It’s one of those phrases that any consultant worth their salt will have in their vocabulary… and Process automation.

But what is
process automation? What are the benefits? Why do you need it in your business?

Interesting Read: https://hirinfotech.com/6-valuable-benefits-of-a-back-office-automation-system/

What is process automation?

At its most
basic level, it is using technology to automate business processes into a
sequence that simply and easily transitions from one task to another.

In short, it
means that rather than having your highly valuable, trained staff following a
bouncing ball for low-value processes and activities, you can use technology.

Its far
cheaper and it frees up your skilled resources for other, more valuable
activities that require a logical application; we’ll come back to this point in
a minute.

What are the benefits of process automation?

The key
benefit is that it allows you to realize the most value and efficiency from
your precious, limited resources.

Unfortunately, none of us have the luxury of unlimited resources available for use in our businesses. Even if we did, there’s a tipping point where more resources can actually negatively impact efficiency. Increasing costs. Time, effort, and skills are wasted.

This is where automation steps in to help by utilizing technology to take care of the repetitive, recurring, and low-value work.

What are
some examples that might apply to your business?

A key
example is expense authorizations. Rather than manually handling all expense
requests yourself, or having your accountants handle them, why not automate the
small ones. If an expense fits certain criteria, for example, it’s low value
and from a current supplier, then these invoices can be identified, and
automatically approved and paid.

Steps such
as this can help your business reduce operating costs and, therefore, increase
profit.

Process automation can ensure you provide market-leading customer service, improve productivity, lift employee morale, and strengthen governance, all while reducing errors.

Which processes are candidates for process automation?

Technology
is invaluable and it’s advancing at a sometimes-frightening pace. But even in
this environment, there are still areas and activities where technology has not
developed far enough to handle effectively and a human touch is needed.

While surgeons today use robots to handle intricate surgeries, diagnosis is best left to a human. How would you feel going to the doctor, having a consultation with a robot and it diagnosing your illness? A little bit disconcerting isn’t it?

So, if it’s
not able to be used for everything, what processes are the best for automation?

Generally, processes that are repetitive, don’t require the application of logic or thinking, don’t need human intervention, and need to be error-free are great candidates for automation.

We’ve already mentioned a scenario of automating certain expense approvals, but other examples that may apply to your business are employee onboarding processes, travel authorizations, annual leave, or sick leave requests.

Data cleansing and matching activities are also great candidates for automation; don’t spend time reconciling your banking transactions with your invoices, automation can do that.

Another application might be if you need a regular report compiled for your business. Set up your tech to know where to pull the data from, how it needs to be collated and how to visualize it, and voila, your report will be ready on time, every time.

Human time is then only needed for explaining what the trends mean, their impacts on the business, and the actions needed to optimize them or mitigate their impacts.

What are the fundamental principles for process automation?

Firstly, you
have to completely understand your existing systems and process. Once you fully
understand how they interact, their dependencies and interlinkages, and have
analyzed all possible impacts or knock-on effects, you can start to simplify
the processes and introduce automation.

Secondly, integration is key, automation should be used alongside and integrate with your existing processes.

Interfaces
and interactions between the processes must be seamless at all times and at all
levels of the business. Automation processes must be consistent with other
processes of the business in both their inputs and outputs.

Make sure there’s enough flexibility in your new way of doing things to allow them to evolve as your business grows. Very few businesses remain stationary; all grow, consolidate, evolve, or devolve over time. Make sure you take this into consideration and build in flexibility for the future.

A step by
step approach is needed with a fail fast and roll back approach to understand
what truly works and what doesn’t.

Stage it.
Don’t be afraid to question or stop on some processes and most of all, keep
things simple.

There’s no
rush. Do it right, don’t do it immediately if you aren’t ready. Keep in mind
there are specialist companies out there whose existence is doing this work.
So, get their opinion or get them to help you.

And finally,
make sure your staff is informed and understand the new automation
opportunities. Tell them how these will impact their own work, processes, and
ways of doing things. The more they understand, the better they can work with
the process.

The wrap-up

Process automation isn’t for everything but can be invaluable for recurring, repetitive processes in your business.

Map your
business out today. Identify the processes that are candidates for automation
that are similar to the examples above and implement these using a trial and
error approach.

Then watch
the benefits of efficiency, simplicity, and automation take effect in your
business.