What is Business Automation?
Business automation is a transformation for every facet of your company. Basically, it's exactly what it sounds like: taking your business and making it all work, automatically. In today's market, business and IT are codependent. There's no way to have one without the other- if you want to be successful, that is. From basic things like cutting down on manual tasks and increasing efficiency to the invention of brand new business opportunities, automation is the future.
Here’s what it’s all about:
The Latest Necessity for Your Business
Business automation uses technology to streamline processes and cut down on manual efforts. It sets up your most important processes, giving the right infrastructure to allow them to take place automatically and with little or no human intervention. It's not about changing the end goal, but rather about rethinking the way you strive to achieve them. With the current capabilities in technology, not only is it a waste of time to be doing things manually- it also sets you far behind the competition. You may think that there's a limit to what you can automate, but the truth is that aspects of automation can be applied to every part of your business.
It’s a Stepping Stone
Business automation is more important than ever due to our reliance on the digital world. Setting up automatic processes is one of the most important ways for companies to achieve digital transformation and ensure that data is properly accessible. It's no longer an option for businesses to be present online. In fact, presence is now the bare minimum. Brick-and-mortar business was already on the decline, and with the events of 2020, we were all forced to wonder what we would do if they had to shut their doors. Well, the good news is that online business never has to shut its doors. The only question remaining is just how efficient your online business can be.
It’s Universal
Business automation is important across every industry and business size. It targets any task that is repetitive, manual, and time-consuming- aiming to cut down on wasted hours and human error. No matter what business you're in, it can and should be automated. Expanding reach, boosting conversions, getting better leads... if any or all of these goals apply to your business, then so does automation.
Why is Business Automation so Important?
You may have heard about business automation a lot lately, but do you know why it’s so important? There are many reasons that so many successful businesses make effort to automate their processes. The most automated businesses tend to be the most successful, for four main reasons. Let's break down the reasoning behind automation and why it's worth considering.
Save Time
The most basic benefit of automation is that less time needs to be spent manually completing tasks. The easiest way to begin automating your company’s processes is simply to ask yourself, “What repetitive tasks are taking up the most time?” Saving time is the first benefit that businesses experience when they automate. Most of the other benefits stem from this one. When you're not wasting time on random tasks, what else could you be doing? The work of a whole extra person? Planning out innovative new ideas? The possibilities are endless.
Better Insights
Automation and CRM allows you to have deeper insight into your data and offers you the chance to analyze it more attentively. When completing these tasks and inputting information manually, it’s much harder to gain a big picture look at the trends.
Improve Your Workforce
Once you’re saving time on manual tasks and gaining better insights, you are able to improve your workforce as a whole and become more efficient. Freed up hours can now be assigned to higher-value tasks, innovation, and strategy.
Reduce Costs
All of these benefits come together to reduce your overall business costs. Simply by saving time and having the opportunity to focus on quality over quantity- your business is able to see a ROI when it comes to automation efforts.
How Can Business Automation be Applied?
So, what does business automation actually look like in action?
Sales Process
Automating a sales process is one of the most important ways to streamline a business. This is mostly due to the amount of time usually invested in building and maintaining customer relationships. In this case, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is used to automate data entry, prospecting, and keep communications organized.
Hiring Process
Hiring is one of the most time-consuming thing that a business can go through. Sifting through applications manually means that HR employees spend hours looking for the right candidates- and even then, human error allows for missed opportunities. Business automation is applied to this process by using keyword analysis and speedy software to assist HR professionals in narrowing down their applicant pool.
Customer Support
Automation can also help improve user satisfaction by automating the support process. The tool most commonly used for this type of automation is a chatbot, a virtual assistant that helps customers 24/7 and answers frequently asked questions.
Any process has room for improvement. That’s why it’s important to consistently evaluate your company’s tasks and consider the big or small ways that they can be streamlined.
