Business process automation can be a game-changer for your business. Business spending on these solutions is expected to grow to $12.7 billion by 2021. Whether you focus on streamlining workflows or making the employee-facing experience better for everyone involved, you’ll see the results throughout your operation.
If you’re new to business process automation, a few examples of what you could automate include client scheduling, purchase orders, creating and delivering invoices, customer communication, and employee onboarding. Essentially process automation is anything requiring a routine intake, notification, approval process or manual handoff.
What automating a task or process can do is free up you or your team’s time to focus on work that requires more attention or strategy, setting you up for success. It has an incredible payoff in terms of benefits. Let’s hone in on this. Here are 6 significant things successful business process automation can yield…
1. Operational efficiency
Many employees get hired for jobs requiring specialized skill sets and discover that most of their day gets taken up by paperwork and other administrative tasks. Business process automation eliminates the need for skilled workers to have these time-consuming tasks in their workload. You can automate even the employee onboarding process itself with business process automation. This is because most or all of the workflow gets automated, which frees up their time for other duties.
For example, when your sales team doesn’t have to track their follow-ups on a spreadsheet, they can spend their time talking with their prospects and closing more deals.
2. Accuracy
Bad data can cause a lot of expensive or annoying problems, with an estimated cost of $3 trillion to US businesses. Unfortunately, when you rely on manual processes, the human element can introduce a lot of errors. Business process automation reduces the opportunities for bad data to enter your systems.
Your solution may verify customer data with multiple data sources, such as a business database or social media channels. It could also deduplicate repeat entries in your databases and centralize the information. This method works well for those who have a lot of notes spread across multiple customer relationship management software records.
3. Visibility
Business process automation gives you a better view of what’s going on with your projects and staff at any given time. You can track whether a team meets milestones or if they’re going to miss an upcoming deadline. The improved visibility also shows you whether you are over or underutilizing your human resources. You can optimize the teams over time so everyone works at peak efficiency. Automate key parts of all of your business workflows when possible, so you can track this information accurately.
4. Shorter turnaround times
The improved visibility also gives you better problem-solving opportunities. You can identify issues before they happen, such as missing a critical deadline. Since you know about the situation in advance, you can address it by allocating more resources or bringing in additional team members. The faster turnaround times will help you go to market faster, fulfill larger orders, build better client relationships, and grow your company’s overall capacity.
5. Employee satisfaction
Few people want to spend their days on manual tasks that have nothing to do with their background or career goals. When you eliminate these tasks with business process automation, you give your employees a more fulfilling experience. They become more engaged with their jobs and their satisfaction increases. You may be able to attract and retain high-quality talent easier than you were able to before implementing these improvements. Plus, companies with highly engaged employees have revenue increases up to three times greater than other organizations.
6. Better customer experience
Your customers also benefit from business process automation. The changes on the employee-facing systems can spill over to the customer-facing experience. They don’t have to repeat themselves when they call in for support. They can easily find answers to their questions without waiting a long time. Plus, they encounter happier employees who are more motivated to help them with client onboarding or any issue that arises.
Business process automation is a must
No matter what type of business or process, whether it be referral program automation or scheduling automation. Your business can’t afford to do without business process automation. You end up freeing time and making many processes easier. Thus meaning, that these changes pay for themselves. Start improving all areas of your operation by identifying opportunities to make changes and incorporate automation.
