Digitization takes over a process as it is, with its strengths and with its detours. In small and mid-sized companies this often shows in small places: a paper form becomes a PDF form that is printed, signed and scanned back in, or the leave request travels by email to the same three people in the same order as it once did by internal mail. Sometimes the old Excel list lives on next to the new software because one special case has no place in the system yet.
Process digitization that holds up therefore starts with the question of how the process actually runs today, and only then with choosing a tool. This guide explains what process digitization is, which processes are worth tackling first, how to proceed in seven steps, which legal obligations are coming anyway and when outside consulting makes sense.
What Process Digitization Is
Three terms sit close together:
Digitization in the narrow sense means moving information from analog to digital. A paper receipt is scanned, a form becomes a PDF. The workflow stays the same, and the medium changes.
Process digitization means the workflow itself runs digitally, from trigger to completion and without media breaks. The leave request is filed in the system and goes automatically to the responsible manager, the approval lands directly in time tracking, and the stand-in is notified. Re-typing and printing drop out.
Digital transformation means the business model or the way people work together changes fundamentally, for example because customers order online where they used to call.
A fourth distinction matters in practice: process automation goes one step further. A digitized process can still consist entirely of manual steps that simply happen on a screen. It is automated when steps run without human involvement. Digitization is the prerequisite for that.
What Carries Digitization Projects in Mid-Sized Companies
The software can usually do what it promises. Whether a project succeeds is mostly decided in four other places:
The process is described. Whoever sets up a system tells it what to do: which steps, which responsibilities, which exceptions. When this description exists, the rollout can build on it. When it is missing, the workflow is negotiated for the first time during the rollout, under time pressure and with the software vendor's consultant, who is only just getting to know your company.
The exceptions are captured. A workshop tends to focus on the normal case. In daily work, a large part of many processes consists of exceptions, such as the customer with special terms, the delivery in two parts or the order with a down payment. When the new system covers these cases, the process stays in one place. Otherwise employees switch to paper, email or the old spreadsheet, and a year later there are two processes.
The knowledge is shared. Often a single colleague knows the whole workflow and at the same time keeps daily business running. Her time is then short for both. Knowledge silos like this are a common brake on digitization projects, and it pays to spread the knowledge across several people early on.
The people involved join early. Whoever runs a process every day knows where it trips. These people belong at the table while the system is still being configured.
All four points share the same root, namely capturing the current state. That is where a good approach begins.
Which Processes to Start With
Good first candidates are processes with four properties: they occur frequently, they are largely uniform, they have visible media breaks today, and a hold-up is clearly felt without putting the business at risk.
Typical candidates in mid-sized companies:
| Process | Typical media break today | What digitization brings |
|---|---|---|
| Incoming invoices | Paper or PDF, approval via circulation folder, re-typing into accounting | Less waiting time, e-invoicing obligation met, unalterable archiving |
| Leave and absence requests | Form, signature, transfer into a list | Overview for planning and vacation cover |
| Travel expenses | Receipts in envelopes, Excel claim | Faster reimbursement, fewer follow-up questions |
| Order entry | Order by email or phone, re-typing into the ERP | Fewer typos, faster order confirmation |
| Timesheets and site measurements | Paper on the construction site, transfer in the office | Billing without rework, fewer lost slips |
| Inspection and maintenance records | Paper form, binder in the cupboard | Proof at the push of a button, reminders for deadlines |
| Onboarding new employees | Verbal handover, scattered documents | Plannable process, less dependence on individuals |
Processes that are rare, depend heavily on the individual case or are in the middle of an organizational change come later. For any process, clarify ownership first, and then you digitize it once and in a way that fits.
Process Digitization in Seven Steps
Step 1: Get an overview
Before tackling individual processes, get an overview of which processes exist and how they connect. A process map with management, core and support processes on one page and without notation is enough. It shows where processes interlock, so that a change to one process takes the next one into account.
Step 2: Capture the as-is process
For each candidate, capture how it really runs today: who does what, in what order, in which system, on which piece of paper, with which exceptions? Talk to the people who run the process as well as to managers. How to do that in short conversations is covered in as-is process mapping.
Step 3: Mark media breaks and weak spots
Walk through the captured process and mark every point where information changes medium: from paper to computer, from email into the ERP, from someone's head into a spreadsheet. Also mark waiting times, duplicate work and steps only one person can do. This list becomes your requirements specification, and the software vendor's feature catalog is measured against it.
Step 4: Design the target process before choosing software
Describe how the process should run in future, at first independently of any particular tool. Which steps disappear? Which approvals are really needed? Who covers for whom? Often it turns out here that part of the task can be solved with a clear rule. The rest is your requirement for the system. Methods for designing the target process are covered in the process optimization guide, and a swimlane diagram shows the future handovers between roles.
Step 5: Check existing systems first
Many companies already own software that can do more than it is used for: the ERP with a workflow module, the office suite with forms and approvals, the accounting software with document capture. Check these options before introducing another system. Every additional system brings another interface and another place where data can be maintained twice.
Step 6: Roll out with the people who run the process
Bring the people concerned in while configuring. Start with one department or site, collect the exceptions the concept had not yet covered, and adjust. Set a date from which the new way applies, so that paper and system do not run side by side for good.
Step 7: Update the documentation
The digitized process gets a current description: process description, work instruction for the individual operating steps, and responsibilities. This documentation carries the process through the next change of staff, because whoever set up the system may be working on entirely different things in two years.
Legal Obligations Coming Anyway (Germany)
For some processes, the legislator has already answered the question of whether to digitize.
E-invoicing. With the Growth Opportunities Act (Wachstumschancengesetz), electronic invoicing became mandatory for domestic B2B transactions in Germany (section 14 of the VAT Act, UStG). Since 1 January 2025, companies must be able to receive e-invoices; for issuing them, transition periods run until the end of 2026 or the end of 2027, depending on the previous year's turnover. An e-invoice in the legal sense is a structured data record, for example in XRechnung or ZUGFeRD format; a plain PDF by email is not an e-invoice in this sense. There are exceptions, for example for small-amount invoices up to €250. If you are touching incoming invoices anyway, it is worth digitizing the whole process: receipt, checking, approval, posting, archiving.
GoBD. The German principles for the proper keeping and retention of books, records and documents in electronic form (GoBD) govern how tax-relevant documents are stored digitally: unalterable, complete, traceable, machine-readable, for the retention periods set by section 147 of the German Fiscal Code (AO). They also require procedural documentation describing how documents are received, processed and archived. That procedural documentation is essentially a process description, and if you have captured the process carefully, you have a good basis for its content. What belongs in it in your case is best agreed with your tax adviser.
Quality management. If you are ISO 9001 certified, you control documented information (clause 7.5) with approval, version status and availability. A digitized process makes that easier when the documentation keeps up and the system and the standard operating procedure describe the same thing.
Process Digitization With Consulting - When It Pays Off
Outside consulting for process digitization makes sense when you need something you lack internally: experience in selecting ERP or document management systems, knowledge of the legal requirements in your industry, a neutral view of established workflows, or capacity to lead the project.
You can capture the current state well yourself, because the knowledge for it already exists in your company and mainly needs writing down. If a consultant arrives with a documented current state, she can work on the target process and system selection from day one and bring her experience in exactly there.
Two questions help when choosing: is the consultancy independent of a software vendor? And does it leave you with documentation you can maintain yourself?
Public funding programs at federal and state level change often, and many require an application before the project starts. Check the current status with your chamber of commerce or chamber of crafts before awarding contracts.
Example: An Electrical Contractor With 30 Employees
Composite example: it combines workflows and findings that are common in trade businesses of this size. The company and the figures are a worked example, not a customer project.
An electrical installation contractor, 30 employees, 22 of them on construction sites. Timesheets and material usage are noted on paper, handed in at the office on Fridays and transferred there into the trade software. Invoices often go out weeks after completion because slips are missing or illegible.
An app for mobile time tracking would be the obvious choice. Capturing the process through conversations in the office, with two site foremen and with accounting shows that the process needs a little more. Materials taken from the van stock have so far been estimated at the end of the month. Assigning hours to jobs is done by an office worker from memory, because the slips often show only the street name. And the customer's approval of time-and-materials work happens verbally, which regularly leads to discussions when questions about an invoice come up.
Digitization happened in this order: first a job number on every assignment, then mobile recording of hours and materials directly against the job, then the customer's signature for time-and-materials work on a tablet. The trade software could already do all of that. It was set up as soon as the workflow was described precisely enough to make clear what needed setting up.
Where wissa.ai Helps
wissa.ai does not replace an ERP or workflow software. It takes over the step every digitization builds on: capturing the current state.
An AI interviews your employees via chat in conversations of roughly 15 to 20 minutes, whenever it suits them and in their own words. It follows up where an answer leaves gaps and asks about special cases, about systems and about what happens on paper next to the system. When colleagues are named in the conversation, it suggests inviting them next. The conversations produce process documentation, an overview of all areas and processes as the basis for a process map, a tool register and the findings that fill your requirements list: media breaks, duplicate work, knowledge silos and contradictions, each with a source. How that works in detail is described in AI process documentation.
That largely covers steps 1 to 3 before the first software demo takes place. After the rollout you run a new conversation, and the process description continues with a diff against the previous version, which covers a large part of step 7. If you later plan to use AI inside the process, you have the foundation for that too.
Interviewed employees need no account, the application is hosted in Germany, with AI processing in the EU and a data processing agreement under Article 28 GDPR (contract documents in German), and a free test package to get started (10 credits, once per company, terms) is usually enough for a first interview. You are welcome to try it with the process you would like to digitize first.
Conclusion
Process digitization is a process project in which software plays an important part. If you capture the current state first, mark media breaks and design the target process independently of a tool, you choose the software that fits, or find that the software you have is enough. The exceptions then move into the system too, and the process stays in one place. Start with a frequent, uniform process, roll it out together with the people who run it, and update the documentation.
FAQ
What is process digitization?
Process digitization means converting a business process so that it runs digitally from trigger to completion, without media breaks. Beyond changing the medium (paper to PDF), the workflow itself is mapped in the system, with responsibilities, approvals and exceptions.
What is the difference between process digitization and process automation?
A digitized process runs in the system but can still consist of manual steps. It is automated when steps run without human involvement, such as routing an invoice according to fixed rules. Digitization is the prerequisite for automation.
Which process should I start with?
With a process that occurs frequently, is largely uniform and has visible media breaks today. In mid-sized companies that is often incoming invoices, leave requests or order entry. Incoming invoices are particularly suitable in Germany because the e-invoicing obligation affects them anyway.
How long does process digitization take?
For a single, clearly defined process with existing software, companies typically reckon with a few weeks to a few months, including capture, configuration and rollout. The biggest difference is the capture of the current state: if it already exists, the part that takes longest in many projects falls away.
Do I need a consultant for process digitization?
Not necessarily. Consulting pays off for system selection, industry-specific law and project management when internal experience or capacity is lacking. You can capture the current state yourself by interviewing the people involved, and a consultant can then work directly on the target process and system selection.
What role does the GoBD play in process digitization?
The GoBD govern how tax-relevant documents in Germany are stored digitally and require procedural documentation. If you digitize incoming invoices, document archiving or accounting processes, you should create or update that procedural documentation, which is essentially a description of the process. The details are best clarified with your tax adviser.
What happens to exceptions the new system does not cover?
If they are not captured before the rollout, employees switch to paper, email or old spreadsheets, and a shadow process emerges next to the system. That is why asking about special cases belongs in every capture, and the pilot phase should include a period for collecting and adding missing exceptions.
Sources
- German VAT Act (UStG), section 14 - issuing invoices, as amended by the Growth Opportunities Act (Wachstumschancengesetz) of 27 March 2024
- German Federal Ministry of Finance: Principles for the proper keeping and retention of books, records and documents in electronic form and for data access (GoBD), BMF letter of 28 November 2019, as amended
- German Fiscal Code (Abgabenordnung, AO), section 147 - rules on the retention of records
- ISO 9001:2015, clause 4.4 (Quality management system and its processes) and clause 7.5 (Documented information)