Why Automation Isn’t a Scary Word Anymore
Automation — This term used to scare me a lot!
I thought it was meant for big companies who pay millions of dollars to make automation run.
When I think of automation I usually think of a robot doing a task moving around with wheels scheduling tasks, booking your calendars etc.
Hello Zapier!
Then I met this tool called ‘Zapier’ and it changed my whole perspective of what automation meant and why it's not just meant for large corporates but can be used by anyone including you and me.
Zapier is this easy to use automation tool that helps connect two apps with each other and makes your life extremely simple.
Use Case:
Consider this scenario — you have to follow up with your team about if they have a completed task.
Now it's only a 2-minute task to open up your communication tool like ‘Microsoft Teams’, ‘Google Meet’ or ‘Slack’ and send them a message.
What does not get calculated is the time that you take to get back into the focus of the task that you were focussing on. The average time to get back into focus for a task is 15 mins. Now that's a lot of time to lose.
What you can do instead is set up a Zap (which is a free tool) and set up your Chat Application to trigger at a certain time and your team member will automatically get a message following up asking about the status of the task.
Now, is that similar to a robot on wheels going to your team member asking him about the task? Probably not, but this is Automation!
Here is what it would look like.
Scratching the surface
We are barely scratching the surface when we talk about automation and what it can do for personal productivity and what else it can do for Small and Medium-sized businesses.
The use case that I provided is the easiest way to get started and I am certain that you have a task like that you are wasting your time for, when you could automate it.
Being a mid-level manager or a senior individual contributor for your company involves you keeping your eyes out on your processes and how you can do them much more effetively and in a timely manner.
If you think Zapier would not be allowed for your organization. Microsoft — who Insight Consultants are proud gold partners with, has their own version of Zapier called Power Automate (earlier call Microsoft flow).
Using Microsoft Power Automate you can observe the current state of your workflow within your team and see what are the components that can get automated.
If that's too much of a big step, you can start small by just going and automating a couple of tasks within your daily routines and see what kind of an impact it has on them.
What are some of the automation that you set up for yourself?
Do you use Zapier or Microsoft Power Automate?
Would you want me to discuss more complex automations in future posts?
Let me know in the comments below.
Catch you in the next one.
Cheers & God Bless
