Every business is different. There are unique processes that help solve customer problems. Many of the processes are traditionally manually driven or involve using spreadsheets. Manual processes aren’t scalable, and in today's world automation is the way forward.
Organizations are adopting automation as part of various digital transformation initiatives. The new technologies involving cloud computing, Software-as-a-Service, and process automation offer flexibility.
In this blog we run through the essential steps in transforming your business through automation.
Benefits of automation
Some of the benefits of automation include:
- Reduced operational costs
- Increasing productivity
- Ensuring high availability
- Increasing reliability
- Optimizing performance
- Ability to be more competitive
- Faster ROI
- Consistent and improved output and quality
- Save time
- Better planning
- Increase system versatility
- Better utilization of resources
All of the benefits listed above can help improve profit margins, ensure you meet customer expectations, and provide a better customer experience with competitive gains.
Read on: Why should you automate your business processes?
Choose the process areas you need to automate
Sounds easy? It’s not as choosing which processes to automate is a crucial step for any organization.
There are many tools for automation which is why we advise you to be careful and not jump in and choose any automation tool. Today, there are tools that can automate many process areas. You can automate mailing lists, create newsletters, or automate other business processes like the hiring process, time tracking, or customer support, among others.
For example, operations or project management in an organization is a vast area. You may want to automate repetitive tasks, time-consuming tasks, and ones that can be automated to deliver 100% accuracy without manual intervention.
You should avoid automating processes or tasks that require creative thinking, such as designing/creating content or solving complex problems. You can use various SaaS platforms to automate multiple functionalities. Moreover, integrations are easy with APIs and other ready-made connectivity tools. You can connect automated platforms with your existing IT applications to work seamlessly.
Choose your automation tools wisely
Once you’ve decided on the process areas that could be automated, look out for these business automation areas. We recommend a few areas that you could automate efficiently to get faster a ROI.
Project Management
Project management is one of the challenging areas that all organizations face. Projects generate revenue and are critical to an organization.
A few areas that are candidates for automation are scheduling, tasks, and time tracking. The status of projects, tasks, and schedules are available in real-time.
Project dashboards and KPIs show the real-time status which helps project managers and teams monitor the project status.
Read on: How time tracking helps your business.
Operations Management
Automation of operational processes is a critical area and what can be automated depends on the industry you’re operating in. Managing company assets, contracts, and travel are common areas for automation.
Sales and Financial Management
Track sales opportunities through your sales funnel and efficiently manage the sales pipeline.
Unified financial management helps track various functions like expenses, invoices, vendors, bank accounts, and more.
HR Management
The HR function has similarities, and processes are standardized across organizations and based on the regulatory compliances.
You can automate processes in your organization like time tracking, leave management, onboarding, payrolls, recruitment, etc.
Set automation targets
Understand your current performance metrics and set specific, measurable automation targets. Setting targets will help you gauge success and refine the organization's processes.
You can conduct a performance analysis on automation in terms of time saved, process speed in delivering output, resource utilization, and other parameters. It’s advisable to set targets for each quarter and measure them to check the success.
Track results and refine your process
Choose the right KPIs and metrics so that you can measure the positive impact of automation. You can discover opportunities for improvement, refine automation processes, and improve results.
Create an automation culture in your workplace
Once an organization starts automating processes, the benefits are clear to see. Employees should be able to look at processes and identify whether or not it’s another automation opportunity. An automation culture enables an 'efficiency mindset' which’ll allow you to make the most of an organization's resources.
Read on: Digitalization is going to be a necessity. Are you ready?
Start small and gradually scale-up
The key to successful automation and digital transformation is to start small. You can automate and transform a process in any department. For example, you can begin with your HR department processes like leave management or tasks in the Project management area. Start by implementing your processes, measure the results, and refine them for better performance.
Try Vault
Vault is a cloud-based platform that automates an organization's processes in any area including project management, human resources, operations, finance, sales, and more.
Sign up for a free demo and start discovering the benefits of automation.
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