Guide to an Effective Business Process Automation

Businesses are pursuing process automation more actively due to increasing competition and digital transformation in the age of industry 4.0. If you are also considering business process automation and want to know more about it, then here’s your guide to an effective business process automation.

What is Process Automation?

Business Process Automation is the use of technology to automate repetitive tasks and streamline systems and personnel workflows. Process automation results in huge productivity gains and can cut operating costs by 90%. BPA goes beyond traditional data and document management and includes advanced systems and solutions that integrate all your business solutions. Automation software enables organizations to get one step closer to digital transformation and maintain control over multiple factors, including customer service, sales, analytics, standardization, development automation, and planning. Business process automation targets complicated information technology tasks like network issue troubleshooting and system user management and email marketing services.

Automation software supports your team’s knowledge and reduces operational costs by providing valuable insights and freeing your employees to focus on more crucial tasks. Due to the enhanced customer service with no human errors, your clients will be happier with your assistance. Even though automation software is a program, it can still improve human interaction and decision making by providing real-time transparency. There are four main types of automation, each more complex than the previous one.

Basic Automation

Basic automation streamlines simple jobs within your organization and provides a central location for information, data, and document storage. For instance, using a centralized platform for sharing messages or information on a particular topic within a group enables transparency and increases visibility, which isn’t possible in email communication.

Process Automation

Process automation software stores and manages your business processes to enable transparency and consistency—dedicated apps and software control process automation, and it is significantly more robust than basic automation.

Integration Automation

Integration automation is more complex than process automation and leverages machine learning to observe the tasks humans perform and replicate them. Humans define the rules for integration automation. For instance, you can integrate process automation systems with your customer service software, which will allow you to create an automatically process-able customer support checklist for each complaint and assign personnel whenever necessary.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Automation

AI-based process automation systems allow your tech to make decisions similar to humans. AI automation uses data to make decisions after constantly processing and analyzing. AI-based automation is highly beneficial for small and large corporations and can reduce supply chain forecasting errors.

Best Practices of Business Process Automation

Only signing up for an advanced business process automation software may not lead to success. Instead, you need to take a practical and thorough approach to automate your business process and workflows effectively. Here are a few best practices of business process automation software implementation.

• Gain a clear understanding of the tasks you need to automate, who will take responsibility, and when each task will execute.
• Ensure that you clearly define your business process automation goals as it enables you to save a substantial amount of time in course correction.
• Implement a phase-wise approach to measure results. Several organizations feel disappointed when they don’t see improved progress overnight.
• Remember that your employees may take a few days to adjust to the new system, so be sure to provide adequate employee training.
• Leverage 3^rd party solutions wherever you can.
• Take on a long-term approach to experiencing a good ROI.

Determining the Business Processes for Automation

You can automate all your business processes, but if you are starting your digital transformation journey, the best thing to do is to determine the areas requiring automation more than the others. To determine the business processes for automation, look for the following factors.

• Higher task volume
• Time-sensitive tasks
• Frequent audit trials and need for compliance
• Several team members executing a single task
• Significant impact on other systems and processes

If you see any of the factors mentioned above in your business processes, consider automating them. Most common processes that business automate include;

• Payroll
• Invoicing
• Collections
• Sales orders
• Procurement
• Lead nurturing
• Product launches
• Helpdesk support
• Call center processes
• Backup and restoration
• Employee leave requests
• Push notifications and emails
• Time and attendance tracking
• Making customer case studies
• Data migration and aggregation

Benefits of Business Process Automation Software

Business process automation software ultimately allows you to increase efficiency and unlock business growth. A majority of business process automation focuses on continuous process improvement, which enables increased efficiency levels. After automating business processes, you will see the following benefits.

• Cloud-based automation software stores your data at a central location, enabling productivity boost due to enhanced access. This allows you and your team to access data from any device and location.
• Automation software helps make your business processes more transparent. The software allows you to monitor and track processes as they are running and improve visibility and accountability.
• Could-based automation software allows you to monitor workflows and processes on the go, find errors, and fix them as soon as you find them. You can also gain valuable insights with performance reports and take necessary measures to prevent recurring errors.
• Automation software means fewer manual interventions, and from a long-term viewpoint, you will start noticing faster turnaround times and reduced costs.
• Business process automation allows you to enhance workforce allocation as the automation software will handle the repetitive manual tasks. You can free up your employees to cater to more crucial tasks that require human judgment and effort.

Takeaway

Business process automation is for businesses looking to cut costs and gain a competitive edge. When automating business processes, the only thing to remember is that you have to choose the right automation software and choose the appropriate process to apply the software. Infowise provides business solutions with automation capabilities. These solutions are SharePoint and Office 365 based and cover everything from Helpdesk, Leave Management Systems, to Vehicle and Facility Reservation Systems.