In the past, when people talked about automating business processes, one of the first concerns that arose was that robots would end up doing the work for us. Now that automation has become a reality, it has broken this stigma and arrived as a new way to ensure customer satisfaction and increase productivity in companies.
What's more, today, more than 40% of organisations are automating their processes and are achieving successful results.
Human error is a part of every company's day-to-day operations, so all those repetitive and manual tasks that often become burdensome have begun to be automated to improve efficiency and reduce the errors that come with expanding a business.
what are some strategic ways to automate business processes? Which processes should you automate first? Read on to learn more about how to automate your critical business processes.
what is process automation?
The term "process automation" refers to the execution of business processes without the direct involvement of human beings. In this sense, there are different levels of automation depending on whether the direct or indirect intervention of workers is necessary. This requires the use of various technological tools, including a wide range of management programmes designed for this purpose and which serve as the basis for a digital transformation process.
The main objective of process automation is to reduce costs, speed up the execution time of tasks and eliminate possible human errors that may be made.
Some areas are naturally suited to full business process automation: Customer service workflows are a good example. An automated system can receive enquiries, analyse the problem, direct the customer to the right resource and, in many cases, help them find the solution without the need to talk to an employee. Artificial intelligence takes care of the entire process, from start to finish.
Benefits of process automation
Recognising the benefits of process automation makes the considerable initial investment in this process worthwhile. The results are both short and long-term benefits.
Here are the key benefits of business process automation:
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Reduced wasted time and costs
Some processes within a company are essential, but when performed manually they become time consuming and errors caused by human intervention can cost the company a lot of money. By automating these processes, it ensures that less time is spent on these tasks and human error is eliminated, which will save money.
The costs associated with human intervention go beyond errors. Some of these tasks involve overtime that you have to pay for. With automation, this is a cost you can save.
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Increased efficiency and safety
When you automate repetitive tasks that would otherwise require time, patience and manual labour, you make faster progress, reduce inefficiencies and save time. Even if you only automate part of a business process, you create opportunities for employees' time and effort to be put to better use.
In addition, automation ensures that the execution of these tasks starts according to the company's pre-established criteria, thus avoiding discretion.
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Efficient task tracking
Automated systems are programmed to update status reports at each stage of the process, so there is no need to call another department to find out how a particular task is progressing. A visible dashboard will automatically display progress reports so there is no confusion about who is managing what and how far they have got.
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Effective communication
Automating processes streamlines communication. Communication is a major problem in business as some messages may not reach the intended recipient or may be delivered using the wrong medium. Automation ensures streamlined communication by having a dedicated means of communication and clearly displaying the status of a message. It avoids situations where a person does not receive a message because it was sent by text or the reply was delivered verbally and someone forgot to pass it on.
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Easier to meet deadlines
Ease of tracking and improved communication makes it easier to see how realistic a deadline is and whether a task will be completed on schedule. This can allow improvements to be made to ensure that tasks are completed on schedule.
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Customer satisfaction
The biggest benefit is customer satisfaction. Customers will get what they want more quickly and will be confident that what they got last time will be the same as what they will get this time. If customers are satisfied, they will come back and are likely to encourage others to come to the business, resulting in more profit for the company.
how do I automate my business processes?
The automation of processes depends directly on the activities carried out in a company. Once you have defined this, you will have to determine which parts of your systems require automation and which do not. A tip that can help you is to analyse which processes are the most time-consuming and which parts of these can be carried out by people.
By following these guidelines, it will be easier to know which tools you should acquire to automate your business processes.
In addition to all this, there are a number of key factors that should also be considered when automating processes:
- Choosing the right supplier - After establishing which systems in your company need to be automated, it's time to choose the right supplier. There are a number of different tools on the market today, but one of the most popular and highly rated is HubSpot's CRM software.
- Be aware that in the event of a system failure, the entire business operations can be compromised.
- Be aware that the automation system may end up working only for a specific type of business.
- Be aware that not all processes need to be 100% automated. In some cases a part of the process will need to be performed by human staff, so identify which parts of that process need to be automated.
where can I automate processes in the company?
As we have already mentioned in previous lines, automation does not always have to be carried out in all aspects of the organisation. That is why we present you some areas within the company where process automation can obtain very good results.
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Social media
Social media is one of the greatest assets of today's businesses. It has become the most cost-effective and functional advertising tool that can be used in business strategies. Social media automation involves scheduling posts in advance, automatic responses and data synchronisation.
They also provide full visibility of your company's reach on the network, allowing you to define which strategies are working and which need to be improved.
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Digital marketing
There are a wide variety of marketing strategies that can be automated to convert loyal customers into leads, to increase website visits and to increase a company's ROI rate.
Among the most efficient automation tools in digital marketing we highlight the following:
- Email marketing
- Lead scoring
- Lead nurturing
- Live chat
- CTA's or Calls to action
- Data analytics
- Contact management
This is the area where the automation of processes has a great impact on the company's results, and, therefore, where more emphasis should be placed on establishing automation tools.
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Accounting
Automation in areas such as accounting occurs mainly through software; some are so good that they have no limits, and can even take care of personal accounting.
Most of these programs have a user-friendly interface and offer backups that will protect data in case of loss of equipment.
do you want to automate your business processes?
In the vast majority of cases, it is easier to let a third-party company handle the automation of your organisation's processes, especially if we are talking about the marketing side of the business.
At Occam, we specialise in inbound marketing, software development, website design and much more.
Contact us and start automating your business processes.
