When most companies decide to digitise their approval processes, the first question is where to start. Trying to move every process into a system at once exhausts the team and drags the project out. A more effective approach is to start with the single process causing the most friction.
The process causing the most friction is usually the one that passes through multiple people's approval, repeats often, and where a delay causes real business loss. Purchase approval, expense approval or supplier selection fit that description in most companies. Choosing a process like this lets you show the benefit of digitisation quickly — the team feels the difference against the old method within the first week.
The second step is mapping the current process exactly as it is. Who approves, in what order, and under what conditions is extra approval required? Moving to a system without this map just means repeating the old mistakes digitally. This stage usually also surfaces an unnecessary approval step nobody had noticed — the best opportunity to simplify the process.
The third step is clarifying hierarchy and exception rules. Do requests above a certain amount need extra approval? Who deputises when a manager is on leave? Defining these rules up front lets the system handle the real-world complexity.
Finally, start with a pilot group. Rather than moving the entire company to the new system at once, run it with a single department for two or three weeks and collect feedback. Any friction that surfaces during that window can be fixed before it spreads to the rest of the company.
Axios Flow was built exactly to support this staged rollout: define as many processes as you need, set each up with its own hierarchy and exception rules, and start the pilot from whichever department you choose.