If you’re a business owner, you’ve already automated one or more of your business processes. Gone are the days of manually analyzing data to know your customer, creating a paper trail of invoices, or manually keeping track of inventory. These business processes can now all be done with the click of a button.
Sixty-three percent of SMBs surveyed over the past year have said that automation has been an essential factor in keeping their businesses afloat, especially in light of the pandemic. Business process automation is no longer reserved for the big guns, and even small businesses can take advantage of business automation.
What is Automation?
Business process automation or BPA is automating repetitive tasks that are essential in running a business. Automation helps to free up workers from the burden of performing these tasks, enabling them to focus on more meaningful work. A survey conducted by Zapier has revealed that workers report a significant drop in their stress levels when repetitive tasks are automated.
Switching Your Small Business with Automation
For a task to be automated, it must be repetitive and free from error. Here is a comprehensive guide to switching your small business with automation.
Decide Where to Automate
Automation enables you to streamline your business processes. However, some tasks can be automated. Suppose you decide to automate your small business. You must determine which jobs you want to automate and allocate the necessary resources.
Automation also means different things for different business processes. Tasks that require fact-checking are best left unautomated. This is true for banks on their Know Your Customer or KYC checks and AML compliance checks. However, some banks have already applied BPA in these processes by employing specially designed software.
Know the Benefits of Automation
Business process automation opens up a world of possibilities in maximizing your workforce potential. Instead of working on repetitive menial tasks, your employees can now focus their efforts on more meaningful work. This can significantly improve morale and productivity at work. Besides being a motivating factor, automation also has the following benefits for you and your employees:
- Reduces the need to outsource for repetitive tasks
- Work consistency
- Increased productivity
- Lower operational costs
- Reduced lead times
Automation also helps to streamline KYC operations by using AI. Companies that have automated their KYC processes use automation for eKYC and strengthen security in financial transactions. Financial companies have also transitioned to automation to ensure AML compliance.
Tailor Your Automation Process to Meet Departmental Needs
To automate your business process, you will also need to consider the needs of different aspects of your business. Banks will need different automation to meet AML compliance and Know Your Customer or KYC checks, and grocery stores need other automated processes for inventory management. Every department or business process will require different automation processes. Let us look at the common departments and how automation can meet their needs.
Payroll and Accounting
Automated payroll systems save time and effort in manually computing employees’ salaries and deductions. Automated payroll systems also lessen the chances of errors and are a better means of keeping track of payments. Accounting is also made more accessible through automated systems such as an automated spreadsheet and investing in programs that specialize in consolidating data for expense and income reports.
Marketing
Marketing automation looks to be the future of marketing. Seventy-five percent of surveyed marketers have used at least one type of automated marketing tool. Your small business can use automated marketing to extract and analyze marketing data to create effective campaigns. Automated marketing will also allow you to know your customer better with data analytics.
Human Resources
Automating your HR processes will help make candidate selection a more efficient process, both for applicants and HR professionals. You can use automation for your hiring and on-boarding processes. HR automation also means that you give your employees access to important HR information at the touch of a button.
Customer Support
Customer support automation helps make after-sales services more accessible to your customers. Automating your customer support involves using chatbots and easy access to FAQs. With automated customer support, you can organize and prioritize your services in a consolidated system that allows you to issue and view tickets for issues that need to be resolved. Automated customer services also help improve the customer experience, resulting in better customer relationships.
Listen to Your Employees
Your workforce is the best resource that will help you determine which company process needs to be automated. Will they be less burdened if you automate processes such as checking for AML compliance? Will they be more productive if you automate manual data entry? Take time to conduct an internal survey to see how your employees view manual, repetitive tasks. Employees find employment more rewarding when they are set to work on more meaningful tasks. Your employees’ input shows that you value their opinion, and automation is one way you are looking after their interests.
Business process automation is an essential part of running a business — no matter the scale. Automating business processes makes your business more competitive and resilient, especially in the ever-changing commerce scene. Learning how to make automation work for your business can help in fostering better customer relationships and improving employee work satisfaction.
