The business world doesn’t stand still, and organisations need to adapt and progress if they want to thrive.
Reinvention, transformation, evolution – these things might sound daunting, but they don’t have to be. Change is exciting, especially when it makes things better for your employees and customers.
The key to effective change is understanding what your transformation should look like and choosing the right people to support your change.
Mapping your business journey
When you’re setting out on a long car journey, you don’t just get in your car and drive, hoping you’ll end up where you want to be. You work out how long the journey will take, plan a route, and ensure you have enough fuel.
It’s the same in business.
If you want to move your business from one point to another, you need a roadmap. You need to understand where you are now, where you want to be and how you will get there.
Creating a roadmap is the first step in any business reinvention process, providing a clear path towards achieving the desired outcome.
But what should that roadmap look like, and what does it need to include?
Set the objectives
The first step is understanding the end destination. What will your business look like after reinvention? What are the project objectives and goals? Set yourself regular checkpoints – what will you measure to ensure you’re on track?
Identify roadblocks
Your roadmap should identify potential roadblocks and challenges that may arise during the reinvention process, along with strategies to overcome them. You can’t prepare for every eventuality, but you can prepare for the most likely threats and be honest about your weaknesses. Consider political, environmental, societal and technological threats.
Involve stakeholders
It is important to involve key stakeholders in creating the roadmap, as their input and feedback can help ensure its success. There’s no point reinventing your business only to find that none of your employees or customers are on board with the change.
Allow for flexibility
Even the best-laid plans can be disrupted by unexpected events – just look at how the global pandemic turned the world upside-down without warning. Your roadmap should be flexible and adaptable, allowing for changes and adjustments as your business evolves.
Leverage technology
Technology can play a key role in reinvention, allowing you to automate tasks, streamline processes, and improve efficiency. An automation specialist can help identify areas where technology can be leveraged to reinvent the business and achieve its goals.
Using automation to achieve your business goals
Once you have set the goals for your business, look at how automation can support you in achieving those goals.
:Automate specialises in business process automation for SMEs and can help you leverage automation technology to meet your overall business objectives.
Audit your current business processes
Almost any process with repeatable steps can be automated, meaning you could streamline workflows across any department, from finance and HR to marketing and sales.
Our team can help you analyse your current business processes to determine which workflows can be automated.
Prioritise
Multiple areas of your business would likely benefit from automation, but it might not be feasible to automate everything at once. You need to prioritise based on factors such as ROI, impact on productivity, and ease of implementation.
Rather than trying to automate your entire business in one go, we break it down into simple, manageable projects with a scalable pay-as-you-grow system.
Liaise with end users
The purpose of automation is to make life easier or more convenient for your employees, customers or stakeholders, so involve them in the process. You’ll only reap the benefits of technology if people are using it.
We simplify automation by creating bespoke solutions that integrate with your existing systems and fit with the way you operate.
Why digital transformation is key to business reinvention
Advancements in technology over the last few decades have completely changed how we live and work. As a result, customer and employee expectations have changed, and businesses that embraced digital transformation early have put themselves at a competitive advantage.
Organisations that continue to use outdated, inefficient systems and processes will find it harder to retain good employees and keep customers happy. That’s why digital transformation should be a key part of any business reinvention.
Data handling, security and compliance
Digital data collection and storage enables you to collect data much faster and export it to relevant databases. Data security is improved, and compliance with GDPR is more manageable.
Decision making
Digitalisation makes reporting much faster and more accurate. Managers can get a real-time view of the business, making it easier to identify threats and opportunities and make informed business decisions.
Business continuity
One of the biggest advantages of cloud technology is the ability to share, store and access files and systems remotely. Systems and files can be automatically backed up on secure servers. This makes document archiving and retrieval simple, which helps with business continuity and disaster recovery.
Customer experience
Digital transformation can significantly improve customer experience, reduce complaints, and relieve pressure on customer service teams. Online portals allow customers to self-serve from anywhere, on any device, at any time, making things more convenient for everyone.
Employee engagement
Creating a digital platform where workflows are automated, processes are streamlined, and information is easily accessible will improve employee experience and engagement.
Cost reduction
Creating a better customer experience will improve your reputation, reduce complaints and increase customer retention. Your employees will be more engaged, meaning lower attrition rates (and recruitment costs). And you can increase capacity without increasing headcount.
Efficiency
Technology creates so many opportunities for increased efficiency, freeing employees up to focus on value-adding tasks and allowing customers to get what they need faster.
About :Automate
:Automate is a service powered by Meritec – a company that has been at the forefront of developing cutting-edge technology solutions for 25 years.
Every workflow is custom-built, so you aren’t paying for off-the-shelf software features you’ll never use. And, unlike other software solutions, our packages aren’t priced per user, making us a cost-effective option for businesses that want flexibility and scalability.
Why :Automate?
• Free no obligation discovery meeting to explore opportunities
• Every process flow is custom-built for your organisation
• Flexible pay as you grow options to automate at your own pace
Book a free discovery call to find out how automation with Meritec :Automate can benefit your business.