thought leadership

Leveraging automation to lower operational costs, reduce delays and errors, improve employee engagement, and boost customer satisfaction can be a game-changer for small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Optimising your workforce increases profits

A study conducted by Harvard Business review found that 71 per cent of managers feel employee engagement is one of the most important factors in overall organisational success. When a company automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks, employees can spend less time on basic administrative tasks and more time on strategic tasks. This encourages employees to be more productive and engaged, directly linking to business success and increased profits.

Adapting to seasonal ebbs and flows in business

One way that automation can help businesses grow is to help manage the seasonal spikes and troughs that can be especially challenging for SMEs. In addition to allowing staff the time to engage in tasks that help the business grow, automating routine tasks can lessen the need to hire additional staff during busy times, only to let them go when business slows down.

Enhancing management

Automating repetitive management and operational tasks can give managers the time to inspire, lead, and develop a strategic vision for achieving sustainability in your business. As with all staff, more fulfilled managers are more likely to be better leaders and role models.

Minimising human error and ensuring compliance

When a system for a process is set up once, then automated, the opportunity for human error is greatly reduced. This can greatly improve accuracy of your systems and data.

Improving customer support

According to a 2018 survey by Hubspot research, 80% of customers expect a response within 24 hours while 60% expect it to come within 10 minutes or less. By automating the processes needed to provide this service, SMEs can keep up, or even surpass their customers’ expectations.

Keep it simple

Even though SMEs do not have the resources of large corporations, that does not mean that they can’t afford automation. In fact, it generally means the opposite, that they can’t afford not to automate. The key, though, is to keep it simple.

Streamline your goals

Before setting up any automated system, it’s helpful to conduct an audit of the processes that would lend themselves to automation. Look at the tasks staff members spend the most time on. When you find a task that has elements that are repeated frequently, you have found an opportunity for automation.

For example, perhaps your staff is spending a lot of time manually sending out the same document. This task will have several elements that can be automated, freeing employees to spend time on the tasks that cannot be automated.

Ease of use breeds success

Business automation doesn’t mean that everything in your business will be automated. You can start off as small as you’d like, trying out different automation practices and seeing what works for you. Choose a system that is intuitive and easy to learn, for example, AUTTO’s automation workflows can be built by simply dragging and dropping actions into one process that can have as few, or as many steps as you need.

Start small, iterate and build upwards in complexity.

Innovation can be risky, especially when the stakes are high. So it’s not surprising that businesses, especially those in risk-averse industries, such as finance and law, are often slow to digitise tasks that have traditionally been completed by humans. Finance and law are heavily regulated, adding an additional hurdle.

Resistance to innovation doesn’t only apply to risk-averse industries. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs), don’t often have the time nor the capital to invest in something that may, or may not work.

 

Will adopting new technology be worth the cost?

Change can carry high stakes. It is often difficult to find solutions that actually live up to their claims, a reality that is sometimes not apparent until a technology has been implemented, sometimes at significant cost. Add issues of compatibility, client privacy and inability to calculate return-on-investment (ROI) for cutting edge solutions and it’s no wonder that SMEs are weary of new technology.

The pressure to stay competitive can override resistance to change. For example, standardising processes and procedures is one way to streamline service and increase efficiency. This solution may streamline processes but it still requires a high level of staff time, the most expensive asset of any business.

It’s generally accepted that service-oriented businesses need to innovate to stay competitive, but how do you do this within a risk-averse landscape?

 

Reduce the risk of innovation by taking incremental steps

Digital transformation is hailed as the savior of industry, integrating cutting edge, frequently changing technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) into a new world of business practices. This often comes with a high price tag and high risk of disruption.

What if you don’t need transformation? What if your challenges could be addressed with a few incremental steps that don’t disrupt your business but make a big difference? Technology that allows you to make small changes is vital to this journey.

 

What can be automated?

The first step of any change, large or small, is to evaluate what part of your processes can be automated. Even the most personalised service will have repetitive elements or elements in common with other services you provide. That’s a prime spot for automation.

When you find this sweet spot, test it. Your test may run smoothly, it may run into a few hurdles  or it may reveal something else you need to. This is part of innovation and a good argument for starting small.

 

Iterate rapidly

When your test automation works, repeat it in the same place and find other processes this automation will work in. Replicating these simple business operations automations, or using them as a base for more complex action is a quick and easy way to integrate automation into nearly every business process. It’s a low-risk way to achieve quick wins that can improve productivity and customer service, boosting staff motivation as well as the appeal of the company to prospective customers and employees alike.

 

No code cloud-based service delivers big change with little disruption

At AUTTO, we have built the technology to make it quick and easy to automate repetitive tasks. Our no-code visual editor makes it easy to create small changes that have a big impact with drag and drop workflows.

We remove the cost of technology development with our cloud-based service so you can focus on providing personalised service while routine tasks are taken care of. Automate as little, or as much as you feel comfortable with while enjoying the benefits of transformation with little of the cost and risk.