It is without a shadow of a doubt that automation is the future of doing business. Cloud technology has made it possible for companies to bring together previously separate applications, such as email and CRM, which was all but impossible no more than a decade ago.
This simple, yet ingenious invention now allows managers to make better sense of their business and data coming in. It allows for better decision-making, increased communication, and collaboration, and higher operational efficiency overall.
Even though it might not seem like it, small businesses have a major advantage compared to their larger counterparts. Since their operation is smaller, or even in the early stages of development – as is the case with start-ups – automation will be much easier to integrate and implement. Once in place, automation is easily scalable, ensuring that there will not be any downtime or breakdown in operations.
Equally beneficial is the fact that automation can be implemented in pretty much any functional area of the operation. Since most of these areas have work processes that can be automated, you can achieve it at any level of your organization.
Here are seven reasons why you need to implement automation in your small business:
- Why you need to implement automation. The simple answer to this question is that automation is the future. It doesn’t mean that implementing it will not come without its series of challenges. Management could be putting it off just because they have other pressing issues in mind. And, even when they decide to do it, the employees may be resistant to the change.
If you do decide to implement automation into your processes, do so gradually. Pick a method that will guarantee a high ROI and let it lead by example, when you eventually apply automation throughout the rest of your organization.
- Increased employee efficiency.One of the immediate benefits that will become apparent is the increased employee efficiency. Since automation will eliminate the need to do many of the tedious and low-value tasks manually, your staff will be free to dedicate their time elsewhere. Likewise, managers will also be able to use their resources more effectively as a result, better focusing their efforts on problem-solving and better integration.
- Better marketing. Marketers have a lot to gain from automation processes, going from data enrichment to lead scoring and customer monitoring, just to name a few. Marketers can make use of automation to better plan, coordinate, measure and manage all aspects of a marketing campaign, be it online or offline.
- Accounting. With automation, many accounting-related tasks, such as invoice generation, basic reporting, checking for payments and sending reminders, are no longer an issue for your employees.
- Driving sales. By streamlining sales processes, such as your sales data management, CRM system and follow-ups, your leads will always be routed to the right people to make the conversion into a paying customer.
- Reducing human error. Since many manual processes will be replaced by automation, the human error that usually accompanies them will also be greatly reduced.
- Better communication.Automation can easily find its place in communication by providing automated responses. It means that recipients will no longer have to request status reports and your team members can better focus their efforts elsewhere.
While this list presented here is not exhaustive, it does provide a clear picture of how much of a difference automation can bring to a business, especially a small one that can thrive on efficiency.
Article courtesy Tammatha Denyes
Disclaimer
Information may be abridged and therefore incomplete. This document/information does not constitute, and should not be considered a substitute for, legal or financial advice. Each financial situation is different, the advice provided is intended to be general. Please contact your financial or legal advisors for information specific to your situation.