As innovation becomes the business buzzword, you cannot expect to run your enterprise the way it was done a decade ago. Making a switch to automation does not remain a choice. The advantages of smart automation are many in number. It can drive efficiency into the routine, repetitive tasks while decreasing the dependence on the human workforce. Obviously, your manpower will no longer be engaged in such cumbersome tasks and can pay attention to the more business-critical functions.
Further, automation improves resource utilization and optimizes the costs as well. Now that you understand the extensive benefits of automation, it becomes imperative to identify the routine tasks and processes that you can automate. Beyond the day-to-day tasks, even the more significant tasks can be automated as well. Here are the ones that should be automated to save on resources in the long run.
Invoicing, accounts, and taxes
Invoicing is perhaps the most cumbersome task for any business because it eats up your time and energy. At the same time, these are the tasks that you cannot afford to ignore. There are several accounting automation tools that you can use for automating your bookkeeping tasks. These tasks range from managing recurring payments and their reminders, storing receipts, bank transfers and real-time financial alerts. What’s more, you can even automate tax filing for your business.
Customer support
Another key business function that you can automate is customer support. A majority of businesses are, in fact, already doing it with the help of chatbot technology. The technology replaces human customer support executives with smart virtual assistants. These powerful software programs are capable of understanding the human language and interacting with customers just like humans do.
Lead generation
Identifying, pursuing and managing leads are tough tasks. For this reason, the sales team always needs to be on its toes. Most of their tasks are repetitive in nature and do not require special skills. So why not automate the trivial tasks such as shooting follow-up emails and replying to the leads generated via the website’s contact forms? Automated lead generation software can also alert the sales reps to follow up on the new leads while keeping an eye on the existing ones.
Email marketing
While lead generation is a critical marketing task that you can automate, the same can be done for email marketing as well. It is important to send across regular emails to your potential customers as a part of the marketing activity. However, this can be a big burden on the team. It is best to invest in email automation to eliminate the repetitive emailing tasks for the team. What’s more, you can even use the automation software to personalize the emails according to the needs and expectations of the recipients.
Employee scheduling
If your managers are using pen, paper and Excel sheets for employee scheduling, they are literally killing time. Not only is the process difficult and time-taking, it can be stressful as well. Also, there are chances of inaccuracies that can lead to wastage of time and resources. The best solution is to switch to a smart employee scheduling software solution that can automate the entire tasks and shifts. Such a tool can empower both employees and managers and streamline the operations as well.
Business processes
Automating the routine business processes is a great idea as it can significantly improve productivity and efficiency. Business process automation enables intelligent utilization of resources by automating the tedious jobs and leaving the complex ones for skilled employees. Some of the routine processes that you can automate include inventory and supply management, accounts payables, invoicing and purchase orders.
Business analytics reporting
Business analytics is critical for businesses of all sizes and types today. Unless you know your strengths and weaknesses, you will not be able to address them. Therefore, you need to be regular with business analytics reporting at all times. However, this is something difficult to do, considering that you will need to constantly switch between business dashboards and compare figures and trends. Automation of business analytics reporting can simplify things considerably and also render more accuracy in the reports and analytics.
Social media scheduling
Another task that you can automate is social media scheduling, which lets you schedule social media updates in advance. Regular social media posting is a part and parcel of modern marketing practices. Still, it can be a time killer when you need to post content and respond to comments every day. Why not switch over to an automation tool that can handle it all for you? There are several options that you can explore!
Data backups
Often businesses tend to pay less attention to data backups but this is a critical operation. Losing your key data can cause immense loss to the business and put you in deep trouble as well. Why not automate data backups with a cloud-based backup application? Not only it keeps you covered against data loss and disaster but it also reduces the burden on your IT teams. Further, it makes you completely stress-free about your valuable data resources.
Website traffic tracking
Since a website is imperative for every business these days, keeping track of website traffic is an essential task for marketers. But rather than having to access facts and numbers time and again, you can automate the traffic tracking task for your website. You can easily set up a tool that keeps track of metrics, issues alerts and delivers regular reports on traffic and other performance parameters.
Automation is no longer a distant dream but a tangible reality for businesses today. You cannot afford to overlook the technology because everyone else seems to be embracing it. Not doing so means that you may get left behind in the race. So the best approach will be to assess your business and identify the processes and tasks that can be automated. Collaborating with a technology partner that can oversee the automation task for your business is the next thing that you need to do, right away!