The word “automation” has been lingering around the professional business space and it’s for good reasons. Automation has revamped various businesses and industries which is why more and more business owners are making the transition. Even if you own a small business, automation is something worth investing in as well.
In business, automation simply means employing the use of tools and technology that automates various tasks inside the operational workflow of the entity. While the human workforce handles the more complex tasks, automation lessens the burden of the business by automatically taking care of the minor tasks. Automation technology can be affordable or costly, depending on the scale or the value provided by the tool. In many cases, automating processes also require businesses to upgrade their office equipment to utilize the automation technology to its full potential. Hence, companies need to determine whether the ROI of automation can far outweigh the cost of it.
If you aren’t brought about the idea of automation, you should broaden your thoughts about it first. Getting into it is very easy but it can be overwhelming because of all the ways you can automate your business. Here are a few good tips for business automation.
Start Small
A big mistake that some business owners make when it comes to automation is that they rush it too much. The idea of having around 30%-40% of your business automated is exciting but there are compromises you need to make along the way.
Let your business and your employees adjust to the concept of automation. Start by automating 1 or 2 functions. Wait till everyone gets acclimated to it before you add another. Rushing automation often leads to failure. Instead of improving your business, what it can do is actually make things worse.
While intuitive to use, automation solutions are complex software that takes getting used to. It’s better to have your employees learn more about these solutions one at a time.
Automate Simple Tasks First
It is very tempting to begin automating just about everything that happens in your business but transitioning to automation requires a lot of adjustment. If you want your business to acclimate to the idea of automation, you should start by focusing on automating the simpler tasks first.
By simple, we are referring to the tasks that are necessary but are straightforward. These include payroll processing, clocking in, collaboration, email management, and many others. Doing this helps you see what your business excels and lacks with regard to the integration of new technology.
Consider Industry Specific Automation Tools
What’s great about automation is that it’s versatile. There are tools and solutions that are made for specific industries. For instance, the professionals behind WebFletch emphasize using a tool that caters specifically to construction sites and building companies. Solutions like these automate specific tasks, thus making the job easier.
Aside from tools that automate general tasks, you should look for ones that cater to your specific needs in your industry as well. These are very helpful for your employees and what’s better is that they take less time to get used to it.
They get acclimated to it easily because the task that the tool automates is most likely something that they are already used to.
Integrate Your Employees
A common misunderstanding is that when companies automate their business, they let go of employees as machines get to do some of the work. This is a big mistake though. In reality, you need to integrate your employees with automation because, without them, nothing will be supporting your transition.
Give your employees the right training so that they can integrate automation into their daily operations as well. Let them know the benefits of integration and how they can use it to their advantage. Keep in mind that automation is only used for tasks that have repetition. Your employees are still the best answer for tasks that require deeper thinking.
Stay Consistent
Once you automate, you’ll find it harder to go back to your traditional ways. This is because your employees have finally seen the merits of automation in the long run. They see how effective it is at lessening the burden on their work so they wouldn’t want to go back anymore. As such, the key to great automation is to be consistent with it.
Staying consistent means constantly checking on your tools to see if there are any underlying issues waiting to happen. Preventing downtimes is a good practice because these can hinder your daily processes. Consistency also means automating more processes in the future so make sure to consider other tools as well.
Automation is something that you’ll definitely have to adapt to in the near future. It’s not just about going with what’s trendy. It’s mostly about maximizing your business while streamlining the workload that’s put on your employees. These automation tips are going to be great if you are just starting out.
