system. As a result of using airSlate for Salesforce, the university administration office has managed to achieve faster contract cycles, reduce expenses, and take paperwork-related hassles out of the picture.

Jeffrey Jones, the Senior Technology Executive at CampusWorks, Inc., who was in charge of implementing airSlate automation into Fresno Pacific University’s processes, has shared his experience and feedback after successfully completing the project.

Scroll down to download the case study

Customer profile

Established in 1944, Fresno Pacific University is the only accredited non-profit Christian university in California’s Central Valley. Offering more than one hundred areas of study, it currently has over 4,000 students enrolled.

Interviewee’s name

Jeffrey Jones

Director of Information Systems at Fresno Pacific University,
Senior Technology Executive at CampusWorks, Inc.
Fresno, CA

The customer

With several campuses across the Valley and a large amount of adjunct faculty, FPU offers full-time courses in business, natural and social sciences, humanities, religion, pedagogics, and more. In addition, the university teaches online programs and personal development studies, reaching about 10,000 students across the entire U.S. Always encouraging its students to achieve more, Fresno Pacific University has the region’s highest four-year graduation rate.

The problem

With a vast number of adjunct faculty, Fresno Pacific University was tasked with processing thousands of employment contracts that needed to be signed by multiple parties and paid on a regular basis. Before switching to airSlate, FPU used to rely on manual, paper-based workflows, which eventually caused multiple issues. 

Despite using the Mail Merge feature in Salesforce (which allowed for automating the process of generating personalized documents), adjunct contracts took hours to process and sign, creating huge overhead. Eventually, the contracts would be sent to employees by physical mail, and as a result, the university administration couldn’t get their hands on signed documents for weeks. Meanwhile, the law in California obliged employers to pay their adjunct staff regardless of if they had signed their contracts or not. Hence, the need for a swift eSignature solution became critical in averting potential financial risks.

“I was super-excited about all the possibilities with the airSlate platform just because of all the different things that could be done with it. Still, the eSignature piece was the most important part for us.”

– Jeffrey Jones, Director of Information Systems at Fresno Pacific University

In addition, Fresno Pacific University was looking for a solution that could seamlessly integrate with Salesforce. Using the CRM to store and process employee records, FPU needed an eSignature platform that would enable automated workflows inside the software ecosystem they were used to. This is where airSlate comes in.

The answer

Dean assistants at Fresno Pacific University who were in charge of generating and processing adjunct contracts grew excited about airSlate and what it had to offer. After checking out the demos of alternative products, they finally decided to go with airSlate because it provided an unparalleled array of automation features and was the best value for the money. Since airSlate doesn’t charge users per envelope as its competitors do, airSlate’s transparent pricing became an ultimate selling point for FPU.

“If you make a mistake, you’re still charged for those [with the competitor’s per-envelope pricing]. And for our Dean assistants, this was such a big deal. Not like they’re making so many mistakes, but, for whatever reason, that really resonated with them.“

Since eSignatures and airSlate automated workflows were integrated with the university’s Salesforce setup, the administrative staff managed to accelerate their adjunct contract turnover and eliminate piles of paperwork — as well as the additional overhead it involved.

“Those who had a lot of hand-done adjunct contracts, they’ve just loved that airSlate works the way it does. They’ve been really excited just because it cuts out so much overhead.“

Implementing airSlate

The IT department at Fresno Pacific University was completely satisfied with the smooth and issue-free implementation of the airSlate platform in Salesforce. One minor problem that the technicians encountered during the setup process was instantly resolved by the airSlate support team.

“During my rollout, I once ran into something I couldn’t describe […], but it got fixed. So overall, I thought the implementation was pretty smooth.“

With no technical background or any workflow automation skills whatsoever, the Dean’s assistants at FPU had no issues mastering airSlate’s no-code tools embedded in their Salesforce accounts. Now, they efficiently use quick workflow Slates and eSignatures to collect digitally signed contracts in hours instead of weeks.

“They generate a contract from the records in Salesforce; then, it goes to the Dean who signs it; then, it goes to the adjunct who signs it; then, it comes back in — the HR is aware — and then the adjuncts get paid.“

Conclusion

Happy with how the airSlate implementation project panned out, the IT specialists at FPU are realizing that they have barely scratched the surface of what airSlate can do to streamline the university’s document processes. Also, moving from Salesforce Classic to Salesforce Lightning, they expect airSlate to help them automate even more workflows. They also hope that it will fill in the gaps where some of the Salesforce functionality they previously used (like Mail Merge) was removed in the new framework.  

What’s more, FPU tech specialists are contemplating the possibility of introducing airSlate forms and other automation solutions to replace third-party products that have no API.

“airSlate is one of those tools that I feel like we’re using a fraction of what it can do. It’s a gigantic toolset, and we’re using just one of all the many things [it has to offer]. But it does really well. It is rock-solid, and it helps  — it’s great!

– Jeffrey Jones, Director of Information Systems at Fresno Pacific University

With less time spent on paperwork, the administrative staff at Fresno Pacific University enjoys higher productivity and can now focus on more strategic tasks. They are currently moving away from a “printing” mindset and are embracing fully automated digital workflows, which help them save both time and money.

The post Fresno Pacific University uses airSlate for Salesforce to automate adjunct contracting appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

Student Life camps have been a source of inspiring, educational, faith-based events for decades. Thousands of young people join their camps on 60 campuses on an annual basis. Keeping track of campuses, attendees, and their respective paperwork is no small task.

In 2021, Danielle Sullivan, Property Specialist at Student Life, began using signNow to digitize the forms approval process and in 2022 expanded into airSlate. 

We spoke to Danielle to learn more about how using signNow and airSlate has changed the way the Student Life camps are managed.

Lots of campers translates to lots of paperwork

When it comes to anything involving minors, safety and security are of the utmost concern. An emphasis on safety usually requires plenty of forms and documents to be signed. This is certainly the case at Student Life. 

Danielle explained that all group leaders must sign a form confirming that background checks have been completed. Furthermore, every participant has a stack of permission slips and waivers to sign, which require a notary. 

With thousands and thousands of kids making their way through Student Life camps, this abundance of paperwork can present problems, such as handwriting being illegible and forms being incomplete or misplaced.

“Our legal team eventually gave us the go ahead to move to digital signatures. The team at signNow helped make sure we had the right checks and balances in place and that this process would work for us.”

– Danielle Sullivan, Property Specialist at Student Life

Upon implementing signNow, the improvement was immediate. The Student Life team started receiving legible, error-free, completed forms that they got via email and could store right onto their internal systems. It simply worked. 

Given the number of forms the Student Life team processes, they soon realized they could benefit from using airSlate as well.

How workflow automation has been a significant problem-solver

Less than a year into using airSlate, the Student Life team has saved plenty of time and become much more efficient.

“Let’s say there’s an injury on one of our campuses,” says Danielle. “With airSlate, we can quickly find the form we need and get it to everyone who needs it – the hospital, group leader, legal team, leadership team, and so on. Plus, we can do that in one email instead of having to dig through paper forms, find the right one, scan it, save the file, then send it off. We can react with a true sense of urgency.” 

One problem that Student Life has contended with is that in any given summer, there could be 100,000 students dispersed across 60 campuses. It hasn’t always been easy to automatically keep track of who goes where. 

“My favorite thing about airSlate so far is that when we export data to an Excel sheet, we’re able to filter by specific camp location,” says Danielle. “With thousands of attendees, it helps us tremendously to be able to filter this way.” 

Now, anyone on the Student Life team can quickly open up a shared spreadsheet, filter by campus, find the respective student, and see important information such as whether or not all their forms have been completed. 

Taking it one step further, airSlate’s automation capabilities will automatically create folders per campus and group forms into their appropriate folders. As a result, staying organized has become much more efficient and productive. 

Taking advantage of airSlate’s bots has been important for Danielle and her team. 

“We use a decent number of bots, like the prefill to populate church information,” says Danielle. “Discovering the bot that lets you change a Slate name was a game-changer for us. It was really hard to find a specific person in our database before we got that bot on there. Now, we’re able to quickly and easily get the information we need and have the confidence that it’s the absolutely correct person we were searching for.”

A bonus to automation: working with great people

We asked Danielle to summarize her experience with airSlate in one word. Her answer: impressive.

“Whenever we’ve run across a bug or issue, we’ve gotten an immediate response from our airSlate support team,” says Danielle. “It has never felt like we are being ignored. It feels good to have this level of customer service. It has been so unexpected.” 

Danielle can tell that the airSlate product is constantly being improved, and she finds it exciting that customers are truly being listened to. Because of that, she’s keen on spreading the word about airSlate. 

“I’ve already recommended airSlate to a bunch of organizations,” says Danielle. “You have been fabulous to work with every step of the way. I am very thankful for the coaching I’ve gotten and I feel confident that airSlate has what we need to keep our people’s information confidential and secure.”

The post Student Life processes hundreds of thousands of campers each year; airSlate completely changed the way they do it appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

Lenicio Noble faced many challenges when moving his notary services online. Working with electronic documents — editing, eSigning, and saving completed documents to secure storage — required a specialized software solution. 

​​”Virtual signing isn’t a new thing, but for me, [the circumstances were], and that stopped me from moving forward as far as making sure that I was taking the needed precautions and protecting data and documents,” Lenicio recalls.

That’s when Lenicio came across an airSlate ad online. After doing some research, he realized that airSlate was the document workflow automation solution he had been looking for. 

What Lenicio found the most helpful about it was its integration with the third-party apps he was already using.“pdfFiller and signNow are the main two components that I needed, and I realized I didn’t need to go anywhere else,” says Lenicio.

Document Workflow Automation for Operations Managers

• Onboarding
• Business process automation
• Workflow optimization

Enroll now

How airSlate Academy paved the way toward automation

A few airSlate Academy courses were enough for Lenicio to understand airSlate’s potential value for him, his business, and his customers. Lenicio started with the basics, software overview, and business process mapping, which gave him sufficient knowledge to begin creating the automated workflows he needed. 

Overall, Lenicio completed 20 courses at the airSlate Academy to master various aspects of no-code workflow automation.

“The biggest skill I’ve learned so far and am working on is how to integrate notary services. How I will get somebody from another platform that doesn’t necessarily integrate with workflow software, how I will get their information from that website to my workflow, then going ahead and keeping all the information in one place.”

– Lenicio Noble, a Notary Signing Agent, and airSlate Academy student

Automation is the key to increasing business efficiency

Lenicio points out that surveying information has always represented a big chunk of his work. That’s where airSlate web forms come in handy.

“It could be two or five to ten questions, but whatever they are, there needs to be automation set in place to allow any business owner — small, medium, or enterprise — to take in the information without having to delegate so many tasks out,” says Lenicio.

In a post-COVID world, Lenicio has seen his business go completely online, allowing him to reach the customers he’s dealing with and nurture those relationships. 

As for small business owners who are just starting out, Lenicio recommends taking the first step and researching different software, in particular airSlate, because it can help automate their processes and business.

To code or not to code?  

One of the critical issues users face when choosing a workflow automation solution is that it requires coding or has a limited list of automation features. That wasn’t the case with airSlate.  

“I chose airSlate because it was a no-code solution,” says Lenicio. “As a workflow automation beginner, it was speaking to where I was at [and helped me] take the first step in the process, which I think is important in stepping into this sort of software.”Going through the airSlate Academy courses, Lenicio found video templates and process visualization extremely helpful for seeing no-code workflow automation in action.

Integrating Lenicio’s second profession with airSlate

Apart from being a professional notary, Lenicio is also a personal trainer. In this regard, he has used airSlate web forms to create surveys and send them out to potential clients. 

“I get notified when a client fills out a form,” says Lenicio.“Through that notification, I can follow up with them on their answers.”

Workflow automation saves time for Lenicio and his clients — he no longer needs to send out text messages manually because airSlate’s no-code Bots handle all the routine. 

“You can automate every aspect of your online business, especially if you sell digital courses or e-books. If you want to sell products online — [airSlate] is a great tool for that,” says Lenicio.

He’s now going to integrate automation into the process of developing courses for his clients.

“Another important factor in choosing airSlate is that I can use it for clients with a  professional financial background and people who are just here to work out. They want certain information and have no time to read and click through many links. I think it is essential to make it as straightforward as possible for both ends of the spectrum.”

– Lenicio Noble, a Notary Signing Agent, and airSlate Academy student

eSignature workflow automation in one word

Lenicio is currently using airSlate, pdfFiller, and signNow, providing him with tools like eSignature, data collection, contract management, and workflow automation. He believes that eSignature is one of the most helpful tools he’s regularly using. It enables Lenicio to sign his contracts as a personal trainer and notary virtually.

When asked to describe how eSignature automation helps him thrive in his business, Lenicio replies:

“It allows me to be proactive, and if there’s a space in time where I realize it’s been a couple of hours, people forget things, or things come up, airSlate provides that ability to go ahead and keep track of where documents are and what stage they are in the process of being signed.”

Lenicio emphasizes that the efficiency airSlate offers is not about cutting corners or taking the short-end of any workflow. It’s about increasing efficiency and streamlining collaboration by keeping track of document completion,ensuring the process is going correctly, and seeing that deadlines are met.

The post Automating notary business: The story of Lenicio Noble, an airSlate Academy student appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

“I was planning to learn more technical skills, and airSlate seemed to be the coolest project since it was an ambitious product spearheading the automation revolution,” Oleh recalls. 

After airSlate’s launch, the Customer Support Team aimed to transfer its internal processes to the platform. airSlate has helped Support maintain different kinds of records by making them easily accessible for everyday use and reporting purposes.

“airSlate is a dynamic tool constantly expanding its capabilities, thus motivating users to acquire new skills.”

— Oleh Pidfihurnyi,
airSlate customer support specialist

How the Support Team uses airSlate

The Customer Support Team’s most popular airSlate Flow is used for data-keeping and reporting on demo meetings with customers. “During the demo meetings, we show customers how to use airSlate, where to find onboarding materials to start building Flows, and integrate the product into their business ecosystems,” Oleh explains. 

After Support specialists fill out a form, automatic updates are posted in the company’s Slack channel, synced with the data-keeping and reporting Flow. Any airSlate employee can find information about a specific customer use case in a dedicated channel and download it as a PDF file. The information gathered during demo meetings allows airSlate’s project owners, developers, and marketers to learn more about customers and what they want to achieve with automation. 

The Support Team also uses legal Flows and Flows for escalation in cases when they need to transfer a customer to the Sales Team. This usually happens when a customer is interested in purchasing a large volume of licenses or needs a tailored offer to suit their needs. “We have designed a Flow where we put together all the necessary information about a customer,” says Oleh. “The Flow transfers the information to the Sales team and automatically archives all the data so anyone can easily find it later.”

Becoming a citizen developer with airSlate

People with little to no technical background want to know if airSlate is easy to use.  “Mastering airSlate is not difficult. We tell everyone who comes to us and expresses a desire to become a citizen developer that it is possible! You don’t need to spend several years doing it, but it will take you longer than a week,” says Oleh. 

Oleh believes that it takes several months to become an expert in airSlate automation, due to the comprehensive nature of the platform. To understand the principles of how airSlate Bots operate and how to make disparate building blocks work together, you have to spend some time practicing creating a Flow.

“airSlate automation is like Legos, and Bots are like building blocks.”

– Oleh Pidfihurnyi,
airSlate customer support specialist

“All the pieces are there, assembled, and each piece performs one or more simple functions,” says Oleh. “The trick is to find the one you need and to learn what it does. Then you can think of how to combine these blocks to build your custom automation flow!”

Saving time with airSlate automation

It is impossible to generalize how much time is needed to create a Flow. A simple Flow where you only need to add fields and send a document for completion, and eSigning, can take two or three hours to create. A Flow that operates on 20 documents with different field settings, access limitations for recipients, and running up to 20 bots could take you a month.

“The outcome and level of sophistication largely depend on your imagination. If you desire to simplify everything to save time in the long run, you should be prepared to spend some time dedicated to Flows,” says Oleh.

“airSlate can free up your whole day. Some Flows take time to set up, but I don’t remember ever having to go back to them. They become entirely autonomous.”

– Oleh Pidfihurnyi,
airSlate customer support specialist

airSlate’s integration with Salesforce is one of the best examples of how seamlessly automation can be a part of everyday workflows. airSlate for Salesforce is a powerful integration that sends documents, exports data, and uploads and manages it the way users want.

“If you are willing to spend enough time on automation once, you will stop wasting time once and for all,” says Oleh. “It is much better to spend 8 hours automating something that takes you 8 minutes than to spend 8 minutes on the same thing over and over again.”

Automation is the future

Oleh believes that automation software like airSlate is the future. For people who want to connect their lives and careers with automation, airSlate offers a great experience. “With airSlate, you can streamline any process to the point where you stop thinking about it. Machines should work for us, and airSlate is like a machine in a way,” says Oleh. “All you need to do is teach it to do what you need, and at some point, this machine will start working for you.”

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Located in the design district of downtown San Diego, NewSchool of Architecture & Design is a globally recognized and award-winning design university with a vision to be a leading provider of architecture, design, and construction management education. The university is known for its forward-thinking professors, top industry connections, and collaboration opportunities. 

Though innovative at their core, NewSchool lacked a modern and efficient way to register and admit students. 

airSlate completely transformed that process. We chatted with Allen Mutchler, NewSchool’s Registrar, to learn more.

A complicated paper trail

NewSchool used a traditional pen and paper method to process student applications. While commonly used, relying on students to completely fill out an application leads to headaches such as missing fields, illegible handwriting, and a buildup of hundreds of sheets of papers. 

Mutchler commented that the admissions office had to hire somebody whose sole responsibility was to scan and file a seemingly endless flow of documents. Furthermore, incomplete forms meant that employee time was wasted attempting to identify applicants and track them down to collect missing information. 

This all translated to a loss of productivity for staff and a convoluted process for students.

Using airSlate to transform NewSchool’s workflows

Mutchler sought a digital solution that would streamline the registration and application process for his university and discovered that airSlate had the capabilities he needed.

“The first thing we did was take our forms and put them online,” explained Mutchler. “We were able to build required rules directly into our forms that are forwarded to the approving department and then back into our Customer Management System. This has eliminated any need for scanning files and uploading them into our system manually.” 

Aside from the gain in staff productivity resulting from an automated workflow, airSlate helped make things quick and easy for students as well.

“With airSlate, we can create static URLs for each form we use. Because of that, we were able to make posters to put up around campus with a QR code for each form, giving students instant access to what they needed.”

— Allen Mutchler, Registrar at NewSchool of Architecture and Design

NewSchool students are loving their greater ease of access and the Registrar’s Office now has the ability to track where each form is during the process of being completed. 

airSlate’s unmatched capabilities

A unique feature that Mutchler and his staff use most often is conditional routing, or the Send Slate with Roles Bot. 

The Registrar’s Office must send most transactions out for approval, but the approver could change based on the program the student is enrolled in, or even the course the student is taking, making the routing process somewhat complicated. 

“Because there are several factors determining the approver, we needed the form to be able to automatically tell documents where to go,” said Mutchler. “This is an airSlate feature that we have not been able to identify in any other competitive software.”

“airSlate is paying for itself with the positive impact we’ve felt across our institution.”

— Allen Mutchler, Registrar at NewSchool of Architecture and Design

The changes since implementing airSlate have been tremendous, with other notable impacts including:

• Forms that are completely filled out 
• Significantly faster response times 
• Form routing based on student data (easily implemented by NewSchool staff thanks to airSlate’s no-code set up)
• Greater workflow visibility that allows staff to step in quickly and efficiently

“We’re now able to use airSlate to track forms, collect student and faculty signatures, and get notified immediately via email at every step of the approval process,” remarks Mutchler. “airSlate is paying for itself with the positive impact we’ve felt across our institution.” 

So, what does the future look like for NewSchool? Currently, only the Registrar’s Office is using airSlate, but they’re in the process of bringing other departments online. Their productivity can only go up from here.

The post San Diego’s NewSchool of Architecture and Design uses airSlate to automate student registrations appeared first on airSlate Blog | Business automation.

airSlate’s legal automation pioneer

Misha’s position at airSlate is quite unique — he’s the first Legal Ops & Automation Manager in the company.

“I build Flows, automate processes, and manage documents that are not only limited to the Legal department. The purpose of this role is to transfer as many legal processes as possible to the airSlate platform to automate them,” says Misha.

It was Roman Perchyts, Head of Legal at airSlate, who came up with the idea of automating legal processes. Misha was a believer and became an enthusiastic implementer of the project!

Despite having had automated Flows in place for a long time, the Legal team wasn’t using airSlate to its full capacity. It was evident that a number of processes could be further streamlined for lawyers, raising their efficiency and productivity while minimizing the neverending paperwork.

“I started implementing automation gradually, so now we have fully-automated Flows for the Legal team to use daily,” Misha says. Today, the list of the most popular workflows includes the Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement Flow, the Business Associate Agreement Flow, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Flow, and others. “These Flows improve our time management and help us deal with incoming requests.”

According to Misha, most requests come from the Sales department: “When a salesperson brings in a potential customer, the Legal team’s duty is to examine all the risks and approve or reject a contract before signing it. Plus, we work with the Customer Success team that manages relationships with our existing enterprise and SMB customers. We are also involved in vendor management processes and more.”

The most frequently implemented use case: The Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement Flow

In his new position, Misha started by automating document workflows that the Legal department deals with on a daily basis. Most of these documents are non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) signed with customers, external stakeholders, and employees. 

“The MNDA Flow was the first Flow I designed,” Misha recalls.”There are 26 possible scenarios of what could happen within the MNDA Flow depending on the type of signatories. I needed to set up different conditions for it to run smoothly across all scenarios.”

Automating this Flow helped streamline the process for airSlate and made it more intuitive for customers who needed to countersign documents. Today, when the Sales team needs to sign an NDA, they no longer have to: 

• spend hours on end exchanging emails with customers;
• explain how to eSign documents using signNow;
• contact the Legal team if a third party wants to make changes to the initial document.

“I’d say that this Flow saves up to 70% of the time that the Legal team used to spend on signing Mutual Non-disclosure Agreements. And not only the Legal team, it’s a timesaver for the Sales team, and other teams having negotiations with external stakeholders.”

— Misha Kuzemskyi,
Legal Ops & Automation Manager at airSlate

The Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement Flow visualization

Results achieved with airSlate

“After I built my first MNDA Flow, the procedure for processing a document manually for this type of agreement vanished,” Misha says. “Now, we simply get notifications for two cases: when we need to sign the MNDA and/or when a client offers some adjustments to a document.” 

Before this Flow, it took the Legal team more than five emails to finalize the process, not to mention the time needed for approvals and getting responses from third parties. 

Mundane tasks, such as organizing the incoming documents, renaming them, saving them, and so on have now been eliminated. Since all of the documents are now processed, named, and saved automatically, the entire NDA documentation Flow can be handled by a single person.

“Automation saves so much time, that’s why I’m always keeping an eye out for anything else that can be automated.”

— Misha Kuzemskyi,
Legal Ops & Automation Manager at airSlate

No-code automation transforms the Legal industry

Misha believes that the principles of no-code automation overlap with the Legal industry — structure and logic. That’s why they work perfectly together. 

“Back in the day, when I worked at my law firm, I realized that the industry and people working there were suffering from disorganization,” says Misha. “This may sound cliche, but this is how legal organizations and the labor market operate.”

“I was always drawn to things that could help me organize my working process and keep me focused on things that really matter. Automation features everything I need to take this routine off the backs of those processing legal documents.”

— Misha Kuzemskyi,
Legal Ops & Automation Manager at airSlate

‘Automate or you’ll lose to your competition’

The Legal industry is moving forward, so business efficiency largely depends on the pace at which customers are served.

“If you don’t keep up with the market conditions, you’ll lose to your competition,” Misha believes.  

Imagine setting up logic for all your documents to go back and forth among your employees and even to your external customers without any action from your side. Hundreds of hours can be saved over the long term by taking manual work out of this process and streamlining it.

“Based on my experience, everything that involves signing, filing requests, and filling out forms can be easily automated.”

— Misha Kuzemskyi,
Legal Ops & Automation Manager at airSlate

Automation can even help contract negotiations by taking the manual email correspondence out of the process. It’s the perfect remedy for eliminating the most common bottlenecks in the Legal industry and clearing out the paperwork that just sits there and blocks Legal departments from closing cases or finalizing deals. Misha firmly believes that Operations Managers across different industries will only win by implementing document workflow automation into their day-to-day tasks.

Watch the video interview with Misha below:

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