How long does it take to create and finalize a document that is error-free and professional? On average, it may take a few days or a week for a team to create a document, such as a sales contract or a proposal.
In professional document creation, time becomes a critical factor. It becomes even more challenging when organizations offer complex products and services. When employees struggle to search for files, spend hours drafting, or handle repetitive data entry tasks, it results in wasted hours and reduced efficiency. This also impacts decision-making and customer service.
That is where document automation comes into the picture. It is a powerful and modern way to streamline document workflows and reduce errors, especially for complex products and services.
This article explores everything organizations need to know about document automation. From what it is, why it matters, and how to implement it effectively.
What is Document Automation?
Document automation is the process of using tools and technologies to generate business documents automatically, like quotes, proposals, and contracts. It involves creation, management, and processing of documents without the need for constant human intervention. The tools help organizations generate documents digitally in seconds by using prebuilt templates and automated data entry.
Document automation is not just about going paperless. It is about bringing speed, accuracy, and consistency to document creation. Document automation helps organizations save time and reduce errors across industries, including legal, finance, sales, and HR.
Document automation plays a vital role in the CPQ process. Once a sales rep configures the product and sets the pricing through CPQ software, document automation takes over to generate error-free quotes. This speeds up the entire process from product configuration to document delivery.
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From Manual to Automated Documents
Traditionally, document creation involves multiple employees working together to draft, gather and add customer and pricing information, and deliver them. These tasks can be long-going, repetitive, and error-prone. Sales teams may also struggle with version control and internal approvals.
With document automation, the entire process changes dramatically. Instead of doing everything manually, employees use document generation tools to automate the process. So, everything right from drafting, proofreading to approval and signing becomes automated. CPQ and document automation work together to configure products and set accurate pricing. Document automation then takes this data and generates ready-to-send quotes.
For instance, document automation tools pull relevant customer and pricing details from CPQ software by integrating with CRM and ERP systems. All the data is automatically fed to the chosen template, and the final document is created in seconds. This process eliminates human error and saves hours of effort.
Common Documents that Organizations can Automate
Organizations have to create and manage different documents regularly that are part and parcel of their day-to-day operations. These documents mostly follow a specified structure, which makes them ideal for automation. Here are some of the common ones:
Contracts – These are formal agreement documents that bind two or more parties together, allowing them to collaborate and work together as per specified terms. For example, sales agreements, NDAs, employment contracts, etc.
Proposals – These are documents or presentations generally created by teams to outline and present a plan, idea, or project and seek to persuade others to support or adopt it. Automation of such documents is also called proposal documentation. For example, project proposals, marketing proposals, bids, etc.
Quotes – These are formal documents that outline the prices proposed by a vendor or organization for goods or services offered to a potential customer. For example, price quotes and sales quotes, etc.
Invoices – These documents act as a statement of goods and services bought by a customer. For example, billing statements and payment reminders, etc.
Reports – These documents present specific information in an organized format for a particular purpose or audience. For example, financial and business reports, etc.
Key Benefits of Document Automation
Implementing document automation can bring a slew of benefits to organizations, enabling them to generate tangible results. Here are some of the benefits of document automation that you should know:
Time savings and efficiency
Creating documents can be time consuming and tedious. Working on multi-pager and extensive documents can even take weeks to complete. With document automation, teams can create complex documents in minutes by selecting a template that populates relevant text automatically. This significantly saves hours spent writing documents and improves team efficiency. Apart from drafting and editing, it also speeds up document-related workflows, including internal approvals, document delivery, and signatures.
Reduced errors and improved accuracy
No matter how much time and effort are invested in creating documents, manual work remains vulnerable to errors, leading to mistakes, such as typos, outdated pricing, incorrect names, or calculation mistakes. Adopting document generation tools minimizes the chances of errors and mistakes as data is fetched directly from existing systems. As a result, organizations get:
- minimized human errors
- up-to-date information
- improved accuracy
- higher consistency
Better compliance
Using templates ensures that documents always meet compliance requirements and standards. When combined with CPQ, this becomes even more powerful. CPQ solutions apply rule-based logic to product configurations and pricing, while document automation ensures all legal terms, such as confidentiality clauses, limitation of liability, and terms of service, are consistently included. Together, they help organizations reduce legal risks and maintain compliance across all customer-facing documents.
Scalability for volume
As document automation solutions speed up the document workflows, it becomes easy for organizations to create and manage hundreds of quotes without much human intervention. By integrating with CPQ, sales teams can handle product and pricing complexity in real time. This allows them to scale their sales operations without compromising accuracy. Each document is stored in digital format with updated versions and changes.
Must-have Features in Document Automation Tools
Choosing the right document automation tools is crucial for organizations to reap all the benefits. Here are the must-have features that organizations should look for to support their current needs and future growth.
Template designer
The document automation solution you choose should allow your team to choose from multiple templates that are unique and meet your requirements. These templates should support conditional logic, dynamic fields, and formatting flexibility. The feature of drag-and-drop is also a plus.
Data integration
The tool you choose should integrate with your existing systems, like CRM, ERP, financial tools, and other software to allow for automatic data fetching for accurate and current information, such as:
- Customer information
- Pricing and discounts
- Legal clauses or product descriptions
Workflow and approval automation
Managing workflows and automation are among the most important features of document automation tools. The tool you choose should do this perfectly to ensure you get all the advantages of automation, including time saving, accuracy, consistency, and ultimately more leads. This includes:
- Routing documents for internal approval
- Triggering automated e-signature requests
- Notifying stakeholders when tasks are complete
Output formats & delivery
Your automation tool should support multiple formats, like PDF, Word, and other formats that your organization may require to serve your customers. Plus, it should also offer flexible delivery options through email and messenger services where your customers are present. This ensures your documents reach the right people, in the right format, and at the right time.
CPQ integration
A document automation tool should integrate seamlessly with the CPQ solution. This ensures a smooth data flow between the tools. Sales teams benefit from real-time access to product and pricing details, discount structures, and customer-specific terms. All this can be seamlessly added into documents, eliminating manual entry and related errors.
How Document Automation and CPQ Work Together
CPQ and document automation go hand in hand. CPQ software simplifies the configuration of complex products and generates accurate pricing instantly. Document automation ensures that the output is professionally formatted and delivered instantly.
When integrated:
- CPQ feeds real-time pricing and configuration data into the document template
- Document automation generates ready-to-send documents using this data
The entire sales process becomes faster and error-free. This eliminates pricing errors, accelerates approval cycles, and enhances customer experience.
Best Practices for Implementing Document Automation
Now that your organization is ready to invest in proposal creation software, here are the document automation best practices that can help you implement the tool effectively. Follow these best practices for a smooth rollout.
Start with the most-used documents
Identify your high-volume documents, like quotes, contracts, or invoices. Automate these first to maximize impact and ROI. You’ll also gain quick wins that build internal support for wider adoption.
Involve different teams in template design
Your sales, legal, or support teams know these documents best, and they are the ones who will use the tools. Involve them in designing and testing templates from the beginning. Their feedback ensures templates meet real-world needs and improve adoption.
Test for data accuracy
Before going live, it is important to test how data merges into templates to check if the data is correct and up to date. Validate different scenarios, like missing fields, incorrect formats, inaccurate data, conditional logic, and more, to avoid errors in the documents.
Train your team
Even the best tool needs proper usage. Train your team to automate documents on the following points to boost adoption and reduce support issues:
- When and how to use automation
- Customizing templates
- Managing approval workflows
Transforming business processes with document automation
Manual document creation is no longer sustainable in today’s fast-paced business environment. By shifting from manual document creation to automated document workflows, organizations can unlock speed, accuracy, and scalability.
Automation also improves speed, saving a lot of time and effort for team members. Data accuracy and consistency become a default part of every document your team creates.
Cincom CPQ offers document automation capabilities to organizations. It streamlines the entire process from document generation to approvals and final delivery.
With built-in approval workflows, Cincom CPQ reduces the need for reviewing every proposal individually. Teams can set predefined rules and logic to approve documents. Additionally, the solution integrates seamlessly with eSignature tools, enabling fast and secure customer acceptance. This ensures a complete, end-to-end document automation experience.
Now is the time to modernize your document workflow. Embrace intelligent document automation. Position your organization for speed, compliance, and long-term growth. See how the Cincom CPQ solution helps your organization solve document creation and management-related challenges.
FAQs
1- How does document automation help organizations?
Document automation is about generating documents automatically. It helps organizations generate documents digitally in seconds and automate data entry, helping them save time and reduce errors. It brings speed, accuracy, and consistency in document creation.
2- How does document automation integrate with CRM or ERP systems?
Most document automation tools integrate with CPQ solutions that offer built-in integrations or APIs that connect with CRM and ERP systems. These integrations allow real-time data to populate templates without manual entry.
3- Can I customize templates for different clients or regions?
Yes, document automation tools allow organizations to personalize templates based on client type, location, or language, while using the same base template.
4- Is document automation secure for handling sensitive information?
Yes, reputable tools offer enterprise-grade security including encryption, access control, audit trails, and compliance with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA.
5- How long does it take to implement a document automation system?
Implementation time varies by complexity, but many teams can start automating key documents within a few weeks. Cloud-based platforms with prebuilt integrations speed up deployment significantly.
6- Can I automate e-signature workflows along with document creation?
Many tools available online integrate with CPQ and e-sign tools to provide e-signature capabilities for faster approvals from customers.
