Zapproved makes it clear who helps, who roadblocks.
Growing businesses often catch the dreaded “bureaucrat” parasite that suck the fun, energy, and life blood from the company. Decision processes that once snapped and crackled now groan and sigh and stop. The more parasites, er, bureaucrats you have, the harder it is to get work done. Proposals go out, but approvals disappear into an alternative universe like stray socks from the dryer. If you have this problem, instead of an exterminator perhaps you should call Zapproved.
A new company in Portland, Zapproved advertises “better decisions made easy.” I spoke with CEO and Founder Monica Enand about this software-as-a-service (SaaS) program that hopes to end all the e-mail tag and decision hide-and-seek dominating the work process inside far too many companies.
“Ours is the first hosted application to manage decisions,” said Enand. “You put messages in the system, it sends out details to those named, and gathers the details back in the hosted application.”
Oops – e-mails? Isn’t that what we’re trying to avoid? Don’t we have enough “corporate spam” mail from those trying to confuse, redirect, derail or just avoid doing their jobs on projects already?
Enand says Zapproved ends all the CC’s and confusion. “The recipients get the e-mail formatted with a clear call to action, deadlines and other details needed to make the decision. At the bottom of the e-mail are three buttons: Approve, Deny or Comment.”
Following the Zapproved method, the parasite er bureaucrat can’t derail the process by asking tangential questions, and they can’t refuse to answer. Well, I guess they can refuse, but Zapproved tracks everyone as they receive their e-mails and when they respond. If you don’t respond, Zapproved will point a giant red arrow in your direction.
When proposals aren’t ready for the yea/nay vote, use the Comments option to ask questions or propose something different. Everyone in the group sees your comments, so you can’t send snide putdowns privately. And those asking for a decision can see which bureaucratic bottleneck, er, manager, has opened but not answered their Zapproved mail request for action.
Enand said learning to write e-mails outlining the proposal clearly and asking for approval takes time. I bet it does. Being clear, concise and asking for acceptance or rejection is a skill set lacking in far too many bureaucracies. Having everyone see the results means that a poorly prepared proposal will get pounded.
Of course, this harkens back to the old days when decisions were quick and snappy before the parasites dug deeply into company culture. Relearning how to state your case, define your proposed action, and ask for approval should help you be a better manager.
“We designed this to be like Evite,” said Enand. “Easy to use, easy to send the messages, and the recipients don’t have to be part of the system.” Zapproved pricing is based on the number of “initiators” with access to the system. Enand said most of the customers in the beta and new paying customers since the first of the year use the team version, so multiple initiators can use the application.
“Zapproved has provided our company with a great way for purchases to receive multiple senior management approvals,” says Kirk Howard, IT Support Manager for Omnyx, a healthcare technology startup. “It also provides for a great audit trail since all past approvals are saved. I recommend it as a cheap and easy way for any company who has outgrown e-mail threads as a way to track business decisions that require approval by multiple parties. It can work well for both internal and external approvals as needed.
Notice the part about a “great audit trail” in there? Parasites, your hiding days are over.
Nitin Rai, CEO and President, First Insight Corporation, said, “I was overwhelmed with incoming e-mails, nearly 100-200 a day, and the number of items I had to approve. I was constantly missing approval e-mails and not responding to them in a timely manner or sometimes not responding to them at all. My direct reports were finding it frustrating, having to re-e-mail items to me. Then a friend suggested Zapproved. Eureka!”
Neither Howard nor Rai used Zapproved to replace a similar existing tool, although Rai thought about developing an internal system out of frustration. Interestingly, both gave Zapproved a grade of A++. Actually, Rai gave it an AZ++ and called it “a higher grade than the highest you can imagine.”
Zapproved provides all the standard SaaS requirements, like a secure data center and SAS 70 compliance and the like. It doesn’t have formal programs for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, but the fact the system keeps all messages and an audit trail should make any necessary certification a snap.
Like Evite, Zapproved has a quick and easy registration system and tries to stay out of the way of the work at hand. Those users initiating messages get tabbed pages that show the status of projects, including who has received but not responded. There’s no reason this can’t work perfectly well with customers and suppliers as well as fellow employees, and some of the company’s user references talk about using Zapproved for purchasing, client approvals for projects and billing summaries.
A feature I like is the history kept with Zapproved. “When new people join, they can get up to speed quickly, because all the conversations are in one place,” said Enand. How about that, a way to capture company history that’s easy to use.
Here’s my favorite quote from Enand: “Concrete answers help shape discussions and keep people on task.” Any software that helps bureaucrats focus and get work done is a good idea in my book.
