Business Process Automation: these three words separately are pretty easy to comprehend. There’s “business”, which is the entity that you own and use to make money; there’s “process”, which is a series of actions; then there is “automation”, which refers to something happening without the need for manual operations.
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When these words are put together, nothing much really changes in regards to their individual definitions but the phrase does imply that procedures or operations pertaining to your business become automatic. The question, however, remains: what processes can your business automate and what are the benefits to doing so?
We’re going to tell you exactly what you need to know about business process automation (BPA), why you need it, and how it’ll benefit your company. Keep reading for more information!
Why You Need Business Process Automation
Chances are, you already use some form of business process automation within your organization. Having an automatic response from your email account to your customers about being away on vacation or using a messaging app to keep team members updated is a very basic form of business process automation. However, BPA doesn’t (and shouldn’t) stop there.
Business process automation can allow you to provide a better and more consistent customer experience. Because of automation, your client base will know what to expect, when to expect it, and feel as though your focus is more in-tune with them. This happens because your team can spend fewer hours completing and filing paperwork and more time with the people who matter – your customers!
Regardless of your industry, your company can benefit from improving its business process automation. If you’re still unsure of whether BPA can work for you, you might want to take a look at the Prolifics guide: Improving Business Process Automation for a more in-depth look at all things BPA-related.
Benefits of Implementing Business Process Automation
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As mentioned, your customers will receive more consistent care once you choose to implement business process automation. However, there are multiple other reasons as to why you should consider BPA for your business:
- Fewer errors – between 70-80% of mistakes are made by the user. These errors can come from accidentally inverting a group of numbers or simply mistyping a piece of information. BPA can reduce or eliminate this issue by allowing computers to perform most of the data entry and document storage
- Lower costs – by automating various parts of your business (and reducing or eliminating errors) your employees will spend less time on tasks that previously took hours to complete and virtually no time correcting hasty mistakes, saving your company money in the process
- Increased security – using business process automation allows for easy tracking of documents and decreases the chance of misplacing relevant paperwork. Aside from making your employees’ jobs easier, this also ensures that private information remains confidential
Overall, the implementation of business process automation allows you to save money across the board, be it in the form of less time spent on redundant tasks, increased employee productivity, or the fact that happy customers will choose to continue to do business with you.
Types of Tasks That Can Be Automated
There really is no limit on the types of tasks that can be automated. You can choose to automate the security of your software, track employees’ time cards, handle shipping and receiving, or put BPA to use on the manufacturing floor.
A great use for business process automation is onboarding new employees. Your human resources department will easily be able to add to your staff while new team members can efficiently complete any training required by your company.
While you can absolutely use BPA to help manage your customers, it isn’t always ideal to do so. Often, your clients will appreciate the ability to get in touch with an actual human to help solve their issues.
With this said, you can choose to use BPA to keep track of any ongoing or previous issues as well as their contact information, preferred methods of payment, and if applicable, membership/subscription data. Your customers will appreciate the ability to speak with any member of your team and resolve problems without having to input or (re)state their data.
The idea behind business process automation is the ability to store and access all of your company’s data in on convenient, yet secure place. Depending on the nature of each team member’s job, you can control the amount of data they’re able to retrieve while still allowing them to carry out their designated tasks.
Making the Change to BPA
There are many uses for business process automation; some of which may be more applicable to your business than others. The great thing about using and implementing BPA practices is that you can choose to automate as much (or as little) as you’d like.
Obviously, the more you choose to use a BPA system, the more benefits you’ll begin to see and the greater your cost savings will be. It is likely that over the next five to seven years, more businesses will be getting on board with automation and growing their businesses because of it.
With this said, you won’t want to be left in the metaphorical dust, choosing to begin implementing a business process automation system when other industry leaders have had a competitive edge for years. Now is the time to start moving toward BPA and letting it work for you!
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