It’s not a secret that behind a well-established business there is a large number of people and efforts invested in it. Earlier the owners of companies had to hire new employees to solve the growing number of tasks. But now there is a simpler solution — business automation. What is it, and why is it worth implementing?
What is automation in business?
Business automation is a kind of innovative approach of solving big and small problems, in which they are organised and “put on stream.” Thanks to automation, you can not only manage all processes, but also deligate them to the computer, which is much faster and more reliable. Now there are dozens of platforms and applications which can completely replace the workforce, processing and systematizing gigabytes of valuable information.
“Automation of business” is quite a broad concept, so let’s look at the examples where it can come in handy.
Customer Support
Owners of a website often use software to send users automatic answers. For example, if your software has problems when authorizing users from accounts on LinkedIn, 90% of such cases are solved using the system of “tickets”. You can create an automatic response to any message that contains the word LinkedIn, where it will be said that the client’s problem will be resolved soon. This allows assistants to do other important tasks.
Making decisions
Let’s say that to order new equipment, the decision of the Board of directors should be approved by five general managers. Without automation it will be necessary to meet with each of them personally to get a signature, while with special software it only takes a couple of seconds.
Introduction of new employees
The introduction of a new employee into a position is not an easy process, because all the other employees can be involved in the training process. Instead of distracting them from their tasks, you can facilitate the process and use programs for step-by-step training.
Automation can be implimented in almost any business processes, especially if they are repetitive or consist of certain predictable steps.
Why do we need to use automation?
Automation is an approach that can significantly improve the efficiency of solving problems and simplify life. Organizations who practicing this method save time and money, allowing employees to deal with more complex and important tasks. In addition, when the machine performs small routine activities, the risk of mistakes is reduced.
Here are 5 important reasons to implement an automation in your business:
1. Networking between colleagues. E-mail, notes, negotiations — there are so many ways to contact each other, but the more channels to communicate the more difficult it is to organize cooperation. With the help of automation software, you can distribute commands and establish a workflow: using a single platform, employees can instantly send messages, see the status of tasks, always be aware of the events and remember about group and individual goals.
2. Reporting. By automating the process, the business owner can break it down into several steps, for each of which a responsible employee is appointed. This is the only way to reach absolute transparency and accountability. You will be able to see which tasks require the most time to complete, and where to pay more attention. No more questions “Who is in charge for this?” Each task has a person responsible for it.
3. Less expenses and mistakes. When you deligate small, easy tasks to the machine, you save on the workforce and eliminate mistakes because of inattention. This is especially important in e-commerce, banking and any other business where you need to process tons of client information and payments.
4. You are aware of the events. Thanks to automation, you can see the status of execution of each individual task and the whole process of workflow. The information that was collected in the system for months can be processed and presented in the form of reports, which allows you to monitor progress and make corrections.
5. Establish a clear hierarchy. When setting up the workflow, you can distribute the duties of each employee and avoid the hassle of reporting.
Thanks to modern software, you can put a lot of tasks on the flow and not only save on workforce, but also speed up all processes significantly.
How to automate processes?
If you decide to apply this approach in your business, you need to seriously prepare for this. Here are some tips how to impliment automation in a right way:
· Allow your team to test tools. There are many systems for managing business processes on the market, and many companies provide free trial periods. This is an excellent opportunity to give your employees a chance to understand the principle of the operation of such systems and choose the best option.
· Understand the processes that you want to optimize. You need to understand, if it is possible and necessary to put on the stream some of your tasks.
· Help employees adapt to automation. For some people, changes are always difficult. Sometimes, it is better to organise trainings or give detailed instructions to the staff to avoid mistakes and unnecessary stress.
· Plan in advance. Automation allows you to achieve success in many areas, but it is very important to think in advance what exactly you will automate. And do not forget that during the process of implimenting you will still adjust the system for yourself and make corrections.
· Calculate the return on investment. Make sure that the benefits from the automation will exceed the cost of it.
· Do not forget about safety. Hackers can get to everything that is in digital format. Automation simplifies things not only for you, but also for online criminals. Take care of your company and purchase software for protection and security.
Services of automation can be implemented in almost any business. Let’s look how automation processes are used in practice on the example of the restaurant industry. When we come to the public place we do not think about how the order is transferred from the waiter to the kitchen, then to a specific chef, how managers get to know about the leftovers in the warehouse, how the required number of ingredients is counted. In fact, a few years ago all these processes happened with a piece of paper and a pen. But thanks to such automation services like iiko, rkeeper and others, most tasks were automated.
But what else is left overboard? According to the results of many studies, one of the leading positions on the issue of what customers pay the most attention is the service provided. More than half of the feedback left, both positive and negative, concerns this aspect. At the moment, none of the existing tools has significantly improved the quality of service, because it depends most on the human factor. Often, even the most generous benifit programs and huge fines can not change the quality of the waiter’s work.
But what if every visitor is able to control the whole process of his service on his own? Do not wait until the waiter sees him in the room full of guests and brings the menu, but see its electronic version and immediately make an order? Do not listen to recommendations imposed by the waiter, and read all the reviews about a particular place directly from the screen of the smartphone? The waiter will only bring you your meal. The only thing you need to wait is just its cooking. The influence of the human factor and the probability of error are minimized, the guest and the restaurant save time (and time, as it is known, is money).
Add to this functionality a loyalty system and you will get almost the ideal of automation in the service sector. And all this is available from the screen of the smartphone, in the form of a normal application. You can delegate some of the duties of the waiter directly to the guest, without loading him, but giving him control. This is a good way to save money on staff, as well as time to serve a single table.
Waiting for the introduction of such a system will not take a long time. In the near future, eWaiter will provide its customers with a service that combines all of the above functionality. Its main advantage that it is orientated not only on restaurateurs, but also on ordinary customers, potentially all who visit tpublic places. Free for customers and available for every restaurant service is the key to popularizing and attracting new customers. Bring in more customers and spend less on their service — a recipe for your ideal dish to increase profits. If you want to know more about this about this universal solution, then visit their website ewaiter.io.
If you want to make the work of your employees easier and deligate routine tasks, there is no better solution than programs for business automation. They offer a huge number of tools and functions for teamwork and communication with customers.
Our website: https://ewaiter.io
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