10 ways to identify which areas of your business could be automated

Business Process Automation, or BPA, is a phrase that is becoming more and more prevalent in the SME business world.  It is no real surprise, with the current bleak economic outlook and tough trading conditions we are facing, that SMEs are looking at their internal efficiencies to discover where “marginal gains” can provide them with a competitive advantage.

However, although many SME’s like the idea of eradicating hidden costs and creating more time in their business, many do not know where to start.  This guide is designed to provide SME business owners with some easy ways to identify where automation could make an immediate impact.

How to use this guide

Within this resource we have pulled together a definitive guide on how to easily identify which areas of your business could be enhanced through automation.  Hopefully, this will help you to pinpoint where you could start to achieve your own marginal gains.

Please note that these common business issues are not ranked in any order.  They will undoubtedly vary in importance from business to business and, as you read through the list, you will probably find yourself ranking them subconsciously in relevance to how your company currently operates.

Don’t feel too overwhelmed if a number of these issues apply to your business.  With all clients we work with, we encourage them to start with one area of their business, realise the benefits, and then gradually grow automation from the inside out.  The good news is that the more of these that strike a personal chord, the bigger impact automation could have on your business.

The 10 most common areas where business automation can make an impact

Although all businesses are very different in what they do, once you strip back the industry they are in, the customers they service and what they actually deliver, the fundamental business processes within all companies are very similar. 

For example, every business will have some form of sales process (even it isn’t necessarily clearly defined), finance function (whether in-house, outsourced or carried out by the owner), and every business will have some form of works delivery (whether a product or service). 

Similarly, the areas within a business where inefficiencies occur, and significant time and cost savings can be realised, are also very common across businesses of different shapes and sizes across a range of sectors and industries.  Below are the top 10 most commonly recurring areas where business automation can make a significant impact.

 

#1 The use of paper forms

Watch any film from the 70s, 80s or even the 90s, that is set in a corporate environment and as well as the weirdness of watching people smoking in the office, you will also see stacks and stacks of paper everywhere (both of which don’t mix well).  Although times have changed, and we are definitely living in a digital age, some businesses have been slow to adapt and are still heavily reliant on pieces of paper being passed around the business.

The need for customer signatures at various stages of a business transaction has been one of the core reasons why paper forms have survived, but even that now is no excuse, with digital signatures on digital PDF forms available.

We no longer require customers to manually complete a paper form to request information, register for a service, lodge a complaint, sign for a delivery or evidence that work has been completed.  Even many retailers will now email a receipt rather than print a paper one in-store.

If you are still using some paper forms in your business, either internally, or asking customers to do so, as well as avoiding looking old-fashioned, automation can provide a really “quick-win”.  This also has a knock-on effect to some of the other areas within the top 10.

 

#2 Rekeying the same information

The problem with a lot of paper forms, apart from the obvious environmental impact it has, is that it often has to be passed around the business, with various bits of information rekeyed into a different system across different departments.

If there are any instances where something like a customer application form or a service review form has to be entered into more than one system, by a single person or multiple people, then this is clearly a waste of both physical resource and time.

 

#3 Bottlenecks forming within the business

Every business, operationally, follows a number of processes which consist of a number of workflows, which often pass-through multiple departments (although a workflow could sit entirely within one department).  If you find that bottlenecks are regularly occurring in your business (where the speed flow is being restricted – usually by a lack of available capacity) then there is clearly an issue with your workflows and there is obvious room for improvement.

It is true that sometimes the bottlenecks can be caused by the wrong person in the wrong role, however more often it can be caused by a lack of time and resource in a single area of the business.  This is heightened when we consider points 1 (paper forms) and 2 (rekeying information).  Automation can quite often eradicate tasks within a workflow (i.e you automate something completely which used to be manually processed) or simplify a task so it is now a 60 second task, instead of a 6-minute task.

So consider your business.  Are you always hearing people complaining about the same person or same department holding everything up?  If so, you more than likely have a workflow bottleneck issue.

 

#4 Different systems which do not “talk”

Evolution is a gradual process.  When most businesses start-out they do not invest in start-of-the-art technology and systems.  Unless heavily backed by investors a new business can’t usually afford to, and it needs to prove the concept before software systems are introduced.

When it does so, it often does so on a gradual basis.  Although this is sensible from an organic growth point of view, what it does mean is that you can end up with a lot of disparate systems which do not talk to each other.  Ultimately, what this means is that time is spent rekeying information in multiple systems, bottlenecks are caused as there is no “digital flow” and you can’t always access the information you need quickly without manual exporting data.

Although we approach automation in the same way – looking at one workflow at a time, we build all of our automation processes using the same underlying technology platform, and through API’s integrate with third party software and systems.  We call it “joining the dots”.

 

#5 High levels of repetitive administrative tasks

Although in life you do get some freaks of nature who love admin, in our experience, you will be hard pressed to find any business owner who enjoys admin tasks.  To most, it is a necessary evil.  What makes it worse is that many administrative tasks are highly repetitive – in that they need carrying out on a regular basis.

You may have one of these admin freaks already in your business – they are hard to find but like gold dust when you do.  They ensure that all of the necessary “grunt work” is carried out with minimum fuss.  They typically work purely for the wage and have little aspiration in climbing up the ladder. 

However, the issue is when you don’t have one of these individuals within your business.  This means that someone is carrying out these tasks who does not enjoy them (and they will be brain numbingly bored).  These tasks are probably way below their pay-scale and potentially creating an opportunity cost (i.e. they could be adding more value).  Worse still, you, the  business owner could be carrying out these tasks.

The good news is that quite often, no-one needs to carry out these tasks – as a high proportion of them can be automated. 

 

#6 Recurring errors/mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes.  It is human nature.  On a personal level will all make mistakes on a semi-regular basis, and businesses, from time to time, can also make errors.  These could be costly and impact the business financially or could be service related and affect the business reputationally (which ultimately has a cost impact).  It could, on the other hand, be a simple administrative error or oversight which slows down an internal process.

We have to accept that “shit happens”.  But when the same mistakes, errors and oversights keep happening on a recurring basis, you have a major problem. 

It could be that you have a complete idiot on your team who is continuously responsible (this is relatively easy to deal with).  However, the likelihood is that there is an underlying issue with the process which is allowing these mistakes to keep happening.  Reviewing the process and addressing the underlying cause can stop this happening.  This usually leads to cost savings which are added directly onto your bottom line.

As Albert Einstein famously said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

 

#7 Wasted time retrieving information

Time is undoubtedly our most scarce resource.  This is why it is so frustrating when we find ourselves knowingly wasting time.  The irritation of being stuck in a traffic jam or queue.  The annoyance when someone doesn’t turn up for a meeting.  The frustration of looking for a file or document you know exists, but can’t seem to locate.  The higher up the business you are and the higher your hourly rate, the more costly wasted time becomes.

Then you need to consider all of the times you are wasting time, without even realising it.  In fact in many businesses you may not see the same frustrations because everyone has come to accept how long something takes to do.  It has become the norm.

Information retrieval should be quick and easy.  With automation it is.  Everything is held digitally, all systems are integrated and speak to each other, and information can be accessed digitally within seconds.  CRM and CXM systems have gone some way to improving this area of business, but business process automation takes it to another level.

How many times have you been on a call with a business and you get the “our IT systems seem to be working really slow today – just waiting for it to load up”.  This is a stalling tactic – you may have even used it yourself.  It literally means “I can’t find that information”.

 

#8 Poor communications between departments

When you start out in business, inter departmental communication is easy.  Usually the business owner is head of all departments.  Even in the first few years you can usually shout across the office.  However as businesses grow, and different departments migrate to different areas of a building, communication starts to flow less freely.

Covid-19, lockdown and the rise in acceptance of homeworking has only accentuated the problem further.  Where once we met weekly in a room, so all departments were kept informed on what was happening throughout the business (and them migrated down), now we may meet less regularly on MSTeams or Zoom (and not instantly verbally updating your own team).

Tell-tale signs of poor inter-departmental communication include workflow bottlenecks, mistakes in service delivery, duplication of effort and murmurings of a disgruntled workforce.  Business Process Automation can help bring departments back together with access to real-time information and digital tools to enhance communication.

 

 #9 No visibility to your vital signs

In the early days of running your business you know everything that is happening, as you are at the centre of it.  You can make quick decisions based on your knowledge of where the business is and use this is combination with instinct.

However, as your business grows and you employ a team to support you and free you up from certain responsibilities, you gradually start to become more detached from certain areas of your business and its day-to-day performance.

Putting your faith in others can be a stressful experience and it is important to still be able to get a helicopter view of the business at any time.  If you can’t it can lead to various issues such as cashflow problems, stock issues, customer service and reputational issues and many other things that could have been avoided, had you been able to access the key KPIs within your business in real-time.

If you have found yourself frustrated by the lack of, or delay in, access to vital business information in order to inform key decision making, then this is a key area where business process automation could add real value.  Automation tools can provide you with an MI dashboard to access key business metrics at the click of a button.    

 

#10 Slow speed of response

With the widespread digitalisation of many areas of business, it has become common acceptance that everything we do should be done in the “blink of an eye”.  We can access our favourite album or film anywhere within seconds on our phones, we can get an answer to any question without pressing a button instantly, and we can order something online with same day delivery.  It has become the norm to expect instant gratification to our needs.

This has ultimately led to the same expectations placed on businesses.  Those who can’t deal with enquiries, customer queries, quote requests etc efficiently and accurately are undoubtedly going to be losing business to those who can.

Have you found your business missing out on opportunities because it has been too slow to respond?  Has it taken too long to process a quote/estimate or have you missed a deadline when pitching for new business or submitting some information? Have you lost a key customer because you didn’t respond quick enough?

The chances are if you have, unless you look at addressing the underlying issue, it will happen again, repeatedly.

Summary

As mentioned earlier, these are the top 10 most common areas where efficiencies can be easily realised through automation.  They are not ranked in any particular order but you will have, more than likely, immediately recognised 2-3 key areas of your business where improvements can be made.

The good news is that once you know where automation can have the biggest impact, it is relatively easy to calculate the cost and time savings it can have on your business.  When you work with a specialist automation consultancy it is also very quick to implement.  Most projects can be fully implemented within a matter of weeks, which means return on investment is fast and the cost and time advantages delivered can positively impact your business quickly.

If, after reading this guide, you would like to learn more about how business process automation could enhance your business, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line for a chat.  After all, it costs nothing to explore further the potential opportunities.

Why :Automate?

:Automate helps business owners avoid lower-value tasks and longer working hours by seamlessly joining the workflow dots throughout the business. 

We look at the areas of your business that can be automated and then create the software to do it. Everything is created to fit with the way your business works and can be scaled up as your business grows or evolves.

Book a free discovery call to find out how we can help improve efficiency within your business.

If you’d like to discuss your options, book a free discovery meeting to find out how we can help you.