Table of Contents
- Intro and What is Automation
- Automation usefulness and benefits
- Prerequisites for Automation in Businesses
- Introducing automation for your Business
- How to select the best platform for automation?
- Conclusion
Intro and What is Automation
We all struggle with a proclivity to carry out the same task over and over again. It hampers our productivity on a massive scale. We ultimately end up wasting time that could be invested in growing the business.
This is where automation steps in, creating a space for your business to flourish as manual and repetitive processes get automated. Automation fills in the gaps of unproductive output and increases efficiency.
Businesses are slowly and steadily adopting to automate their manual workflows so that they can direct their attention toward more pressing concerns.
Automation usefulness and benefits
While automation may be viewed as a thing of the future, you can be assured that it is being adopted by companies around the globe today. Established businesses are adopting automation like (Magento support and maintenance), but it is also a treat for startups. You ask, how?
Well! If you are a budding entrepreneur then you know that handling everything by yourself isn’t possible. This is where delegation proves to be a good move so that the work is divided and you won’t have to stress over every minute detail. The same is the case with automation, you delegate the repetitive task to a platform and it handles your workload.
So, why to wait until the last minute, let’s learn how automation proves beneficial.
- Reduce employee workload and increase productivity – As covered above, automation doesn’t shy away from stepping up your productivity game. Your employees can direct their focus elsewhere and procure more output.
- Promotes efficiency – As the manual workload is considerably reduced and the software takes care of all the processes, human error is eliminated thereby increasing efficiency.
- Saves Cost – There is a natural decline in overheads when you incorporate automation into your workspace as the number of man hours is reduced subsequently.
- Increases profitability – This is a direct result of the above three points, as you will be able to employ more of your time that generates revenue.
Prerequisites for Automation in Businesses
Businesses around the globe are constantly striving for new ways to make their workflows easier and hence the weight is shifting more on the side of automation.
Consider Social media – whenever you post something on Instagram, you also have an option for posting the same on Facebook as well. Now, this is because the owner has linked Facebook and Instagram by default and automated the process .
Like the Social media example covered above, you can also introduce automation to your business. Some key points that must be considered are,
- Your business requirements – Businesses vary according to their workflows and you need to consider the workflow of your business and the processes that can be automated.
- Field of automation – The second step is to understand what you actually want to automate, now this might be sending acknowledgments of payments, file uploads on multiple platforms together, you can even build personalized mobile apps for your business by using mobile app development guide.
- Consider an Automation platform – The next step relies upon considering your budget and choosing an automation platform accordingly. The platform should be such that it gives you sufficient tasks to automate and active customer support.
Introducing automation for your Business
Automation is evolving and most platforms have no code which means that a technical background isn’t required to make your business more productive and competitive. So, automation becomes second nature.
Some areas where automation can be introduced for your business are:
- Customer Service – Replies to customer query form a vital part of an organization as it denotes an after-sales service. When a customer feels that he has constant support, he will return to your business thereby helping you generate more profit. Therefore, setting up autoresponders for a basic set of queries is a must. As they say ‘Satisfied customers = Satiated profit’.
- Lead Generation – You can use automation to generate and analyze potential clients. This is possible by integrating Google Forms and CRM software such as Zendesk. For example, whenever a form is submitted in Google Forms an entry will be made in your CRM software. So, make use of all the opportunities 😉
- Data Entry – Accounting and Data entry are a core of the business structure. They help you determine the financial position of your enterprise. However, the manual entering of each record can get tedious at times. This can be replaced with automation like setting up Stripe with Gmail so that Stripe will automatically record entries and send you a financial snapshot in your Gmail.
You get the hands-on power of a certified Financial Manager 🙂
- Efficiency monitoring – You might be wondering how automation measures employee efficiency. Well! By integrating your kanban task board such as Trello with Spreadsheets or Outlook, you can!
For example: whenever a task is shifted from WIP to completed an entry will be made in Spreadsheets. This will record and analyze the number of days it took to complete a task.
Now you know whom to give a raise 😉
These are just some areas where you can use automation. You can explore more after you have selected a platform to automate your workspace.
How to select the best platform for automation?
When evaluating the best automation platform, certain parameters should be kept in mind such as,
- Ease of use – The platform that you select should have a low learning curve which means that it should be easy to understand and should be less to a no-code platform.
- Customer Service – What if you get stuck in a process? This is where customer support proves vital as they will clarify your doubts so that you can go on with automating your workflow.
- Number of Integrations – The platform you select must have extensive support from most apps like that will make your workspace productive.
- Price Structure – This also constitutes an important parameter as the pricing should be affordable and should go in tandem with your budget.
Once you keep these factors in mind, the comparison of alternatives becomes extremely easy.
So go ahead and do your trials to see what size (platform) fits you the best.
10 Smart Tips For Introducing Automation To Your Business in 2023
It’s easy to make the tech first and then look for ways to use it, but this can be a waste of time. For example, at Endgame, we knew that it took analysts too long to sort through queries. So, we made and released Artemis, a chatbot assistant that automates analysts’ data workflows by turning them into queries that look like conversations. This gives analysts more time to stop suspicious activity right away based on the data they’ve pulled. – Jamie Butler, Endgame
- Let Your Team Test And Implement Solutions
- Fully Understand The Process You’re Automating
- Help Your Team With Adopting Automation
- Calculate The ROI Of Automation
- Think Long Term
- Use Task Dependencies Sparingly
- Work Backward From Your Ideal Workflow
- Seek Ready-Made Solutions
- Go Slow And Prioritize
- Keep High Quality Control Standards
Conclusion
There is no better way to increase your productivity, save operating costs, and create an efficient workspace, all of which are possible with automation. We have shed light on what can prove beneficial in automating the workflow. Now it’s time for you to raise the success bar for your business.
Happy Automating 🙂
